Chapter 129 The Alpha In Rut

    Alpha Gideon’s Office

    The room was thick with tension as Alpha Jude flipped through the photographs and documentsid out before him. His sharp gaze lingered on the images for a long moment before he finally spoke.

    “I suspected from the start that kidnapping Grace was a mistake,” Jude said, his voice calm butced with steel. His eyes lifted to meet those of Alpha Hugo and Alpha Gideon. “Their target was someone else.”

    Alpha Gideon’s brow furrowed. “But who?” he asked, voice low with disbelief, “This kind of thing has never happened inside the Academy walls. Those filthy rogues never even dared to sniff near our borders. What gave them the audacity to scale the waterfall and snatch Grace in front of so many Alphas?”

    He paused, the weight of his own thoughts visibly pressing on him.

    “And Hugo’s point stands,” he added, eyes narrowing, “If they wanted Grace, they could’ve taken her outside the territory. Why risking here, inside our gates?”

    Then the implication struck him.

    His expression darkened. “Doesn’t that mean…”

    “They were after some other she–wolf,” Hugo finished grimly. “They thought Grace was her.”

    Alpha Gideon’s jaw tightened. “So what, you’re saying that those rogues stormed an all–boys Alpha academy looking for a she–wolf?” He mmed his fist down on the desk. “That’s absurd! Even a corpse wouldugh at this madness!”

    “And yet,” Alpha Jude said, leaning back in his chair, “that’s exactly what the evidence is pointing to.”

    A heavy silence followed, thick with unspoken suspicions. The instructors exchanged dark, silent nces.

    Alpha Gideon’s gaze dropped to the report in front of him, one he would soon have to forward to the Council. There was no hiding this. Not with the chaos at Nightshade Alley, not with so many rogues dead in the fire and the Academy’s borders breached. The Council would already have eyes on the Academy. Even Worse…the Alpha King would know soon, if he didn’t already.

    “They may have been criminals,” Alpha Hugo muttered, voice like gravel, “but those rogues were still part of the Alpha King’s kingdom. Still his subjects. And the Alphas from our academy ughtered them.”

    His fingers curled around the edge of the desk. Alpha Gideon murmured, “Don’t worry. I will take full responsibility. None of our Alphas will be held ountable for what happened in Nightshade Alley. I just met the king two days ago and if I need to, I will do it again. I will present proof and reasons for our action. I believe the Council is not blind to this. But…” he let out a slow breath, “for now we have to keep the rogues‘ intention of entering the Academy in search of a she–wolf to ourselves because this crazy assumption is ours alone.”

    Alpha Hugo and Alpha Jude nodded in agreement.

    Gideon’s eyes were still on the report, but his mind was racing far ahead of it.

    “I have a feeling,” he said finally, “things are about to get much, much worse.”

    SERAPHINA

    “I’m chasing your heart….and I want to make you mine,” Ryker confessed.

    His words hit me harder than I expected, leaving me frozen as his wolf closed the distance between us with a smoothness and confidence that startled even Phina. She didn’t growl or resist this time. She just watched, breathless and shaken.

    What was this feeling?

    A strange flutter twisted in my chest, half panic, half thrill. For the first time, the danger I sensed in Ryker, the threat I thought wanted to consume me, shifted into something far more dangerous. Desire. Obsession. Longing.

    His icy blue eyes no longer hid behind veiled threats or mocking res. They burned with something raw and terrifyingly real.

    All of it was focused on me.

    rmed by the sudden turn in his behavior; no, not a turn, but a reveal of his true self, I shoved myself off the wall and out of his arms. “I hate this kind of joke, Alpha Ryker,” I snapped, voice hard as steel, though my pulse betrayed me.

    “Does it look like I’m joking?” he said, turning to face me again. His steps were slow, deliberate. A predator closing in.

    “Are we going to y dumb now?”

    I didn’t move back. Not even an inch. I met his gaze head–on, refusing to blink. “No, I’m not ying dumb. But I’m not letting you drown in misunderstanding either. I get that your rut is messing with your senses. You’re clearly confused between a man and a woman right now. Tomorrow, when your head is clear, you’ll regret every word you just said. You’ll be embarrassed you even mentioned chasing my heart.”

    He tilted his head slightly, a wicked smile ying at the corners of his lips. “I doubt that.”

    Something in his gaze changed, intensified.

    “Because even in rut,” he murmured, stepping closer, “I see everything clearly.”

    Then he said it.

    “Even through the disguise.”

    My heart stopped. Disguise?

    He leaned in, voice low and terrifyingly certain. “I know exactly who I’m confessing to,” his eyes devoured mine as he closed the distancepletely. “And I know who I want.”

    His fingers brushed my cheek, soft but sure. My breath caught violently in my throat.

    “I have had my eyes on you long before you ever saw me. I, Ryker Wraithe, came to this Academy only for you.”

    Only for me?

    My heart jumped. Once. Twice. I lost

    Cou

    Panic surged through me. I jerked away from his touch and turned my face awayi, /ibreaking eye contact before I drowned in his madness.

    “I think you need to rest, Alpha Ryker,” I said sharply, “You’re not thinking clearly. I’ve helped you as much as I can. I believe you can find your way to your room on your own.”

    I didn’t wait for a reply. I didn’t dare look back. I just walked. Fast. Focused. Though I felt his gaze scorching into my back.

    And I missed the smug, wicked grin curling on his lips behind me..

    Ryker stood tall, no longer staggering, his earlier weakness erased as if it never existed. Hands slipped casually into his pockets, his voice nothing but a soft whisper carried by the night:

    “You’re mine, Seraphina. And soon…you’ll know it too.”

    I didn’t breathe until I turned the corridor and mmed my hand over my mouth, heart hammering inside my ribcage like it wanted out.

    “What the hell was that?” I whispered to myself. “Ryker Wraithe…in love with me?”

    What did he mean he came to the Academy for me? Nothing was making sense. How could things with Ryker turn out this way? I just felt like it was all a dream but when I pinched myself it was all real.

    I clenched my chest. “Now how could I face him from this point on?”

    I stumbled into my dorm, still dazed, only for a strong arm to wrap around my waist and yank me into a hard, familiar chest.

    A deep growl vibrated through the body holding me.

    I gasped, eyes flying up,and froze.

    Ronan’s wolf stared down at me, possessive and furious, his eyes glowing dangerously.

    His nose red as he took in another male scent on me and his growl dropped into something primal.

    “Who were you with?”