Alle Kapitel von Now, The Alpha Wants Me Back: Kapitel 61 – Kapitel 70

Lyra's POVThe chains broke on my wrists and I fell. My body slammed the stone floor with enough force to knock the breath out of it. Pain was ripping through my shoulders and ribcage, but I hardly felt it. I could not tell which was the ceiling or floor because the trembling in the temple became more violent.And then somebody grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side just as a piece of ceiling came crashing down where I had been lying. I stared up at Cassian’s face. His eyes were crazy with fear and with relief. Behind him, Draven was battling three cultists in tandem, his blade a fast blur."Can you stand?" Cassian shouted over the noise.I nodded and He lifted me to my feed. My legs shook but held. The enchanted hush that had ensnared me was gone, and sound rushed in on the quays: steel against steel. Screaming. The groan and crack of breaking stone. And underlying everything, a sound like breath. Flooding, throbbing and impossible vast.The floor split right in front of us, with a

Lyra's POVMy shriek was a physical manifestation that rent the temple. It wasn’t controlled or calculated or wise. The animal terror was overwhelming as Morgana-Malachai’s hand entered Draven and his face contorted in pain, watching him start to fall apart.The First Daughter washed through me like the shattering of glass.The combined weight of Luna power that I had been harnessing instantly and turned me into a seething ball of raw emotion. No strategy. No ancient wisdom guiding it. Just grief and rage and desperate love burning up inside me so hot it felt like my bones would turn to lava.It hit Morgana-Malachai like a ramming log. She tumbled back into the room, her hand wrenching out of Draven’s chest. He dropped like a stone, hitting the rough-hewn floor with such a sound that my heart stopped.I was on my feet and moving before I even realized it. Running toward him. Dropping to my knees beside him. I put my hands over the wound in his chest and pulled them back covered in blo

Draven's POVMy legs shook as I stood. I had a scar in my chest but my body remembered death. Every muscle ached. It was as if I’d had to be taught to breathe all over again with every breath. But I made myself get up anyway because Lyra was behind me and an army confronted us at my back.At least three hundred wolves. Maybe more. They fanned out through the ruins in formation, sealing off every avenue of escape. Silver weapons shone in the moonlight. These were not renegades or runaways. These were porcelain-skinned kills from staunch packs. Those that had followed the Elder Council TODO Maze and anti-Maze forces. The ones who desired that the old order be restored at any price.Viktor Alpha of the Northlands was at the head. I knew him by reputation. Brutal. Traditional. The Alpha who thought power meant everything. His domain was notorious for severe punishment and complete obedience. Wolves who questioned him disappeared.“You’re all under arrest,” Viktor declared. He spoke in a s

Cassian's POVThe small room now seemed smaller with all three of us in there. Unsaid words and feelings held back for weeks hung heavily in the air. Months really. I stayed at the window while Draven sat in one chair and Lyra in the other. None of us appeared to know what to do first.The end, I exhaled and spoke. I’m not asking for a second chance. I know what I destroyed. I do not deserve forgiveness and I do not deserve a second chance. I made myself look Lyra in the eyes. ”But the truth is you should know it. I loved you before we fucked everything up. I was too fucked-up to make good on that love. Too shattered by Sable’s rejection to let my heart bloom correctly. That doesn’t justify what I did. It just explains it."Draven shifted in his chair. He gazed at Lyra, his face the way I dimly remembered it on few occasions. Vulnerable. Open. “The reality is not my truth,” he said. “At first, I loved you and everything you stood for. Freedom. Strength. Survival. You were the manifest

Lyra's POVThe amphitheater turned into pandemonium. Wolves were barking above one another. Alphas were demanding action. Already some of them were turning back toward the exits to go back to their territories. The carefully choreographed order of the summit had been shattered in seconds.Elder Thane strolled toward the door hello-goodbyeing to it like he was departing a very amiable soiree. He had his hands behind his back. His expression was serene.But Draven's rogues had sprung from nowhere, barring his way. They were a shield of men between Thane and freedom. A heartbeat behind, Cassian’s warriors were around him on the other side.Thane stopped walking. He glanced at the wolves around him and laughed. The sound was wrong. Unhinged. As if something had broken in him a long time ago, and never set right."You fools," he said. He shouted over the noise of the amphitheater. "You think you've won? You believe grabbing me here changes anything?”"You're under arrest," Viktor growled a