《Killed and Reborn: My Alpha’s Obsession 》全部章節：第 21 章 - 第 30 章

*Aria*The map felt heavier than paper should.It sat folded and hidden in the seam of my dress, a quiet weight against my hip as I moved through the manor, an awareness that tugged at my thoughts every few steps.Border. River. X.Future.I’d barely slept after finding it. My mind had spun too fast—north, cabin, witch, Nightfang, Lucian’s face when the curse punished him for even trying to say where it began.By morning, the decision had settled in me like a stone in a riverbed.I was going to that cabin.I didn’t know when. I didn’t know how.But I knew I would.The house hummed with a different kind of tension today. You could feel it in the clipped way servants spoke, in the restless pacing of warriors outside, in the low burr of voices coming from behind the closed council room doors.Something had shifted.Rogues at the border. A cursed Alpha losing control in the heart of his manor.People were afraid.And people who were afraid talked.I had halfway intended to go straight t

*Aria*Maps were liars.On parchment, the distance from Blackmoon Manor to the northern border was a handful of inches, a neat curve of river meeting a thick black line, a cluster of little inked trees and a tiny XIn reality, it was miles of forest and patrol routes, scent lines, and unspoken rules. Wolves on constant watch. Elders who liked to know exactly where the cursed Alpha’s Luna was at all times.I stood in front of the big wall map in Lucian’s war room, fingers hovering just shy of the ink, and felt the lie of those inches like an itch under my skin.Alone, I might have slipped out.In my old life—the one where I was more shadow than person—I’d learned all the quiet paths in and out of my parents’ estate. Which floorboards didn’t creak, which windowsills were narrow but passable.Here, though?I had guards now. Not officially assigned, but always there all the same.Eyes that followed me down corridors. Warriors who “happened” to be at the foot of the stairs when I wanted ai

*Aria*By morning, the forest had new eyes.You could feel them in the way the air pressed against the windows, in the restless pacing of the warriors outside, in the tight way everyone held themselves—as if expecting something to lunge out of the shadows at any moment.I woke from a thin, fractured sleep with my heart already pounding, the memory of charcoal on stone vivid behind my eyes.A circle. Three lines through it. The mark of the witch.Nightfang had answered.Not with words.With a symbol.An agreement.An invitation.An I see you.Rhea had not come back yet when I finally pushed off the blanket and sat up. Judging by the color of the sky at the window—pale gray, clouds like dirty wool—it was early, but not obscenely so. The manor was already stirring.I washed quickly, dressed faster, fingers fumbling once over the seam where the map usually lay. I left it hidden in the bottom of my chest instead. Taking it with me today felt like tempting fate twice.The corridor outsi

*Aria*The manor felt like it was holding its breath.Wolves moved through the halls quicker than usual, their voices pitched low, and their ears tuned north. Trays rattled faintly in servants’ hands. Every open window seemed to inhale and exhale the same thin, cold air from the border.I knew before anyone said a word that something had shifted.By the time I reached the training yard, Rhea was already there, blade in hand, moving through a slow series of cuts that looked more like meditation than attack. Her focus was turned inward, but the tight set of her mouth gave her away.“Rhea,” I called.She finished her strike, held the final position a beat too long, then relaxed and turned.“Luna,” she said, wiping sweat from her brow with the back of her forearm. “You’re up early. Nerves?”“Yes,” I said. “And no. What happened?”Her eyes flicked toward the manor, then to the tree line beyond the yard, then back to me.“You heard something?” she asked.“I heard scouts muttering about bein

*Aria*The manor had a way of pretending nothing had happened.By afternoon, the corridors bustled with their usual rhythm: servants carrying trays and linens, warriors moving in purposeful lines, elders conferring in low tones. The scent of stew drifted from the kitchens. Someone laughed too loudly near the common room.But underneath it all, tension hummed like a low note.Lucian’s temper prowled these halls, even when he wasn’t in sight.Kade’s presence prowled the border, even when no one could see him.And I… prowled the edges of my own thoughts, circling the same questions.*You talk of leaving. But I’m already chained to you.* *Then choose me, Aria.* *Stop giving me reasons to run—or someone else might give me reasons to stay.*Brave words were cheap when your heart was still racing from the feel of his breath on your skin.Rhea stuck close for the rest of the day.Not obtrusively—she wasn’t Darius, looming over my shoulder like a disapproving statue—but she was always ther