The Alpha's Forbidden Vow novel Chapter 44

POV: Selene

Later that evening, as the party began to wind down, I managed to slip away with a sleepy Leo.

The ballroom had become too suffocating, the weight of a hundred pairs of eyes too much to bear.

I was in the quiet, dimly lit library, settling Leo into a large, comfortable armchair, when a soft voice spoke from the doorway.

“He is a beautiful child.”

It was Lyra.

She walked into the room, her movements graceful and silent.

She didn't approach me directly, instead walking over to a bookshelf, pretending to browse the titles, giving me space.

“He has his father’s eyes,” she said, her voice casual, but the words were a carefully placed probe.

My entire body tensed. “People say that.”

Lyra turned from the bookshelf, her expression gentle. “They are not wrong. The Volkov Alpha gaze is unmistakable. It has been for generations.”

She was not accusing. She was simply stating a fact.

“I remember you, you know,” she continued, her voice soft and nostalgic. “From when you first came here. A small, sad child who had lost everything.”

She looked at me, her eyes full of a genuine sympathy that disarmed me.

“You were my step-brother’s ward,” I corrected her stiffly, using the official family line.

“Of course,” she said, giving a small nod, accepting my deflection without argument.

She walked closer, her gaze falling on the crescent moon pendant that rested against my collarbone.

“Your mother’s?” she asked softly.

I nodded, my hand instinctively coming up to touch the cool metal.

She looked into my eyes, her gaze full of a deep, womanly wisdom.

“I do not know your story, Selene,” she said. “And I will not ask you to tell it.”

She squeezed my arm gently.

“But I want you to know this. If you ever need help, if you or your son are ever in true danger… you can come to me.”

She gave me a small, sad smile.

“Seraphina is my sister, but we do not always see eye to eye. And that fiancée of Zane’s… she is as cunning as she is beautiful.”

With those cryptic words, she gave my arm one last reassuring pat and then walked silently from the room, leaving me with the echo of her words.

And for the first time since I had been dragged back to this cold, gilded cage, I felt a tiny, dangerous flicker of hope.

I was not completely alone.