ElaineThe world was reduced to a photograph.The orphanage’s facade took center stage on the screen, bathed in a grayish afternoon light. I didn’t recognize the building, but I recognized the blue blanket from the old orphanage.One I’d bought at a charity fair because a girl named Meli said it looked like the sky folded up.The memory came flooding back.Meli is laughing with two missing teeth. Kris scolding me for spending too much on blankets. Me promising that every child would have a different one so they wouldn’t feel like they were sleeping in a borrowed place.I brought my hand to my mouth.Come get them, Elaine.Maxon knew.“I’m going,” I said.“No,” Arsel replied at the same time.“Arsel.”“You’re not going to

ArselSeeing Herman behind the little girl was the closest I ever came to losing my mind.Leo lunged at my skin, my claws shot out, and Elaine grabbed my hand.She didn’t hold me tight. She couldn’t physically stop me. That wasn’t possible. But the oath burned between us, and her voice reached me before my fury did.“Arsel.”One word.My name.Not Alpha. Not mate. Not wolf.Arsel.I breathed.It was a ragged, cruel breath, but I breathed.“If you go in like that, he wins,” she said, without taking her eyes off the building. “He wants images. He wants blood. He wants to be attacked in front of the children.”“He’s touching a little girl.”“I know,” she replied, and the way she said it broke me. “Believe me, I know.&

ElaineThe black door wasn’t real.It was a projection on the map, a construct of light, dust, and magic created by Amelie to understand a pattern. It couldn’t hurt me. It couldn’t breathe. It couldn’t look at me. It couldn’t reach out with invisible fingers toward the back of my neck.And yet I felt it watching me.The opening was tiny, a thin line in the air above the table, but its presence disrupted everything. Amelie couldn’t take her eyes off the door.“Turn it off,” Selene said.“I can’t,” Amelie replied.“What do you mean, you can’t?” Izan asked.Amelie raised both hands, but not toward us. Toward the projection. Her fingers were trembling.“I’m not holding it. The map is responding to something external. The anchor needle didn’t

MaxonElections weren’t won with votes; they were won with fear.Votes were just the receipt people demanded to pretend they’d voted freely.I stood in front of the wall of screens in the command center as the results shifted from yellow to dark blue, our party’s color. State governorships, mayoral offices, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and border districts were turning blue. One after another, the human maps surrendered before me without my having to fire a single bullet in front of the cameras.We had completely conquered our territory.Paul Thorn’s face appeared on every broadcast like a martyr. Thousands of fools were mourning a man who would have sold his daughter twice over if it guaranteed him a bigger office.His death had served us far better than his life.“We have a majority in thirty-seven state governments,” Darwin reported from the central table. “The northern districts are still counting, but our party’s candidates are leading in all of them. The presidency

ElaineWar was declared with my photograph in the background.An old photograph, taken before the bruises were visible, before I learned to look at the floor when Maxon entered a room. In the picture, I was wearing a white dress and smiling as if my life belonged to me.He had stolen even that version of me.In the public square, thousands of people shouted my name, even though they didn’t know me.They didn’t know I’d escaped hidden in a trunk. They didn’t know that Maxon beat me, raped me, and threatened to kill children to keep me quiet. They didn’t know that my father had sold me for a campaign and then died when he tried to regain a belated shred of conscience.Even so, they shouted my name as if they were going to rescue me.I felt nauseous.Arsel turned off the feed.“Turn it back on,” I pleaded urgently.Arsel looked at me.“You don’t need to hear any more.”“It’s not for me.”Liv understood before he did.“She needs to study the speech,” she said, and I nodded.“The exact wor

ArselCrescent smelled of fear even before the first enemy crossed the border.As soon as we stepped out of the portal, Leo raised his head inside me.Home.The word brought no relief.Elaine stayed by my side.Her hand was still in mine, but her gaze was fixed on the white glow of the Winter Garden.“Nami knows we’re here,” she said solemnly.“Narel,” I corrected, though the name burned my tongue.For years I had eaten her food.She had been undermining my pack for seventeen years.“Liv,” I called over the link.The reply came immediately.We’re surrounding the Garden; we haven’t gone in yet. There’s no visible movement, but the magical temperature is rising.“No one touches the dome until Amelie and Bless arrive. Evacuate the area within a fi

All Chapters of Saved by the Alpha: Chapter 81 - Chapter 86

81

82

83

84

85

86