The Alpha's Unwanted Bride novel Chapter 698

Chapter 698: THE END GAME

My breath left me in a sharp, broken sound.

"No," I said immediately. "That’s not true."

The word came out too fast. Too desperate. Like if I said it firmly enough, reality would bend around it.

Maelis didn’t flinch.

She didn’t look pleased.

She didn’t look victorious.

She looked tired.

"They were executed this very nights," she said quietly. "There was no trial."

The cave felt like it shrank.

My hand flew to my stomach as if I could physically hold my insides together. The baby shifted uneasily, reacting to the sudden spike of panic, and that alone nearly undid me.

"You’re lying," I whispered. "You’re trying to turn me against him."

"If that were my goal," Maelis said calmly, "I wouldn’t have waited this long."

My ears rang.

Lydia’s hands flashed through my mind, warm oil, careful pressure, the way she had sung under her breath as if afraid silence might swallow her whole.

Her eyes when she spoke of her son. The way she had hesitated, as if even saying his age was dangerous.

Fifteen.

I shook my head hard, as if that might scatter the images.

"He told me she was arrested," I said weakly. "He said she’d stand trial."

Maelis’s gaze softened, just a fraction.

"He told you what he needed to," she said. "What would keep you calm. Compliant."

The word cut deeper than any accusation.

Compliant.

"No," I snapped, anger flaring up through the fear. "He wouldn’t do that. He worries about me. He worries about my baby."

"Yes," Maelis said gently. "Because you matter to him."

She paused, choosing her next words carefully.

"Lydia did not matter to him." She told me. "No one matters to him eventually. You won’t when he has finally gotten what he wants."

My knees went weak.

I leaned back against the stone wall, the chill of it seeping through my clothes, grounding me just enough to stay upright.

"She was afraid," I whispered. "Not dangerous. She just wanted to protect her son."

"That is how it always begins," Maelis said. "With fear. With love. With desperation."

Tears burned behind my eyes.

I still didn’t want to believe what she had to say.

"How many?" I asked. "How many people have disappeared like this?"

Maelis didn’t answer immediately.

She walked past me and rested her palm against one of the painted walls, her fingers brushing the image of a wolf mid-shift, frozen forever in pigment and stone.

"Enough," she said at last. "Enough that we stopped counting names and started counting nights."

Something inside me cracked.

I slid down the wall until I was sitting on the cold ground, my breath coming in uneven gasps. I wrapped my arms around my belly instinctively, protective, frantic.

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