All Chapters of The Alpha Who Claimed the Wrong Omega{MM}: Chapter 41 - Chapter 47

Chapter 41The trail narrowed between two ridgelines of black stone, the kind that held the day’s heat long after the sun dropped. Riven’s litter scraped over roots and loose shale. Every jolt pulled a low sound from his chest that the bond turned into a blade under Kai’s ribs. The child—small, silent, eyes too wide—clung to Kai’s side like the only solid thing left in the world.The lean Beta stepped forward from the line of consortium wolves. His coat was marked with the same iron-ridge seal Vael had worn, but the cloth was cleaner, the weapons newer. Nets hung coiled at three different points along the formation. Glass vials of suppressant glinted at belts. No one had drawn steel yet. They didn’t need to.“Alpha Blackthorn is dying,” the Beta said, voice almost mild. “The contract does not require him alive. It only requires the Omega. Deliver him and the rest of you walk. Refuse and we take him from the corpse.”Riven’s eyes were open. Barely. Blood had soaked through the packing

Chapter 43Kai reached him through blood and shallow water.The last two secondary-team fighters between them went down hard—one to Corren’s axe, one to Kai’s knife driven up under the jaw. Riven’s hand closed around Kai’s forearm the instant they touched, fingers biting deep enough to bruise. The bond roared through the contact, flooding both of them with the same raw certainty: still mine, still here, still breathing.Riven’s face was the color of old ash. The packing at his side had failed completely; blood sheeted down his leg and into the current. Yet he stood. The stimulant and pure refusal were the only things keeping him upright.“North ridge,” he rasped. “Thirty, maybe more. Different mark—same seal. They’re not here to negotiate.”Corren appeared at their flank, breathing hard, one ear half-torn. “We can’t hold the ford. Downstream is open for maybe two hundred paces before the walls close again. After that it’s a kill chute.”Riven’s grip on Kai tightened. His eyes flicked

Chapter 45The drop tore the breath out of me.We hit the first ledge of brush and loose stone hard enough that my knees buckled. Riven’s weight dragged us both sideways. I locked my arms around him and rolled, taking the worst of the impact on my shoulder and hip. Pain flared white. The bond screamed with it—his and mine tangled so tightly I could no longer tell which bruises belonged to whom.Corren landed a few paces lower, cursing in a low continuous stream. The dens fighter and the wounded wolf followed in controlled slides, sending cascades of shale and broken branches down into the dark. Above us the consortium voices rose, sharp with frustration. Someone shouted for ropes. Someone else ordered a wider sweep. They had not expected us to choose the near-suicide route.I got Riven under the partial cover of a leaning pine before my arms gave out. His skin was cold and slick with blood. The packing at his side was a ruined mess. Every shallow breath he took rattled wetly through t

Chapter 47We broke from the tree line just as the secondary dens’ outer watch turned toward us.I had Riven’s full weight by then. His boots dragged. The bond was a thin, fraying thread that flared only when I shoved will across it hard enough to hurt. Corren and Sera carried Toran between them. We must have looked like the last survivors of a lost fight—which, in every way that mattered, we were.A young sentry I half-recognized from the southern gate raised a spear, then lowered it the moment he caught the claim scent still clinging to my skin and the unmistakable shape of the Alpha hanging against me.“Open the east post,” he shouted over his shoulder. “Alpha’s back. He’s bleeding out.”Hands took Riven from me the second we crossed the threshold. I almost fought them. The bond snarled at the loss of contact. Then a sharp-faced healer I had never spoken to before was already cutting away the ruined packing and barking orders for boiled water, clean cloth, and the strongest stimula