All Chapters of Vying For The Alpha's Heart: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

The sun was climbing toward noon, the execution hour, but in the ventilation shafts above the main kitchen, it was dark, dusty, and extremely cramped."Stop wiggling," Kael whispered. His voice sounded rough in the tight space."I’m not wiggling," Lyra hissed back. "Your shoulder is in my ribcage. Move over, Statue.""There is nowhere to move," Kael stated factually. "This shaft was built for smoke, not for a Beta in full armor."They were wedged together in the narrow stone tunnel that looked out over the main courtyard. Below them, they could see the bamboo cage, Oreon sitting in the dirt, and the Paladins preparing torches.Behind them sat their weapon of mass distraction: six massive sacks of extra-fine pastry flour, rigged with a complex system of ropes and pulleys that Kael had engineered in ten minutes."Okay," Lyra breathed, trying to ignore the fact that Kael’s chest was pressed against her back. "When I cut the rope, the counterweight drops, the sacks tip, and the fans blow

The weirwood staff whistled through the air, aimed at Finn’s cowering head.Finn squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the crack of bone, waiting for the "Light" to end him.THWACK.The sound was loud and sickeningly solid. But it wasn't the sound of wood hitting a skull. It was the sound of wood hitting flesh and muscle.Finn opened his eyes.An arm was held out above him. A thick, muscular arm, tanned and scarred.Oreon stood there. He had caught the heavy staff in his bare hand, inches from Finn’s face. The force of the blow had surely bruised his palm, perhaps even cracked a bone, but the Alpha didn't flinch.Oreon’s eyes were locked on Miya. They weren't gold anymore. They were black pits of unforgiving judgment."Enough," Oreon whispered."Let go!" Miya shrieked as she tugged at the staff. She was frothing, her hair wild, with flour coating her face like a clown’s paint. "He is mine! He is my sin-eater! I have the right to break the vessel!""He is a boy," Oreon snarled. He rippe

The moon was a thin sliver of silver, offering barely enough light to see the tips of the pine trees surrounding Ashwood Castle.To most wolves, the night was quiet. To Untha, it was loud.Wind shifting north-northwest. Fourteen knots. Scent of woodsmoke from the barracks. Two guards on the outer wall, heartbeats slow… and bored. Third guard on patrol, limp in the left leg—old injury? No, stone in boot. Distracted.Untha crouched in the shadow of the ancient oak tree whilst her mind was dissecting the castle’s defenses.She wasn't just observing. She was vibrating. Her thoughts raced, jumping from the texture of the moss under her fingers to the trajectory of the patrol to the memory of the taste of snow from five years ago.Focus, she told herself as she tapped her fingers against her thigh in a rapid, staccato rhythm. One job. Get in. Find the target. End the contract.She pulled her hood lower. Her cloak was made of shifting grey silk, woven with shadow-magic from the Southern cove

Beta Kael stood in the center of the Alpha’s study. He looked like he had been hit by a siege engine.His hair was messy from where Lyra’s fingers had been moments ago. His lips were swollen and red. His chest heaved with panicked breaths.He sniffed. A loud, wet, un-Beta-like sniff.Oreon, who was sitting at his desk trying to review the garrison reports with bandaged hands, looked up."Kael?" Oreon asked, frowning. "You look... devastated. Did the perimeter fall?""No," Kael choked out. As he paced the room, his boots thudded heavily. He rubbed his nose aggressively, sniffing again. "The perimeter is fine. The larder is fine. Everything is fine.""You are sniffing," Oreon pointed out. "You only sniff when you are emotionally compromised. The last time you sniffed like that, we were twelve and your dog ran away."Kael stopped pacing. He stared at the fireplace."She ran away," Kael whispered.Oreon set his quill down. "Lyra?"Kael nodded. He collapsed onto the leather couch, the same

The Beta’s quarters were stark, efficient, and currently smelled of cheap, strong spirits.Kael sat at his small wooden table, staring into the bottom of a pewter mug. The candle flame flickered shadows against the stone walls, shadows that looked too much like the woman who had run away from him."Mateless," Kael whispered to the empty room.He took a swig of the burning liquid. It didn't help. It just made the ache in his chest throb harder.He had spent the last eighteen hours replaying the moment in the larder. The taste of her mouth. The desperate way she had held onto him. And then, the terror in her eyes when she confessed her "defect."Kael laughed bitterly and slammed the mug down."Defect," he scoffed. "She thinks she is broken. She thinks I care about biology."He leaned back, running a hand over his face.He thought about his past. There hadn't been many women. A few flings with patrol members, efficient encounters that relieved stress but left his heart cold. He had alway