Escaping the Alpha, Claimed in the End novel Chapter 27

Chapter 27 Scars

Chapter 27: Scars

Ryder’s POV

When ! pushed my door open with my foot and set her gently on the couch, she looked up at me with wide eyes. “You brought me to your room?”

“Yeah, I did,” I said simply, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek. “I brought my mate and Luna to my chanbers” l leaned closer, my lips grazing the shell of her ear. “Nobody will dare come in here. Is my baby scared?”

Her whole face went tomato red in an instant. She stuttered, “Y-You’re… impossible.”

I chuckled low in my throat, the sound vibrating against her. Sliding down beside her, I whispered, “Good thing you like! impossible.”

Her lips parted like she wanted to argue, but instead she sank into the cushions with a huff, muttering, “Impossible” again. For a while, silence stretched between us. The fire crackled in the hearth, and the cool night air drifted/through the windows. The sweet, refreshing scent of Amelia wrapped around me, mixing with my own. The blend filled the room until could almost imagine burying my face in her neck and staying there forever.

I hadn’t marked her yet, but the way our scents wove together… it painted pictures in my head. How it would feel when I finally claimed her. It was clouding my thoughts, stoking a hunger I usually kept locked down.

Kieran was pressing, pushing against my chest, snarling one word in my head over and over: Claim. Claim. Claim. And Amelia’s scent shifted. Faintly, but unmistakably. A new note threaded through it-soft, warm, edged with arousal.

It snapped me back hard. My jaw clenched as I shoved Kieran down. Not now. Not tonight. She was still healing, and I hadn

t brought her here for that. Taking her now would make me no better than the beast everyone thought I was. Tonight wasn’ t about lust. Tonight was about truth.

“Baby,” I said finally, my voice coming out hoarse, rougher than I meant.

Her gaze flicked up. I caught it instantly-the way her eyes were slightly clouded, breath still uneven. But beneath it, there

was worry.

I leaned back, watching her. “About what Lucas told you… do you have any questions you’d like to ask me?”

Her eyes widened a little, alarm flickering there.

I raised a hand before she could say anything. “Don’t look at me like that, baby. If it’s you, I’ll tell you anything. I just… I don’t want you also thinking I’m a monster.”

She shook her head firmly. “No. It’s not that. It’s just… it must be such a painful memory. I didn’t want to would cause you more pain.”

sk something that

“You’re right,” I said quietly. “Normally, I don’t want anyone even mentioning my father. But when it comes to you… if I tell you, maybe the pain will finally go away.”

Her hand slipped into mine, soft but steady.

“Then… can you tell me what really happened?”

feel like

I stared at our joined hands for a long moment, my thumb brushing her skin like I needed the anchor. I didn’t usually speak about this. I never did. But with her… it felt different.

“My father…” The words stuck, rough in my throat. I forced them out. “He was the most powerful Alpha of his time. Everyone admired him. Everyone feared him. He trained with witches, exorcists, mercenaries… even poison masters from a tribe that cultivated toxins. He fine-tuned his body to survive things no wolf should. And because of that, he believed softness was weakness.”

I swallowed hard, forcing myself to meet Amelia’s eyes. “Together with Tarek’s father-who ran a military faction-he founded Blackpine. It was meant to be a training ground for soldiers, guards, even visiting young Alphas. For others, it was

father made sure of that. He hard but fair. For Pawmoon’s heirs…” I gave a humorless laugh. “The rules were doubled. My believed Pawmoon should always be the strongest.”

Amelia’s fingers tightened in mine. I drew in a shaky breath and continued.

“On my sixteenth birthday, Tarek and I were sent to Blackpine. The ‘celebration’ was a week

jaw locked. “We were half-

food, no fire. By the eighth day, when food was finally given, it was laced with wolfsbane.” Starvation-winter storms, no

mad from hunger when they threw us in the ring.”

Her lips parted, eyes already glistening. I pressed on before I lost my nerve.

alt

Chapter 27 Scars

“Every time I got knocked down, they lashed me. My father stood there, calling me useless Weak, Asking how his son couldn’t handle wolfsbane” My chest tightened. “I managed to stay standing, to fight the soldiers they threw at me. But the rule was simple: kill or be killed. Sixteen, and I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t spill blood.”

My voice dropped. “So they spilled mine.”

I lifted my shirt a little, pressing two fingers against the faint scar that would never fully fade. “Sword went through my stomach. Not just steel-it was dipped in a poison called Nighthowl. It makes wolves hallucinate, rage, lose themselves. So while my blood poured out, wolfsbane burned my veins, and Nighthowl twisted my head until every face looked like an enemy.”

The memories clawed up my throat, but I forced them out.

“All I could hear in my head was: kill. Finish them. Tear them apart.” My hands curled unconsciously. “I fought everyone. Soldiers. Strangers. Anyone who moved. Then-Tarek. I’d been avoiding him the whole time, but when I looked at him, didn’t see my best friend. I saw an enemy. And I stabbed him.”

Amelia’s sharp breath made me flinch, but I pushed forward.

“My father stepped in next. He thought he could stop me. But I was gone-I saw him as just another threat. I put him down too.”

The firelight blurred. I could still see it-Tarek bleeding out, my father’s body on the floor.

“When the haze broke, they were both lying there. Tarek was rushed to the healers, but he died before they could stop the bleeding. My father lived long enough to smile at me.” My voice cracked. “He said I was finally a worthy Alpha. Then he dragged himself out to the border fight. And he never came back.”

Silence pressed hard around us. My jaw ached from clenching, my fists fro

holding back the tremor. “And that’s what they remember. Not the poison. Not the orders. Just that I killed my best friend and knocked my father flat. That I stood over them like I enjoyed it.”

When I finally looked at Amelia, her face was streaked with tears. She shook her head hard, like she couldn’t believe what she’d just heard, then suddenly launched herself forward, wrapping her arms around me so tight it almost hurt.

“Ryder,” she whispered against my chest, her voice breaking. “I’m so sorry. You were just a boy. You didn’t deserve that. None of it.”

I froze for a moment, then folded her into me, burying my face in her hair. Her scent enveloped me-fresh and sweet, grounding me where nothing else ever had.

“I can’t shake it, baby,” I admitted, voice low and raw. “Everything I do, the elders see that moment. They remember the blood. The pack looks at me and they see someone who could snap again. And sometimes… sometimes I’m not even sure if they’re wrong. I don’t know if I can trust myself to lead, to protect them. To protect you.”

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