All Chapters of Fated to my Alpha nemesis : Chapter 191 - Chapter 200

DAMON'S POVFor one heartbeat, nothing moved.Everything remained still long enough for me to partially recover from the shock of the sight before me.Slowly, I reached for Rhoda's arm."Damon," she whispered again.I couldn't answer.I was too busy searching for a way out.There didn't seem to be one.The quiet murmur of the stream slipping between ancient stones filled the silence. I had no idea whether it was loud enough to hide the sound of our footsteps."Back away," I whispered.Rhoda didn't argue.We moved one careful step at a time. Neither of us turned our backs.Neither of us broke eye contact with the creatures.We were only a few paces from disappearing around a broken wall when Rhoda's boot caught against a loose stone.She stumbled.Her hand shot toward me for balance. The stone skittered across the ground.The sound echoed far louder than it should have.Every creature froze.Then...One moved.No.It exploded toward us.One moment it stood among the others.The next it

DAMON'S POVThere was no way I was letting Rhoda continue with an injury like that.And there was no way I was leaving this place without knowing what had happened to Michaela.The thought of her sent a bolt of pain through my chest that had nothing to do with my own injuries.Just moments ago, I'd had hope.Real hope.Now, it was slipping through my fingers, crumbling piece by piece.My head buzzed at the thought of Michaela trapped somewhere down here...Alone.Surrounded by those monsters.I squeezed my eyes shut for a brief moment, trying to steady myself as the image forced its way into my mind.No.I refused to believe it.It wasn't possible.It simply couldn't be.I willed this to be the truth.I would find her, I repeated over and over in my head.Wait for me, Michaela.I would find you.When I opened my eyes again, I became aware of the cloaked female watching me, silently.Waiting.Without a word, with much more determination than the last second, I reached for the backpack

DAMON'S POV "Damon?" The last time I'd seen her... She'd been asleep. Her red hair had spilled across the pillow in tangled curls, her chest rising and falling in the slow, steady rhythm of peaceful sleep. I'd stayed beside her longer than I should have. Simply watching. Memorizing. The warmth of her scent. The constellation of freckles scattered across her face. All twelve of them. The faint curve of her lips, as though she was carrying on a very important conversation inside her dreams. I had taken all of her in. And somewhere deep inside my chest, something had begun to ache. Slowly. Quietly. Dangerously. It was the sort of ache that demanded immediate attention. Because everything I felt for this woman was becoming far too large to contain. Far too dangerous to ignore. Then she'd stirred. I'd held my breath, hoping she wouldn't wake. I couldn't have explained why I was there. Not to her. Not even to myself. She hadn't. And somehow.

DAMON'S POV Soft sunlight filtered through a narrow opening high above, spilling into a hidden clearing tucked between towering walls of ancient stone. I stopped without meaning to. The place felt... Impossible. The nightmare we'd escaped seemed impossibly far away, as though the mountain itself had swallowed every trace of it and spit out something new. A narrow stream wound quietly through the clearing, its crystal-clear water slipping lazily around smooth stones polished by countless seasons. Moss climbed the surrounding cliffs in thick emerald patches, while stubborn vines draped themselves over ledges that had likely gone untouched for centuries. The air no longer smelled of blood or decay. Only wet stone, wood smoke and the fresh herbs drying somewhere nearby. Nestled against the cliff stood a small stone dwelling. Nothing grand. Nothing remarkable. Just a modest home built into the rock itself, as though the mountain had opened its arms and quietly sheltered it from

DAMON'S POV "Sorry," she said, as though the word alone could serve as an answer. As though it could explain twelve years. It took far too long for her apology to register. A constant ringing filled my ears, growing louder with every passing second until it drowned out almost everything else. My mind felt impossibly loud... And utterly hollow. I kept trying to form a thought. Something coherent. Something that might become words. Nothing came. The female standing before me looked like my mother. She sounded like my mother. Even the way she held herself tugged at memories I'd buried years ago. Yet every instinct insisted it was impossible. I'd watched them lower the coffin into the ground. I'd stood beside Rhoda while the council representative spoke of loss and sacrifice. I'd spent twelve years forcing myself to accept that I would never hear Mother's voice again. People did not simply come back from the dead. Instead, I remembered. I remembered the