Semua Bab Alpha’s Deceptive Mate: Bab 11 - Bab 20

Chapter 12POV: LioraI did not realize how fast I was walking until I reached the far end of the corridor and nearly collided with one of the guards turning the corner. He started to curse under his breath, then stopped abruptly when he recognized me, his expression shifting into mild confusion as he took in my state.“Leo?” he asked, brows knitting together.I muttered something that barely resembled an apology and kept moving before he could say anything else. I did not trust my voice not to betray me, and more than that, I did not trust myself to stand still long enough for anyone to notice how badly my control was slipping.My pulse was still racing, my chest tight, my thoughts tangled beyond recognition. It felt like I had left something behind in Kael’s chambers, something vital and dangerous, and no matter how far I put between us, I could not escape the sensation that it was still there, still tethered to me.Because I could still feel him.It was faint, like the echo of a so

Chapter 14POV: LioraThe moment I stepped out of Kael’s chambers, something inside me felt… altered.Not broken, not yet, but strained in a way that made every breath feel heavier than the last. The door closed behind me with a quiet click, yet the sound echoed in my mind as though it had been louder, more final. I lingered in the corridor for a few seconds, staring at the carved wood, my hand hovering at my side as if I might reach for the handle and walk back in.I didn’t.Because I knew if I did, I wouldn’t stop at words.And that would be a mistake I couldn’t undo.So I forced myself to move.Each step down the corridor felt deliberate, controlled, even as everything inside me churned. My wolf was restless, pacing beneath my skin, unsettled by the distance that had suddenly opened between us. It wasn’t just physical distance. It was something deeper, something tied to the way Kael had looked at me, the way his voice had shifted when he told me to leave.He hadn’t just dismissed m

Chapter 16POV: KaelThe moment Vera stepped into my office, I knew whatever she carried wasn’t small.It wasn’t in her words, she hadn’t spoken yet.It was in the way she held herself.Tension sat rigid in her shoulders, her jaw set tighter than usual, her eyes scanning the room once before settling on me. She only did that when something had already escalated beyond control.And I had the distinct, sinking feeling that whatever it was…It was about to make everything worse.“What is it?” I asked, my voice sharper than intended.Vera didn’t answer immediately. Her gaze flicked, just briefly, toward Liora.That was all it took.Every instinct in me sharpened instantly.“It concerns the southern border,” she said carefully. “And… her.”The room went still.I felt it before I processed it, the sudden shift in the air, the way Liora’s presence tightened behind me, the faint spike in her pulse that my wolf picked up without effort.I didn’t turn to look at her because I didn't need to.“W

Chapter 18POV: LioraI did not return to the training yard after the encounter in the forest.My feet carried me in the opposite direction, away from the noise of sparring and the watchful eyes of warriors who were beginning to notice too much. I moved through the inner paths of the pack grounds with measured steps, forcing my breathing into something steady, something controlled, even as my thoughts churned with a force I could not quiet.Everything had changed again.It felt as though every time I began to understand the shape of my situation, something new surfaced to tear that fragile certainty apart. First, it had been the truth about Matthias and the council. Then the bond with Kael, something neither of us could explain or deny. Now this, confirmation that Silver Creek was unraveling from within, that Matthias was not merely consolidating power but preparing for something far more dangerous.War.The word settled heavily in my mind, not as speculation but as an inevitability I

POV: KaelBy morning, the weight of everything I had learned, and everything I had chosen not to confront directly, had settled into something heavier than anger.It was a calculation.I stood at the edge of the training yard, watching my warriors move through drills with mechanical precision. Steel clashed against steel, boots struck packed earth, commands were given and obeyed. From the outside, Nightbane looked exactly as it always had, disciplined, unshaken, controlled.But I could feel it.A subtle shift beneath the surface.Tension and uncertainty.The kind that spread quietly when something at the core of a pack began to crack.And at the center of it all was a truth only a handful of us knew.Liora.Not Leo, not a rogue or an omega.A trained Silver Creek warrior, possibly more than that, and the very person my own council had once agreed to eliminate if she ever stepped into our territory.My jaw tightened as I watched her move across the yard.She sparred with Marcus, her st