All Chapters of Traded to the Ruthless Alpha: Chapter 111 - Chapter 120

ReyaBy the time we reached the northern courtyard, Blackwood felt like a different place. News had spread faster than I expected. Warriors lined the paths, the servants had disappeared indoors, and the usual bustle had faded into an uneasy silence. Everyone knew something had happened. No one knew yet how afraid they should be. More than twenty children stood beyond the inner gate. They looked younger than they were. Some were barefoot, while others were wrapped in thin, threadbare clothes. One little boy clung to an older girl as if she were the only solid thing left in his world. Hunger had sharpened their faces, and fear had taught them to move without making a sound. Every one of them carried shadows, though none were like mine. Wisps curled around some of their ankles. Others wore darkness across their shoulders like scarves. One girl had shadows woven through her hair as if they had always belonged there. I stopped. Killian stopped with me. His hand settled at the small of m

ReyaThe pounding beneath the ruined pack house shook the ground under my horse’s hooves. Each slow, heavy strike was louder than the last, and the mark beneath my collarbone grew hotter with it. I pressed a hand to my chest, but the heat kept building. I barely had time to register the sound before the twelve figures around the blood streaked circle moved as one. “Down!” Killian grabbed me and pulled me off my horse. A blade of shadow sliced through the space where my head had been and struck a tree, stripping away its bark. My horse reared as we hit the ground. Killian covered me with his body, and all I could think about was how easily that blade could have hit him instead. There was nothing ordinary about the people attacking us. The first man lunged again, throwing another blade of shadow as the Blackwood warriors rushed to intercept him. All twelve attackers moved together, with none of the hesitation or instinct to protect themselves that I expected. Something else was direc

Sophia: For a long, terrible second I wanted someone to tell me the dead were lying. The name Vale echoed through me, knocking everything off balance. I stood a few paces from Reya and Killian, staring as if I were watching a fight I could not stop. Vale. My family. The bloodline that had kept the believers alive when everyone else turned away. We were the ones who remembered. We preserved the rituals, maps, and methods that had led me to Reya. My mother said our line survived because we never forgot what the Guardian was meant to become. We were not supposed to have betrayed the keepers. Killian lay on the ground with Reya against him, blood soaking the wound he had refused to treat. She looked barely conscious after closing the third seal, but for one selfish moment, neither of them mattered. Only the name did. Vale. Reya stirred and Killian lowered his head toward her. “Baby?” he said, voice raw. Her eyelids fluttered. “I’m here,” he breathed, relief softening his face for a

Reya: The words carved into the wall made no sense. THE GUARDIAN WAS NEVER THE FIRST. Dust drifted through the chamber. Beside me, Killian pressed a hand to his bleeding side, while Sophia wiped blood from her nose. None of us knew what to say. The Guardian did not move either, and that frightened me more than anything else. Moments ago, he had thrown Sophia across the room, tricked me into trying to close the fourth circle, and attacked Killian. Now he stared at the bones, afraid. I turned toward him. “You know what those words mean.” His golden eyes snapped to mine. “Leave it.” Killian noticed too. “Then we are definitely not leaving it.” His shadows rushed toward the bones. “Stop him!” I threw my hands forward. My shadows collided with his before they reached the doorway. Pain shot through both my arms, but I held them in place. The Guardian turned toward me. “Do not touch what is inside there.” He tore his shadows free. The force knocked me backward. Killian caught m

Killian: The Guardian collapsed, and Reya slipped from my hold to catch him. I grabbed his shoulder before his weight dragged her down, tearing open the wound in my side. “You’re bleeding again,” she said, looking at my side. “I noticed.” I helped lower him, avoiding her glare. Without the shadows surrounding him, he looked younger, almost human. That made it harder to remember what he had done to Cormac, though I had no intention of forgetting. Sophia hurried over. “The Hunger shouldn’t have separated from him that easily.” “You said separation was what we needed.” “Controlled separation, Killian. This wasn’t controlled.” Reya crouched beside him. “Can you hear me?” “Unfortunately.” His eyes opened, their golden light fading. “Where did it go?” she asked. “Somewhere open. Anger, grief, hatred, suppressed power. It finds what is already there and feeds it.” Sophia went still, and Reya turned toward her. “What are you thinking?” “Bernice. She wanted Cormac broken so you wou