The Alpha's Forbidden Vow novel Chapter 73

POV: Selene

Isabella’s scream was a piercing, theatrical sound that echoed in the vast hall.

“My baby!” she shrieked, her hands clutching her stomach, her face a mask of what was supposed to be agonizing pain. “He’s… he’s hurt my baby!”

The scene was pure chaos.

Seraphina cried out in horror, rushing to her side.

The elders looked shocked, their faces a mixture of confusion and outrage.

Leo, who had been standing right beside where she fell, let out a terrified cry and scrambled back to me, his small body trembling. The sudden violence, the sight and smell of blood, had terrified him.

I scooped him into my arms, my own heart pounding, my mind racing.

It was a trick. A desperate, pathetic, last-ditch effort.

My wolf, my heightened senses, could smell the truth.

The blood that was pooling on the floor did not smell like the lifeblood of a shifter. It didn't have that rich, metallic, vital scent.

It smelled… weak. Animalistic. Not lupine.

Zane, however, was a statue of pure, cold fury.

He had not moved. He had not rushed to her side.

He just watched her pathetic performance on the floor, his eyes blazing with a contempt so absolute it was chilling.

“You never cease to amaze me, Isabella,” he said, his voice a low, dangerous growl that cut through the panicked chatter.

Everyone fell silent, turning to him.

He walked slowly down the steps, his presence a wave of absolute, unchallengeable authority.

He stopped a few feet from where she lay, looking down at her with utter disgust.

“To think,” he mused, his voice dripping with scorn, “that I almost bound myself to a creature so dishonorable, so utterly pathetic, that she would resort to a trick a common human whore would be ashamed of.”

Isabella’s act faltered, her eyes widening in real fear.

“You thought you could fool me?” he snarled, his Alpha power flaring, making her flinch. “You thought you could fool a true Alpha with *rabbit’s blood*?”

A collective gasp went through the hall.

“The scent is an insult to my senses,” he continued, his voice rising with a controlled, lethal rage. “You spill the blood of prey in my hall, in front of my son, and you try to pass it off as the blood of my heir. You do not just shame yourself, Isabella. You shame your entire bloodline. You are not fit to be a Luna. You are not even fit to call yourself a wolf.”

He turned to the stunned elders.

“The rite will proceed,” he commanded.

Zane’s expression softened, the hard lines of the Alpha King replaced by the gentle concern of a father.

He broke off another tiny piece of the vine.

“Leo,” he said softly. “Can you do something for me, my son? Can you eat this? It’s a little bit magic.”

Leo peeked out, his grey eyes, so like his father’s, full of a hesitant trust.

He looked at me, and I nodded, my heart swelling with a fierce, protective love.

Leo opened his mouth, and Zane gently placed the piece of Heartvine on his tongue.

Leo swallowed.

And instantly, a soft, beautiful golden light began to shimmer around his small body.

It pulsed in perfect, undeniable harmony with the golden aura that surrounded his father.

A gasp of wonder and awe went through the hall.

The bond was visible. The truth was undeniable.

Here was the true heir of the Volkov pack.

My son. Our son.