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Chapter 188

Author: Angy
last update Last Updated: 2025-04-07 00:02:10

Ava's pov

War doesn’t end in a day. But neither does peace begin in one.

It has been three days since Zerathos vanished.

Three days since we watched his monstrous army retreat into the mist, leaving behind scorched earth, broken trees, a pile of bodies, the smell of blood and rot and the faintest echo of something dangerous whispering in the wind.

We had returned to the Ashville main pack to regroup, heal, and mourn. The war council met daily. The injured filled the infirmary. My magic was slowly coming back as the days passed. Our warriors were tense, always half-listening, always watching the tree lines.

But there’s something worse than fear in the air.

Something wrong that had plagued me since the day of the first battle.

And I could feel it clawing at me like a cold hand pressed against the back of my neck.

I would wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air, heart pounding like I’ve been running. But there was nothing there, no matter how hard I searched. Just Xander’s s
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  • THE ALPHA'S FORBIDDEN MATE    Chapter 189

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Latest chapter

  • THE ALPHA'S FORBIDDEN MATE    Chapter 192

    Ava's povMy breath caught in my throat.The flickering shapes. The shifting shadows. The wrongness etched into the faces of those I had known for years.But what I was seeing—none of it made sense. It was twisted. A funhouse reflection of the world I knew. Was this the truth? A vision? A warning?Or…My heart pounded violently in my chest as my legs gave out from under me. I fell to my knees on the stone floor, staring at the ground as if it might split open and swallow me whole.Then the realization hit me.It wasn’t real.None of it.I looked back up at the people I had just seen—people whose faces had changed, who had grinned and had wrong shadows—and now… they were normal again. Whole. Familiar. The same as always.I gasped. “No… no, no, no…”It wasn’t real.It wasn’t real.I stumbled back, shaking my head as the panic started to claw its way through my throat. “It isn’t real. IT ISN’T REAL!” I screamed, so loud it echoed through the forest.Doors slammed open.Boots rushed towar

  • THE ALPHA'S FORBIDDEN MATE    Chapter 191

    Ava's povNo one said anything to me anymore.They didn’t need to.The whispers were loud even in their silence.The way conversations shifted when I walked past. The way people refused to meet my eyes, as if even eye contact might make them join in my madness—or worse, my supposed crime.I tried apologizing to some of them even though I didn’t know what for. I tried helping in the kitchens. Volunteering for patrol. Sitting through meetings I was no longer welcome in.Nothing worked. No one wanted me around them.I was a ghost in a home I had helped fight for.The days passed like the wind—fast and untouchable. I drifted through them like a ghost.Nobody spoke to me unless they had to. Even then, it was clipped, formal, laced with suspicion and caution. Conversations that used to warm up rooms now stilled when I walked in. Smiles I used to see daily became vacant stares—or worse, side-eyed glares.I didn’t blame them.Elder Maris had been a guide to them, a beacon. She’d walked with w

  • THE ALPHA'S FORBIDDEN MATE    Chapter 190

    Ava's povSilence clung to me like a second skin.Cold and unforgiven.Quiet but loud.It was deafening.I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t even speak. All I could do was stand there, trembling, as dozens of eyes bore into me. Judging. Accusing. Disbelieving.Hating on me.“What did you do?” Elder Thane’s voice cut through the silence like a blade. “Ava… what have you done?”“I—” My voice cracked, barely above a whisper. “I don’t know. I don’t understand what’s happening—”“You’re holding the dagger,” someone growled, voice filled with suspicion and hate.Hate that broke my heart. Hate that I didn't deserve but was getting due to a situation that I didn't understand.I looked down again. My fingers were clenched around the hilt of the dagger, knuckles white, blood trickling down my wrist in thick, slow streams. Maris’s blood.“I didn’t—I wasn’t even—” I took a shaky step back. “I went for a walk. Through the volcanic forest. I just… needed to clear my head.”“That’s not possi

  • THE ALPHA'S FORBIDDEN MATE    Chapter 189

    Ava's povThe night begins with shadows.Always.Not the kind that creep under doorways or stretch across walls. These are inside me—cold, vile things curling behind my ribs and pressing against my spine.I couldn't sleep. Again.I thought I had gotten rid of Zerathos' hold on me so I was very confused by the shadows tormenting me.Or is it all just in my head?I didn't know. It was driving me crazy.Every time I closed my eyes, I would see a shape in the dark. A flicker at the edge of reason. A whisper that wasn't by voice.And tonight, it showed me something that I couldn't escape.It started with smoke— it was thick, black, and curling like serpents across the ground. I was standing on a cracked path of scorched earth, the sky a scary swirl of red and grey. The air hummed like something alive.I didn't know this place but something in me said I did.Death Hollow.It whispered.The forbidden wasteland where no life grows. Where bones sink into the black soil and never rise again. Wh

