The Alpha's Forbidden Vow novel Chapter 43

POV: Selene

A week later, the manor was thrown into the formal chaos of a grand family gathering.

It was a celebration of the autumn equinox, a tradition that brought together the extended Volkov family and the highest-ranking members of the pack.

I had hoped to remain in the servant’s wing with Leo, but Seraphina had other plans.

“The boy will be present,” she had informed me, her voice clipped and cold. “And you, as his nanny, will be there to supervise him. See that he behaves.”

It was another calculated cruelty, forcing me to be on display, a living symbol of the family’s dirty laundry.

The grand ballroom was a sea of unfamiliar faces, all of them radiating the power and confidence of the werewolf elite.

Leo clung to my hand, his small body tense, overwhelmed by the noise and the sheer number of powerful Alpha and Beta auras in one room.

Zane stood with his parents and Isabella, receiving guests, a distant and unapproachable king.

I kept to the edges of the room, a ghost in a plain black dress, my sole focus on keeping Leo calm.

Then, a woman approached us.

She was elegant and beautiful, with the same aristocratic bone structure as Seraphina, but where Seraphina’s aura was sharp and cold, this woman’s was calm and warm.

Her eyes, a softer grey than Zane’s, were not judgmental, but kind and full of a startling intelligence.

“You must be Selene,” she said, her voice a gentle melody.

I nodded, my throat tight.

“I am Lyra,” she said, offering a small smile. “Seraphina’s sister.”

Zane’s aunt.

My mind raced. I didn’t know Seraphina had a sister who was still involved with the pack.

Lyra’s warm gaze dropped to Leo, who was peeking out from behind my leg.

“And you must be Leo,” she said softly.

Leo, who was usually shy with strangers, seemed to sense the genuine kindness radiating from her.

I saw a flash of something else entirely.

A dawning understanding.

A deep, knowing clarity.

And a flicker of what looked like compassion.

She rose to her feet, her expression smoothing back into one of polite warmth, but something had changed between us.

A secret had been silently acknowledged.

She looked across the crowded room, her gaze finding Zane, then Isabella, then back to me and the child at my side.

She saw the whole, complicated, painful picture.

Her knowing, compassionate eyes met mine once more.

And she gave me a slow, almost imperceptible nod.