All Chapters of THE ALPHA'S BETRAYAL: Chapter 111 - Chapter 120

The forest breathed around her. Each rustle of the leaves, every distant hoot of an owl, seemed to echo the wild pounding of her heart. The moon hung heavy above the treetops—too large, too red, too alive. It wasn’t just light spilling through the canopy. It was energy, pulsing and alive, thrumming through her veins like fire.Mara ran. Bare feet dug into the cool soil as her breath came in short, sharp bursts. The sound of her own heartbeat drowned out everything else. She wasn’t running from something—she was running toward it.The pull had started hours ago, a strange ache beneath her skin, like something ancient had woken inside her. At first, she thought it was fear. Now she knew better. It wasn’t fear at all. It was calling.Branches whipped against her arms as she broke through the underbrush, stepping into a clearing that seemed older than time itself. Stones—black and slick with moss—circled the center like silent guardians. The moon’s red light bathed them, staining everythi

The nightmares started on her third night back.Amelia woke to the sound of someone screaming, her heart slamming against her ribs before she realized the sound was coming from down the hall. From Lars's room.She sat up, breathing hard, staring at the dark ceiling. She should have stayed in bed. Should have rolled over and pretended she hadn't heard anything. But the scream came again, raw and guttural, like someone being ripped apart from the inside, and before she could stop herself, she was out of bed, her bare feet cold against the marble floors.His door was cracked open.She pushed it wider, stepping into the darkness of his room. The moonlight slanted through the windows, painting everything silver and shadow. And there he was, tangled in his sheets, his body rigid, his face twisted in agony."Lars," she whispered.He didn't wake. Just thrashed harder, his hands clawing at the air like he was fighting something she couldn't see."No. No, don't—" His voice broke, desperate and b

Amelia woke to the sound of her own screaming.Her throat was raw, her sheets soaked with sweat, and for a moment she didn't know where she was. The room spun around her, shadows twisting into shapes that made her heart slam against her ribs.The cliff. The wind. The feeling of nothing beneath her feet.Lars's voice, cold and distant: "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."She pressed her hands to her face, trying to slow her breathing, trying to convince herself it was just a dream. Just another nightmare like all the others.But it didn't feel like a dream.It felt like a memory clawing its way back from the grave.She didn't go back to sleep.Instead, she sat on the edge of her bed, watching the sky turn from black to gray to pale gold, her mind replaying the fragments over and over. The scream. The blood. The way the ground had disappeared beneath her, and for one terrible moment, she'd been weightless.Falling.Always falling.By the time the sun was fully up, she'd convinced herself it was s

she found herself standing on the moonfang cliff, where it had all happened.Amelia didn't know why she went back. Didn't know what she was looking for. Closure, maybe. Or proof. Proof that it had really happened, that she hadn't imagined the fall, the wind, the moment her entire world had shattered.The morning air was cold, biting against her skin as she stood at the edge, staring down at the jagged rocks below. The drop was steeper than she remembered. Darker. More unforgiving.How did I survive this?The memory came back in pieces, sharp and brutal.Lars's face, twisted with something between rage and desperation."You can't leave me, Amelia. I won't let you.""You don't get to decide that."His hands on her shoulders. The pressure. The push that wasn't quite a push but was enough.Her foot slipping. The ground disappearing.The scream tearing from her throat, raw and disbelieving, because this couldn't be happening. He wouldn't. He couldn't.But he did.And for one terrible, endle

The food sat untouched on her plate. Again.Lars watched from across the table, his fork suspended halfway to his mouth, his jaw tight. This was the fourth meal in three days where Amelia had simply stared at the elaborate spread before her like it was ash and dust."You need to eat," he said, and his voice had that careful quality to it, the one that meant he was trying very hard not to lose control.Amelia didn't respond. Didn't even look at him. Just kept her eyes fixed on some point beyond the window, beyond the forest, beyond this suffocating prison he called a home."Amelia." Sharper now. "Look at me."She didn't.Lars set his fork down with deliberate precision, the soft clink of metal against china unnaturally loud in the silence. "I know you're upset. I know you need time to adjust. But this, this silent treatment, this refusal to even acknowledge my presence, it needs to stop."Still nothing. Not even a flicker of recognition that he'd spoken.He stood abruptly, his chair scr