All Chapters of CLAIMED BY THE RUTHLESS ALPHA KING : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Chapter Twenty twoAshby stopped at the center of the hall and inclined his head, smooth as ever, though I could still see the flicker of fear he'd tried to bury the second he walked in."Your Majesty. Quite the assembly for so late an hour." His eyes swept the room, taking in the gathered court, the guards positioned at every exit, the weight of attention already pressing in on him. "Curious what warrants it.""A letter arrived tonight." Damian held it up, didn't unfold it, just let the court see the shape of the thing without the words themselves. "Nightshade, claiming to hold a girl from this household hostage. Demanding territory my father took from them decades ago, or her life, by the next full moon."A murmur moved through the hall, quick and low. Ashby's face didn't change much, but something in his stillness did, a held-breath quality that hadn't been there a moment before."Serious accusation to bring against them," he said. "Hope you're not suggesting I've got anything to

Chapter Twenty-Four: Small PartyThe rear guard camp sat two miles back from where Kael's scouts had marked the last confirmed Nightshade sighting, close enough to move fast if word came, far enough I wasn't standing in the middle of whatever happened when Kael's party actually found something.Hated every minute of the waiting."You could sleep," Greta said, not for the first time. She'd insisted on coming along despite her age, despite Damian's initial refusal, on the grounds someone needed to keep me from doing something reckless out of sheer nerves, and I suspected she'd won that argument the same way she won most of them, by simply deciding it was settled and acting accordingly."Not going to sleep.""No. Didn't think so." She handed me a cup of something warm anyway, sat across the small fire from me. "He'll be all right. Kael's led smaller parties into worse than this.""It's not just Kael I'm worried about."Damian had gone with the retrieval party himself, over Kael's objecti

# Chapter Twenty-Six: Six DaysKael had the household staff assembled by midmorning, every single person who worked inside the castle walls, lined up in the great hall under Damian's watchful eye while Kael walked the rows slow and deliberate, studying faces like he could find the traitor just by looking hard enough."This isn't going to work," I said quietly, standing beside Damian near the dais. "Whoever it is, they've had weeks to learn how to look innocent. A lineup isn't going to shake that loose.""I know." His jaw was tight. "But it puts them on notice. Whoever's still passing information knows now we're looking harder, watching closer. Sometimes that's enough to make someone careful enough to slip up.""Or careful enough to stop entirely until after the ceremony.""That's the risk." He didn't look happy about it. "I'd rather have them scared into silence for six days than confident enough to keep feeding Vex everything he needs. Either way, we buy ourselves something."Sable,

Chapter Twenty-EightThe lower cellars hadn't been used for anything but old storage in years, according to Greta, who met us at the entrance with a ring of keys and a lantern already lit, her face drawn tight with the same worry sitting in the rest of us."Nobody's had reason to come down here since before I took over the household," she said, working the old lock free. "If Corwin's been storing something, he chose well. Nobody would think to check."The door swung open onto a set of stone steps disappearing into dark, cold air rushing up to meet us, damp and heavy with the smell of old stone and something else underneath it that made the hair on my arms stand up before I could name what it was."Stay close to me," Damian said, low, already moving down the steps with a lantern of his own, Kael right behind him, a handful of trusted guards trailing close.I followed, one hand pressed to my stomach out of habit now, careful on the uneven steps, Greta close behind me with her own light

Chapter ThirtyGuests kept arriving through the next day, carriages rolling in from every corner of the region, nobles and Alphas and their households filling every guest wing the castle had. Kael's men checked each one at the gate, quiet and thorough, no announcement made about why the search had gotten stricter, just enough courtesy that most people didn't seem to notice they were being screened at all.I stood at a window most of the afternoon watching it happen, one hand on my stomach out of habit now, counting carriages the way some people count sheep."You're not resting," Fenna said, finding me there during her scheduled check, disapproval plain in her voice before she'd even gotten a proper look at me."I know. Can't seem to sit still today.""Understandable, given what tomorrow is. Doesn't make it good for you or the twins." She guided me to a chair anyway, checked my pulse, my color, ran through the same questions she'd asked every week since the news. "Everything still loo