The Alpha's Forbidden Vow novel Chapter 103

POV: Selene

His cruel, twisted question hung in the air, a testament to the new, cold logic that now ruled him.

I stared at him, reeling, my mind struggling to comprehend the sheer injustice of his words. The man who had sacrificed everything for me was now using that sacrifice to condemn me.

In that instant, I saw the full, devastating scope of Cora’s manipulation.

She had not just sent me away to be the first person he saw.

She had sent me away to create this very accusation, this seed of doubt and disappointment that she could nurture.

A wave of pure, hot fury washed over me, but it was quickly extinguished by a profound, bone-deep weariness.

What was the point of fighting when the very man I had fought for had become my judge and jury?

“How dare you?” I whispered, my voice trembling with a mixture of rage and a desperate need to make him understand. “I held you while you were dying! I was the one who called for help! I was the one who sat by your side for three days and three nights, begging you to live!”

He listened, his expression unchanging, as if hearing a subordinate make excuses for a failed mission.

“I fainted, Zane,” I said, my voice cracking. “After you marked me. The power of the bond… it was too much for my body to handle. Cora said I was unconscious for hours.”

His eyes narrowed slightly, a flicker of something unreadable in their depths. He was assessing my words, judging their validity.

“And then, when I woke up, she said she needed fresh herbs for the final stage of your cure,” I continued, my words tumbling out. “She said it was urgent. I only left to help you. To save you! I ran the whole way!”

I waited, my breath held, praying for a sign of recognition, of belief.

Instead, his expression became even colder, more disappointed.

All he saw, with his cold, ruthless Alpha logic, was a mate who had failed her first duty.

A Luna who was not strong enough.

The man who had wept in my arms, who had begged for my forgiveness, who had sacrificed himself for me—he was gone.

Completely and utterly gone.

In his place was the Alpha King, the cold, pragmatic ruler I had once so deeply feared.

And in his eyes, I was no longer the woman he loved.

I was a failure.