All Chapters of Bound To The Alpha, Claimed By The Vampire: Chapter 21 - Chapter 24

Nyra Lucien disappeared after the execution. Not literally, of course. Alphas did not simply vanish from their own keeps, especially not after making such a calculated display of power. But he may as well have. Every corridor I turned down, every chamber I stepped into, every council hall I tried to breach ended the same way, with a guard shifting just slightly into my path and delivering the same rehearsed line as if it had been carved into the inside of their skulls. “The Alpha is currently preoccupied.” The first time, I smiled and thanked them, because I was still foolish enough to believe it was temporary. The second time, I asked what exactly he was preoccupied with, because curiosity has always been one of my sharper habits. The third time, I stopped smiling altogether. By the fourth, I was grinding my teeth hard enough that I was half surprised no one commented on the sound. “Does he know I’m loo

The forest air was slowly cutting through the haze in my head as I sat on that fallen log with my knees pulled tight to my chest. I'd been out here for hours, maybe longer, letting the quiet swallow the noise of the keep. The pack's stares, the whispers, Lucien's sudden distance all pressed too close inside those stone walls. Out here at least, I could breathe without feeling like every inhale came with judgment.Lucien had barely looked at me since that night.Not avoidance in the obvious way. Not cruelty exactly... worse. It was distance wrapped in duty, and politeness edged with restraint. The kind of careful that made me feel like a problem he was managing rather than a person he wanted near him. I would have preferred anger. At least anger acknowledged presence.“Ridiculous,” I muttered to myself, dragging a hand down my face.I kicked at a stone, sending it skittering across the dirt. I was not some fragile thing that needed constant reassurance, and I refused to chase him down