The Alpha's Forbidden Vow novel Chapter 75

POV: Selene

A fragile peace had settled over the manor, but it was a peace that breathed with borrowed time.

Isabella’s parting shriek about a curse tied to my bloodline had become a venomous seed planted in my soul.

At night, when the house fell silent, I would slip into the ancient library.

For weeks, I’d spent hours poring over leather-bound tomes, searching for anything.

Blood Maledictions. The De la Cruz Coven. Sympathetic Wards.

The words swam before my eyes, but nothing offered a clear answer.

The curse remained a shapeless phantom.

He was trying.

In the days that followed, Zane tried with a clumsy, heart-wrenching intensity to weave a new reality for us.

He attempted to fly a kite with Leo on the great lawn.

The wind, it seemed, was the one subject that refused to bend to his will.

After the string became hopelessly tangled in the branches of a century-old oak, Zane stared at it with profound indignation.

It was as if the tree had personally insulted his authority.

His instincts took over, not with a growl, but with the only solution he truly knew: command.

“Guards!” he bellowed, his Alpha voice echoing across the perfectly peaceful lawn. “Deal with this branch!”

The sheer absurdity of summoning a royal detachment to fight a kite made Leo dissolve into helpless giggles.

And for the first time in forever, a genuine, unburdened laugh escaped my own lips.

It was these moments I clung to when he took us to the small cafe in Creekwood today.

We were seated by the window when the bell chimed, and Elias walked in.

Zane’s body went rigid, his hand instinctively covering mine on the table.

It was a gesture of ownership.

Elias saw us, a deep sadness flickered in his eyes before being replaced by a doctor’s professional calm.

He approached our table, his focus deliberately on me and Leo.

“Selene,” he said, his voice even. “You’re looking well.”

“Eli!” Leo cried happily.

Zane inclined his head, a stiff, formal gesture.

“Vance.”

“Zane,” Elias replied, his tone equally measured. The air was thick with things unsaid.

Zane took a breath, his pride warring with a deeper code of honor.

“I owe you my life,” he said, the words like stone. “That is a debt the Crown does not take lightly.”

“One day, you may ask for a favor. If it is within my power to grant, I will.”

He stopped.

A gasp escaped my lips as I stared at his hand against my cheek.

For a single, horrifying second, the skin on the back of his hand had flickered.

Beneath its surface, a network of spidery, black veins had pulsed into view, dark and corrupted.

Then they vanished.

I flinched back, my heart seizing in my chest.

Zane’s eyes widened in confusion at my reaction.

He looked down at his hand, turning it over. It looked perfectly normal.

He’d felt nothing.

“What is it?” he asked, his voice laced with concern. “Selene, what did you see?”

Before I could find the words to answer, a frantic, heavy banging erupted on the chamber door.

The door burst open without ceremony.

Kael stood on the threshold, his chest heaving, his face pale and grim.

He didn’t wait for permission to speak.

“Alpha,” he panted, his eyes wide with urgency. “There’s news.”