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All Chapters of Traded to the Ruthless Alpha: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

73 Chapters

Chapter 21

ReyaOne week changed more than I thought it could.The Council still camps out beyond Blackwood’s gates, their silver banners are stubborn against the mountain wind. Every morning a messenger rides to the gate and demands an audience. Every afternoon Killian refuses. Every evening the riders return to their camp, no closer to taking me than the day before.The siege has become a routine. Oddly enough, my life has become a routine. After breakfast each morning, Killian and I meet in the training yard and every time I tell him how I hate training and every morning, he chooses to ignore me.“I’ve decided,” I announce one cold morning as I stretch a shoulder that protests my movement, “That your favorite hobby is making me miserable. I swear that this is getting too impossible for me to ignore. But this is the fact. It is real. You like making my life horrible and miserable. You like tormenting me. It is the only explanation that I can have!”Killian stands across from me, the practice s

Chapter 22

KillianThe archives beneath Blackwood smell like old parchment, and the kind of dust that remembers names no living man can pronounce. It’s a reminder of how dangerous things are because the dead rarely lie, but the people living once did. And that was the reason why I often secluded this part of the library. These archives are for my eyes and any future alpha's eyes to see. There is a single lantern that burns beside me as I unroll another scroll across the oak table. The room is a small island of light and a sea of shadowed stacks. Every document that I gathered in the last few days is open in front of me in a pile that is too big to be true. Some of these had been burned centuries ago. Some papers come from the Blackwoods library, others had been my father

Chapter 23

SkylarHaving to be under a constant watch is both exhausting and annoying. Every corridor I walk through has the same pattern: two Blackwood warriors follow several paces behind me.They know not to get too close to bother or insult me, but Killian is clever. He didn’t change me, nor did he throw me into a cell. He didn’t try to strip me of my title. Instead, he did something much more humiliating.He left me with enough dignity that the Council can’t accuse him of mistreating a visiting Alpha while also ensuring that I don’t take a single step without one of his wolves knowing what I was at.They pretend that this is hospitality, but I know what a prison is and this is it. Even a pretty cage is still a cage. And I hate every moment of it.

Chapter 24

ReyaI find Killian exactly where I would’ve expected him to be… surrounded by books. The library has become his battlefield. Ancient scrolls cover almost every surface, some of them spread across the long table and others stacked unevenly on the floor. Marks lay open beside faded journals whose loose parchments threaten to break if handled incorrectly.He doesn’t hear me come in, his focus completely on the scroll in his hands. I lean against the doorway as I fold my arms. “You know, I used to think that Alpha’s spent their day intimidating people. I was surprised to see that you’ve been intimidating squirrels because you’ve been waiting for three days.” I tell him in amusement.He grumbles, “At least they’re intimidated by me.”

Chapter 25

Killian I didn’t think something so simple would make such a difference. It wasn’t the maps or the scrolls or even the promise to search for the children.It’s all because I asked Reya to sit beside me.It’s that she felt engaged in something that made this feel a little more intimate, even for her.She leans over the ancient maps, brrushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear, as she looks at these faded markings with total concentration and I realize that I’m witnessing something from her that I’ve never seen before.Confidence. It’s not the loud and arrogant kind. It’s the quiet kind, the kind of confidence t

Chapter 26

SkylarI hate thinking of her smile. I know the reason behind her smile, I almost forgot what it had looked like, and thinking of it again… I release a low growl.The woman that crosses the courtyard isn’t the Reya I remember. The Reya I knew kept her head lowered if someone looked at her. She apologized before speaking, she walked like she expected others to shove her away.This woman laughs and the sound is melodic and carries across the courtyard before the winter steals it away.She carries a stack of books held close to her chest while one of the castle servants hurries after her with another arm full. One of the books slips, but before it can touch the ground, a ribbon of darkness slides out from her cloak and catches it effortlessly before placing the

Chapter 27

ReyaMy whole body is shaking, I didn’t even notice it until the library door shut behind me. The book slipped from my arms and onto the nearest table with a thud and I didn’t notice.My arms won’t stop trembling, Skylar’s face won’t escape my mind. His voice, his question, the way he looked at me. It stays in my mind and makes me… angry.“Are you truly happy?” It repeats in my head, I press my hands against the table and lower my head as I try to steady my breathing.I hate him.I hate that after everything that he did, he still has the power to drag me back into memories that I spent weeks trying to escape. My shadows sense it immediately, dark ribbons pour across the floor, wraps around bookshelves and climb up the walls. The candles flicker violently.One after the other, flames bend away from me as if a storm had entered the room. I whimper, “No, please. Please stop, I don’t want this.”The shadows don’t listen. It’s not because they are disobedient, they’re frightened. They hav

Chapter 28

KillianThe time passes as we sit on the floor. I don’t know how long we stayed there, time lost meaning as I sat with her inside the library.The fire crackles softly in the hearth and I never thought that I would pay much attention to the snow that drifts beyond the tall windows. But as the scrolls lay scattered across the floor where Reya’s shadows had thrown them, I find that nothing else matters than this woman that’s with me. She walked into my pack frightened of the world and now she lies in my arms. She hasn’t moved since she leaned into me.Her cheek rests against my chest, her breathing slow and steady as she listens to the rhythm of my heartbeat. One of my hands rest between her shoulder blades while the other strokes her hair. I’ve never held anyone this carefully before. It’s not because I’m scared of her breaking, but because I want her to know that she shouldn’t brace herself around me.She deserves this moment of peace. Her shadows have settled down and it’s difficult

Chapter 29

ReyaHis lips are warm against mine. For a moment, I forget that there’s even a world that exists beyond this library. I forget about Skylar, the cruel world that I’ve dealt with and the Council. There is only Killian. The steady hand cups my cheek as if I’m something that’s precious. He gently kisses me, giving me the opportunity to pull away if I desired. But I don’t.I lean into him, my fingers curling into the collar of his shirt, using the fabric as something to anchor me.His breath catches slightly and when our lips come together again, it lingers. It’s longer and warmer. It’s not hurried.This kiss is filled with all the weeks of stolen glances, quiet conversations, shared smiles, and every unspoken feeling that has grown between the two of us. I feel his smile against my lips and I bite his bottom lip softly before he pulls away ato rest his head against mine. “You’re smiling again.”“So are you,” I whisper back to him and he chuckles before pecking my lips once again.“I d

Chapter 30

KillianFor the first time in weeks, I’ve felt happy. I’ve found myself smiling without even realizing it. It’s happened when I was reading reports, something utterly mundane and boring. Yet, I smile as I read them. I smile when I walk through the corridors of Blackwood and even when I speak with my warriors. The expression is so natural that I didn’t notice it until Cormac placed another report on my desk and stands beside the desk far longer than necessary.“You signed the same report twice,” He says, “And you haven’t even thought about what it was asking about, given the fact that you’re not even reading it correctly.”I look down at the parchment in front of me. He’s right, my signature sits neatly beneath another signature that I must’ve wr

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