All Chapters of The Alpha’s 99 Days Surrogate : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

The silver in my veins didn't feel like a gift anymore. It felt like a mortgage I couldn't pay.Every time I breathed, the air in the Frost-Peak grew thinner. I walked through the corridors of the shattered palace, my boots clicking on ice that refused to melt. I didn't need guards to tell me where the trouble was. I could feel it through the tether. My Reawakened men were like nerves extending out into the mountain, and right now, those nerves were screaming.I reached the western battlements. Kael was standing there, his silver eyes fixed on the horizon. Below us, the valley was no longer empty."How many?" I asked."Three packs," Kael rasped. "The Iron-Claw, the Pale-Fang, and the remaining Frost-Guard who didn't surrender. They’ve stopped fighting each other. They’ve realized that a common enemy is better for business.""They're waiting for the solstice," I said."They're waiting for a sign of weakness," Kael corrected. "They know the King is human. They can smell the lack of shad

The washbasin was filled with cold water, but when I spat into it, the red didn't sink. It stayed on the surface. I wiped my mouth with the sleeve of my dress. It wasn't blood anymore. The silver in my marrow was beginning to sour, turning my inside parts to iron because I was keeping twenty-six corpses on their feet."Vespera."Killian’s voice came from the doorway. He was dressed in a simple wool tunic, his hair damp from the snow outside. He had been trying to chop wood in the courtyard. I could tell by the blisters on his palms, blisters that would have healed in three seconds when he had his wolf. Now they were raw and red. He looked at the basin. He didn’t bother asking because he already knew."You're rotting," he said."I'm managing," I replied, throwing a dry cloth over the water to hide the stain. "The Pale-Fang sent their tribute this morning. Grain and salt-fish. We have enough to feed the lower Bailey through the first freeze.""I didn't ask about the fish, Vespera. I as

The morning of the solstice brought a sky like steel. The heat had returned to my blood. The initial shock of anchoring the twenty-six Reawakened had passed, and my body had tempered itself to the weight. My skin was clear, pale against the black velvet of my heavy winter gown. The three silver tails of my shift didn't need to be fully summoned to be felt, they lived just beneath my skin, a constant, warming current of power that kept the Northern chill at bay. I stood before the high glass mirror in the solar, fastening a collar of silver-plated steel around my throat. Killian walked in, carrying Lucian. The boy was asleep, his tiny fists tucked under his chin. He looked like any healthy, robust Lycan pup—heavy-boned, thick-furred at the nape of his neck, his breathing deep and steady. The gold in his eyes only showed when he was awake, a mark of the Primal line, but otherwise, he was a perfect, growing boy. "The packs have filled the lower courtyard," Killian said. He stood behi

"You still smell like the stable, Vespera." Silas did not look up from the raw bone he was scraping with his knife. He sat at the long trestle in the center of the hall, his massive shoulders hunched under his heavy wolf pelt. His face was a dark map of scars, and his eyes, a shade of yellow, watched the firelight dance on the blade. Rona sat three benches down, her Pale Fang warriors clustered behind her, their hands never drifting far from their iron hilts. I stood on the stone dais, my arms crossed over my chest. Lucian was asleep in the wool sling, his breathing a warm, steady hum against my ribs. Behind me, twenty of my Reawakened guards stood like statues, their silver eyes wide and unblinking in the dark. "I smell like the woman who owns your mountain, Silas," I said. My voice carried easily through the drafty hall. "If you do not like the scent, you are welcome to try the wind outside." "The wind outside is full of ice," Rona said, her voice sharp as she leaned forward. "W

"Get down, Vespera."Killian’s voice did not rise above a whisper, but the air in the great hall turned instantly cold. He did not look at me. His amber eyes were fixed on the ceiling.I did not ask questions. I snatched Lucian from the cradle of cured hide, tucking his small, warm body against my neck. My fingers sank into the thick silver fur of my cloak, my three tails shifting behind me to anchor my weight on the floorboards. The silver pulse in my veins flared, a cold, silent current that went out to the twenty Reawakened guards standing along the perimeter. They moved instantly, their iron swords sliding from their scabbards without a sound, their dead eyes turning upward in perfect unison.Above us, the scraping sound came again. It was the heavy, deliberate drag of claws on dry timber.Then, a face broke the shadow of the highest rafter.It was a wolf, but it was not one of ours. The beast was massive. It’s ribs showing through its scarred hide like the rungs of a ladder. The