Marked Twice by the Alpha King novel Chapter 66

Ava’s POV

The carriage jolted to a stop by the moonstone path leading to Silverpeak Elite Academy. I tugged Blake’s cape tighter around my shoulders, fighting the urge to bolt. Silver gates loomed ahead, tribal flags snapping in the breeze like they were laughing at my stupid plan.

“You can do this, I muttered to myself, fingers tracing the expensive silver embroidery on the cape’s edge. “Just channel your inner Alpha’s wife.”

My fingers drifted to my neck, where Jackson’s mark sat. It felt unusually warm today, pulsing slightly as if warning me this was a terrible idea. But Lucas’s desperate face flashed in my mind, and I squared my shoulders. The kid needed someone in his corner.

I’d never set foot in here before Lucas and I always stuck to Blackwood’s grounds. Taking a deep breath, I pushed through the massive doors into a hall where dead Alpha eyes tracked me from gold–framed portraits, plush silver–fur rugs cushioning each hesitant step. Everything about the place screamed old power and older money.

A group of young wolves in training gear passed by, their steps faltering as they caught Blake’s scent on me. They exchanged confused glances, some instinctively lowering their eyes before hurrying away, whispering furiously.

A tight–faced receptionist looked up, her nostrils flaring slightly as she caught the mixture of scents mine and Blake’s intertwined. “Can I help you?” The words might as well have been “what are you doing here?”

I squared my shoulders. I’m here for Instructor Silver. About Lucas Morgan.”

The Morgan name worked like a mini spell. Her face didn’t soften, but her eyes sharpened with caution.

“And you are?”

My heart hammered against my ribs. “Ava Morgan. Lucas’s stepmother.”

The name felt strange on my tongue – foreign yet oddly right, which disturbed me even more.

Her eyebrows shot up as she stood, giving me a once–over that made me feel like week–old roadkill. “Stepmother? That’s news to everyone at this academy.”

“We’re keeping it quiet,” I said, amazed my voice wasn’t shaking. Thank god Sophia had loaned me this blue dress instead of my showing up in battle–worn leather. “Pack politics. You know how it is.”

Her eyes dropped to the cape, widening slightly. “That’s the Alpha King’s personal cape.”

I nodded, trying to look like I borrowed my husband’s clothes all the time.

“Wait here,” she said, skepticism dripping from every syllable. She disappeared through a side door, probably to report the crazy woman claiming to be married to the most powerful wolf in three territories.

Minutes stretched like torture. Just as I was considering a strategic retreat, a stocky wolf with a mean scar slicing through his left eye appeared. He carried himself like someone who’d seen a hundred battles and expected a hundred more.

‘Mrs. Morgan?” He managed to pack a ton of disbelief into two words. “I’m Instructor Silver. Lucas’s combat teacher.”

“Nice to meet you,” I smiled, trying to mimic Sophia’s polished tone. “I’m here about what happened yesterday.”

Silver’s gaze lingered on the cape, his eyes calculating. I could practically hear him thinking: This doesn’t add up.

“This way,” he finally grunted. “Headmaster’s waiting.”

As we walked, I got peeks into training rooms where little wolves some barely older than toddlers wondering if Lucas felt as alone among these privileged cubs as I did walking these halls.

–

were already learning to fight. I caught myself

Silver kept glancing sideways at me.

‘Funny thing,” he said casually, “Alpha King’s never mentioned having a new mate. Especially one who looks barely out of training herself.”

“That’s the point of keeping it quiet,” I replied, fighting the urge to fidget. “Sometimes the best moves are the ones nobody sees coming.”

He grunted noncommittally as we stopped at a massive door carved with snarling wolves. He knocked twice before pushing it open. “Headmaster, Morgan s…

Headmaster Moonshadow, Silver said, this is the women seying ches Mrs. Morgen.”

Unless your’re not his mate at all,” he said, voice dropping dangerously low. “Just a thief stupid enough to steal from the Alpha King himself. Do you know what the punishment is for that?‘