THE SUBSTITUTE MATE FOR THE ALPHA KING のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 51 - チャプター 60

The lockpick was cold and slender against my fingertips, a tiny shard of defiant potential hidden in the coarse fabric of the trousers. It wasn’t a mistake. It was a message. From Kelra.He knew. He knew Kairi’s offer was a sham, a manipulation. He was giving me a chance, however small, to make my own move. The gesture was a lifeline in a sea of betrayal, and I clung to it.I finished dressing, the dark, form-fitting gear making me feel like a stranger to myself. An operative. A weapon. I tucked the lockpick securely into a seam I could easily reach.The cell door opened. Kelra and the two operatives stood there. The operatives were like statues, their faces impassive, their eyes assessing me with cold professionalism. They saw a tool, an asset to be utilized and discarded. Kelra’s gaze was more complex—a mix of duty, regret, and that flicker of unspoken warning.“Let’s go,” one of the operatives, a woman with a severe haircut and a scar above her brow, said. Her name was Lyra, I woul

Kelra’s words were a final, brutal nail in the coffin of any foolish hope I might have harbored. Execution on sight. Kairi hadn’t just abandoned me; he had actively condemned me. He’d twisted my failed mission, a mission he’d forced me on, into a pretext for my murder. Lyra and Vorlik were dead, and he was using their bodies as a stepping stone to eliminate me.The cold of the night air seeped into my bones, but it was nothing compared to the ice forming around my heart.My hand instinctively went to the file hidden beneath my tunic. Kelra’s eyes followed the movement.“That’s it, isn’t it?” he said, his voice low. “The thing that started all of this.”I didn’t answer. I just stared at him, every muscle tensed, ready to fight, to run, to do anything to protect Elisse.To my shock, Kelra slowly sheathed his sword. He held up his empty hands in a gesture of peace. “I’m not here to take you back, Sze.”The statement was so unexpected it took a moment to process. “What?”“I heard the orde

The darkness of the root cellar was absolute, a suffocating blanket that pressed in on all sides. It was thick with the cloying scent of damp earth, of rot and forgotten potatoes, a smell that clung to the back of the throat. I held Elisse so tightly against my chest I feared I might crush her, my hand a gentle but firm seal over her mouth. Her small body trembled against mine, a silent, terrified vibration that echoed the frantic, runaway hammering of my own heart. Every sense was heightened, stretched to a razor’s edge. I could hear the scuttle of a beetle in the far corner, the frantic rhythm of our shared breath, and the nightmare unfolding above.The world above our fragile sanctuary was a cacophony of violence. The splintering of wood, the heavy, thunderous stomp of booted feet, the guttural shouts of men who had long since traded their humanity for obedience.Then, a voice cut through the chaos, sharp and defiant. Bianca’s. “You dare lay hands on me?” she demanded, and I heard

The air in the clearing was a living thing, thick with the conflicting scents of pine smoke, sweat, and the metallic tang of blood. It crackled with a tension so palpable it felt like a physical weight on my skin. Kelra’s arrow remained drawn, the feathered fletching trembling ever so slightly, a taut line of defiance aimed unerringly at the center of Gideon’s chest. My own heart was a frantic, caged bird beating against my ribs, its rhythm a desperate counterpoint to the steady, hungry roar of the fire consuming the lodge behind me. Kelra’s nod was a lifeline thrown across a chasm of fear, a silent, urgent command to run. But my feet felt fused to the scorched earth. To move was to shatter the fragile, terrifying equilibrium. To become the target.Gideon’s taunt hung between us, a venomous challenge that seemed to slither through the air. Run. See how long their protection lasts.It was Renejay, predictably, whose brittle patience shattered the stalemate. “Enough of this tiresome po

The roar of the river grew from a distant murmur to a thunderous, all-consuming rush, matching the frantic, runaway pounding of my own blood. I ran, my lungs screaming for air that felt like shards of glass, my legs moving on pure, terrified instinct. Kairi’s last command—Don’t look back—was a mantra in my mind, a spell I had to obey. If I looked back and saw him fall, the last thread of my sanity would snap. Elisse’s life depended on my forward momentum.I burst through a final thicket of ferns onto a narrow, rocky bank. The river was a monster, a churning, foaming torrent of icy, black water, swollen with the memory of winter. It was both our only hope and a gaping maw of death.“Mama?” Elisse’s small voice was a terrified whisper against my damp skin. “Where are we going? Where’s… where’s the angry man?”The “angry man.” Her name for the father she barely knew. The grief that lanced through me was so sharp it stole my breath. “We’re going somewhere safe, my love,” I choked out, the