All Chapters of Marked By Two: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

59 Chapters

Court of Wolves

Aria’s POVI walked down the grand staircase with my hand still tucked under Cassian's elbow. It felt like a haunting repetition of the night at the gala. The last time I had walked this path, I was a girl with a stolen mark and a misguided cousin. Today, I was a woman with a restored mark and a target on my back.At the bottom of the stairs, the air felt frozen. Noah stood by a corner, his expression a wall of unreadable Alpha stone. Beside him, Elena stood with her chin high, her eyes flashing with a disapproval she didn't bother to hide.The drawing room had been scrubbed of blood, but the scent of ozone and silver still clung to the curtains. The Grand Luna sat in her usual chair; the High Council member, the one who had been at the bar during the massacre, sat by her right. He looked remarkably composed for a man who had drunk through a war."Finally," the Grand Luna said, her voice like a gavel striking wood. "Now that the cause of our misfortune has joined us, perhaps the

A tough choice

Aria’s POV“How dare you!” The Grand Luna’s voice shrieked, her face burning a bright red. The control queen was gone, replaced by a woman trembling with a fury so raw it bordered on madness. “This estate is my home!”I didn't flinch. “No, it’s not. It’s your sons' home, not yours. You’re a guest here, just like you claim I am.”The Grand Luna spun around, her golden eyes darting to Noah, then to Cassian, pleading for them to strike me down or silence me. But they both kept their gazes away, their expressions frozen like statues. It was as if her words weren't even their problem anymore. The silence of her own flesh and blood was a louder insult than anything I could have said.Elena, who had been quiet since the Council member pointed at her stomach, finally stepped forward. ”Aria, you have no right to send the Grand Luna away. Hell, she’s the Grand Luna!”“Shhhh,” the Council member hushed her, his finger raised in a dismissive, mocking gesture. “Why don’t you face your own pr

No surrender

Cassian’s POVThe words hung in the air like a death sentence. “I choose Noah.”A wave of relief washed over me so violently I nearly stumbled, but it was immediately swallowed by a cold, fear. I didn't want her blood on my hands. I didn't want to be the one to break her. But as I looked at my twin, I saw a version of Noah I had never seen in twenty-five years.Noah looked paralyzed. His eyes were wide, his chest heaving as if he’d been struck. He wasn't the stoic Alpha anymore; he looked like a man watching his own heart be led to the altar. He was terrified.Then, I saw it.A faint, smudged streak of red lipstick on the corner of Noah’s lower lip. It wasn't blood. It was the exact shade of the lipstick Aria had been wearing earlier.My stomach did a slow, nauseating flip. They had kissed. In the middle of this nightmare, while the estate was still cooling from a massacre, my brother, the so called perfect one, had finally broken. I should have felt a sting of jealousy and I d

The heart of the lie

Aria’s POVThe courtyard suddenly felt like a tomb. The air was thick with the scent of silver and the suffocating weight of the Council’s decree. Noah stood ten paces from me, his shadow framed by the rising moon, his hands trembling as he reached for the silver-hilted blade the guards had provided. I could still feel the heat of his kiss on my lips, a goodbye disguised as a beginning.The Council member raised his hand, the white silk handkerchief trembling in the breeze. "Let the Silver judge the blood," he intoned, his voice devoid of mercy. "Begin."The handkerchief left his fingers. It drifted toward the cobblestones in agonizing slow motion. But it never touched the ground.A blur of shadow, darker than the night and faster than any wolf I had ever seen, materialized from the darkness behind the High Council member. There was no warning, only the wet, horrific sound of steel through skin.The Council member’s eyes went wide, his mouth opening to finish the sentence, but o

The Ghost In the House

Aria’s POVThe sun came up without a glow. Just cold and grey, illuminating the mess we had made of the courtyard. The scent of copper and ozone still clung to the air, even as the cleaning crews, silent, professional men in suits scrubbed the marble where a High Council member and a madman had bled out only hours before.I stood on the grand portico, my arms wrapped tightly around myself. I was still dressed for a fight that never happened, the fabric stiff and smelling of smoke.A sleek, midnight-black Rolls-Royce sat idling at the base of the steps, its engine growled faintly, vibrating in the soles of my boots.The Grand Luna stood by the open door, her spine as straight as a steel rod. She didn't look like a woman who had just watched a murder; she looked like a CEO who had decided a merger was no longer profitable. She adjusted her silk scarf, her eyes cutting through the morning mist to find her sons."I’ve had enough of this drama," she said, her voice cutting through t

