บททั้งหมดของ THE SUBSTITUTE MATE FOR THE ALPHA KING: บทที่ 41 - บทที่ 50

The word hit me with the force of a physical blow. Mother.The elderly caretaker—Renejay’s mother—didn’t deny it. She merely gave a slight, acknowledging nod, her eyes never leaving mine. The web of deception was vaster, more intricate, and more horrifying than I could have ever conceived. This wasn’t just a plot against Kairi or a simple vendetta. This was a generational scheme.The kindly old woman who had offered me comfort, who had slipped me the note, who had killed Riri to save me—it had all been a performance. A calculated move to maneuver me into position. She hadn’t been a fellow victim of Gideon’s; she was the architect working from the shadows, and her son was the weapon.Renejay stepped fully into the firelight, his presence sucking the warmth from the air. He looked down at me, at the dawning horror on my face, and his smile was a predator’s grin.“Did you think I recruited you out of the goodness of my heart?” he asked, his voice a low taunt. “You were a key component of

The name on the parchment seemed to burn itself into my vision: Beta Kelra. The man who had tried to help me. The man who had risked his position, and likely his life, to plead my case to Kairi. The one thread of decency left in the rotting tapestry of the Cresendo Pack.And they wanted me to mark him for death.The cold, heavy weight of the parchment in my hand felt like a leaden sin. This was the true test. Renejay and his mother weren’t just offering me vengeance; they were demanding I bathe in innocent blood to prove my loyalty. They wanted to sever my last connection to the person I used to be, to ensure I was as irredeemable as they were.I looked up from the list to meet the cold, expectant gaze of Renejay’s mother. Her expression was unreadable, but I saw the challenge in her eyes. This is the price of your power. Pay it.My mind raced. If I refused, I would be proving myself useless, a sentimental liability to be disposed of. Elisse and I would not leave this fortress alive. I

The sight of the real Princess Bianca standing there, pale but resolute, sent a seismic shock through the gathering. The collective gasp from the pack was like a sudden wind. The impostor—my impostor—staggered back, her face a mask of sheer, unadulterated terror. Kairi stared, his jaw slack, his Alpha composure shattered for the second time in minutes. The foundation of his entire world was crumbling live in front of his pack.For a glorious, heart-stopping moment, I thought we had won. The truth was here. It was undeniable.But I had underestimated Kairi’s capacity for denial, his desperate need to control the narrative.His shock morphed into a rage so profound it seemed to warp the air around him. His eyes, wild and unfocused, swept from the real Bianca to me, and in his twisted logic, I was the architect of this humiliation. I had brought this plague of truth upon him.“This is your doing!” he roared, the sound raw and inhuman. All pretense of a dignified Alpha was gone; this was

The young technician’s plea sliced through my lethal calm like a shard of glass. Children. Trainees. The words were a bucket of ice water dumped on the cold fire of my vengeance.My finger froze on the detonator. The focused killer Renejay had forged vanished, and in her place was a mother. A mother who knew what it was to have her child used as a pawn, to live in terror for her safety.I saw them then, not as faceless enemies, but as kids. Young wolves, eager to prove themselves, stuck on a night shift, completely unaware they were about to become collateral damage in my war.The image of Elisse, alone and frightened, superimposed itself over the terrified face of the girl on the tower. What if it were her up there? What if she were just “doing her job” and someone decided her death was an acceptable price for victory?I couldn’t do it.The cold certainty that had driven me here shattered. This wasn’t strength. This was monstrosity. This was becoming the very thing I hated.“Abort,”

The silence in the cell was thicker than the darkness. Kairi’s words hung between us, a confession I had waited a lifetime to hear. The real Bianca confirmed everything. The vindication should have been a balm, a flood of relief. But the look in his eyes—that pained, uncertain, conflicted look—stopped it cold. It wasn’t the look of a man seeking forgiveness. It was the look of a strategist reassessing a valuable, damaged asset.The hope that had flickered for a single, foolish second died a quick, cold death.“Did she?” I said, my voice flat, devoid of emotion. I didn’t move from my spot on the floor. “And what does that change, Alpha? Does it change the exile? The condemnation? The fact that you tried to kill me in front of the entire pack?”He flinched, just slightly, at the reminder. A flicker of genuine shame crossed his features, but it was quickly schooled into a mask of weary authority. “The situation was… volatile. I acted to maintain control.”“You acted to save face,” I corr