All Chapters of The Alpha’s Betrayed Mate: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Damon’s POVI ran until my legs forgot how to listen.The forest blurred past with trunks and whipping branches, mud splattering my boots, cold biting into my ribs.My wolf inside me was raw and hungry, searching for Aria’s scent, which was clear and complex but then disappeared. Every empty breath felt like a lie.“Aria!” I shouted into the trees, my voice raw. It came back to me thin and useless. “Aria!”My throat closed, and I slowed as my lungs protested, recalling I was not alone.I dropped to my knees in roots and leaves, palms pressed into earth that had seen many fights and births.It felt obscene to kneel on anything that wasn’t her.She’s out there. Of course she’s out there. She’s stubborn as a storm, Aria is. Quiet like moonlight and deadly when she needs to be.I tasted blood on my lips, realising I’d bitten them. The hunger...the wolf...was different; it was an ache in the shape of her name.“Damon.” My beta, Rowan, came up behind me, breath ragged, anger sharp in the se

Damon’s POVThe world around me fades into silence, the scent of blood and smoke dissolving into something softer...her scent. Wild jasmine, rain after a storm. It pulls me through the darkness until I find myself standing in a field bathed in silver light. The grass glows faintly, bending beneath an unseen breeze. The moon hangs impossibly large above me, watching, waiting.Then I hear her.“Damon.”Her voice trembles through the night, breaking me open from the inside. I turn, searching for her, my heart pounding. “Aria?” My voice comes out hoarse, desperate. “Where are you?”She doesn’t appear, but I can feel her...her heartbeat, her warmth, the echo of our bond burning faintly under my skin. My wolf, Kael, growls low in my chest.“She’s in pain,” Kael says, his tone raw. “We should be with her.”“I know,” I whisper. “But this isn’t real. We’re dreaming.”The air shifts, heavy and cool. A soft glow gathers before me, forming into a woman draped in flowing silver. Her eyes hold gala

Aria’s POVI still feel the heat under my palms, the floor trembling before the roof caved. Smoke tastes like old promises. I run with Hope pressed to my chest, her hair smelling of ash and moonflowers, and each step feels like leaving pieces of myself behind.“It’s all right, baby,” I whisper, as words steady us both. Hope buries her face in my neck and makes a noise...half-breath, half-laugh...like she doesn’t see the danger. She never does. She only knows the warmth of my arms and my heartbeat’s rhythm.We reach the road and I stop, leaning against a stone wall to let the world spin. I look at Hope, whose pale eyes catch strangers' glances, glinting even asleep. I run my thumb along her cheek, silently promising to keep her hidden.A stranger calls from across the lane. “You okay, miss?” His voice is like reaching through fog. I look up. He’s rough-handed, in a thin coat. In another life, I might lie. Tonight I say, “We’re fine. Thank you.” My voice is raw; my words small.We walk

Aria’s POVHe didn't answer me at once. His jaw worked like a pulley's rope, steady and slow. Then he said, in a voice like gravel warmed by sunlight, "You won't die. Not if I can help it.""That's easy for you to say," I snapped, though the sound of my own voice surprised me with how small it came out. I clung to my defiance like a lifeline. "You broke the bond. You walked away. You left me vulnerable...""I broke it to keep you safe," Damon cut in, his hand a solid, terrifying thing on my wrist. His grip was not the owner's grip Zac had used; it wasn't shackling. It was an anchor. "Do you think I slept? Do you think I stopped thinking of you all night? You think I abandoned you for pride? No. I chose a different kind of hurt.""You chose for me," I said, the words sharp and real. "You decided what was best without asking me. You decided I couldn't handle the heat, and so you stepped between me and the world. You made a choice that cost me my voice."He flinched as if my accusation h

Aria’s POVThe night air was colder than usual, thick with the scent of smoke and fear. From the balcony of the Alpha’s chambers, I could see the torches flickering along the eastern field where Damon’s warriors stood, a sea of black armor gleaming under the pale moonlight. My heart pounded so hard it hurt.He was out there.Damon.My mate.My anchor.My everything.And somewhere beyond those trees stood the ghost of the man I thought I’d buried forever ... Zac.Even saying his name in my mind felt like a curse.The whisper of the wind brushed against my skin, carrying the faint echo of howls from afar. Every muscle in my body trembled, not from fear, but from something deeper… a pull I didn’t understand. My hands clutched the edge of the railing as I tried to steady my breath.“Luna,” a voice called softly from behind me.I turned to see Mara, one of the she-wolves assigned to my protection, standing in the doorway. Her dark curls were damp with sweat, and her amber eyes shimmered wi