All Chapters of The Ruthless Alpha's Claimed Breeder: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

CIARAI sat on the edge of the mattress. My bare feet hovered over the cold stone floor. I kept my body completely still. My hands shook, but it was not from weakness. It was from the volume of raw power waking up inside my bones. For twenty-one years, my chest had been a silent space. Now, my senses were magnified. I heard the distant drip of water from a pipe down the hall. I felt the exact texture of the linen sheets beneath my fingers.Then, the heavy oak doors opened with a loud bang against the stone wall.I expected Hayes. Instead, a strong smell of vanilla and bitter musk flooded the room. It hid the smell of the chemicals completely.A woman walked into the room. She did not knock. She did not look at the two Blackthorn guards standing by the threshold. She wore a tight, deep-red leather jacket and dark pants. Her long black hair swung over her shoulders as she walked straight toward the center of the floor. She was beautiful, with high cheekbones and dark eyes. She did not l

HAYESThe wood of the study door shut as I slammed it behind me. Nilah didn't even look up from the mahogany desk. She was leaning over the maps, a red pen between her fingers, tracing the northern supply lines. She had a small, satisfied smile on her face that made Kyle pace behind my ribs with raw, lethal aggression."Get away from the desk," I said.My voice was too quiet, too level. Nilah paused, dropping the pen onto the paper with a soft thud. She stood up straight, turning around to face me, her dark eyes scanning my rigid posture and clenched fists."Don't take your frustration out on me, Hayes," she said, her tone smooth and entirely unbothered. "I didn't force your little mate to lose her mind. I went up there to offer her a proper introduction, and she jumped at my throat like a wild animal. She has no control.""You went into my private quarters to bait her," I said, walking straight into her space until she was backed against the heavy bookshelves. I didn't touch her, bu

HAYESI released her wrists, but I did not move my weight off her. My hands shifted down to the collar of her torn dress, pulling the green fabric completely apart to expose her throat and chest to the cold air of the bedroom. She shivered beneath me, her skin forming goosebumps immediately, but she did not try to roll out from under my body. Her brown eyes remained locked on mine, waiting."Look at the bed, Ciara," I ordered, my voice rough. I forced her head to turn toward the heavy wooden posts and the dark gray furs beneath us. "Nilah has not slept in this room for three years. I stripped every piece of furniture out of this wing the day she left. The sheets you are lying on belong to you. The floorboards you walk on belong to you. I don't keep relics of old contracts.""She knew about the desk," Ciara said, her voice small but steady as she turned her face back to me. "She told me what you did to her against the wood in the study.""She remem

HAYESThe heavy double doors of the study slammed shut behind Ciara, the sound echoing through the room. I stood frozen behind the desk for one second, my fingers dug into the mahogany wood until the grain groaned under my grip. The scent of her panic and anger was still thick in the air, mixing with the sharp smell of my own flared aura."Hayes," Killan said, stepping forward from the leather chairs. "You need to—""Get out," I growled, not looking at him."She is running toward the western gate," Killan pressed, his voice tight. "If she leaves the perimeter without an escort—""I said get out!" I roared.The force of my voice rattled the glass inkwells on the desk. Killan closed his mouth, his jaw clenching, and he backed out of the private office, closing the doors quietly behind him.The moment the lock clicked, I stripped my uniform jacket off and threw it onto the chair. My skin was hot, the sweat slicking the back of my neck as Kyle fought for control behind my ribs. The image

CIARAThe private dining room was too quiet. The estate was fully lit and functioning perfectly, the crystal chandeliers overhead casting a bright, warm glow over the long mahogany table, but the air inside my lungs felt like pure ice.Hayes sat at the head of the table. He had changed into a fresh black uniform shirt that made his shoulders look impossibly wide, his jaw set in a rigid line, his golden eyes fixed directly on the plate in front of him. I sat at his right hand, my fingers tightly interlaced in my lap beneath the heavy table runner. I had forced myself to get out of the blankets and put on a simple dark dress to look like the Luna I was supposed to be, but my skin still felt completely frozen.And sitting directly across from us, looking completely at home in the warmth of the hearth fire, was Nilah.She had her dark green sweater sleeves pushed up to her elbows, her long black hair shifted over one shoulder to reveal the faint red marks my nails had left on her neck. Sh