Semua Bab Alpha’s Deceptive Mate: Bab 31 - Bab 40

POV: LioraThe tension from the council chamber followed us long after we left the corridor.It clung to Kael like a second skin, quiet but unmistakable. Even as we moved through the dimly lit halls toward his office, I could feel it in the set of his shoulders, in the controlled rhythm of his steps, in the way his presence filled the space around him without effort. He wasn’t just thinking, he was calculating, already moving three steps ahead, already preparing for whatever came next.And yet… beneath all of that, there was something else.Something that had nothing to do with the council.Nothing to do with Matthias or the war.It had everything to do with us.He pushed the office door open and stepped inside without a word. I followed, closing it behind me. The quiet that settled in the room felt heavier than before, not empty, but full of everything left unsaid, everything we had both been avoiding since the moment this began.Kael moved toward the desk but didn’t sit. Instead, h

POV: LioraSleep did not come easily that night.Even after leaving Kael’s office, even after putting distance between us, the memory of what had happened refused to fade. It lingered in every thought, in every quiet moment, in the restless shifting of my wolf beneath my skin. I lay awake long after the barracks had fallen silent, staring at the ceiling as if the answers I needed might be written there.But there were no answers.Only consequences.What we had done, what we had allowed to happen, was not something that could be undone. It had shifted something fundamental between us, something neither of us fully understood but could no longer deny. The bond, whatever it truly was, had stopped being a question and become something tangible, something that affected every breath, every instinct, every decision.And that was exactly what made it dangerous.I turned onto my side, closing my eyes, but the moment I did, I saw him again. The way he had looked at me, the way his control had s

POV: KaelNight settled heavily over Nightbane territory, but it brought me no peace.I stood on the balcony outside my chambers, my hands braced against the cold stone railing as I stared out into the darkness. The forest stretched endlessly beyond the borders, familiar and constant, the trees shifting softly with the wind. The distant sounds of patrols drifted through the night air, steady and rhythmic, a pattern I had known my entire life.It should have grounded me.It should have reminded me of who I was.Alpha. Protector. Leader.Instead, my thoughts refused to settle.They circled back to one person.Liora.Not the fugitive my council wanted eliminated.Not the problem threatening to destabilize everything I had built.But the woman who had somehow become the one thing I could no longer control.I exhaled slowly, tightening my grip on the railing as my wolf stirred beneath my skin. It had been growing stronger over the past few days, more insistent, more restless. This wasn’t j

POV: Liora Sleep did not come easily to me that night.Even after I left the training yard, even after the air between Kael and me had settled into something quieter, though no less complicated, my mind refused to follow. I lay on the narrow bed in the barracks, staring at the ceiling, replaying every moment with him in relentless detail. The kiss. The words. The look in his eyes when he said he wasn’t going to ignore what was happening between us.It should have unsettled me. It did unsettle me. But beneath the uncertainty, beneath the tension and everything that didn’t make sense, there was something else. Something steadier. Something I hadn’t felt in a long time.And that was what made it dangerous.Because nothing about my life had ever stayed steady for long.At some point during the night, exhaustion must have claimed me, because when I opened my eyes again, the faint gray light of early morning had already begun to seep through the windows. My body felt heavy, but not in the

POV: Liora The moment I left Kael’s office, the air outside felt different, not lighter, not easier, just sharper. As though something invisible had shifted into place and everything around it was now adjusting to survive.I didn’t go back to the barracks immediately.Instead, I walked.Not aimlessly, but without a fixed destination, my mind turning over everything that had just been said, what hadn’t been said, and everything that sat in between. The pack moved around me in quiet efficiency, warriors returning from patrol, others preparing for their next shift, the usual rhythm of life continuing as though nothing had changed.But it had.I could feel it in the way conversations lowered when certain names were mentioned. In the way glances lingered just a fraction too long on the main building. In the way authority moved, not weakened, but tightened, controlled more deliberately.Kael had done something.Not just confronted the council.Shifted them.And whatever line had been cross