All Chapters of Traded to the Ruthless Alpha: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

Cormac: I surfaced through pain, distant voices, and the cold sting of a healer’s needle. My body felt impossibly heavy. I tried to open my eyes, but they would not obey. I was in Blackwood. I remembered the gates, Killian calling my name, and trying to warn him about Sophia before the floor vanished beneath me. Then came the memory that turned my stomach: Reya trapped against the infirmary wall, Killian’s fist striking my face, and my own voice saying, She needs to die. Panic surged through me. I could not move a finger, and even my wolf felt trapped behind a locked door. Then her laughter slipped through the darkness. “You are awake,” she said. Sophia. My eyes flew open, but the infirmary was gone. I stood in endless darkness, my real body still aching somewhere beyond it. Sophia waited a few feet away, black hair over one shoulder and bottomless eyes fixed on me. “What did you do to me?” Her smile widened. “I gave your fear a voice.” “You made me attack Reya.” “I pushed w

ReyaThe broth beside Cormac’s bed has gone cold. I barely remember bringing it. All I can see is the man beneath the blankets and the blackness filling his eyes. Cormac is still in there. I felt him the last time Sophia used him to reach me, trapped beneath her will and fighting for control. But nothing in the face before me feels familiar. Cormac has never smiled as if my fear delights him. “Hello, Reya,” the voice says through his mouth. My shadows spill across the infirmary floor and climb up the walls. I step back, forcing air into my lungs. “Get out of him,” I state, and I try my best to make my voice steady. Cormac’s head tilts, and Sophia’s smile stretches across his face. “No hello?” “You heard me,” I answer gruffly. “You attacked him.” Cormac’s fingers twitch against the blanket, trying to form a fist. Hope flares, then Sophia glances down, and his hand goes still again. “You can still feel him, can’t you?” “Sometimes. And I know you twisted his thoughts. Whatever h

Reya: Starting over had seemed manageable in the dark. Daylight made the task look endless. By midmorning, the sun had warmed the stone walls, and brittle pages, curled maps, and dusty ledgers covered every inch of the library table. Killian and I sorted them into two piles: records from before the bounty and those that surfaced afterward. Somewhere between them lay the truth of our search. I could hardly look at the trader’s book. Days ago, I had clutched it with trembling hope, certain it would lead me to others like me. Now its pages only proved how easily someone had turned that hope into bait. Sophia had called the children my door. I hated how right she had been. My shadows gathered around my chair, offering the comfort I refused to ask for. Across the table, Killian studied a ledger, checking dates against catalog numbers. Every few minutes, his gaze flicked to me. Whenever I noticed, he became deeply interested in the ink. By the fourth glance, I sighed. “You really need to

Reya: I knew what Killian was going to ask before he spoke. I had learned the shape of his worry: the tightness in his shoulders since we left the archives, the way he watched me from across the room, as if looking away might give me the chance to disappear. He had found a lead on Cormac: a symbol, a possible coven, someone who might have taught Sophia how to enter another person’s mind and stay there. It should have given me hope. Instead, all I could hear was the clock. Cormac was fading while we traced old records, and every lost hour gave Sophia more time to hollow him out. Killian closed the door behind us and turned toward me. “You are not going anywhere alone,” he said. I lowered my gaze. “I didn’t say I was,” I answered. “You were thinking it,” he said. “You cannot know everything I’m thinking,” I told him. “No. But I know you.” The quiet certainty in his voice made my chest ache. Somehow, he had learned me more completely than I had ever expected anyone to. He crossed

By the time the trees began thinning around us, I had stopped pretending I knew exactly where I was going.Cormac rode beside me, although calling what he was doing riding felt generous.He had barely spoken since we left Blackwood, and twice I caught him swaying badly enough that I had to reach across and steady him before he slipped from the saddle.The first time, he blinked at me with his own brown eyes.The second time, they were already turning black.That was when Sophia began guiding us.“Take the narrow trail ahead.”Her voice came from Cormac’s mouth, smooth and calm despite the exhaustion carved into the rest of his face.I tightened my grip on the reins.“No.”Cormac’s black eyes shifted toward me.“You have been following me for almost two hours, Reya. Pretending you are suddenly concerned about directions is a little late.”“I’m concerned about where you’re taking us.”“Then perhaps you should have stayed in bed.”The mention of bed brought Killian back so sharply it hur