Semua Bab Marked by the Ruthless Alpha: Bab 31 - Bab 40

AliyaThe silence in the villa feels different once Kai steps out the front door. He said he had only be gone a few minutes just picking up supplies, he had murmured his hand brushing my arm in a way that felt almost tender. Confusing. Everything about him is confusing.When the door clicks shut behind him, the ocean breeze slips into the villa through the half open balcony doors. It smells like salt, sunscreen, and a freedom I keep pretending I don’t crave.I’m still standing in the middle of the room, arms crossed, staring at the king sized bed that feels too big, too intimate, too *real*. I’m sharing a room with him. Kai. My husband. An Alpha. A man I barely understand. A man I can’t seem to stop hoping will love me back someday, even when I should know better.I drag my suitcase to the corner and unzip it, needing something, anything to focus on.I’m folding a dress when the door behind me clicks.My heart leaps.“Kai?” I call out, turning already rehearsing a polite smile, someth

Jackson. I shouldn’t have been packing.I shouldn’t have been touching the zipper of my bag, folding my clothes like I was really leaving, like I was really going to walk away from her. But Kai was right something was off. And I knew myself enough to know that if I stayed, I would break every rule my mother made me swear on.I would break every rule I made for myself.So I packed.The sun was already setting beyond the ocean, bleeding through the villa windows in soft golds and angry reds colors that felt far too accurate for the storm inside me. I shoved another shirt into the bag, forcing the zipper closed, when I sensed her. Her scent.Gentle. Warm. Human.And so painfully familiar that my wolf pushed against my ribs like it wanted to claw its way out.I turned around and there she was. Aliya stood in the doorway to the guest room, hugging her elbows like she was bracing herself for impact. Her eyes were swollen from confusion, exhaustion, maybe even from crying. I hated that I

Aliya.“Aliya?”His voice rolled over me familiar, raw, trembling in a way I had never heard from him before. Jackson never trembled. He never faltered. But right now, there was something in his tone that made my chest tighten until I could barely breathe.Slowly, I turned.He stood a few feet away, half shadowed beneath the trees, snow clinging to his boots and the shoulders of his jacket. He must have chased after me the moment I ran. His breath fogged in the cold air, his jaw tight enough to crack stone. His eyes storm gray, turbulent locked onto mine with a force that nearly buckled my knees again.My wolf surged forward in excitement, her voice ringing inside my skull.Mate! Ours. Ours.My fingers dug into my knees to keep myself grounded.Jackson’s gaze swept over me, my trembling, my uneven breathing, the panic no doubt etched across my face. He took a step forward, hesitation in every movement.“Are you hurt?” he asked quietly, voice low enough that it vibrated in my bones. “A

Aliya"Jackson, my wolf just came to me.”My voice trembles, and I hate that it does. It makes everything feel too real, too heavy, too alive.Jackson looks at me, his face cold “And?” he asks, his voice rough but sti soft. I swallow, my pulse thundering. “She said you were telling the truth. You really are my mate. It's all she has been screaming at me.”The words float between us like sparks, and for a moment, I swear I can feel the bond between us pulling, stretching, alive and hungry.Jackson doesn’t move. He doesn’t even breathe.His eyes lift to mine, and I have never seen someone look at me the way he does as if I’m something he has been dying for, something he has been starving for, something he has been fighting himself not to reach out and touch.“Aliya” he whispers, and then something happens.His eyes flicker, gold, then dark, then too bright, then too wrong.I step back, my heart jerking. “Jackson?”He inhales sharply and suddenly bends forward, bracing himself against

AliyaThe moment I handed Jackson the vial, the fragile calm he had managed to cling to began unraveling like a thread in a storm.I barely had time to catch my own breath before his entire body convulsed violently. The suppressant had slowed the surge, yes, but it wasn’t enough. Not when his hybrid nature, his wolf, and his magic were all screaming all at once.He fell to his knees, eyes clamping shut, teeth gritting, as the energy around him shimmered violently. The air seemed to warp. Sparks of silver light flickered across the walls, crackling like miniature lightning storms. My chest tightened, my heart hammering, my wolf howling in my mind with panic and longing.“Jackson!” I cried, dropping beside him, my hands reaching out instinctively. “You have to hold on! Listen to me!”He let out a strangled growl, his head jerking violently to the side, hisbhair bristling, and claws, his claws snagged on the floorboards. I froze, my stomach dropping. One wrong move and he could shred ev