All Chapters of Alpha Asher's Forbidden Mate: Chapter 91 - Chapter 97

I froze.The shadows that had struck Riven moments ago trembled behind me, then slowly began to recede—sliding back across the frost-bitten earth as if retreating from something stronger than themselves.From someone.Kael stood at the edge of the clearing.For a second, relief surged through me.He was alive. He was here.Then he lifted his head.His eyes were glowing amber.Not the warm gold I had known since childhood. Not the steady loyalty that had anchored me through every storm.This was something else.Something is wrong.“Kael?” My voice broke on his name.He didn’t answer.Riven, still braced against the wooden barrier, stiffened. “Aria,” he said quietly. “Step away from him.”The shadows at my back flickered uncertainly, as if confused. They didn’t rise. They didn’t attack.They simply watched.Kael took a step forward.His movements were rigid. Mechanical. As though he were walking through invisible chains.“Why are you here?” I asked, forcing calm into my tone. “You were

“Now, the heir belongs to me.”Damien’s words didn’t echo.They settled.Heavy. Final.Something inside me cracked.Not fear.Not a weakness.Restraint.The ancient dagger in his hand pulsed in rhythm with my fading heartbeat. Riven’s arm tightened around me, his body a shield I could barely feel anymore.I was slipping.Not into unconsciousness.Into something deeper.“You don’t own me,” I whispered.Damien stepped closer. “You misunderstand. I don’t need to own you. I only need to awaken you.”The shadows at my feet trembled.Not because I summoned them.Because they heard him.I felt it then—the fracture in my control. The barrier I had spent my entire life building to keep the darkness contained.The healer’s fragment still burned faintly inside my chest. The dagger throbbed in my palm. Kael lay motionless. Riven’s pulse thundered against my back.And Damien smiled like he had already won.Something primal rose in my throat.Enough.I stopped fighting the drain.Stopped trying to

The vortex around me did not collapse. It quieted. Like a storm lowering its voice. The masked stranger stood untouched at the edge of the fractured clearing, silver and black cloak barely stirring despite the currents of power still twisting around my body. Damien had gone still, calculating again. Even he seemed unwilling to interrupt whatever was unfolding. “I knew your grandmother,” the stranger repeated. The words scraped across my ribs. My grandmother had strength carved into bone. She had raised me with stories of discipline and restraint, never fear. Never weakness. “She never feared the full moon,” I said, though the certainty in my voice faltered. The stranger tilted their head slightly. “No?” The shadows around me shifted uneasily. A memory surfaced—unbidden. My grandmother locked every door on the night of the Blood Moon. Her hands trembled only once, when she thought I wasn’t looking. The way she burned old letters in the hearth and refused to speak of our lin