The Bane And The Alpha Beast의 모든 챕터: 챕터 11 - 챕터 20

EliraThe road home unspooled beneath the carriage like a dark ribbon, damp with shadow and the memory of rain. Every jolt sang up through my bones. I tucked my nose into the wool and breathed the faint mix of sun-warm lanolin and Caelan’s scent where it had clung—cedar, steel, the cold of high air. My wolf hummed under my skin, uneasy, wanting to stay, wanting to go, every instinct braided tight.No one spoke.Ven jumped down first when we reached the inner yard. He heaved the unconscious rogue onto his shoulder with bored efficiency and handed him to two guards who were already running, the iron-bar door to the holding post yawning open. Caelan stayed seated for a breath, hands fixed on the reins though the horses stood still, steam lifting from their flanks into the winter evening.Then he moved—quiet, contained. He came around to the back and held out the blanket like a curtain so I could shift without eyes on me, his gaze respectfully averted to the stone. Bones slotted and smoot

EliraMorning arrived like a hand on my hair, smoothing the stray pieces into place.I woke warm, heavy-limbed, and briefly disoriented by the simple, radical fact that I had slept. Not drifted and startled and counted breaths until the sky went pale—slept. The door stood ajar the width of a coin, exactly as he’d left it. A ribbon of lamplight had burned there through the night and gone out at dawn. In its place came the day: the low murmur of voices, the thud of wood in the great hearth, the scent of bread and ash and something bright as sliced apple.My wolf lifted her head, yawned, and tucked her nose back under her tail. No threat. Just the Keep breathing.I dressed in the soft clothes Mirra had set by the fire last night and braided my damp hair back from my face. My body felt strangely foreign without the ache of vigilance pressing at the edges; lighter and sore in the way of muscles that had finally been allowed to unclench. When I stepped into the corridor, morning light ran a

CaelanTwo days of quiet. That was all the gods were willing to give him.The sun was still dragging its way up over the pines when the mental link hit—sharp, urgent, tasting of cold air and horse sweat.“Alpha—five riders. Crest of the Silver Moot. Council banners.”Caelan’s hand stilled over the stack of reports. A bead of ink trembled at the tip of his pen, then fell like a drop of blood across the page. He exhaled slowly through his nose.Of course.He rose, crossing to the window. The courtyard below was silvered with frost, men already training in the pale light. Their movements were precise, disciplined—his pack strong, unified, thriving. Exactly the picture the Council liked to paint of him in their ledgers.Exactly the thing they’d try to preserve—by cutting out what they didn’t understand.Elira.He reached for the link again. “Distance?”“Half a league. They’ll reach the gates before noon.”“Hold position. No aggression.”He severed the thread and let silence flood back in.

CaelanThe morning smelled wrong.Too clean. Too still.He felt it before he knew it—the kind of absence that hummed in the bones rather than the air. The Keep had always carried its own rhythm: footsteps, laughter, the scrape of chairs, the faint drift of herbs from the healer’s wing. Today, it was hollow. The quiet had edges.He’d been awake since dawn, pacing the map room, trying to convince himself the unease clawing his chest was just Council residue. When Mirra appeared in the doorway, apron askew, her eyes gave it away before she spoke.“She’s gone.”The words hit harder than a blow.“What?”“Her bed’s cold. Clothes gone. Door unlocked from inside.” Mirra swallowed. “No one saw her leave.”Caelan was already moving. The corridor blurred around him—the smell of wood smoke and old stone smearing into a single, indistinct smear. He took the stairs two at a time, his wolf thrashing beneath his skin.Elira’s chamber was bright with morning light. Too bright. The fire had burned to a

EliraWarmth.Not imagined warmth—not the hallucination of it. Not the desperate lie of heat when your bones are cracking with cold. No… this was real. Heavy. Scented with smoke and earth and something—Meat?My eyes fluttered open. The light stung, even dim as it was—just a flickering fire low in a stone hearth. My body throbbed like it had been put through a grinder and stitched back together by drunk hands. My vision swam. But I was no longer lying in frozen dirt. I was wrapped in a thick, worn blanket. Beneath me, a pallet of straw. Coarse, yes—but dry.Alive.I sat up slowly, a sharp cry ripping from my throat as pain screamed through every limb. My ribs ached. My legs were useless. My stomach twisted with a hollowness I couldn’t describe. How many days had it been?The cabin was small. No windows. Just a single wooden door and a slanted ceiling. A rusted pot hung over the fire. Whatever was inside it bubbled softly, scenting the air with herbs and meat.I tried to piece it toget