All Chapters of The Alpha My Sister Wanted: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

By the time Black Moon Ridge finally went quiet, Luna Maren’s key had left a red mark in my palm.I had carried it through lunch.Through dinner.Through Victor watching me like he expected answers to fall out of my mouth if he stared long enough.Now I stood outside my bedroom with the brass key wrapped tightly in my fingers.Do not trust the first truth you read.Maren’s warning had followed me all day.I still did not know what she expected me to find.Only where she had told me to start.My mother.Liora Vale.I slipped into the hallway.The pack house felt different at night. Older somehow. Every creak seemed louder without voices to cover it.I took the back stairs.The third step still creaked, just as Luca had promised.I stepped over it.The East Archive sat beyond the old library, tucked into one of the oldest parts of the house.I had passed the door hundreds of times as a child.There was nothing special about it.Dark wood.Brass lock.No sign.No guard.Nothing to suggest

Victor laughed outside the archive door.Soft.Calm.Certain.The sound slid through the wood and wrapped around my throat.Ezra moved closer beside me.I closed the ledger.Too late.Victor already knew I was here.“Aurora.”Not loud.He never needed to be.The whole house had taught me to fear that voice.Ezra looked at the door, then at me.“Do not answer.”The handle moved again.Once.Twice.The lock held.Victor made a quiet sound, almost amused.“You disappoint me.”My stomach twisted.Ezra’s eyes darkened.“Open the door, Aurora.”My fingers tightened around the ledger.For seven years, I had obeyed that voice.This time, I stayed silent.Victor stepped closer on the other side.“I know you came looking for answers.”My breath caught.“I know you are confused,” he continued. “You think finding old records will make you stronger.”His voice softened.That was worse.“They will not. They will only make you understand why you should have stayed obedient.”Obedient.Small.Quiet.H

Victor inhaled.Inside the wardrobe, every muscle in my body locked.His gaze moved slowly across Ezra’s room.The bed.The desk.The balcony doors.Then the wardrobe.“She has been here,” he said.My fingers curled into the sleeve of Ezra’s coat hanging beside me.It smelled like him.Cedar smoke. Storm rain. Dark earth after midnight.His scent surrounded me completely.Apparently, it was not enough to hide mine.Ezra stayed beside the door, calm enough to make me want to scream.“Many people have been in my room.”Victor smiled.“Not many smell like honey and rainwater.”My breath stopped.Honey?Rainwater?That was me?Victor took another step into the room.Ezra moved with him.Not enough to look defensive.Enough to keep himself between Victor and the wardrobe.Victor noticed.Of course he did.“You are very protective tonight.”“I am very tired of you walking into my room without permission.”Victor’s expression hardened.“You are still an heir.”“And this is still my room.”The

I did not wait for breakfast to end.Next full moon.Three nights.The words seemed to stay in the room even after Victor stopped speaking.My chair scraped against the floor as I stood.Vivian looked at me. Ezra moved slightly, like he was about to get up too.I left before anyone could decide what I needed.The corridor blurred past me.East hall. Side passage. The narrow door near the end.Cold air hit my face the second I stepped outside.I breathed it in too fast and it burned all the way down.Good.It gave me something else to think about.I walked quickly at first.Then faster.By the time the pack house disappeared behind the trees, I was running.I did not know where I was going.My wolf seemed to.Every time I tried to slow, pressure built beneath my ribs and urged me higher through the trees.Not away.Toward.I did not know how I knew the difference.The path narrowed as it climbed. Roots twisted through damp earth and mist hung low between the trunks.I had never come thi

By the morning of the full moon, I had spent three days thinking about one word.Moonfall.Luca found me before I found him.That was how it usually worked.He appeared at the end of the east corridor with two cups of something hot and an expression that said he had already assessed the situation, calculated the risks and decided to be here anyway.“You look terrible,” he said, handing me a cup.“Thank you.”“It was not a criticism. It was an observation.” He fell into step beside me. “Where are we going?”“The archive.”He did not break stride.“Of course we are.”The ceremony preparations had pulled most of the house towards the main hall, leaving the lower corridors unusually quiet.Luca had noticed the guard rotation had shifted.Ezra had given us twenty minutes before anyone would think to look.I intended to use all of them.The east archive smelled exactly as I remembered.Dust. Old ink. Leather.Secrets that had been sitting undisturbed long enough to believe they were safe.Th