All Chapters of Goodbye Alpha, You Can Never Win Me Back: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Jaxon POVThe garden was already filling when I stepped onto the south terrace.Lanterns hung from the old fruit trees in strings of amber light, casting warm pools across the white-draped tables and the clusters of delegates milling between them. The scent of roasted meat and fresh bread drifted from the buffet line, mingling with the heavier undercurrent of wine, perfume, and competing Alpha pheromones. A string quartet played somewhere near the fountain, their music barely audible beneath the steady hum of conversation.I grabbed a plate, loaded it with two slices of honeycake and a pastry I didn't recognize, and ate standing up near the buffet table. My eyes moved across the garden with the practiced casualness of someone admiring the decorations while taking in every face, every exit, every shadow along the tree line where, somewhere in the darkness, twelve of my men were already in position.But there was still no sign of Vivienne yet.I had sent the message an hour ago via one

Lyra POVThe south terrace looked like something out of a painting.Long tables stretched beneath the old fruit trees, draped in white linen and lit by hundreds of amber lanterns that swayed gently in the evening breeze. Crystal glasses caught the light. Platters of roasted meats, grilled vegetables, and delicacies from every province in the region lined the buffet. The string quartet had been replaced by a full ensemble — their music drifting across the garden like warm honey, weaving between conversations and laughter and the soft clink of glasses being raised in toasts.I entered on Dorian's arm, wearing the royal blue gown I had chosen during the shopping trip — the one with the fitted bodice and the flowing chiffon that concealed my stomach beneath layers of fabric. The Moonshard crest hung warm against my collarbone. The concealment was locked tight. I had checked it twice before leaving my room and once more at the top of the stairs.After this morning, I wasn't taking any chan

Lyra POVThe silence that followed the rogues' departure was almost worse than the noise.Without the snarling, the crashing, and the desperate pounding of my heart to fill it, the cave shrank, and I realized for the first time since we crawled into it that the space was small — barely wide enough for two people standing shoulder to shoulder, with a low ceiling that forced Jaxon to duck his head. Rough stone walls pressed in from every side, still damp with moisture that caught the faint moonlight filtering through the cave's narrow mouth.And Jaxon was pressed against me.In the scramble to get inside, we had ended up with my back flat against his chest, his body curved around mine, both of us wedged into the deepest part of the cave where the shadows were thickest. His breathing was ragged against the top of my head. I could feel the rise and fall of his chest against my shoulder blades — fast at first, then gradually slowing as the adrenaline drained from his system.My heart was s

Lyra POVI froze.The question hung between us like a blade suspended mid-swing. Dorian's grey eyes were locked on mine, and behind the concern and the relief, I could see the gears turning.I opened my mouth to speak, closed it, and opened it again as nothing came out. My brain, which had been perfectly functional five minutes ago— well, functional enough to make extremely questionable decisions in a cave — had suddenly forgotten how to construct a sentence.Before Dorian could press further, a crash of footsteps erupted from the tree line, and Cassian and Leith burst through the undergrowth like two wolves who had been running since the attack started and hadn't stopped.Cassian reached me first. He grabbed me, pulled me into a fierce hug, lifting my feet off the ground, and held me there with his face pressed against my hair, his chest heaving. "Thank the Goddess," he breathed. "Are you alright?”Before I could answer, Leith appeared by my side, wrapping his arms around both of us

Asher POVThe holding cell had been bad enough, but sitting in this room — released, restricted, useless — while the scent of blood and smoke from the garden attack still hung in the corridor outside was a different kind of prison entirely.I sat on the edge of the bed with my head cradled in my hands, my elbows digging into my knees, staring at the floor between my boots. The room the Summit organizers had assigned to the Ashford Dominion delegation was modest — two chairs, a writing desk, a window overlooking the east courtyard. Vivienne was pacing. Back and forth, her heels clicking against the stone floor in a rhythm that was drilling into my skull like a carpenter's nail."For the love of the gods," I said without looking up, "stop pacing. I'm trying to think.""Trying to think?" Vivienne fired back, her voice sharp with an agitation I had been ignoring for the last twenty minutes. "About what? About Lyra?"I scoffed but didn't answer.She stopped pacing and crossed the room, dro