All Chapters of The Rejected Prisoner Who Became the Alpha King's Mate : Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

Lyra’s POVKael dragged me out of the mansion without giving me another chance to speak.I knew where we were going.Ironmoor and I've never felt scared in my whole life.The moment he grabbed my wrist and started pulling me toward the gates, I knew exactly what he had planned. There was no need for him to say it. I had spent three years behind those walls. I knew the road. I knew the smell of the prison before we even reached it.What I didn't know was how I was going to survive being sent back there after finally tasting what freedom felt like.My eyes burned as I climbed into the vehicle but I didn't cry….not this time.I sat against the window, my hands folded tightly in my lap while Kael took the driver's seat. He slammed the door and started the engine so violently that the vehicle jerked forward.I stared through the window as the Ashbourne mansion disappeared behind us but my thoughts weren't on the prison.They were on Zaren.I could still remember the way he looked at me whe

Zaren’s POVI knew that voice, Selene stood in the doorway and I could feel her eyes behind my back.I said nothing.“You heard me,” she said, stepping farther into the room. “Who are you?”I was not going to expose myself and especially not tonight.Thank the Moon Goddess, my armor still covered most of my body, and the dark cloak I had pulled over my shoulders hid the royal crest stitched into the metal beneath it. Even my hair was tucked away, leaving Selene with nothing she could use to connect the stranger standing in Lyra’s bedroom to the man she was desperately trying to marry.I needed to leave before she asked another question.Without giving her the satisfaction of an answer, I turned toward the window and took one step.Selene’s voice sliced through the room.“Try it….oh just dare!”My hand stopped inches from the window frame.She laughed softly behind me, and there was something so smug about the sound that my wolf’s ears practically flattened inside my head.“Go ahead,”

Lyra’s POVWe left Ashbourne before the sun came up.The mansion was still buried beneath the darkness when Kael ordered the horses prepared, and by the time Selene and I climbed into the car, the eastern sky had only begun to lighten.I barely slept during the journey.Every time the car rocked over a rough patch in the road, my eyes opened. Every time I caught the faint scent of pine drifting through the cracked window, my wolf stirred beneath my skin.Ash had been quiet for so long that I had almost forgotten what it felt like to have her paying attention to the world around me.Now she kept lifting her head.Mate…I swallowed. “Soon,” I whispered, resting my forehead against the cool glass.I didn't know if I was promising her or myself.Soon, I would see Zaren. That thought was the only thing keeping me from falling apart.Across from me, Selene spent most of the journey practicing my voice.She would say a sentence, pause, then repeat it in a slightly lower tone. Sometimes she t

Zaren’s POVLyra was back in Silver Crest.The thought had been running through my head ever since Cade told me the carriage had crossed our borders.She was here under my roof.Close enough that if I walked through the right corridor, I could probably catch her scent before I even saw her.And somehow, that made it harder to breathe.I had spent the better part of the last hour pacing through my chambers like a restless wolf trapped behind bars. Every few minutes, I stopped beside the window and looked toward the lower courtyard, expecting to see her.Nothing.My wolf wasn't helping.‘Go to her.’“I can't go to her yet,” I muttered, dragging a hand over my face. “She came with Selene, and if I suddenly forget every precaution I've taken just because I missed my mate, my brothers will notice.”My wolf growled.‘She is our mate.’“I know exactly who she is.”I stopped pacing and looked toward the door.“I want to see her. I want to pull her into my arms, kiss her until she forgets ever

LyraThat question froze him.I had only asked what I could do. What he wanted. Why his skin felt like a fever I could not see. One moment he stood in front of me with gold fighting to take his eyes, and the next he went so still that even my wolf held her breath. He was hot and it's not the warmth of a room with a fire or the warmth of a mouth after a kiss. This heat lived in him. It rolled off his throat, his chest, the air between us, and it scared me because I could feel how close he was to losing the part of himself that still knew how to be careful.I had been looking for the kitchen when Cade found me. A drink to fulfill a task I did not want to perform. My hand had been on a door that smelled of bread and roasted meat when fingers closed around my arm and pulled. Cade did not explain. He walked me through halls that did not belong to a hunter, marble shining under my shoes, gold thread in the rugs, windows so tall they made the daylight look expensive. I wanted to ask again