Lahat ng Kabanata ng THE ALPHA'S BETRAYAL: Kabanata 71 - Kabanata 80

The standoff at the gates lasted three hours.Amelia paced the locked room like a caged animal, her nerves fraying with each passing minute. She could hear nothing from outside anymore, just oppressive silence that felt worse than the shouting had been.When the door finally opened, it wasn't Carlos who entered. It was his father, looking older than he had hours before, exhaustion carved into every line of his face."It's done," he said simply.Amelia's stomach dropped. "What's done? What happened?""Lars has been granted guest rights." His father's voice was flat, emotionless. "He'll be staying in the compound while we negotiate."The room tilted. "Negotiate what?"His father's eyes met hers, and she saw something like pity there. "You. He claims you're his fated mate, that you belong with him. He's demanding your return.""No." The word came out strangled. "No, Carlos said he wouldn't let him near me.""Carlos doesn't have a choice. Not without starting a war we can't win." His fathe

Carlos had been avoiding me since the last full moon. His words still burned in my mind—“Get out before I do something I regret.” Every time I saw him across the training yard or caught his gaze during a meeting, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to scream at him or… or pull him close until neither of us could breathe. And then there was Lars. The man I had once loved, though the memory felt like a shadow behind a wall I couldn’t break. He haunted my dreams, his voice a thread pulling me back, whispering remember. I didn’t want to. I didn’t trust him. Yet when I closed my eyes, I sometimes felt safer in those fragmented memories than I did in the present. Tonight, I found him in the moonlit corridor. Or maybe he found me. His figure leaned against the stone wall like he had been waiting for me all along. “Amelia.” His voice was low, intimate, dangerous. “You shouldn’t be here alone.” My breath caught. “I don’t need your protection.” “No?” He stepped closer, and the wolf in him moved

The door had barely clicked shut before Amelia’s body went rigid. The silence that followed was deafening, heavier than before. Her pulse thudded so loudly it hurt.She could still feel Carlos’s hands on her shoulders, his voice sharp and commanding as he told her not to move an inch.But how could she stay still when her mind was racing like this?She pushed herself off the bed and padded softly toward the door. Her legs still trembled from earlier, but she needed to hear something—anything. She pressed her ear against the wood, but it was useless. Their voices were too low, a tense murmur just out of reach.Amelia clenched her fists. Whatever was happening out there, it was big enough to make Carlos snap out of whatever storm had almost swallowed him whole minutes ago.She thought of the way he’d looked at her — like she was both his salvation and his undoing — and heat rushed to her cheeks despite the dread pooling in her stomach.The moment had been shattered before she could proc

Amelia woke to low voices outside the door. Her body was stiff, every muscle aching from the tension she had carried all night.The conversation outside was too muffled to make out, but Carlos’s tone was unmistakable — clipped, controlled, irritated.She pushed herself up slowly. The memory of him sitting on the edge of her bed last night was still fresh, burned into her mind.He had stayed. Not for long, but long enough that she had fallen asleep knowing he was there.And now, she was torn between anger at his constant orders and the strange, reluctant safety she felt when he was near.The door opened, and Carlos stepped in.“You’re awake,” he said, as though it wasn’t obvious.“You’re loud,” she shot back.One brow arched. “You get bold when you’re rested.”She crossed her arms. “I get frustrated when I’m treated like a child.”He stepped further inside, shutting the door behind him. “You’re treated like someone who almost got herself killed.”“That wasn’t my fault.”“No,” he said.

The hall outside Amelia’s room was a storm. Carlos’s boots hit the floor hard as he stepped out, the heavy thud of warriors’ feet surrounding him. The air reeked of blood, sweat, and aggression.Lars had arrived.The Shadow Alpha stood at the far end of the corridor, a dark, commanding figure surrounded by his men. He was taller than most, his broad shoulders wrapped in a leather coat slick with rain. His hair was damp, sticking to his forehead, and his amber eyes burned like molten gold in the dim light.He didn’t look at Carlos at first. He was holding something.The bundle dripped steadily onto the floor.Carlos’s stomach turned to ice.“Tell me that is not what I think it is,” he growled, stalking forward.Lars’s gaze finally lifted, locking on him with an eerie calm. His mouth curled into something between a smile and a snarl.“I came to return what belongs to you,” Lars said, his voice low and carrying, the kind of voice that made the hair on the back of every warrior’s neck ris