Escaping the Alpha, Claimed in the End novel Chapter 26

Chapter 26 Blackpine

Chapter 26: Blackpine

Ryder’s POV

I smelled her before I stepped into the library-that refreshing mix of fresh herbs, wildflowers, and morning air that belonged to spring alone. Normally, her scent calmed me, like new grass after rain. But tonight, there was something sharp under it, almost metallic, like crushed nettle. Distress. Pain

She was standing motionless by the window when I entered, a roll of parchment clenched in both hands. Sunlight cut, across her cheek, but she looked pale anyway.

“Baby,” I said quietly.

She blinked and set the parchment down like it was something sha

“I’m fine,” she murmured.

She wasn’t. Her fingers were cold when I took her hand. I rubbed warmth into her knuckles and let the silence sit a second Alpha, the elders are assembled, Lucas’s voice brushed my head through the mind-link.

Of course they were.

I kept my eyes on Amelia. “I have to deal with something,” I told her,

“Lucas will stay with you.”

She gave a small nod, brave on the surface, wrecked underneath ed to pick her up and carry her out of this room and

every problem in it.

“Can I?” I asked, leaning in. She nodded, so I pressed a kiss to her hair.

“I’ll be quick,” I promised. “Call me if you need me-anything.”

I sent for Lucas, waited until he reached the doorway, then forced myself to let go of her hand and walk out.

The moment I entered the council room, every head lifted like they’d been waiting to pounce. Elder Harlin already had that hungry look-the push him until he snaps one. Miriam sat near the end, calm hands folded. Voss from border logistics skimmed notes he obviously didn’t need. Ilya watched me the way a hawk watches a wire.

And I already knew just how “good” this meeting was going to go.

“We’re concerned about Amelia’s abilities,” Miriam said carefully.

Yeah, right-as if they weren’t the same people petitioning to discard her days ago. I took the head seat. “She’s recovering. Her wolf’s already present-that’s all you need to know. Once she’s stable, we’ll train her here. Properly.”

Harlin leaned forward. “Here? With your history? “Be practical, Alpha. Send her to Blackpine. Two weeks there will toughen her up.”

“Rubbish,” I snapped. Harlin’s pen froze. Miriam’s mouth tightened.

Ilya didn’t even blink. “A Luna must stand without shaking. You and I know will make sure of that.”

“And at what cost? Breaking something that can never be healed?” I said. “She just came out of a coma. She’ll train right here where everything will be under my control.”

Voss set down his pen. “Controlled like when you were sixteen?” he asked, mild on the surface, blade under it. “The ring, the injured warrior, and your father on the ground?”

Kieran pressed up under my skin. I set both palms on the table so I wouldn’t put my fist through it.

“Haha.” The sound scraped up my throat like it had claws. “I was sixteen. There was wolfsbane in my blood and a wound you could put your hand inside, yet my father made me keep sparring. Is that your ideal ‘safe’ method?”

My knuckles whitened against the wood.

Be

Sweat. Metal. The ring tilting. A voice in my ear: Push through. Be a man. an Alpha.

Harlin smiled without warmth. “That was the right thing to do. It has made you a strong Alpha now, has it not? Don’t justify your own bloodlust with unfavourable conditions, Alpha. You dropped Tarek for a month and knocked your father flat and you just stood there, staring-like you liked what you’d done!”

Ha!

“If I liked it, I wouldn’t have stopped. None of you would be alive.”

Miriam’s eyes flicked to my hands, then back to my face. “Alpha, please understand. The pack ne

Blackpine would prove she won’t crumble.”

“What it would prove,” I said, “is that I learned nothing from my father’s mistakes.”

ssurance. And

Harlin stared me square in the eye, unblinking. “Your father pushed you because he loved the pack. You broke because you

Chapter 26:Blackpine

were weak.”

The chair legs squealed as I stood. Kieran’s growl slid through my teeth. “He dragged himself back on patrol two nights later and died because he refused. The room sharpened around me. “I’m not repeating him with my mate” Silence. Ilya folded her arms. “Then propose something we accept.”

hed a poisoned boy past sense. Then he

to

rest”

“She starts therapy with Elara tomorrow,” I said. “Mike and the healers have her medical plan. When she’s cleared, train her here. No poison. No ‘push until she breaks.’ If you want a Luna who can stand, let her heal first”

Voss tapped the table once. “So we trust your judgment over the council’s-the same judgment that split a sparring påst and sent your father to the healer.”

Heat punched under my ribs. The ring. The taste of wolfsbane. My father’s hand on my shoulder, hard enough to bruise/ Don’t shame me.

I leaned in until Harlin had to tilt his chin to keep my gaze. “You want the story? Fine. I lost control for three seconds because I was forced to fight while poisoned. Three. Then I stopped. I took the blame and shut up, because that’s what a son does. Don’t use my father’s ghost to get Blackpine.”

Even Miriam looked down for a heartbeat.

“Blackpine is not happening,” I said. “This isn’t a vote. It’s my call.”

Harlin opened his mouth. I felt the snap coming and knew if I stayed, I’d give him exactly what he wanted.

“Meeting’s over,” I said, cool and final.

I walked out before the table paid for their courage.

The hallway blurred. By the time I hit the back doors, the shift ripped through me

cracked, black fur tore free, paws hit dirt.

Iran.

so fast my skin couldn’t keep up. Bones

Trees and wind. Ground and speed. I drove Kieran through the boundary path until the rage burned itself into breath and sweat. He paced out the edges of it, then circled back when my lungs stopped clawing.

Enough, I told him. We’re done.

When I finally pushed back into skin and pulled on the spare shorts from the patrol box, I mind-linked Lucas. With her?

Yes, Alpha, he answered. Still at the Library.

When I reached the door, I stopped. They were by the window. Lucas was leaning against the shelf while Amelia stood with her arms folded tight, staring at the floor like she was holding herself in place.

“I didn’t know,” she said, voice small but steady.

Lucas nodded. “People made it ugly in the retelling,” he said. “He didn’t snap because he’s cruel. He snapped because he was hurt and forced.”

“How do you know?” she asked.

“I was there,” Lucas said.

I stepped inside before Lucas could say something more to traumatise/her.

They both looked up.

S

Amelia’s eyes met mine first-wide, worried, carrying emotions I couldn’t understand. Lucas pushed off the shelf. “Everything handled?” he asked.

“For now,” I said.

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