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All Chapters of Marked by the Wolf King: Chapter 31 - Chapter 39

39 Chapters

The wound that never healed

Zara’s pov“Zara, your mother is dead.”For several I refused to understand what I had just heard. The words entered my ears but refused to make sense.My eyes were fixed on Ryan, waiting for him to take back what he had just said; perhaps I had misunderstood him. But he just stood there, watching me, with that calm expression on his face that had infuriated me since the day I met him. he always ruined my reality with that same cold certainty.My mother was standing right beside me, her hand tightened around mine; I could still smell the flower in her hair. I could still remember the way her hands touched my face only a few moments ago. The way she had called me sunshine every chance she got. She was here. She was real. She was my mother, and she was very much alive. So what then gave Ryan the audacity to stand in front of me and tell me that she was dead?Something inside me snapped. “You are lying.” My voice sounded quieter than I expected it to be.Ryan’s expression did not change

The first crack

Chapter 32Zara’s POV “Don’t talk to me like I am one of your guards.” The words had barely left Karl’s mouth before the atmosphere around suddenly became heavier. It was hard to notice at first. The fire burned softly behind me, and somewhere outside, the waves continued to crash against the shore. But inside the room, the warmth had seemed to disappear. It was the Ryan effect. I felt the way Ryan’s shoulder stiffened and the sudden silence that followed Karl’s word.Even Kira, who had been standing near the table, still holding her plate, staring at Ryan, waiting for his reaction. I looked between the two men. Ryan stood with his back fully turned to the door, one hand hanging loosely while the other clenched at his side. There was still a little blood on the corner of his mouth from where my mother had hit him, but he looked like he had already forgotten about it and all his attention was on Karl.Karl, on the other hand, looked…confused. As though he was trying to pick sides. H

the pathways.

Zara’s POV “…but now, I don’t recognize you anymore.”Karl’s words lingered in my mind. For several seconds, I watched Ryan's face carefully; I expected him to get angry again, or maybe to punish Karl the way he had with everyone else who dared to challenge him… but instead, something changed in his expression, and it made me realize how close they actually were.Ryan's eyes remained fixed on Karl, the man who had just told him that he no longer recognized him.I didn’t know how to feel in that moment. Perhaps satisfaction, proof that I was not completely crazy. Karl had spent weeks treating me like an enemy, and now he was finally admitting that Ryan was not right. That should have brought satisfaction, but it didn’t.Ryan looked so wounded, but it disappeared after a few seconds. His jaw tightened, and the coldness returned to his face. “I did everything I did for the safety of the kingdom.”Karl didn’t answer and faced Kira, who moved closer to him, her fingers quietly wrapping ar

The Prison She Chose.

Zara’s POV I had been through a lot already; they didn’t realize that a little information wouldn't kill me. I had spent years surviving without it. What could be worse than not knowing my own name, not remembering my own mother, surviving the way the werewolves looked at me like I was some monster, surviving Ryan’s anger, his interrogation, his hand around my throat, the chamber, the poison, the execution that should have ended my life? I had died once and somehow found my way back.So why did everyone look at me as though the truth would be the thing that finally killed me?I looked at my mother, then at Ryan, then at Karl, who remained strangely quiet since his argument with Ryan. I took a deep breath, sat on the chair nearby, and buried my face in my hands.None of them spoke. I suddenly became aware of everything around me; the fire behind me crackled softly, sending another wave of warmth against my back. I could feel their stares on me. My entire body had become weighed down

The Language of Blood

Zara’s POV “Maybe she deserves to know,” Karl said. No one answered him immediately. I stared at him, almost unable to believe that Karl of all people defended me again, and this time not for the sake of Kira. The same Karl who had spent so much of my time in the wolf territory looking at me as though I was some walking disaster, someone whose existence irritated him. I remembered the way he held my throat when I stood before Ryan. Even when I had nearly died in the chamber, even when Kira’s life was connected to mine, there had always been something guarded in his eyes, each time he looked at me.But now he behaved differently around me for reasons I don’t understand.I looked at Ryan. For once, he didn’t disagree with Karl. And that surprised me even more than Karl’s words and behavior. Ryan stood near the broken wall, one hand hanging loosely at his side while the other remained slightly clenched. Blood still stained the corner of his mouth, but he had already forgotten about tha

Powers

Zara’s POV Karl’s scream echoed through the cottage. It was my first time hearing him cry out like that. It was not the kind of scream that was ordinary. It was raw, torn from somewhere so deep that it made the hair on my body stand on end. He collapsed on the floor, using what looked like his last strength to move backward against the wall. Blood poured from the amputated arm, splashing onto the wooden floor in thick crimson drops before spreading into dark pools beneath him.“Karl!” Kira cried out to him. Tears were already streaming down her face, but Ryan pulled away from halfway, pulling her tightly against his side. She was covered in blood. Her brother’s blood.“Don’t look,” he ordered, covering Kira’s eyes and staring at Karl. Kira struggled against him immediately. “But Karl…”“I said stay back.” Ryan's voice grew louder.She buried her face against him anyway, sobbing uncontrollably; her shoulders trembled beneath his grip.Ryan did not seem to care that she was crying; his

The Last Goodbye

Zara’s POV The silence inside the cottage was unbearable; even the fire crackling in the stone hearth sounded unnaturally loud. Each pop of the burning wood made me flinch. Ryan still stood there, right in front of Karl, who was still staring at his arm. The salty breeze drifting through the open window carried the scent of the sea, yet it did nothing to wash away the metallic blood that still lingered in the room. The smell of blood was sharp, though no blood was to be found, as if the book hadn’t just sucked the blood right in front of me.My mother was the first to move. She gave a warm smile to both Karl and Kira and stood up like she hadn’t just regenerated his arm. She walked towards me, but Ryan stepped in between us slowly and deliberately. His boots creaked softly against the old wooden floor as his eyes remained locked on my mother. There was no longer anger in his expression. He turned back to the Ryan I remembered. Unreadable. Like he was trying to fit the pieces together

Come back to me

Zara’s POV My mother’s words hung in the air longer than they should have. “Please keep her safe…or I wouldn’t hesitate to break free and destroy the little that is left of your kingdom.”Everyone, including me, braced for Ryan to answer the way he always did, the way he always reminded the world he was the Lycan king, and no one snapped at him without losing something for it. Instead, he went still. Not the stillness of restraint, but the stillness of a predator recalculating. He held his gaze on my mother before glancing at me, then dipped his chin in the smallest possible nod.That unsettled me more than it should have. Minutes ago, the air between them had been thick enough to choke on, both of them coiled and ready to tear into each other, and now, without a single growl exchanged, they had silently agreed on the one thing my own instincts rejected: I was leaving.“Absolutely not.” I shook my head and closed the distance between my mother and me, my body moving before my mind co

The Open Door

Zara’s POV The pathway swallowed the last trace of light behind us; my gaze didn’t leave it for a second until the warmth of my mother’s cottage was gone, as though it had never existed at all.The cold air settled against my skin as I followed Ryan through what felt like a narrow passage. There was barely enough light to see anything ahead of me, so all I did was follow Ryan's heartbeat, clutching the book against my chest beneath the clothes my mother had given me. Kael walked several steps ahead before lighting a wooden torch.For a moment, nobody spoke. Even Kira, who usually had something to say regardless of how terrible the situation was, remained silent. I couldn’t shake the thought of my mother. Standing there alone. Come back to me. I swallowed hard and lowered my eyes to the uneven stone beneath my feet, because if I let myself think about her any longer. I knew I would turn around, whether my life was at stake or not.A faint scratching sound came from somewhere to my rig

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