All Chapters of THE ALPHA'S BARGAINED BRIDE : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

The stone floor beneath me was colder tonight, though I knew it was not the stones that had changed but me. I had broken inside the council hall, and the echo of that moment kept replaying in my head, cruel as any whip. Angela’s voice, steady and clinical, declaring the proof in my hands a forgery. Angela, the one person I still believed stood beside me, now standing with Selene as if she had never cared at all. The thought circled in my mind until it burned. Why, Angela? What made you turn? Was it fear, was it power, or had you always been against me and I never saw it? I tried to stop the questions from coming, but they rose like poison, choking me. The more I pushed them down, the sharper they struck. I pressed my palms to my ears as if I could silence the storm inside, but all I heard instead was the faint laughter of the guards echoing down the corridor. It was a sound soaked in mockery, a reminder of my fall from Luna to prisoner. Even below me, where Kai still sat in his own

The council chamber was heavy with silence, the kind of silence that pressed against your chest and made every breath feel like a confession. Torches burned along the walls, their flames restless, casting jagged shadows that stretched across the carved stone floor. My wrists trembled where they rested against my lap, the cold bite of the shackles digging into my skin. I could hear my heartbeat, frantic, loud, betraying me in this hall of judgment.Beside me, Kai stood tall even with the chains around his wrists. His eyes swept the chamber, searching for an answer in the faces of the council, but when they finally landed on me, they softened. Confusion lived there, threaded with something worse: fear. Not fear of death, not even fear of pain. Fear of betrayal. Fear of me.The council head’s voice boomed across the chamber, cutting through the silence like a blade. “Larissa. You are called here to bear witness. Tell us, is Kai the cause of the chaos that has plagued this pack?”My throa

Larissa’s POVThe past month had been a blur, a quiet blur, the kind that softens everything sharp inside you until it feels almost bearable. I had survived the council, the hunters, the weight of betrayal, and the sting of my father’s death. The grief had been heavy at first, a stone that crushed my chest every time I breathed, but the funeral had given me a strange kind of release. Watching his body lowered into the earth, surrounded by the few wolves who dared pay their respects, I had realized that my fight was over. Everything I had done, every compromise, every wound, it had all been for him, and now he was gone. There was nothing left to hold me to that nightmare.Healing came slowly, both in body and in soul. At first, my steps were shaky, my voice fragile, my nights haunted. But then the days passed, and I found myself standing a little straighter, laughing a little easier, breathing without so much weight pressing down on me. And always, there was Kai. He stayed by my side t

The council chamber smelled faintly of burning wood and old parchment. I shifted on the hard chair Kai had pulled out for me, trying not to look as uneasy as I felt. The room was filled with heavy voices and heavier eyes, every elder seated around the long oak table. I wasn’t supposed to be here, I knew that. My place was outside, somewhere quieter, but Kai had insisted. “You’ll learn more by seeing,” he had said before we entered. And now here I was, sitting just off to his side like a shadow. Elder Rowan’s voice rumbled across the table. “The northern patrols reported another sighting near the river. Two rogue wolves. They didn’t breach the border, but…” He let the words trail, and his sharp gaze moved around the room. “We should increase the watch.” There were nods of agreement, mutters, the scrape of pens over parchment. I sat very still, my hands folded in my lap. Every word carried weight, every pause stretched too long. These people decided the safety of the pack with every

The first thing I felt when my eyes cracked open was pain. Not sharp, not searing—just the heavy, dull ache of a body that had been dragged too far. My ribs screamed the second I tried to stretch, My shoulders felt like they had weights strapped to them, and when I shifted under the blanket, my joints crackled in protest.I lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling, willing myself not to move. Maybe if I stayed still, the soreness would settle back into the shadows of sleep and leave me alone. But of course, my body was a map of yesterday’s mistakes. The bruises from sparring still burned hot, and every muscle I owned wanted to remind me of the danger I had nearly become.When I licked my lips, I caught it—the faint metallic tang of blood still lingering at my gums. My fangs had pushed through yesterday, sharp and ready, like they were hungry for someone’s throat. Sera’s throat.I shut my eyes, but the memory slammed into me anyway. The way my wolf had risen, clawing and snapping