All Chapters of Alpha Asher's Forbidden Mate: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

The silver shackles bite so deeply into my wrists that I swear I can feel the metal scraping bone. Every step drags sparks of pain up my arms, each one a reminder that I’m not walking—I’m being hauled. Two guards on either side keep a crushing grip on my elbows, as if I might suddenly unleash darkness and tear them limb from limb.Maybe I could.Maybe that’s exactly why they’re afraid.The council hall rises ahead—tall, carved stone archways, banners swaying, torches crackling. Usually, this chamber is cold. Today, it feels like the executioner’s throat.The guards shove me forward. My knees hit the stone floor hard.I barely lift my head before I hear a roar shake the walls.“Get your hands off her!”Riven.He storms into the chamber like a thunderclap. His eyes burn molten gold, his shoulders trembling with the first shudder of a shift. The guards falter, but Damien steps forward with a smirk sharp enough to cut.“She’s a traitor, brother,” Damien says. “Don’t embarrass yourself.”R

The chamber doors slam shut behind me, sealing in the scent of old stone, smoke, and judgment. The council circles me like vultures dressed in ceremonial robes, their eyes gleaming with something far hungrier than truth.I stand in the center of the arena—bare-footed, silver still biting into my wrists, though they’ve removed the shackles themselves to place me in the trial ring.My skin tingles with heat before a single flame even appears.The Blood Flames know I’m here.Riven tries to push forward, a snarl ripping from him, but two enforcers block his path. “She’s mine—” he starts.“Silence, Alpha,” Councilor Rhys snaps. “If you interfere, the punishment will be extended to you.”Riven’s eyes burn gold, wolf surfacing, fury barely leashed.Damien stands near him, arms folded, expression carved from ice. But his gaze keeps sliding toward me—calculating, waiting.Waiting for me to burn.Councilor Therin lifts the ancient brazier, its black metal etched with runes older than any pack.

The air in the council chamber thickened, heavy with tension, my heart hammering like a drum in a war march. Damien’s smirk gleamed in the dim torchlight, a predator savoring its prey. His hand rose slowly, deliberately, and a chilling ripple swept through the guards—half of them dropped to their knees in obedient submission.My chest constricted. No… this can’t be happening. I gripped the silver shackles biting into my wrists, but they did nothing to restrain the fury that bubbled in me. Riven’s presence was beside me, tall and menacing, the alpha’s aura rippling like a storm about to break. His eyes, dark as midnight, locked on Damien, and every muscle in his body tensed. I felt the air between them thicken, dangerous and combustible, like lightning waiting for a spark.“Is this… loyalty?” Damien’s voice cut through the murmurs of the kneeling guards, silk-smooth yet lethal, carrying an arrogance I had come to know too well. “Or fear?”Riven’s growl vibrated through the floor beneat

The corridors are on fire.Smoke coils through the narrow passages of the council hall as Kael drags me forward, his grip tight around my wrist. Behind us, the chamber erupts into full-scale war—wolves shifting, claws raking stone, steel clashing with steel. Damien’s rebels flood the council floor, and Riven’s loyalists fight tooth and fang to hold the line.But the only thing I can hear is Riven’s voice shouting my name.I force myself not to look back.My lungs burn as Kael pulls me through a collapsing archway. Flames lick the walls, spreading faster than any natural fire—this blaze is fed by Shadowfang magic, and the heat pulses like a living thing.“Keep low,” Kael growls, shoving me beneath a drifting sheet of smoke. His body shields mine as embers rain down like sparks from a forge. “Damien’s men are everywhere. He wants you alive, but not unharmed.”“Why?” My voice cracks. “What does he gain by burning down his own pack?”Kael doesn’t slow. “Chaos crowns tyrants.”The roar of

Kael’s blood is everywhere.It slicks the stone floor beneath us, hot and metallic, the scent clawing at my senses as if begging me to lose control. His breathing is ragged—wet. Too shallow. Too fast. My shadows still coil around the wound in his side, but they are frantic, trembling like wild things pulled taut on a leash.“Aria…” Kael gasps, voice cracking. “Let me go. You have to run.”“No,” I choke out. “I’m not leaving you.”He tries to push himself up, but pain snaps him back down. His hand grips my arm—weak, shaking, but still Kael. Still the guardian who has shielded me since the night I was marked. Still the male who would die before watching me fall.“I can’t protect you like this,” he whispers. “I can’t—”“You already did. Now let me protect you.”I press my palm to the wound and push my power deeper.The shadows jerk violently.Kael arches with a sharp cry as they snake further inside him, drinking greedily. His pulse stutters. His skin pales.No. No. No.I attempt to pull