Semua Bab THE ALPHA’S QUIET TEMPTATION : Bab 141 - Bab 149

LIORA’S POVThe sight of him standing there, bottle in hand, bruises still dark against his skin, dragged me straight back to that room, roses crushed beneath me, his hands too rough, his voice too cruel. My legs locked in place, my breath catching high in my throat, and I couldn't make myself move even as every instinct screamed at me to run.Lucas stepped in front of me before I could find my footing, his body a wall between us and whatever Darren intended."Whatever you're planning," Lucas said, low and dangerous, "think very carefully before you take one more step."Darren laughed, a broken, humorless sound, taking a long pull from the bottle before letting it hang loose at his side again. "Think carefully. That's rich, coming from you. You've spent my entire life telling me what to do, how to act, who to be, and look where that's gotten us.""Darren…""No." He cut Lucas off, swaying slightly, his eyes glassy but sharp with something far more sober than the drink suggested. "You w

LIORA’S POV"Because of my power," I repeated slowly, the pieces settling into a shape too horrible to fully accept. "That's all I've ever been to either of you. A key.""A key to everything," Anna said, and there was something almost reverent in the way she said it, something that made the hair on my arms rise despite the cold already clinging to my skin. "Moonfire hasn't touched this bloodline in generations. With you bound to him, Darren becomes untouchable. No council could deny his claim to the throne once that power runs through his line."The way she spoke, glassy eyed and certain, chilled me deeper than anything else she'd said. This wasn't loyalty. This wasn't even love, not really. It sounded like something carved into her, something she'd stopped questioning a long time ago."Anna, listen to yourself," I said, softening my voice despite everything, desperate to find some crack in whatever had been built inside her. "What he's doing, what you're helping him do, it's brutal.

LIORA’S POVI sat with my palms pressed together, straining every part of myself toward the fire I knew lived somewhere inside me, but nothing answered the effort. No warmth, no spark, nothing but frustration building tighter with every failed attempt until I wanted to scream at the stone walls surrounding me.The door groaned open before I could try again.Darren stepped inside, and every muscle in my body locked with a hatred so consuming it nearly stole my breath."Little dove," he said, using the name he used to call me back when I still believed it meant something, back when I thought his affection was real. "You look terrible."I said nothing, glaring at him with everything I had left, but he crossed the room anyway, crouching down until we were level, close enough that I could smell the wine still clinging to him."Nothing to say?" he asked, tilting his head. "That's new for you. Usually I can't get you to stop talking.""Don't call me that," I finally spat. "You lost the right

LUCAS’S POVValor had made it two miles from the palace before Byron caught him, dragging him back in chains with a grim satisfaction that told me everything I needed to know before either of them said a word. It took hours to break him, hours I resented every single minute of while Liora remained missing somewhere I couldn't reach, but by dawn Valor had given us everything, the location of Darren's stronghold, the number of men he'd gathered, the timeline of his plans.I didn't wait for a better moment. I gathered every loyal soldier I could muster and marched before the sun had fully cleared the horizon.The stronghold came into view by midday, an old fortress abandoned decades ago and clearly refitted in secret over recent months. We surrounded it fast, cutting off every visible exit, and I watched from horseback as the gates finally groaned open and Darren emerged at the head of his own gathered forces."Last chance," I called across the distance separating us. "Stand down. End th

LIORA’S POVIt took months to bring the kingdom back to anything resembling order.The disloyal council members who'd sided with Darren faced trial one after another, Harwick and Denton stripped of their titles and exiled beyond Crovania's borders, Coulson sentenced to execution when evidence surfaced tying him directly to funding Darren's stronghold. Guards who'd looked the other way during my imprisonment lost their positions, some facing worse depending on how deep their involvement ran. Lucas didn't soften for anyone, not old friends, not longtime allies, and the palace slowly learned that his patience for betrayal had run completely dry.He grew firmer in every policy that followed, rewriting laws around surrogacy, around the treatment of omegas, around the kind of unchecked cruelty that had let Darren's schemes flourish unnoticed for years. I watched him carry that weight quietly, determined to build something better out of the wreckage his son had left behind.And now, after al