The Alpha Betrayed Mate のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 121 - チャプター 130

We were ready to leave.Not prepared, not rested, not certain… but ready in the only way that mattered. The kind of readiness that comes when there is no time left to hesitate, when every path forward leads into danger, and standing still becomes the worst decision of all.Krager had gathered what little we needed. Light gear. No banners. No markings that would announce who we were or where we came from. Just weapons, cloaks, and the kind of silence that only comes before something breaks.Zira stood near the edge of the chamber, her posture steadier now, though the faint tension in her shoulders betrayed what her body had not fully recovered from.“You don’t have to rush this,” she said quietly.I adjusted the leather binding around my wrist, tightening it just enough to feel it anchor me.“We do.”“There will always be time for caution.”“There won’t be time if Selene moves first.”Zira’s eyes lingered on me, searching, weighing, perhaps hoping to find some trace of hesitation.She

The first thing I noticed when they surrounded us… was how disciplined they were.Not just strong. Not just armed.Disciplined.They didn’t rush. They didn’t bark orders like frightened men trying to prove dominance. They moved in quiet coordination, tightening around Krager and me like a net that had already been measured, already been cast, already decided.And somehow… that was worse.I didn’t reach for a weapon.Not because I couldn’t fight them.But because I knew I wouldn’t win like this.Not here.Not yet.“State your purpose,” one of them said, his voice flat, controlled, but edged with authority.I lifted my chin, meeting his gaze without hesitation. “I didn’t come to speak to guards.”A flicker of irritation crossed his face, but it vanished just as quickly.“You’re in the Northern Region,” he replied. “You’ll speak when permitted.”Krager shifted slightly beside me, just enough that I felt the movement without needing to look. A silent warning. Or maybe a silent plea.Not n

The forest felt different on the way back.Not quieter.Not louder.Just… wrong.The kind of wrong that crept under your skin and settled there, whispering that something had already shifted, something had already broken, and whatever came next would not resemble what came before.I walked ahead of Krager this time.Not out of defiance.Not even out of urgency.Just… instinct.Like something inside me needed to move, needed to keep going, needed to outrun the weight of everything that had just happened inside Rydan’s stronghold.We had something.A path.A fragile, dangerous path built on strategy and patience.But it wasn’t enough.Not for me.Not when Zach was still out there.Not when every second stretched like a blade across my throat.“You’re thinking too loudly again,” Krager said from behind me.I didn’t slow down.“I didn’t realize thoughts made noise.”“They do when they start pulling you apart.”I let out a quiet breath, brushing past a low-hanging branch that scraped light

We didn’t stop moving.Not after the blood.Not after the bodies.Not after the way the forest seemed to close in behind us, swallowing what we had done like it was nothing more than another secret buried beneath roots and shadows.We just… kept going.Because stopping meant thinking.And thinking meant feeling.And I couldn’t afford either.Aisha leaned more heavily against me now.Too heavy.Her weight had changed.Not just physically… but something else. Something subtle. Something wrong.Her breathing had grown quieter. Not steadier.Quieter.Like each breath was fighting harder than the last.Krager noticed it too. I saw it in the way his eyes flicked toward her more often now, the way his jaw tightened just a little more with every step we took.“She’s fading,” he said quietly.“I know.”“You need to slow down.”“No.”The word came out sharper than I intended.But I didn’t take it back.“If we slow down,” I continued, adjusting my grip on Aisha, “we don’t make it to the Shallow

The silence in the Shadow Valley didn’t last.It never does.Not when truth has already been spoken. Not when the air itself feels thick with everything no one wants to say out loud.Aisha had drifted into a fragile sleep, her breathing steadier now, though every rise of her chest still felt like something that could falter if the world so much as shifted the wrong way. Krager stayed close to her, watchful, alert, his presence a quiet barrier between her and anything that might try to take advantage of her weakness.I should have stayed still.I should have rested.But I couldn’t.Because my mind wasn’t in the Shadow Valley.It wasn’t here.It was there.With him.With Zach.And everything Aisha had said… it didn’t settle.It ignited.I rose slowly, my body stiff, my muscles still aching from the fight, from the run, from everything I had forced them through. But the pain barely registered.There were louder things inside me.“Zanny,” Krager said, his voice low, cautious.I didn’t tur