  • THE ALPHA'S FORBIDDEN MATE    Chapter 188

    Ava's povWar doesn’t end in a day. But neither does peace begin in one.It has been three days since Zerathos vanished.Three days since we watched his monstrous army retreat into the mist, leaving behind scorched earth, broken trees, a pile of bodies, the smell of blood and rot and the faintest echo of something dangerous whispering in the wind.We had returned to the Ashville main pack to regroup, heal, and mourn. The war council met daily. The injured filled the infirmary. My magic was slowly coming back as the days passed. Our warriors were tense, always half-listening, always watching the tree lines.But there’s something worse than fear in the air.Something wrong that had plagued me since the day of the first battle.And I could feel it clawing at me like a cold hand pressed against the back of my neck.I would wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air, heart pounding like I’ve been running. But there was nothing there, no matter how hard I searched. Just Xander’s s

  • THE ALPHA'S FORBIDDEN MATE    Chapter 187

    Zerathos' povThey think they’ve won.How foolish.War doesn't end when someone retreats. Not for those who breathe war.They thought my vanishing act was surrender. That my army fading with me was a sign of loss. But they misunderstood the game entirely.You don’t conquer a kingdom by brute force alone—you break its spirit, fracture its foundation, and wait for the cracks to show and watch everything crumble as they scramble to save what is beyond repair.The moment I faded from the battlefield, I felt the wave of their false relief like a sweet smell in the wind. It made me smirk at their naiveness. A dream. It was the normal way a prey always relaxes when the predator steps away… forgetting that sometimes, the beast only backs off to sharpen its claws.I stood at the top of the cliffs of Death Hollow now, the wind howling in the air, the sky was bleeding, the earth soaked with death, black mist curling at my feet. The death hollow was a little realm I had crafted for myself. Below

  • THE ALPHA'S FORBIDDEN MATE    Chapter 186

    Ava's povWar doesn’t start and end in a day. It takes a while.To build. To break. To bleed.To bury.And when the sky finally cleared of fire and ash, when Zerathos’s monstrous form vanished into the nothingness from which he had come from, taking his cursed army with him, all that remained was silence.A thick, eerie, unnatural silence.Like the earth itself was holding its breath.The blood-soaked ground beneath my feet was still warm, humming with the leftover power of dark spells and light magic. The battle was over…for now but it didn’t feel like a victory. It felt like a pause. A line right in the middle of a war that hadn’t even shown us its worst yet.All around me, bodies lay scattered like fallen birds—our warriors, his Shadow slaves and everything in between. Some would never rise again. Others would carry the scars forever.My heartbeat echoed in my ears, the only sound I could hear over the rush of adrenaline still coursing through my veins.Xander stood a few feet from

  • THE ALPHA'S FORBIDDEN MATE    Chapter 185

    Ava's pov The moment the black mist erupted from the ground, I knew that things were about to get much worse. It was reeking badly. The ground cracked open beneath our feet like a wound splitting wide, and from it, the shadows poured, thick and choking, whispering in voices I couldn’t understand. Zerathos was coming. And I wasn’t ready, it was too soon. But I had to be. I knew that if I had continued to wait in blackthorn, I would never fully be ready. Now, regardless I was already here and needed to get things together and end this. I turned, eyes widening as I sensed something coming. "Shields!" I screamed, summoning my light magic and making a dome flare out around us, golden and humming with energy just as a blast of shadows shot out from the crack on the floor and hitting the barrier with so much force that the forge shook. We stumbled. Xander caught me by the elbow, his arm strong, steady. His eyes locked onto mine for half a second stormy gray-golden eyes c

  • THE ALPHA'S FORBIDDEN MATE    Chapter 184

    Xander's povI spotted the command post—a black stone tower in the heart of the forge still standing amidst the chaos.“Take the south side!” I shouted to Kaida. “Keep them from regrouping!”She nodded once before leaping into the shadows, other nightshade warriors next to hermI tuned to the rest. “Push forward! Get to the tower! Cut the head off the snake!”We broke into a small unified group, making our way to the gate. More and more of Zerathos' warriors began flooding in from the rear now—those that were not caught in the explosions. Reinforcements. Bigger. Angrier.But it was too late.Too slow.I could feel it.Their fear.Their unraveling.And beneath it all the Forge began to make a groaning sound.Like something buried deep beneath was awakening.We reached the tower. My claws tore through the doors.We stormed inside and then came the scream again.A sound that shattered bone and split stone.The Howling Horror. Another one.It was close.And it was coming.I turned toward

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