Chapter 75. No Turning Back

Ainsley

I’m out of breath when they haul me before Cyrus. The arms locked around me are tight, vice-like, and hurt when they force me down onto my knees.

Humiliating, even if it wasn’t in front of a crowd of people.

Unlike last time I was in this study, only a few people are present this time around.

I catch sight of Koen standing in the shadows near the doorway, which makes my eyes go wide. His presence cuts through the haze of my rising anxiety quickly, forcing me to focus away from Cyrus looming over me and to take him in instead.

He feigns ignorance when I catch his eye, his own flickering over me with an inscrutable look that had my stomach dropping.

If he’s here, where are Iris and Liam?

“Ainsley,” Cyrus says, dragging my attention back to him. “Since you chose to defy tradition and mate with someone else rather than the alpha I picked out for you, you have betrayed not only your duty but our entire bloodline. You must make th