The Alpha's Forbidden Vow novel Chapter 33

POV: Selene

The last two weeks had been a strange and fragile peace.

Living above Elias’s clinic, I had started to believe that maybe, just maybe, we could be safe.

He was kind, steady, and respectful. He never pushed for the secrets I held so close, and his presence was a comforting balm on my frayed nerves.

Leo, my resilient little boy, had started to call him ‘Eli’ and looked forward to his visits with a heart-aching enthusiasm.

Today, we were finally moving back to our own apartment. It was time.

I was in the clinic’s small, bright reception area, packing the last of our things into my backpack. Leo was proudly showing Elias his latest dinosaur drawing.

The scene was so painfully, beautifully normal.

I turned to Elias, my heart full of a gratitude so immense it was hard to put into words.

“Elias, thank you,” I said, my voice thick. “For everything. You saved us.”

“Anyone would have done the same,” he said with a soft smile, though we both knew that wasn’t true. His kind brown eyes held a warmth that made me feel seen, and safe.

He took a small step closer, about to say something more.

And then the world shattered.

The clinic door didn’t open; it exploded inward, ripped from its hinges as if by a hurricane. The cheerful bell that usually announced patients vaporized into a spray of metal shards.

A figure stood in the doorway, silhouetted against the morning sun, a titan of raw, barely contained power.

Then his eyes found mine.

For a single, agonizing second, I saw past the rage. I saw the raw, gaping wound of five years of pain and what he believed was betrayal.

Then it was gone, shuttered behind a wall of cold, cruel resolve.

My heart, the stupid, traitorous organ, gave a painful lurch of recognition, of connection, even as every fiber of my being screamed in terror.

He stalked into the room, his presence consuming all the air, all the light.

His lips pulled back from his teeth in something that was not a smile.

“Hello, Selene.”