《The Alpha's Bought Bride》全部章節：第 21 章 - 第 30 章

The wind screamed in my ears as I fell, the ground rushing up to meet me at a terrifying speed. It was a fall that should have killed a human. But as I plunged toward the courtyard, the silver spark inside me didn't just ignite; it exploded.It wasn't a flare this time. It was a sunburst.“Elara, NO!” Silas’s mental scream was a roar of pure agony, but it was drowned out by the sound of my own power.The silver energy didn't just wrap around me; it became me. I hit the ground not with a thud, but with the impact of a meteor.The shockwave blasted outward from my center, a blinding ring of pure white and silver fire. It caught the Inquisition's front line—the men holding Silas's light-chains—and turned them to ash instantly. The chains snapped with a sound like lightning strikes, the links dissolving under the raw heat of the Nova burst.Silas, freed from his restraints, staggered back, blinking against the light. His midnight fur was scorched, and blood seeped from a dozen wounds, but

The midnight air was thick with the scent of damp earth and ancient stone. Silas led the way, his hand locked around mine with a grip that felt like a permanent shackle. He was still pale, his movements slightly stiffer than usual, but the Alpha’s authority radiated off him in waves, keeping the shadows at bay.Behind us, Kaelin and a hand-picked squad of the elite guard followed in absolute silence. No torches were lit. In the tunnels beneath the Black Ridge, fire was a beacon for things that lived in the dark. We relied on the faint, bioluminescent moss that clung to the damp walls and the low, silver hum that had begun to throb in my own veins the deeper we descended."How much further?" I whispered, my voice echoing hollowly against the jagged ceiling."The Inner Sanctum sits directly above the raw silver-vein," Silas murmured, his eyes scanning every crevice. "It is the heart of the mountain. The metal acts as a natural dampener for magic—it will hide your spark from the Coven's

The stillness in the Inner Sanctum was suffocating. It had been nearly four hours since we had retreated to the vault, and the soft, pulsing blue-white glow of the quartz clusters was beginning to feel like a countdown.Silas was a creature of kinetic energy, and the forced inactivity was weighing on him. He paced the silver-lined floor, his presence so massive it seemed to shrink the cavernous room. He had shifted into his human form for the move, but the wolf was very close to the surface; his fingers were elongated, the dark tips of his claws scraping against the smooth obsidian slab where I sat."They should be here by now," he growled, stopping to listen. "Unless Kaelin and the rear guard neutralized them in the upper tunnels."I shook my head, my fingers tracing the cold, bone handle of the dagger resting in my lap. "No. The Shadow-Step assassins aren't warriors, Silas. They’re viruses. Kaelin’s claws are useless against them. They wouldn't waste their time fighting her. Not whe

The transition from the luxury of the Alpha’s suite to the brutal reality of the forest happened under the cover of a moonless sky.Silas didn't give me time to pack a trunk or say goodbye to the few servants who hadn't looked at me with pity. Within twenty minutes of the shadow assassin’s attack, I was wrapped in a heavy, fur-lined cloak, standing at the mouth of a hidden stone tunnel that led from the castle’s cellar to the outskirts of the Northern territory."The Coven expects us to fortify," Silas murmured, his voice barely a whisper against the rustle of the wind. He was dressed in dark tactical gear, a heavy blade strapped to his back. His amber eyes scanned the treeline with a ferocity that made my breath hitch. "They expect me to hide my Queen behind stone walls and thousands of soldiers. They don't expect us to disappear.""Are we disappearing, Silas? Or are we running?" I asked, my fingers clutching the silver daggers Kaelen had given me.Silas turned to me, the moonlight c

The smoke from the Eastern Gate was still curling into the sky, a black scar against the blue of the morning, but inside the castle, a deceptive silence had returned.I sat on the edge of the massive mahogany bed in our quarters, my hands resting in my lap. I was still wearing the leather tactical gear, now stained with the grime of the ramparts, and my skin felt sensitive, as if the silver light had left a layer of static just beneath the surface. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the Void—the way Silas’s eyes had turned into endless pits of shadow.The door to the bath chamber opened, and Silas stepped out. He was dressed in nothing but a pair of dark silk trousers, his hair damp and falling over his forehead. The steam followed him like a ghost.I looked at his chest—at the spot where my silver blast had struck him. A faint, circular mark remained, a shimmering bruise that looked like moonlight trapped under his skin."Does it hurt?" I asked, my voice small in th