Semua Bab The Alpha’s Unbroken Mate: Bab 41 - Bab 50

The fire from the trial still clung to me. I felt it in my skin, in the ache of my burned palm, in the restless beat of my heart. But worse than that I felt it in their eyes. The pack’s eyes. Even after Kaelen yielded, even after Lucian wrapped me in his cloak and pulled me away, I felt the weight of their suspicion pressing down like a second cuff.And yet, nothing prepared me for what came next.That night, the fortress tried to settle into uneasy silence. Snow pressed against the windows, muting the world outside. The torches in the hallways burned lower than usual, as if the flames themselves were afraid of drawing notice.I sat by the small fire in our chamber, cloak wrapped tight around me. Lucian had gone to speak with the elders again, his temper threatening to snap their brittle patience. Mirek had taken the watch at my door, his presence both guard and warning.I should have felt safer. I didn’t.The cuff on my wrist throbbed with a strange pulse. It was more than pain. It w

The halls smelled of iron.No matter how much water the servants carried or how much snow was shoveled into the cracks of stone, blood had seeped deep. My blood, his blood it didn’t matter. The fortress was tainted now, the walls holding whispers that wouldn’t fade.They had tried to kill me.Not shadows, not enemies breaching from the forest. My own pack. A wolf who had trained beside Lucian, shared hunts, sung at the fires. A wolf who had looked at me once with respect.Now I was prey.Lucian had not left my side since. His fury burned hotter than any fire I’d ever conjured. He moved like a blade honed to kill, sharp and merciless. Every command he gave the guards carried iron in it. The pack obeyed, but their eyes betrayed them. Suspicion had dug itself deeper than any Alpha’s order could bury.And Mirek—Mirek watched me. Always.Not like Lucian, who looked at me as if my heart was his to shield. No, Mirek’s gaze was different. Weighed. Judging. Like he was measuring me against a t

The moon had always been our anchor.Her glow steadied the wolves, her rhythm set our hunts, her silence watched over our wars. But when I stood beneath her pale light that night, something felt wrong. The sky was too heavy, the stars too sharp, the air itself humming like a bowstring drawn taut.The Blood Eclipse was coming.I had read of it in fragments half-burned scrolls from my Harbinger lineage, whispers from elders too frightened to speak aloud. A rare alignment when shadow swallowed light, when the moon bled red as though wounded, and the balance of power tipped. For one night, the Shadow Alpha’s strength would rise to its peak. And now, for the first time in centuries, it loomed above us.Lucian stood beside me on the ramparts, cloak whipping in the bitter wind. His hand brushed mine, grounding me though his jaw was tight. “The seers confirm it,” he said. “In three nights the moon will fall red. Every shadow he commands will rise with it.”Three nights.My chest tightened. Th

The gates did not open quickly.When Lucian banged his fist against the ironwood doors, the sentries hesitated. I heard their voices muffled through the stone. A pause too long. Fear made them slow.When the hinges groaned at last, I felt the weight of eyes upon us. Wolves crowded the courtyard, warriors, elders, the council—all drawn by the scent of blood, by the emptiness at our flanks. Twelve had left. Two returned.“Where are the others?” someone demanded.“Where’s Jarek?” another cried.The questions hit like stones. I couldn’t lift my head. Lucian’s arm was a steel band around me, holding me upright, carrying me more than I walked. His eyes burned like a storm as he shoved past them.“Out of the way,” he growled, voice shaking the air.But whispers followed. Whispers that cut.“It’s her. She drew them in.”“She’s the reason they’re gone.”“She came back alone.”Their fear clung to me like chains. My mark throbbed in answer, dark veins reaching further across my wrist. I curled m

Lucian didn’t let me go until dawn.All through the night he held me against him as if I would vanish again if he loosened his grip. His heartbeat thundered in my ears, steady yet strained, and every time I drifted toward sleep, the faint echo of the Shadow’s laughter jolted me awake.By morning, I thought the worst had passed. I was wrong.When the first pale light seeped through the shutters, Lucian brushed damp hair from my face. His thumb stilled halfway across my cheek.“Serena,” he whispered, voice jagged.My chest tightened. “What?”His gaze flicked to my eyes.I stumbled to the mirror.The glass did not show the same woman who had stared back yesterday. My irises still glowed faint silver as they always had Harbinger’s mark but now dark veins spread from the edges like cracks in ice. Faint, but pulsing, alive. And when I leaned closer, the pupils bled faint threads of red.I staggered back. “NoLucian caught me, crushing me against his chest. “Don’t. Don’t say what you’re thin