บททั้งหมดของ Escaping the Alpha, Claimed in the End: บทที่ 31 - บทที่ 40

Ryder’s POVI told myself nothing had changed. Amelia was gone, but life went on. I was Alpha. I had responsibilities, duties, a pack depending on me. I told myself I could shoulder it the way I always had: silent, cold, unshaken.But every corner of the mansion proved me a liar.The Luna suite was the worst. I avoided it during the day, yet I always found myself pausing outside at night, hand brushing the doorframe like maybe I’d hear her voice if I listened long enough. Her scent lingered there, faint but sharp—spring air, wildflowers, herbs—and it cut me deeper than a blade.I worked harder to fill the silence. Morning drills stretched into midday patrols, patrols into evening strategy meetings. The warriors kept their eyes down when I pushed too far, ordering one more round, one more lap, one more shift. They didn’t argue, but I felt their unease prickling at my back.I couldn’t stop.Stopping meant letting my guard down. And if I did that, I’d remember—the way Amelia looked at me

Ryder’s POVTwo months without her turned me into a machine. I woke before dawn, signed off patrol routes, checked border cameras, trained the recruits, sat through reports, then stared at walls until the hours ran out. I ate when Kara shoved food into my hand. I slept if sleep ambushed me. I spoke only when I had to.None of it touched the void.Samantha was the only one who broke the loop.“Again?” she asked the first night I knocked on the old prayer room door.“Yes.” My voice sounded flat even to me.She lit resin in a shallow dish, the smoke curling up in thin trails. “Sit down. Just breathe. Don’t fight it—let it take you.”I dropped to the mat, palms on my knees. The floor was cool, the room dark except for the small flame and the moon outside the high window. Samantha’s chant was faint and even, a sound you felt in your bones more than heard. The air shifted. The weight in my chest loosened just enough to let something pass through.Then I saw her.Not real. Not solid. But Ame

Amelia’s POVJasper didn’t. “This your new keeper?” he asked, squeezing my shoulder until I bit my lip. “Cute.”Dane stepped in, crowding the space. “Last warning.”Jasper’s gaze flicked to Dane’s hands, to his stance, and something in his smirk thinned. He shifted his grip to my upper arm, almost like he wanted to prove a point before leaving. A sharp sting burned up my arm.“Stop,” I said, louder.Heads turned at nearby tables. A woman stood. The barista inside glanced over the counter. Jasper bared his teeth at them and then back at us.Dane moved first. His hand clamped on Jasper’s wrist, twisting until the bone popped loud enough to make Jasper hiss. He wrenched me free, pushing me gently behind him.“You always needed someone to hide behind,” Jasper spat, shaking his arm loose. “Guess nothing’s changed.”Dane’s fist answered for me. The crack of knuckles against jaw echoed sharp, and Jasper staggered back into a chair, sending it skidding across the floor. Gasps rippled through

Amelia’s POVIt started with a jolt. Not the kind that came from training exhaustion or too many nights spent tossing in bed, but something deeper. Something wrong. My chest went tight, like the air around me had shifted.Lyra stirred inside me, restless.I gripped the edge of my desk, breath shallow. “What is it?” I whispered, though I already knew it wasn’t just me panicking. The feeling pressed sharper, colder. Ryder.The thought slammed into me with no warning. Ryder was in danger.I tried to shake it off, tell myself I was imagining things. But the more I fought it, the stronger it grew—like a thread pulling taut, tugging me toward him no matter how far I’d run.My hands shook as I grabbed my phone. Dane had gone out, Sloane was with the coven, and I couldn’t sit with this gnawing fear alone. I scrolled through numbers until one name stopped me.Lucas.I hesitated. Reaching out meant opening a door I’d tried to slam shut. But if Ryder… if he was—no. I couldn’t even think it. I hi

Amelia’s POVSince hanging up with Lucas, my mind wouldn’t stop circling the worst. Had Ryder’s plane gone down? Was he ambushed? Was he bleeding out somewhere—or worse, already gone? Every time I shut my eyes, I saw his face. Not how I remembered it—strong, certain, pulling me close—but wrecked, like something was tearing him apart. The thought hollowed me out.Sloane caught me pacing the coven’s courtyard, arms wrapped around myself against the cool night air. She didn’t scold. She just watched me with those sharp dark eyes, weighing me in silence.“You’re restless,” she said finally.“He’s in trouble.” My voice shook, but I didn’t care. “I can feel it.”Sloane tilted her head, like she’d been waiting for me to say it. “Then let’s find him.”Inside her workroom, the air smelled of herbs and smoke. Candles lined the walls, low flames throwing shadows that swayed like restless spirits. Sloane pulled out a silver bowl and poured in clear water until it nearly spilled over.“Sit,” she