The Alpha's Forbidden Vow novel Chapter 80

POV: Selene

Ryker’s proposal was a bomb that had shattered our understanding of the world.

The Pure-Blood Council.

A hidden enemy, a conspiracy of the oldest families, pulling the strings for centuries.

It was almost too much to comprehend.

We left the Grey Valley without giving him an answer, the weight of his offer a heavy silence on the flight back to the manor. He was a snake, of that we had no doubt. His ambition was a cold, hard thing, and he would betray us the moment it suited him. But the information he had provided had the chilling ring of truth.

We did not leave the manor. The world outside was now too dangerous, filled with shadows and enemies we were just beginning to see. Instead, the old, forgotten library in the north wing became our war room. We needed to verify Ryker’s claims, and more than that, I needed to understand what was running through my own veins.

We spent days surrounded by crumbling books and ancient maps. Zane, with his strategic mind, searched for any mention of the Pure-Blood Council in the Volkov chronicles. I focused on my own history, using the pendant as a key, trying to unlock the fragmented memories that felt just out of reach.

While Zane was focused on the larger, political threat, a different, more intimate fear was coiling in my gut.

The poison.

Elias’s warning echoed in my mind. Zane was dismissive of it, his focus entirely on the new war we faced, but I could see the signs. A faint tremor in his hand when he thought I wasn't looking, a paleness beneath his skin that hadn't been there before his injury. The poison was a quiet, insidious enemy, eating away at him from the inside.

I started my own research, pulling down dusty tomes on shifter toxicology and ancient herbal remedies. I was scanning a brittle scroll, its text describing rare antidotes, when Zane came up behind me.

“That is a secondary concern, Selene,” he said, his voice a low rumble. He gestured to the maps of the old territories. “The Council is the primary threat. Your bloodline is the key. My health can wait.”

His casual dismissal of his own life sent a wave of pure, hot fury through me. It was the same self-sacrificing, arrogant Alpha logic that had created this mess in the first place.

I slammed the ancient book shut, raising a cloud of dust.

“No,” I said, my voice shaking with an intensity that made him step back in surprise. “It cannot wait. It is not a secondary concern, it is the

only

He turned back to me, his hand reaching out to cup my cheek. “We will finish this conversation,” he promised, his voice a low, intense whisper.

Then he turned and strode out of the library with Kael, his footsteps echoing down the long, empty hall.

I was left alone, my heart still pounding from our confrontation. I turned back to the ancient books on poisons and antidotes, a new, fierce determination in my eyes.

I would find a cure. I would save him.

A cold, unfamiliar draft suddenly snaked through the library, carrying a scent of winter and ambition that did not belong to the Volkov manor.

It was the scent I remembered from the Grey Valley.

I froze, my head slowly turning toward the shadowed doorway.

Ryker.