All Chapters of THE ALPHA KING'S FORGOTTEN WIFE: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Elena Vale ran with her son on her back and death breathing behind her."Mama, they're close," Noah whispered into her neck."I know, baby. Hold on tight."Branches whipped her face. Her lungs burned. Somewhere behind them, a wolf howled, and two more answered from the left.They were circling her. Herding her.Elena didn't slow down. She had been running for six hours, and she had only one place left to go.The one place she had sworn never to see again.Blackthorn territory.Ahead, between the trees, she saw the first border marker: a black iron post carved with a thorned crown. Her stomach twisted.Five years, she thought. Five years, and I'm still running straight back to you.A wolf slammed into her from the side.Elena hit the ground hard. Noah rolled free with a cry. She shoved herself up, snatched the silver knife from her boot and turned.The rogue stood over her, huge and gray, its yellow eyes full of hunger. It shifted halfway, fur melting into skin, until a man crouched in

Elena didn't sleep.She spent the night on the edge of a bed that was far too soft, listening to her son's breathing and the quiet, patient steps of the guards outside the door.At dawn, someone knocked."Breakfast is served in the main hall," a servant said. "Alpha Blackthorn requests your presence.""Requests," Elena muttered. "Right."She dressed in the clothes someone had left, black trousers and a plain cream blouse, and tied her hair back. She told herself she wasn't looking for him in the mirror.She told herself a lot of things.The main hall was a cathedral of glass. A long table stretched down the middle, set with silver and white flowers. Adrian sat at the head, a dark suit, a cup of black coffee, a face like carved stone.Beside him sat a woman.She was beautiful in the way that took work. Honey-gold hair, pearl earrings, a gown the color of champagne. She had one hand resting lightly on Adrian's forearm, as if she had every right to be there.She looked up when Elena ente

At midnight, the Blackthorn archives smelled of dust, ink and old secrets."Banishments," Lucas muttered, running a finger along the shelf. "Seven centuries of them. Every decree sealed, signed and witnessed. If your husband banished you, Elena, it's here.""Don't call him my husband," Elena said."Technically," said Lucas, "I should."She glared at him. He grinned and went back to searching.Adrian stood near the door with his arms crossed, silent, watching her. He had been watching her all evening. Every time she looked up, his eyes were already there, dark and intent, and every time she looked away, she could feel them like a hand on her skin.It was making her crazy."Nothing," Lucas said finally. He slid the last ledger back. "No decree. No witness. No Council record. Nothing between the thirteenth and the twentieth of November.""There has to be something.""There isn't." Lucas looked at Adrian. "Brother, you never banished her. Not in any law, not on any page.""I know.""Then

Dinner was a mistake.Elena knew it the moment she walked into the dining room and every head turned. Ten Council members. A dozen candles. And at the center of the long table, Adrian, who looked up and went completely still.She had changed into the only dress they could find in her size, deep green, simple, and far too flattering. His eyes moved from her shoulders to her waist and back to her face, slow and dark. Then he looked away, jaw tight, and stared at the wine glass in front of him like it might save him.Good, she thought, annoyed at the small thrill. Suffer."Miss Vale," said a warm voice. "I've waited a long time to meet you."A man had risen from the far end of the table. He was fifty or so, silver at the temples, handsome in a calm, scholarly way. He wore a gray suit and a thin silver ring on his right hand. His smile was kind."Lucian Hale," he said. "Adrian's adviser. And, if I may say so, his oldest friend.""Lucian raised me," Adrian said from the head of the table.

They came an hour before dawn.Elena woke to the sound of glass shattering somewhere in the Tower. She was out of bed and had the knife in her hand before she was fully awake."Noah!"She ran into the next room. He was already sitting up, wide-eyed. She scooped him into her arms just as the door burst open.Three men stood there. Rogue wolves, shifting at the edges, their eyes feral."There," one of them said. "The boy."Elena slashed. The knife opened a gash across the first one's arm. He snarled and swung. She ducked, shoved Noah behind the bed, and kicked the second one in the knee."Stay down!" she shouted.Two of them lunged at once. She went down hard, rolled, and came up with the knife against one man's ribs."Elena!"The voice cut through the noise like a blade.Adrian came through the broken door in a blur of black. He caught the nearest rogue by the throat and threw him through the wall. The second wolf spun toward him. Adrian struck once, and the man hit the floor and staye