Alle Kapitel von Surrogate to the Beastly Alpha : Kapitel 41 – Kapitel 50

Aria The Luna’s private chambers were completely empty. I knew Selena was still downstairs hosting the elders’ dinner, playing the frail, exhausted mother-to-be. It was the only window of time I was going to get. If I was going to save my own life, I needed physical proof that her pregnancy was a lie. I needed that dark glass vial of wolfsbane potion. I slipped inside and closed the heavy oak door behind me. I went straight for her vanity table. My hands shook as I pulled open the small velvet-lined drawers. I dug through expensive perfumes, jeweled hairpins, and silk ribbons. Nothing. The vial was gone. She must have hidden it or given it back to the Healer. Panic started to claw at my throat. I dropped to my knees, pulling open the bottom drawers of her massive mahogany dresser. I shoved aside folded silk nightgowns, searching blindly for a hidden compartment, a false bottom, anything that could prove to Cassius that his wife was a monster. "Looking for something to steal, Ar

Aria I woke up buried in the heavy blankets, completely tangled in Cassius’s limbs. The room was quiet, lit only by the pale morning light coming through the window. Cassius was already awake. He was lying on his side, his heavy arm draped over my waist, pulling my back flush against his chest. I could feel the steady, reassuring thump of his heartbeat against my shoulder. A rush of warmth flooded my chest. I remembered the heat of last night, the desperate way he held me, and a huge, genuine smile spread across my face. I shifted slightly, tilting my head back to look at him. Before I could say a word, three sharp knocks echoed at the bedroom door. "Alpha?" Beta Drew’s voice came through the thick wood, muffled but urgent. "The morning financial meeting started ten minutes ago. The elders are waiting." Cassius let out a low, frustrated groan. His arm tightened around me for a second, burying his face in my hair to take a deep breath. "I'm coming," Cassius called back, his voi

Two weeks passed in complete and total silence. It was the kind of quiet that slowly drove a person out of their mind. Since the night Cassius walked out of my room, leaving me shattered on the floor, he had completely ignored my existence. We didn't cross paths in the hallways. He didn't come to the training yard. If I was assigned to clean a room he was currently in, he walked out before I even crossed the threshold. He was treating me exactly like what I had told him I was: a business transaction. Nothing more. Every time I closed my eyes, I heard his voice echoing in the dark. An itch that needed scratching. The words still burned a hole straight through my chest, but I forced myself to swallow the pain. It was for the best. Finn was safe, my mother was safe, and I was just doing my job. But the isolation was suffocating me. The castle felt like a massive stone prison, and I just needed a break. I needed to see my family, to make sure my mother was actually getting her treatme

Aria The blood on the marble floor looked entirely too dark to be real. I stood completely frozen against the wall, my chest violently heaving as the echo of Cassius’s roar faded down the hallway. He had carried Selena away, leaving me alone with the shattered teacup and the horrifying reality of what had just happened. She poisoned my tea. The words rang in my ears like a death sentence. The penalty for harming an Alpha's heir was public execution. The council wouldn't even give me a trial. They would drag me into the courtyard and take my head before the sun went down. A cold sweat broke out across my neck. I couldn't breathe. My lungs felt completely useless as I stumbled backward, slipping slightly on the slick marble before I caught my balance. I had to get out. I turned and sprinted down the servants' stairwell, taking the stone steps two at a time. My vision blurred with tears of sheer panic. I burst into the lower corridors, desperate to reach the back exit. "Running a

Aria The heavy oak doors of the outer study rattled violently on their hinges as another fist slammed against the wood. "Alpha Cassius!" Elder Thomas shouted from the hallway. "The guards found tracks near the western wall! If you are in there, we need your authorization to release the bloodhounds immediately!" My heart hammered against my ribs. I pulled my bleeding feet tightly under the hem of my dirty dress, staring in panic at the closed doorway separating Cassius’s bedroom from his outer study. Cassius didn't even look toward the door. His entire body was locked in place, his dark eyes pinned to the white envelope in Beta Drew’s hand. "Give it to me," Cassius ordered, his voice dangerously quiet. Drew stepped forward and handed the file over. Cassius tore the wax seal open and pulled out the single sheet of laboratory parchment. I watched his face as his eyes scanned the lines of ink. He didn't roar. He didn't throw furniture across the room. Instead, an expression so col