The Alpha's Forbidden Vow novel Chapter 84

POV: Selene

The argument with Zane left a cold, aching distance between us.

We were mates, bound by a force stronger than either of us, but we were not yet partners.

He did not trust me. And I did not trust him not to fall back into his old, controlling ways.

But the quest for my past, for our future, was more important than our personal conflict.

So we called a truce. A tense, fragile thing.

And the next day, Ryker was in the study with us.

Zane’s concession to allow him in the room was a monumental act of will, and the air was thick with the scent of his barely suppressed hostility.

He sat behind his massive desk, the undisputed Alpha of this territory, his stormy grey eyes fixed on Ryker with a look that promised a slow and painful death if he stepped out of line.

Ryker, for his part, was the picture of cool, scholarly charm, completely unfazed by Zane’s silent threats.

“As I was saying,” Ryker continued, as if their near-violent confrontation had never happened, “the key is the pendant.”

He gestured to the crescent moon I had placed on the desk between them.

I had spent the night studying the book he had given me, a chronicle filled with the dark and bloody history of my people, and the enemies who had hunted them.

“Zane, you see it as a symbol,” Ryker said, a hint of condescension in his voice. “But you are a Volkov. Your power is in brute force. You are not used to looking for subtlety.”

Zane’s low growl was the only answer.

Ryker ignored him, his intelligent, icy-blue eyes turning to me. “Look closer, Selene. At the engraving.”

I picked up the pendant. The silver was cool and smooth against my skin. On the back, so small I had never paid them much mind, were a series of tiny, intricate markings.

I nodded. We had to follow this lead.

Zane turned his cold gaze back to Ryker. “You have been useful,” he said, the words tasting like acid in his mouth. “For now.”

He stood up, a clear dismissal.

“Your presence here is no longer required.”

Ryker simply smiled, a cool, confident expression. “Of course, Alpha Zane,” he said, bowing slightly. “I am merely an ally in our shared quest for the truth.”

He walked to the door, then paused, turning back to look at me one last time.

“Be careful who you trust, Lady Selene,” he said, his words a final, ambiguous warning.

“Not all cages have bars.”