I Forgot I Loved You Alpha (Ellie and Nolan) novel Chapter 258

Chapter 258

Third person POV

Cassian had always believed loyalty was a simple thing.

Not easy-but simple. You showed up. You stood where you said you would stand. You protected the people you claimed to care about, even when it cost you something.

He had built his life around that belief.

That was why the truth about Claire felt like a blade sliding between his ribs-slow, deliberate, and devastating. He moved through Moonstone with purpose, cloak pulled tight against the evening chill, his thoughts sharp and relentless. Rae’s words replayed over and over in his mind, each repetition cutting deeper.

She thinks Nolan is manipulating Ellie.

She wanted to help Kieran win her over.

She fled.

Claire hadn’t denied it. She’d run.

Which meant she knew exactly what she’d done.

Cassian’s wolf paced beneath his skin, agitation simmering dangerously close to the surface.

He kept it leashed by force of will alone. Losing control now would solve nothing. He needed answers. He needed

to understand how someone he had trusted since childhood could betray him so completely.

The guards at the western border stiffened when they saw him approaching.

“She came through here,” one of them said immediately, before Cassian could ask. “An hour ago. Traveling alone.”

Cassian nodded once. “Which direction?”

“North road. Toward Pine Ridge territory.”

Of course. Running to Kieran.

He didn’t waste another second.

The path narrowed as it wound away from the city, stone giving way to packed earth and sparse trees. The moon was already high, silver light spilling through the branches Cassian followed the familiar scent without difficulty -fear, determination, and something bitter beneath it all.

Guilt, maybe.

He found her just beyond the final boundary marker, standing rigidly at the edge of Moonstone’s influence, a single bag slung over her shoulder.

“Claire.”

She spun around.

For a moment, relief flashed across her face. Then it hardened into something defensive, brittle.

“Cassian,” she said. “You shouldn’t be here.”

His jaw tightened. “That’s funny. I was thinking the same thing about you.”

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Chapter 358

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She took a step back instinctively, stopping only when the boundary stone pressed against her heel. Cassian bit back a growl at the sight. If she crossed that line, there was no going back.

“I didn’t want it to happen like this,” she said quickly.

He laughed once, sharp and humorless. “You didn’t want to get caught.”

Her shoulders stiffened. “That’s not fair.”

“Isn’t it?” he asked quietly. “Because from where I’m standing, you spied on my sister. On her children. You fed information to a man who has been openly planning to use them for political advantage. And when you were discovered, you ran.”

She flinched.

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“I was trying to help her.”

The words hit him harder than he expected.

“Help her?” he repeated. “By betraying her trust?”

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