All Chapters of The Kingslayer’s Forbidden Mate: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

AURORADylan walked toward us with both hands open, like he was trying to calm a wild animal.“Aurora,” he said. His voice was rough. “Father said you were safe.”Roman’s men shifted. A deep growl moved through the circle, and Roman raised one hand without looking back. They went quiet, but they didn’t back down.“He told me you wanted to come home,” Dylan said. “He said you were worried and you needed some time to think. He said...”“He said what?” I asked.“That you were resting.”I almost laughed. Instead, I stood up. My legs were wobbly, but Roman’s hand remained on my back, so I didn’t fall. I held out both of my wrists in the glow of the car’s headlights.The rope burns were raw and red. They stood out against my pale skin like angry bracelets.“Your father tied me to a chair, Dylan.”He stared at my wrists, his eyes widening.“No.” He shook his head slowly. “No, he wouldn’t.”“He did.”“He wouldn’t do that. He’s hard sometimes, but he’s not...”“He slapped me too.” I touched my

AURORAI’d never seen so many people on one road.When the car rolled through the northern gate of Ravenwood, they were already there. They stood on both sides of the road in the dark, hundreds of them, in coats and nightclothes and boots with no socks. Some held babies. An old woman near the front was wrapped in a quilt, and she clapped her hands over her mouth when she saw our headlights.Nobody cheered. They just watched the car go by with tears running down their faces.“Why are they all awake?” I whispered.“They’ve been waiting since you were taken,” Roman said. “Most of them haven’t slept in two days.”“For me?”He turned and looked at me like I’d said something silly. “Of course.”The car had barely stopped before the door flew open. A blur of brown hair and warm arms slammed into me so hard that I almost fell backward.“You’re alive!” Josie sobbed. “You’re alive, you’re alive, you’re alive!”“Josie…”“I told everyone you’d come back!” Josie cried. Josie was laughing and cryi

AURORAI watched from the top of the wall with my hands gripping the stone really hard.From up there, I could see the whole road. Behind Graves, the hills were covered in smoke from Council campfires. In front of him stood the gates of Ravenwood. And right in the middle was one old man leaning on a cane, smiling up at us like he’d come to deliver a pie.I hated him already. I didn’t know why. But my skin was crawling.“I’ll be brief,” Graves called. His voice was soft and warm, as it boomed all over the whole place. “The Council wants no bloodshed, Alpha Thornfield. None at all. I want that to be very clear. No one has to die today.”“That’s a nice thing to say with four thousand wolves behind you,” Roman answered.“They’re only here to keep the peace.” Graves chuckled, like Roman had told a good joke. “Here’s what I propose. Hand over the girl, and everything is forgiven. The kidnapping. The attack on Silverlake. All of it. We’ll call it a misunderstanding and go home.”“Her name is

ROMANI told her no multiple times.The first time was on the wall, right after Thomas was taken to the hospital. The second time was in the hallway, when she wiped the blood off her face with her sleeve and said, “We have to check everybody.” The third time was in my study, with the door shut, when I stood in front of her like a fool and said, “Aurora, I can’t let you do this.”She just looked at me. Her eyes were red, there was dried blood under her nose, and her hands were still trembling a little.“Then tell me another way,” she said.I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.I’d been going over it in my head for an hour. I could lock up every southern wolf in the dungeon. But there were forty of them, and half of them were teenagers, or moms, or old men who’d lived here for many years. They hadn’t done anything. And if I locked them up, what then? The horn would still sound. They’d still be moved like puppets, and I’d have forty people trapped in cells with no way to defend themse

ROMANAt the Gap, the fight was ugly.I’d been in a lot of battles. I knew how a fight felt. People got scared. They flinched. They backed up when they got hurt, screamed, or ran. That was how you knew where the line was.The Council’s soldiers didn’t do any of that.A man with a broken arm kept swinging his sword. A woman took a blade in the stomach, looked down at it, and kept walking forward like it was nothing but a splinter. A boy who couldn’t have been older than seventeen came at me with an empty face, and when I knocked him down, he just got up and came at me again.My stomach turned over. These people didn’t even seem to feel it.“Take prisoners!” I roared over the noise. “Don’t kill them if you can help it! They’re being used!”It was almost impossible. How could you take a prisoner who wouldn’t stop? My wolves tried. I saw them pinning arms, knocking out legs, and tying hands with whatever they had. But for every one they dropped, two more took their place.A man twice my s