All Chapters of Bound to the Alpha Twins: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

The chamber was silent except for the soft hum of the stones. I stood at the center, my palm still pressed against the stone on the pedestal. It pulsed beneath my fingers, warm and alive, like a second heartbeat. The stone Elara had given me glowed in my other hand, its light matching the rhythm of the one before me. They were connected. I could feel it in my bones, a thread pulling between them that I had not noticed until now. Elder Maris stood in the doorway, her arms loose at her sides. She did not move closer. She just watched. Her grey eyes were steady, unblinking, like she had been standing there for hours, waiting for me to understand. I looked at her. "You said you have been waiting for me to be ready. What does that mean?" She stepped forward, her boots soft on the stone floor. "It means that I have been watching you since the day you arrived in Silver Fang. I have been watching you since b

The forest released me slowly, reluctantly, like a hand unclenching its grip on something it did not want to let go. I walked through thinning trees, the press of shadows easing from my shoulders, the weight of silence lifting from my ears. The air grew warmer, lighter, carrying scents I had forgotten existed — sun-baked grass, open sky, the distant sweetness of flowers that had never known the darkness of the GreeveWood. My feet carried me forward without thought, each step bringing me closer to the edge of the world I had left behind, and farther from the one I had just survived. The trees parted. Light flooded my face — not the green-tinted gloom of the forest, but true sunlight, golden and warm. I stopped walking, blinded for a moment, my hand rising to shield my eyes. The grass beneath my boots was soft, not moss but living green, and the sky above was wide and blue and endless. I had not seen the sky in so long that I had a

The corridors were empty when I left the Council chamber. That was unusual. At this hour, servants should have been moving between the wings, carrying linens and trays, their footsteps soft against the stone. Guards should have been stationed at intervals, their hands resting on their swords, their eyes scanning the shadows. But the halls were silent, the torches burning low, the portraits on the walls watching me with painted eyes that seemed to hold more judgment than they had before. I walked slowly, my footsteps echoing in the stillness. The weight of the Council's words still pressed against my shoulders, heavy and cold. They had not accepted me. They had not rejected me. They had simply watched, waiting for me to reveal something they could use against me. I had given them nothing. But the silence in the corridors felt wrong. It was not the silence of a palace at rest. It was the silence of something waiting.

The days that followed were strange and quiet. I trained with Kaelan every morning, the weight of the sword familiar in my hands, the rhythm of the blade cutting through the air like a second heartbeat. He did not speak much. He did not need to. His presence was enough, steady and warm, like the bond that hummed between us when he stood close. The sun rose and fell over the training yard, and I moved through the motions he taught me, my body learning what my mind already knew. I grew stronger. I grew faster. I grew quieter. I did not see Lucian. I felt him through the bond, a distant warmth at the edge of my awareness, but he did not come to me. He did not seek me out. I did not know if he was avoiding me or if he simply did not know what to say. The bond pulsed between us, a thread of connection that neither of us could sever, but it felt thinner now, stretched across the silence we had built between us. 

The night was cold and still when Maris came to my room. I had not been sleeping. I had been sitting by the window, the stone cold in my palm, the leather pouch heavy in my pocket. The moon was full, pale and watchful, casting silver light across the courtyard below. I had been thinking about the watchers. The ones who had been reporting on me since the day I arrived. The ones who would come for me when the full moon rose. I had been thinking about Gertha's face, the way her hands had shaken, the way her voice had cracked when she said she did not know. I had been thinking about her husband, the hollow man who had been watching me from the shadows, feeding information to the enemies of my bloodline. A knock came at the door. Soft. Deliberate. I did not turn. "Come in." The door opened. Maris stepped inside. She was not wearing her Council robes. Her grey hair was loose around her face, her clothes si