All Chapters of PRETENDER: Alpha's Forbidden Omega : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Elowyn walked into class the next morning, her eyes dull from restless sleep. The incident with Baron still clung to her like invisible smoke—burning in her lungs, making her senses edgy.Her head? It wasn't helping at all.She remembered him.Baron.His sharp green eyes and those moist lips that stayed soft between all the hard places.Her heart was aching. Her tummy was churning with excitement that she tried to fight.He hadn’t looked her way since.Not once.Not in the mess hall, not in the corridor.But today, the seat beside her was empty.Riven Thorney was absent.She blinked. That never happened.She had not seen him during morning runs, too.The boy was almost too punctual. Always at the academy’s front line like he was made for war.The instructor walked in without much preamble and picked up the chalk, scratching today’s date across the blackboard.OCTOBER 3RD.Elowyn stared at it.For a long, long moment, everything else in the room went quiet.Then her heart surged.It’s

Elowyn’s stomach turned. She lowered her spoon and tried to shrink into herself. But there was no escape.One of the boys beside her slapped the table hard.“If I ever saw an unlucky girl here... shit,” he said with a grin, “I’m grabbing her legs like this—”He mimicked the motion crudely.Everyone in the dining hall laughed.“And I’m taking the mouth,” another joined in, “like real fast. I don’t care what she looks like—she’d become pretty after.”All the boys wouldn't stop laughing and there was nothing Elowyn could do to stop itShe stiffened. Her hands clenched under the table.“She’d probably be screaming,” one said, chuckling. “But like, the good kind of screaming.”Someone nudged her elbow. “Don’t be weird. Laugh. You’re acting stiff.”Before she could respond, another cadet across the table cracked a joke so vulgar and absurd even she couldn’t catch all the words—but the entire hall exploded in laughter.Out of instinct, Elowyn looked up—and her eyes landed on Baron across the

Mariah’s smile faltered. Just slightly. But then she waved a hand.“Maybe they’re just over-exaggerating. You know how people talk.”Wrenlow nodded slowly, but her eyes didn’t soften.And as Mariah hummed again, gathering her things for the journey to Ariya’s manor, Wrenlow sat back, brows furrowed beneath her scarf.Something about it smelled off. Not like lies.More like… a setup.Mariah rose from her stool, folding the linen gently into her bag. “I’ll be off before noon. Don’t want to keep the Froste guards waiting. Can you believe it? Me, in that house.”Wrenlow’s needles had stilled completely.She looked up. Her voice came slow, low—like distant thunder.“Mariah.”Mariah paused mid-tuck, glancing over her shoulder with a smile. “Mm?”“If you get there… and they ask you to give her something strange—anything that feels… wrong.”Mariah blinked. “What do you mean wrong?”“I mean anything not from you. Not from your own hands. Not a herb you know. Not a thread you’d use on your own

48 It started in silence.A low fog kissed the ground as Baron prowled barefoot through a shadowed parlor littered with gold. Moonlight dripped through the trees outside like melted silver.The candlelights continued to bob like eager onlookers.He could hear breathing.Close. Unsteady. Feminine.Then he saw her.A beauty.★★★★★★Her heart ticked fast — too fast.Another sound spilled out. This time lower. Raw. A sound like pain and hunger all at once.And then she pushed the door slightly open and saw him.His back pushed sharply off the bed, muscles carved in tension, sweat-slick and twisting like something had crawled under his skin. One hand clutched the sheets, knuckles bone-white. The other dragged roughly across his chest.★★★★★★She was no longer someone he knew. Not hidden behind binding cloth and bland male scents.But bare. True. Radiant in her unveiled form.She laid at the center of the glade, on the bed, back to him.Her spine straight. Her arms at her sides. The long

Elowyn sat at the far end of the cadet dining table, back straight, face unreadable.Baron was there at his own spot—but he didn’t speak.Azpen hadn’t said a word either. He was eating without any restraint.And Riven? He leaned casually two rows behind, his elbow on the table, eyes fixed on her like he was waiting for her to... do something.She said nothing, only glanced at the plate in front of her.Roasted chicken thighs.Golden. Hot. And glistening.The others at the table—seven of them—eyed it with low hunger in their throats. No one had eaten enough that morning. And now, ration cuts were making everyone tense and a little cruel.But Elowyn just... inhaled. And began to count.Not aloud. Not noticeably.One... Two... Three...She looked at each of their faces. Callused hands. Tired eyes. Cadets who’d kicked mud in her face, laughed behind her back, even called her "ghost boy" when they thought she couldn’t hear.And yet—Four... Five... Six... Seven.She tore the chickens apart