The Alpha's Forbidden Vow novel Chapter 58

POV: Zane

The report from my guard came through on my private line.

His voice was strained, full of a shock and awe that was rare for a seasoned warrior.

He described what he had seen in the kennels.

Isabella’s petty, murderous scheme.

The rabid pup’s attack.

And then… the impossible.

He spoke of a wave of power, an aura of pure, calming energy that had emanated from Selene.

He said it had not just stopped the beast, but had soothed it, had brought it to her feet in a state of willing, peaceful submission.

As I listened, a cold, clear certainty settled in my soul.

The book in the old library. The Silvermoon Pack. The power to soothe the savage beast.

It was all real.

And it was a part of her.

My Selene was not just a disgraced orphan.

She was the last daughter of a lost Alpha line, a creature of immense, untapped power.

This realization, this confirmation of her extraordinary nature, filled me with a fierce, possessive pride that was so potent it was a physical ache in my chest.

And it was immediately followed by a wave of murderous, black fury.

Isabella.

She had not just tried to harm a servant.

She had tried to kill the last of the Silvermoon Alphas.

She had tried to kill my mate.

The beast inside me, the true Alpha, roared to the surface, and this time, I did not try to contain it.

I stormed out of my study, my power rolling off me in waves so intense that the pack members I passed in the hall flattened themselves against the walls, their heads bowed, their wolves whimpering in submission to their enraged Alpha.

I didn't knock on Isabella’s door.

I kicked it off its hinges.

She was inside, sitting at her vanity, a triumphant smirk on her face. The smirk vanished when she saw me, replaced by a look of pure, animal terror.

She could feel the killing intent rolling off me. She could smell it.

“Zane,” she gasped, scrambling to her feet.

I crossed the room in two strides and grabbed her by the throat, my hand easily circling her slender neck, and slammed her against the wall.

Her feet dangled inches off the floor, her face turning pale.

“I know what you did,” I snarled, my voice a low, guttural growl that was barely human.

Her eyes widened, her hands clawing uselessly at my wrist.

Drawn by a force I couldn’t explain, I crept closer, hiding in the shadows of a recessed doorway.

I heard his roar, a sound that made my own wolf tremble.

And then I heard his final words, spoken with a chilling, deadly calm that was more terrifying than any shout.

“…I will personally rip that mongrel pup from your belly and feed it to the crows.”

I heard Isabella’s terrified sobs.

Then Zane strode out of the room, his face a mask of cold, murderous fury. He didn’t see me.

I leaned against the wall, my heart hammering against my ribs.

He had just threatened his fiancée, the mother of his supposed heir.

He had threatened to kill her child.

For me.

A wave of shock, so profound it made me dizzy, washed over me.

It was followed by a strange, unfamiliar feeling.

A feeling of being protected.

A feeling of being… cherished, in the most violent, terrifying way imaginable.

For the first time since he had dragged me back here, I felt a flicker of something other than fear or hatred for the monster who was my mate.

I felt safe.