All Chapters of Marked by the Ruthless Alpha: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Jackson. I didn’t leave right away.After Aliya disappeared up the staircase, clutching the train of her wedding dress like she was holding onto the last thread keeping her upright, I stayed standing in the foyer. The silence of the house pressed in around me, thick and accusing.The Alpha had abandoned his own wedding.And the Luna, our Luna had just walked up those stairs with tears she tried and failed to hide.I dragged a hand through my hair and exhaled slowly, shaking my head at the mess of it all. Kai was spiraling. I had seen the signs for weeks, but today, today he had crossed a line even I had never imagined he’d cross.And the way Aliya had looked at me in the car hurt, betrayed, embarrassed something twisted so violently in my chest I had to grit my teeth to steady myself.I turned away from the stairs, intending to leave, give her space, give myself room to think. But halfway to the door, I stopped.A strange prickling sensation crawled up my spine, hot and electric.My

Jackson By the time midnight crept over the pack lands, everyone had settled into the heavy silence that came after a chaotic day. The wedding. The whispers. Aliya’s tears. Kai losing control.It all churned in my head like a storm refusing to rest.I paced the length of my living room, running a hand over my face again and again, trying to push down the restless energy clawing inside me.My wolf kept whispering the same thing.Our mate needs us.Find her. Protect her.My fingers dug into my scalp.“No,” I growled under my breath. “Not tonight. Not ever.”But resisting the pull felt like resisting gravity.Eventually, I grabbed my jacket.If I stayed here, I was going to break. And if I broke, I’d go to her.And if I went to her, The bond would expose everything.So instead, I took the one path I always went to when the suppressants weren’t enough.The forest.The deeper I walked, the colder the air became. The trees grew older, taller, stretching their branches over the narrow trail

KaiThe air hits me before I even step inside. Cool, crisp, the kind that carries clarity and tension in equal measure. But it doesn’t matter. I barely notice it. Nothing matters except that I have to get back inside the house, and God, I hope I don’t run into her.I do, Of course I do.She’s sitting on the patio, book in hand, looking fragile. Small. So impossibly small that my chest tightens, and I realize too late that I can’t look away. Her hair is tied up, strands falling loose around her face, and she’s leaning over the book as if it could shield her from me. From me.I should turn around. I should leave. I should disappear into my office or my room or the forest, anywhere but here. But my feet, my fucking feet don’t obey. They move on their own, carrying me toward her.And then I see it.The bruise.Purple, blue, and angry against her pale skin, peeking from beneath the sleeve of her sweater. My chest tightens until it feels like I can’t breathe. The exact imprint of my hand. M

Aliya. The house is too quiet.I don’t know when silence became something that made my skin crawl, but today it presses on me like weight. Heavy. Suffocating. Every sound I make feels too loud. Every breath feels borrowed.Kai hasn’t spoken to me, not since he walked past me outside this morning. Not a glance. Not a word. Not even a flicker of acknowledgment.Fine.Maybe that’s how this marriage will be distance, thick walls, and silence.I’m heading toward the kitchen to get a glass of water when the front door opens without a knock. A gust of perfume floods in first sweet, expensive, unmistakable. Then I hear the familiar click of stilettos on the wooden floor.Nelima she is here. Of course.She looks perfect even this early, dressed in a tight emerald dress that hugs every curve. Her hair is styled, makeup flawless. She walks like she owns the place, chin high, expression smug.And then her eyes land on me.That smugness turns sharp.“Oh,” she says with a little laugh that’s any

Alpha KaiI don’t remember walking into the house.One moment Nelima’s perfume was fading behind her as she stormed down the steps like the whole world had betrayed her, and the next, I was standing in the foyer of my home, staring at the empty space she left behind, feeling nothing but the suffocating weight of my own mistakes.I swipe a hand down my face, the exhaustion in my bones turning heavy, almost metallic. The house is quiet, too quiet. No steps, no voices, no heartbeat except the steady, fragile rhythm upstairs that doesn’t belong to a wolf, Aliya. Every time I say her name in my head, something inside me twists, something I don’t understand and don’t want to understand.I replay the moment I saw her bruises. Every second of it is carved into my memory like a brand I can’t scrape off.Her arm.Her soft human skin, marked because I lost control. Because I reached for her too fast. Too hard. Too angry.My chest tightens painfully, and I grip the railing of the staircase until