All Chapters of The alpha king's slave mate: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Lyra’s povHis lips crashed against mine again, his lips were familiar at this point.This kiss was slower. As if he wanted me to feel every deliberate brush, every claim behind the kiss. My heart kicked against my ribs, each beat urging me closer, making me hungrier.I sighed into him, the sound caught between desperation and surrender. Ronan tasted like sweet and dangerous, like something addictive, and I didn’t care that I was tumbling headfirst into it. His hand slid around my waist, tugging me until my body was pressed against the solid wall of his chest. The sheets tangled around us, thin barriers that meant nothing when his touch set my skin aflame.“Ronan…” I breathed, not in protest, but in warning—maybe even in plea. I wasn’t sure anymore.He didn’t answer with words. His mouth trailed lower, down the curve of my jaw, grazing the sensitive skin of my throat. My breath hitched, my hands clutching the fabric of the sheets as though they were the only tether to reality. Every p

Lyra’s POVThe first thing I felt was warmth. Strong and comforting, all around me. For a moment I thought I was dreaming—wrapped in the kind of comfort I had never known in my past life. My lashes fluttered open slowly, and I realized the weight holding me was not a blanket. It was Ronan.His arm was slung across my waist, heavy and protective, his chest pressed firmly against my back. His breathing was slow, deep, and even—completely unlike the fast, uneven breaths he kept when awake.I shifted carefully, rolling onto my other side so I could study him. Gods, he was beautiful. The hard edges of his jaw softened, his forehead smooth, his lips relaxed instead of pulled into the stern line he wore like armor. I had never seen him like this, stripped of the burden of a crown, stripped of the weight of being king.A pang hit me square in the chest. How heavy must it be to live each waking moment with the world’s expectations pressing down? I wasn’t sure I could have borne it, not without

Ronan's povI hated everything.A dark god was in our realm supposedly and my mate—the girl fate had delivered to me battered, stubborn, and more radiant than any dawn—was the one destined to face it.The nobles stared at her as though she some sort of puzzle they were trying to figure out. Some looked at her like a lost cause because they believed that she couldn't save us, I could see it in their eyes. Lyra herself stood too still, her shoulders trembling slightly. She was far away in her mind, lost in thoughts of a prophecy she didn't ask for.I hated seeing her like that.I turned to her, every noble eye following me, and moved to her side. Her fingers twitched when I touched her elbow, but she didn’t resist as I guided her toward the long table. I pulled a chair out, placing her between Garrick and myself, ensuring she would never feel alone in this pit of vipers. Garrick gave her a small smile, murmuring something that made her lips twitch with the faintest attempt at a smile. I

Lyra’s povI swiped the tears from my cheeks with the back of my hand, trying to steady the fire still crackling in my chest. My vow against Selene echoed in my head as I sealed it in my heart, nothing was going to stop.me, but the goddess’s seriousness pulled me back so I pushed my anger aside momentarily.She reached for my hand, folding my trembling fingers into her cool, steady ones. “Lyra,” she said softly, though it brought me little comfort because I knew that whatever was coming next wouldn't be comforting “you already know that Kael has learned of your survival.”My stomach clenched. Yes. The messenger’s words in the war room repakyed in my mind. Kael, the King of Moonstone—the man who had denied m and chosen Celeste over me and cast me to be killed. He was going to start searching for me.But why?To finish what he had started? The thought sent a shiver down my spine.What did he want from me? Can't they all just leave me be? He had already gotten what he wanted, I was insig

Lyra’s povChaos erupted.Shouts erupted, boots thundered against stone, chairs scraped violently across the floor. I barely had time to register the corrupted flames spilling on the ground before Ronan was on me. His hands were firm but not hard enough to bruise, as he hauled me up from where I’d been crouched.“Lyra!” His voice was commanding and held something that seemed like fear. Before I could even find my footing, he dragged me across the room, away from the arrow still burning with taht foul smell and black against the cracked stone. He shoved me into a shadowed corner, his body half-shielding mine, and barked orders like the Alpha he was.“Guards! Inside, now! Lock this room down. No one enters or leaves without my word. You—” he jabbed a finger toward two warriors near the door, “—find the bastard who fired that arrow. I want the ground searched. Every rooftop, every shadow. Bring them to me alive if you can. Dead if you must.”His words were filled with bloodlust, a barely