The glass fortress

Noah’s POVThe smell of blood was finally gone, replaced by the sterile, expensive aroma of Italian leather and filtered oxygen. I sat behind the mahogany desk on the 64th floor of Vaelor Holdings, staring at a digital spreadsheet that held the livelihoods of ten thousand employees.I hadn't slept. I hadn't even showered properly until an hour ago, scrubbed raw to get Julian’s filth off my skin. My jaw still ached from the tension of the previous night, and the hurt in Aria's eyes. The way she pulled back from my touch on the porch was a persistent ache in my chest.I couldn't be in that house. Not with Cassian drinking himself into a stupor, not with Elena’s silent, irritating presence, and certainly not with Aria, whose eyes now looked at me like I was just another monster in a suit.Focus. I needed the business. The business made sense.A sharp knock at the heavy glass door broke my spiraling thoughts. My assistant, Marcus, a Beta who knew better than to comment on the dark

Lies

Noah’s POVThe SUV hadn't even come to a full stop before I was out the door. The gravel crunched under my boots, a harsh, jagged sound in the silence of the estate’s driveway. I shoved the manila envelope, the one with my mother’s betrayal inside, deep into the inner pocket of my charcoal overcoat. It felt like a lead weight against my ribs.I didn't make it three steps into the foyer before a hand clamped onto my shoulder, spinning me around."Where the hell have you been?" Cassian hissed.He looked like a man who had spent the last six hours vibrating out of his skin. His shirt was untucked, his hair was a bird's nest, and the faint scent of bourbon followed him like a shadow. But it was his eyes that stopped me, they weren't just angry. They were haunted."Business, Cassian. The kind that keeps this roof over our heads," I lied, my voice steady despite the hammer in my chest. "What’s so urgent that you had to blow up my phone?""Maeve is talking," he whispered, casting a lo

The Fracture

Cassian’s POV"Really, Noah?" I said, my voice dropping into a dangerous, disbelief-laden register.I let go of Elena, though she stayed pressed against my side, her fingers digging into my arm like claws. I didn't care about the bourbon in my system anymore, the fog had cleared, replaced by a cold, sharp clarity. I looked at my twin, my other half, the "honorable" one and it felt like I was looking at a stranger."A kiss?" I prompted, stepping away from Elena toward him. "While I was out there trying to hold the perimeter, while the Council was sharpening their blades for her neck... you were busy making a move?"Noah’s face remained a mask of granite, but I saw the flicker in his eyes. He didn't deny it. He didn't even flinch. That was always his way, stony silence until he decided you weren't worth the breath."It wasn't a move, Cassian," Noah said, his voice low and controlled. "It was a moment of weakness in a room where we both thought it was the end. Don't let Elena use i

Broken

Noah's povMy hand like a vice clamped onto his wrist, twisting it back until the glass fell to the floor as I stepped between them. His face was a mask of absolute fury as he shoved me back."That is enough!" I shouted, my Alpha aura flaring so bright it felt like a physical weight in the room."Cassian, back off!" I shoved him again, my shoulder hitting his chest with enough force to send him staggering into the velvet armchair.Aria slumped against the bookshelf, her hand flying to her throat where the jagged glass had nearly tasted her skin. She was shaking, her eyes wide and wet, looking at Cassian as if he were a stranger. And in this state, he was. He was a drowning man trying to pull everyone else under with him."She’s lying, Noah!" Cassian yelled, his voice cracking as he pointed a trembling finger at the door. "Maeve is lying, Elena is lying, and she—" he lunged toward Aria again, but I stepped into his path, my Alpha presence slamming into him like a physical wall."E

Bill of sale

Aria's povThe words “Bill of Sale” were still echoing in my brain like a physical weight that made it hard to draw air into my lungs. I wasn't a person to them. I wasn't even a threat anymore. I was a commodity, signed away in ink and seal by a woman who looked at me like I was dirt beneath her designer heels.I stood in the library doorway, watching the Grand Luna stand over Elena’s collapsed form. The air around her was cold, not the refreshing chill of winter, but the sterile, dead air of a vault."She's alive," the Grand Luna remarked, her voice flat as she straightened up from Elena’s pulse. She didn't offer a hand. She didn't call for a doctor. She simply stepped over Elena’s silk-clad legs as if they were a tripped wire. "I leave you for a day and this is how you treat your heir?""She isn't the heir," Cassian spat, his voice trembling with a mixture of scotch-soaked rage and the devastating shock of the contract he still held in his hand. "Maeve is awake, Mother. She hea

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