The Alpha's Forbidden Vow novel Chapter 25

POV: Selene

The two weeks I spent living above Elias’s clinic were the safest I had felt in my entire adult life.

The world outside, with its hidden dangers and lurking monsters, seemed to fade away, held at bay by the quiet, steady presence of the man downstairs.

He was a guardian in the truest sense of the word.

He brought us meals, read Leo bedtime stories when I was too exhausted, and even changed the dressing on my arm with a gentle proficiency that was both professional and deeply personal.

He never pushed, never pried into the past that so obviously haunted me.

He simply created a space for us to heal.

And slowly, tentatively, I began to.

The nightmares of the attack grew less frequent.

The constant, humming anxiety that had been my companion for five years began to quiet.

Leo, a resilient little soul, started to laugh again.

He had become utterly smitten with Elias, following him around the clinic like a small, adoring shadow.

“Eli,” he would ask, his grey eyes wide with curiosity, “can you show me the skeleton again?”

And Elias, no matter how busy, would always have time for him.

Today, he had closed the clinic early to take us to the town park.

It was a perfect, crisp autumn afternoon. The air was filled with the scent of woodsmoke and fallen leaves.

Elias pushed Leo on the swings, a genuine smile lighting up his kind face as Leo’s delighted laughter filled the air.

I sat on a nearby bench, a thermos of his excellent hot chocolate in my hands, and I watched them.

The sight was so normal, so beautifully, achingly normal, that it felt like a scene from someone else’s life.

A life I could never have.

But then, like a ghost at the feast, Zane’s image forced its way into my mind.

The memory of his stormy eyes, the feel of his hard body against mine, the sound of his voice growling my name.

The pain he had caused was a scar on my soul.

But the bond, the savage, primal connection that had created my son, was a brand burned even deeper.

My inner wolf, a creature of pure instinct, recognized Elias as a protector, a valuable friend, an ally.

But it did not recognize him as Mate.

That title, that agonizing, soul-deep connection, belonged only to the Alpha who had claimed me and then cast me aside.

My heart was a battlefield, the woman in me yearning for the gentle safety of Elias, while the wolf inside me still answered to the call of the monster in my past.

Elias was still looking at me, that hopeful, gentle question in his eyes.

I had to look away, a wave of guilt and confusion washing over me.