ilvermo

oor. They held the unmistakable weight of an Alpha on the warpath. I didn't even flinch when the do

The cold night air clung to him, but it couldn't mask the faint, lingerin

g. Broken objects. He found none of it. He only found me, sitting calmly on the chaise lou

e was not the Elara he knew. He was more comfortable with my hu

ced with the Alpha's Command, a tone meant to c

beside me and taking a delicate sip. I let the silence stre

as smooth and cool as river stone. "My reso

it. The sheer force of his aura was a physical blow, meant to intimidate, to dominate.

humor. "Mates? Is that what you were doing with Brielle in

ss oversight, born of arrogance. He had assumed I would be too consumed by my own grief to notice, or too cowed to challenge him. For a second, a flicker of something almos

m, my height still leaving me looking up at his formid

We can deal with our issues later." He closed the distance between us, his hands reaching for me. "The council is pressing for an heir. Th

had barely acknowledged. The council's pressure was real, but his timing was no coincidence. He needed to reassert control, to

oiled as if he were a venomous snake. I took a sh

him cold. He stared at me, genuinely t

the source of my deepest pain. His touch, his intention, it was all a

voice trembling not with fear of

fresh. But he was too consumed by his own agenda to read the signs for what they were. He saw only defiance-a wife refusing he

with a sorrow so deep it was an ocean. "My duty is to lie here and be a

as it plunged into my side during a rogue attack years ago, an attack meant for him. I had th

t on my skin. My body was shaking, rememberi

d. But he was an Alpha, and Alphas did not admit they had forgotten the cost of their own survival

clear. He would take me, by force i

ME!" I shoved him with all my strength, a surge of

you traitor! Lyra

nt rage warring in his eyes. A Luna. His Luna

dmare, a womb to secure your legacy." I took a shaky breath, the secret I'd held for so long burning on my tongue. I almost

paused, letting the words hang in the air betw