POV: Selene
The journey back to the Volkov manor was a silent, suffocating affair.
The fragile intimacy we had forged in the crucible of the cave had vanished, replaced by a cold, unsettling distance.
Zane was a stranger again.
His memories of love and connection were gone, leaving only the cold, hard logic of an Alpha King and the primal, possessive instinct of the Mating Mark.
Our quest to find the truth of my heritage was put on an indefinite hold.
His own health was now his primary, undeclared mission.
When we arrived, the entire manor held its breath.
The staff stared, their eyes wide with a mixture of fear and insatiable curiosity. They saw their Alpha, alive, but changed. And they saw me, no longer a servant, but not yet a Luna, clinging to his side in a strange, undefined role.
And then there was Leo.
He had been cared for by Lyra, but he had missed me terribly. He ran to me the moment he saw me, his small arms wrapping around my legs in a desperate hug.
“Mama!” he cried, his voice muffled against my skirt.
I scooped him into my arms, burying my face in his soft hair, inhaling the comforting, familiar scent of my son. For a moment, all the pain and confusion faded.
Then Zane turned to us.
Leo looked at his father over my shoulder, his grey eyes, so like Zane’s, full of a hesitant, hopeful light.
He had seen his father fall. Now he saw him standing, strong and whole.
Zane’s gaze fell upon his son.
I watched his face, praying for a flicker of the tender father I had seen in his memories, in his delirious whispers.
Kael was there, his eyes full of a deep, knowing worry as he watched his Alpha.
Zane was a stranger to all of us now.
He gave clipped, efficient orders, his voice the pure, emotionless command of a king.
He was in control.
He was powerful.
And he was utterly, completely alone, trapped in a fortress of his own lost memories.
The first version of his cruelty had been a raging fire.
This new version, this complete and utter emotional absence, was a soul-deep, freezing ice.
And I knew, with a certainty that made my own blood run cold, that this would be a thousand times harder to survive.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The Alpha's Forbidden Vow