All Chapters of Adored by my ruthless alpha: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Marcus’s POVThe council chamber was silent when I walked in at dawn, but I could feel their judgment waiting like a storm. The deadline loomed less than a day left and I still had nothing.Nothing but rage. Nothing but desperation.I had torn apart archives until my hands bled from rifling through brittle parchment. I had demanded answers from scholars who quaked under my voice. I had ordered wolves to scour forgotten ruins in the northern cliffs.And yet no proof.Not one thread strong enough to crush Andre’s accusations.I slammed my fist onto the long oak table, the sound cracking through the still air. “You think you’ve cornered me. You think I’ll let her be torn from me.” My voice was a growl, low and lethal. “But you’re wrong. Zara is mine. And no lie, no forged document, no whispered doubt will take her away.”They shifted uneasily, but none dared answer. Not yet.Because Andre wasn’t here. Not yet. He was waiting for me to fail.Hours later, I found myself back in my private

Marcus’s POVThe council chamber reeked of judgment.Every elder’s stare felt like a dagger, every whispered word a nail in Zara’s coffin. I sat at the head of the table, my wolf pacing violently inside me, desperate to rip through the silence and tear Andre apart.But I couldn’t lash out. Not here. Not when Zara’s fate depended on restraint.The elders had spent hours behind closed doors, and now they were ready to deliver their decision.Andre lounged in his chair, too smug, too certain. He knew what he’d done. He’d poisoned their thoughts, planted seeds of doubt so deep that even truth would struggle to grow.My gaze flicked to Zara.She sat rigid, her eyes fixed on the polished floor. Pale. Silent. Haunted.It gutted me.She hadn’t spoken a word since yesterday, since the council demanded she show her wolf and she… couldn’t.That image replayed endlessly in my mind the way her lips parted, the terror in her eyes, the silence that had screamed louder than any confession.I wanted t

Andre’s POVThe trial was over, but the silence it left behind was almost worse than the accusations. For two days, the fortress felt as though it balanced on a blade’s edge one wrong move and the entire weight of our fragile alliances would shatter.From my chamber window, I watched the courtyard below. Marcus and Zara stood together, their heads bent toward each other in quiet conversation. To anyone watching, it might look like a simple exchange an Alpha and his mate finding solace after chaos. But I knew better.It was a pause. A breath before the storm.I turned from the window, teeth gritting. That brief moment of calm was dangerous. It lulled people into thinking the threat had passed, when in truth, the real enemy was only now revealing its claws.The trial had exposed fractures in the pack, suspicions simmering just beneath the surface. And while Marcus had defended Zara with fire in his voice, it only made her a brighter target. Whoever was playing this game wanted her gone.

Marcus’s POVI woke to an emptiness that unsettled me.The sheets beside me were cold. Zara’s scent lingered faintly, but she wasn’t in the chamber. I sat up fast, every instinct sharpening. She never wandered at night, not without telling me.Something in my chest tightened.I threw on a tunic and strapped my blade to my side before leaving the room. The fortress was stirring with dawn, guards changing posts, servants lighting braziers. Yet beneath the usual rhythm, there was an edge. A tension in the air.Like a bowstring drawn too tight.By the time I reached the council wing, whispers were already moving through the halls. I caught fragments as I passed.“she’ll slip today”“Andre says the truth will finally come out”“Marcus won’t be able to deny it when he sees”Their voices dropped when I entered. But I’d heard enough.They weren’t speaking about the war. They were speaking about her.Zara.Andre and Nicholas were waiting at the war table when I entered the chamber. Both stood

Marcus’s POVHer body crumpled into the dirt, and for one breathless heartbeat, I swore the world stopped turning.Zara lay at the circle’s edge, wolf form half-shifted, silver fur streaked with blood and ash. The moon’s light still burned faintly against her skin, pulsing like a brand, as if deciding whether she lived or died.“Zara!” My voice ripped through the night, raw, unrestrained. I surged forward, but the barrier flared, throwing me back with a force that rattled my bones.The circle still held.I couldn’t reach her.“Let me in!” I roared, claws half-sprung, fury igniting every nerve.Andre stepped closer, his smirk sharpened into victory. “You saw it, Marcus. We all did. The moon has judged her.”My chest heaved. “The moon hasn’t finished.”He tilted his head, his voice smooth and poisonous. “No. But it has shown enough. She hides chains. She hides scars. She isn’t one of us.”The crowd murmured, shifting like restless wolves scenting blood. Some nodded, others shook their h