The Alpha's Forbidden Vow novel Chapter 10

POV: Zane

Something was wrong.

It was a low thrum of anxiety under my skin, a quiet alarm bell that my wolf refused to silence.

It was Selene.

She was avoiding me.

Not in the usual way, where she would flinch and scurry away if I entered a room.

This was different.

This was a complete absence.

I hadn’t seen her in three days.

Not at meals. Not a fleeting glimpse of her down a hallway.

It was as if she had vanished into the walls.

I told myself it was for the best.

It was what I wanted.

My cruel words in the hallway had finally worked. I had finally broken her.

The thought should have brought me relief.

Instead, it left a bitter, acidic taste in my mouth.

My wolf was agitated, pacing restlessly at the back of my mind, whining with a sense of loss I refused to acknowledge.

“She’s a problem you’ve solved,” I muttered to myself in the silence of my office.

“You have bigger concerns.”

As if on cue, my Beta, Kael, knocked and entered.

He was my oldest friend, the only one besides my father who dared to speak to me without fear.

His face was grim.

“Alpha,” he said, his voice low.

“What is it, Kael?” I asked, my tone sharper than I intended.

He wasn't deterred.

The wood groaned under the impact.

Kael stood his ground. “Isabella has her own people. They are watching the girl, Zane. If she perceives Selene as a threat to her position as Luna, she will eliminate her. You know how these things work.”

The thought of Isabella’s cold, calculating eyes landing on Selene, of her vipers sinking their fangs into her, sent a wave of protective fury through me so potent it made me see red.

“I will handle Isabella,” I bit out, my voice a low threat.

“See that you do,” Kael said, his point made. He gave a slight bow and left me alone in the suffocating silence.

I walked to the vast window that overlooked the estate grounds.

My eyes were drawn, as they always were, to the small window of her room in the servant’s wing.

It was dark.

It had been dark for three nights in a row.

A cold, heavy dread began to pool in my stomach.

It felt like a premonition.

It felt like I was running out of time.