All Chapters of BOUND TO THE ALPHA KING: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

STEPHENI sat alone in my office long after she left.The room was quiet, but my head wasn’t. I kept replaying her face when I scolded her, the way her jaw tightened, the way she tried not to react, and it had affected my wolf more than I wanted to admit. He didn’t like it. He didn’t like the distance, didn’t like the disappointment, didn’t like that I had pushed her away when she was standing right in front of me.But it had to be done.She crossed a line. She ignored orders, exposed herself, exposed the throne, and I couldn’t forgive that easily, not when the kingdom was watching, not when weakness invited chaos.I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my face, my jaw tight.A knock came, firm and familiar.“Come in,” I said.Alaric entered with a tablet in his hand, his expression serious, calculated, controlled like always.“We have reports from the south,” he said, stepping closer. “Confirmed casualties.”He placed the tablet on my desk and turned it toward me.I read the numbers on

CHAPTER 54KATHERINE The classroom emptied quickly, and I lingered by my desk, pretending to organize my notes. A girl from the front row eyes darted oward the tutor’s office with a look of pure desperation. She approached me, her voice trembling as she begged me not to do anything to hurt him or report what I’d seen. I was shocked by how easily she begged, and I realized then that she wasn’t just a bully; she was a terrified girl caught in a trap of her own making. I didn’t give her an answer, I just told her to leave before someone else saw her, and I watched her rush down the hall until she disappeared.I walked into the tutor’s office without knocking. He looked up, his face pale and his hands shaking as he gripped the edge of his desk. He started talking immediately, trying to convince me that going down into the lair was a mistake. He admitted he had never actually been inside, only that he knew the entrance was there, and he suggested we find another way to get the information

KATHERINE Rowan stuttered as he tried to find a way around my question, but I didn't let him move an inch. I kept my eyes locked on his until he finally sighed and shifted. He told me that the rebels couldn't be trusted under any circumstances, and that was why we needed to have something over them. He argued that if we were hoping to use them as a weapon against Stephen, we had to be the ones holding the leash.I felt a wave of irritation wash over me, and I shook my head. I told him straight out that I wasn't going to be like Stephen or his council of elders. I wasn't interested in playing those kinds of games. I told him I was going to do things purely because they were the right thing to do, not because I had a hidden agenda or a trap to set.That sparked a sharp disagreement between us. Rowan looked at me like I was being naive, and for a second, the air between us felt brittle. But then he backed down. He apologized, his voice softening as he suggested that maybe I should try

KATHERINE I walked into the small, cramped living room and saw them already waiting for me. Alicia, her mother, and three other women from the village were sitting in a circle on the floor, their faces long and solemn like they were attending a funeral instead of a simple prayer meeting. I didn't want to be there, my skin was crawling the moment I stepped over the threshold, but Alicia’s mother had practically dragged me from the hallway, and I didn't have the energy to fight her off. I sat down on a hard wooden stool, feeling out of place in my palace clothes, and felt Alicia’s mother grab my left hand while another woman took my right.We held hands in a tight, sweaty circle as the older woman closed her eyes and began to drone on, praying to the Moon Goddess to descend upon us and provide solutions for the burdens we carried. I stared at a crack in the floorboards, feeling a surge of irritation. It all felt so extreme and performative, and the mention of the Goddess made a bitter

KATHERINE Stephen was looming over me, his face a mask of pure irritation, and I could tell he wasn't happy to see me standing in the middle of his secret lair. He gripped my shoulders hard, his fingers digging into my skin as he demanded to know why I was there, but I didn't flinch. I stood my ground, staring right back into those cold gray eyes, and I let him see that I wasn't afraid of him or his little underground prison."I know exactly what you’re doing here, Stephen," I said, my voice cutting through the damp air of the bunker. "You’re smuggling Alphas around like cargo, hiding them under a school building for whatever evil reasons you’ve got cooked up in that head of yours. I’m going to expose you, I'm going to tell everyone that their 'hero king' is just a common criminal with a crown."Stephen actually laughed, a short, dry sound that made me want to slap him. He looked at me like I was a child telling a fairy tale, shaking his head as if I couldn't possibly understand the