All Chapters of THE ALPHA’S RELUCTANT BRIDE: Chapter 111 - Chapter 120

The next morning, Ember walked into the infirmary quietly. She didn’t want to startle Tessa or wake her if she was still resting, but as soon as Ember stepped inside, she saw Tessa sitting up on the bed, folding the sheets as if preparing to leave.“Tessa?” Ember whispered.Tessa lifted her head. She looked tired, but more present, more like herself than she had in weeks.“Good morning,” Tessa said with a small smile. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m fine.”“You collapsed last night,” Ember reminded her gently. “You scared everyone.”Tessa’s smile faded a little. “I know. And I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scream like that.”Ember stepped closer. “You didn’t just scream. You asked everyone to leave you alone. Who were you talking to?”Tessa blinked as if trying to search her memory. “I… don’t remember clearly. Everything was dark. It felt like I wasn’t fully here. Like something else was pushing through.” She let out a slow breath. “But I don’t want to sit here feeling useless.”“Tessa—”

Madeline called for Ember again before the sun even reached its highest point.Kellan found Ember in the hallway outside the clinic and sighed quietly before speaking.“She’s asking for you,” he said. “Again.”Ember’s heart sank. “How bad is she?”“She’s awake. Calm. Clear. But…”He ran a hand over his face. “She keeps repeating your name like she’s trying to grab something slipping through her fingers.”Ember stepped toward the stairway. “Then let me see her.”Kellan blocked her path gently.“You know I can’t,” he said. “Darius said..”“Darius is being overprotective,” Ember muttered. “And it’s getting out of hand.”Kellan agreed. He only looked tired.“You didn’t see his face this morning,” he said. “He’s scared. And when Darius is scared… he locks everything down.”Ember clenched her jaw but didn’t fight him.She knew pushing would cause a scene, and right now the pack didn’t need more tension.“Tell Madeline I’ll come when I can,” Ember said softly.Kellan gave a sympathetic nod,

The pack grounds were already on edge when the sky changed.It happened with no warning….one moment the late evening light was fading normally, and the next a thick, heavy pulse rolled across the sky like a silent heartbeat. Everyone froze. A red haze bled across the moon, spreading fast, painting the entire forest in a sick, haunting glow.That wasn’t normal.That wasn’t scheduled.And it definitely wasn’t safe.Inside the pack house, Ember still felt the strange tremors crawling under her skin. Her body had been restless since morning, like something inside her was pacing. Madeline, locked in her room under strict supervision, sensed it too. She had tried calling for Ember repeatedly…. but Kellan wouldn’t let them meet.Now, as the light outside shifted fully into red, Madeline’s breath hitched.“No… no, no…this isn’t time,” she whispered, panic rising. She rushed for the door, banging hard. “Let me out! Ember is in danger…Velise says she’s not ready…”Kellan blocked the door instan

The council chamber felt colder than usual, even with the torches burning along the walls. Darius stood in the center, shoulders tight, jaw locked. The elders circled him, each one looking older than they did the day before. The Blood Moon had drained everyone in different ways.Elder Harrin spoke first.“You left the grounds during a Blood Moon,” he said, voice sharp. “And you came back with your scent mixed with the Luna’s.”Some of the elders whispered. Others simply watched him like they were waiting for him to lie.Darius didn’t.He couldn’t.“I followed her because she shifted,” he said calmly. “She wasn’t safe out there.”“Yes,” Elder Maron said, narrowing her eyes. “But you didn’t just follow her, did you?”Darius said nothing. His silence told the story.The elders exchanged looks…long, heavy looks that carried more fear than anger.“An Alpha mating under a Blood Moon binds more than flesh,” Elder Harrin said. “It ties souls in ways we cannot undo.”Darius clenched his fists.

The morning after the half-cleared Blood Moon felt wrong from the moment the sun tried to rise and failed. The sky was still bruised red, a washed-out scar that refused to heal. A dull ache sat in Ember’s bones, a pulsing reminder of last night’s shift…of Kaila rising fully, of Darius’s wolf, Venus, meeting her in the dark woods with a hunger that felt older than the pack itself.But she hadn’t seen Madeline.She hadn’t even been allowed near that wing of the pack house. And now…with the Blood Moon’s aftermath stretching its claws across the territory…Darius tightened the restrictions even further.Ember stood on the balcony outside her temporary room, her fingers clenched around the wooden railing as the wind carried strange howls from deep in the forest. Not wolf howls. Something broken. Shredded. Like the sound of wolves stuck halfway between forms.Behind her, the door opened with a soft creak.“You’re up early.”Darius’s voice was quiet, but he wasn’t calm. His energy yanked at t