Semua Bab The Cursed Alpha’s Second Chance Mate : Bab 51 - Bab 57

Rhea’s POV“Well, that is entirely on you.”The words left my mouth before I could soften them, and for a moment I almost wished I had, because Alpha Malric’s gaze shifted in that subtle way it did when something struck closer than intended.“On me,” he repeated, slow and deliberate.“Yes, on you,” I insisted, pushing myself up from the stone path where I had been sitting. My dress was already damp from the garden mist, my hair a mess from the infirmary air, but I no longer cared about appearances. “You choose to walk around with that expression. No one carved it into your face.”“And what expression would that be,” he asked coolly.“The one that looks like the world personally offended you and you have not forgiven it.”His jaw tightened faintly. “You assume much.”“I observe much.”I stepped forward and bumped my shoulder lightly into his chest.He did not move.“Rhea,” he warned.“What.”“Stop.”Instead of stopping, I did it again, more deliberately this time. Not hard enough to be

Alpha Malric’s POV“Theon?” I repeated, my voice lowering instinctively as the name settled between us like something foul. She was shaking, and not from the cold. I had felt bodies tremble before, warriors before battle, subordinates awaiting judgment, but this was different. This was not fear of the present. This was fear resurrected. Her breath turned uneven, thin, scraping out of her lungs as though each inhale had to fight its way through memory.“I don’t know where to start,” she whispered, her fingers curling into the soaked fabric of my shirt. “After I leave… what next? I can’t go back to him. I can’t.” Her voice cracked violently. “And my daughter. What if he isn’t taking care of her? What if she needs me right now and I’m not there?”The way she said that nearly undid me, like a punch to my gut because I knew I was partially responsible for keeping her here. Sure I knew her daughter was down with an uncommon sickness, but witnessing it now first hand at its early stage? I c

Rhea’s POVThe cold didn’t bother me half as much as the silence between us.My confession still clung to my skin like the rainwater soaking through my dress. Every word I had said in the garden felt exposed now, hovering somewhere between Alpha Malric and me, raw and unfiltered. I had admitted I chased luxury. That I chose survival over dignity. That I saw Theon as a doorway instead of a man. Even though Alpha Malric had not judged me, even though he had called it bravery, the shame had not vanished. It simply settled quieter, heavier.Lyria walked ahead of us, her stride brisk, but I could tell she was listening. She had seen us standing too close in the garden. She had noticed the tension. Lyria missed very little.“You both look like you tried to drown each other,” she muttered, glancing back at us as we turned into the stone corridor leading to the holding wing. “Should I be concerned?”“I’m fine,” I answered too quickly.Alpha Malric’s voice followed, lower, smoother. “Focus on

Rhea’s POV “It means,” Eryx said evenly, “that the transformation is not gentle. It will demand her entire system. Her organs, her wolf, her bloodline. If her physical strength does not match the spiritual escalation, it will rupture her from within.” Alpha Malric moved so fast I barely registered it. His hand closed around Eryx’s throat, forcing him back against the iron restraint. The chains rattled violently. “You will choose your words carefully,” Alpha Malric said, his voice low and lethal. Eryx did not retract the statement. “The choice is hers. I will not lie to secure her cooperation.” My body felt split down the center. Terror coiled in my stomach, thick and suffocating. At the same time, something inside me burned brighter. Freye’s face appeared in my mind again, not fragile this time, but laughing and alive. I inhaled slowly, trying to steady the shaking in my hands. My palms were damp. My heart would not slow. “If I do this,” I asked, forcing the words through trem