All Chapters of The Wolfless Bride No One Wanted, Except the Alpha: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

ELIRAThe guard outside Lady Aquine's private wing had his hand on his sword before I even finished turning the corner."Stop right there."I stopped. Four ledgers pressed against my ribs under my dress, and the weight of them made every step feel wrong, like I was carrying stones instead of paper. My hands were shaking so badly I tucked them up into my sleeves so he wouldn't see."It's past midnight, Miss Montrose.""I know." My voice came out thin and small. I forced it steadier. "Tell Lady Aquine I have proof about her son. Tell her Niar of Thistlewood is being held in the east wing right now, tonight, while we stand here talking."He didn't move. Behind him the tall door stayed shut and dark at the edges. I could hear my own breathing, fast and loud in the quiet hall, and I was sure he could hear it too."Please," I said, and my voice cracked on the word. "If you send me away, someone else dies. I'm not exaggerating. I watched it almost happen to me down there."His jaw worked. He

RURIKOne finger. That was all I wanted in this entire world tonight.Not my whole arm. Not my legs. Not even my eyes, though I wanted those too, desperately. Just the first finger on my right hand, the one that had once learned to hold a pen steady, and a sword, and, in some strange dream that never quite felt like only a dream, a girl's hand reaching for mine in a dark forest.I had spent six long months telling this useless body to move and receiving nothing back for my effort. Tonight I told it again, and this time I meant it in a way that felt different, sharper, more desperate than anything I'd tried before.Elira's fear had been bleeding through the bond all night long, relentless and raw. First the sharp, cold terror from inside that ritual chamber. Then her grief for Niar, heavy and aching. After that, a long, stunned silence that I could barely stand to sit through, knowing she was somewhere in this house right now, awake, staring blankly at some wall, and I could feel every

ELIRAEvery single candidate remaining at the estate stood packed tightly into the grand hall, whispering nervously among themselves. Several girls were still dressed in their nightclothes, clearly roused straight from sleep. Servants lined every wall in careful rows, and armed enforcers stood posted at each door. I counted eleven men whose collars were buttoned tight all the way up to their throats.Laron waited calmly at the very top of the grand staircase, dressed entirely in black, one hand resting with deceptive ease against the polished marble railing.Lady Aquine stood alone at the foot of the stairs, positioned slightly apart from the gathered crowd. Her face remained carefully blank and composed, but her hands were folded so tightly together that her knuckles had gone completely white. She deliberately did not look in my direction, not even once."Friends," Laron announced, his voice carrying perfectly and effortlessly through the enormous hall. "I sincerely apologize for sum

ELIRAI froze with my fingers still on the second cuff, my whole body gone rigid. Every nerve screamed at me to move and not a single muscle obeyed.The footsteps stopped right outside the door."Someone's guarding this room," Niar breathed, barely a whisper. "They check on me. Twice a night. It's random. I never know when they're coming.""Get up," I said, my voice shaking. "Right now. I don't care how much it hurts you."I didn't wait for her to answer. I worked the second cuff loose, and this time Niar didn't even hiss. She went completely silent, her jaw clenched so tight I heard her teeth grind together in the dark. I looped her arm over my shoulders and hauled her upright off the table. Her knees buckled the moment her feet touched the cold stone floor."I can't," she gasped, her voice barely holding together. "Elira, I can't walk. I'm sorry, I can't.""You have to. We're out of choices. Lean on me and just move your feet."The footsteps started again outside, unhurried, coming c

RURIKThe threat reached me whole and unfiltered, the way almost nothing had managed to reach me clearly in six long, silent months.I will kill you myself. With my own hands.I felt Elira's terror slam through the bond like a physical blow to my own chest. I felt her heart hammering wildly as though it beat directly inside me instead of her. I felt the cold, flat certainty in Laron's voice as clearly as if he'd spoken those exact words standing over my own bed instead of hers, somewhere out there in the dark where I couldn't reach her.Something inside me that had been chained down tight for six long months simply stopped listening to those chains entirely.I didn't decide it, not the way I'd learned to carefully will one single finger to move, curl and drag, curl and drag, night after painstaking night. This happened the way a dam finally breaks after months of pressure. All at once. No warning at all. Six months of built-up fury finding the one small crack it had been waiting for.