Chapter 20: Deep Thoughts

Bab terbaru

• The Alpha’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 23: Breathing By The Fire

  (Calla's POV)Rowan had barely exited the room when the silence he had created became overwhelmingly oppressive. Fuck me.I stood still, my feet by the dining table, my breath held, my body trembling in all the wrong ways. The recollection of his golden eyes imprinted like a handprint seared on my flesh. I could still feel his eyes strip me bare, still detect the dance of heat in the air when he caught the scent of what my body had betrayed.Damn it.I should have known better.I shouldn't have let him in.I shouldn't have cooked dinner, shouldn't have dropped my defenses by an inch. I had said it was strategy, get him comfortable, get him to talk, get the blood Asher needed without his ever being aware. But there, chatting with ease and the low vibration of his voice with my name, I had experienced the slide.I'd permitted myself to feel.And I was standing there now, gripping the edge of the table, fighting the attack between my legs like a war I wasn't willing to fight anymore.T

• The Alpha’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 22: A Dangerous Dinner

  (Calla’s POV)Today has been a rollercoaster of events, but not in my wildest did I ever see myself coming back to this pack today.It was just like a week ago that I had contacted Rowan through the hidden line, and I never thought things would have escalated this way.I didn’t think that after the dose of Rowan’s blood in Asher, the healer would still say that he needs more from the direct source.It’s as if the universe itself was playing a mindful game with me. Putting me in the last place I want to be.Night settled over the Blackthorne estate like a velvet blanket, too quiet, too still. If one had inner ears, I’m sure now will be the perfect time to eavesdrop on people’s private conversation.Asher was fast asleep after dinner, curled up with his stuffed moon bear, one he refused to sleep without. His soft breathing brought me comfort, even if the gnawing weight in my chest wouldn’t ease.I’d cooked, not because I wanted to pretend everything was normal—but because I needed Rowan

• The Alpha’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 21: Shadows Behind Smiles

  (Calla's POV)There is a big difference between being scared for no reason and trusting your gut feelings. One comes from fear, the other comes from what you have learned. I had learned enough in this pack to know when someone was trying to get secrets they should not have.The knock on my door was soft but would not stop. Two quick knocks, then a pause.I did not answer immediately, instead i looked at Asher, who was seated on the red couch beside the window. He was watching birds fly across the sky outside.Maybe they were small birds dancing in the late afternoon sunlight that came through the thin curtains. The golden light made the silver parts of his hair shine like moonbeams.He did not notice how tense I got or how my back got straight. Every muscle in my body was tight with worry. The mother feeling that had kept us alive for three years was screaming warnings I could not ignore.I opened the door just enough to see three women standing there. They were lined up in a perfect

• The Alpha’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 20: Deep Thoughts

  Calla’s POVThe tension was still in me, flowing through my bones, causing my heart to thump faster than the usual way it does. Rowan was remembering and that was the last I needed for my plan to work out. I needed his memories dead the same way they had been in the lowest moment of our relationship and he forgot who I truly was.I could not afford that. Not now, not yet.The guesthouse Rowan led us to sat on the edge of the pack's residential quarter,it was a part of this packhouse that I had never really paid attention to when we were together then. But now, I can see that there was more to this world than I realized. I had stupidly believed being in love and being bonded to the alpha of this pack would be so easy. I thought love was, in fact, easy.The guesthouse was nestled in a grove of silver-leafed birch trees that shimmered in the breeze. It was beautiful, quiet—too quiet. A perfect place to hide. Maybe that was why it unsettled me.Asher had already made himself comfortable

• The Alpha’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 19: A Word Too Dangerous

  *Calla's POV*The moment he stood still, I knew. It was just for a second, but in that second, everything changed.Rowan stood like a statue made from memory. His eyes looked at nothing and everything at once. His silver eyes became wide.Ring. The word came out of Asher's mouth so simply. But I could see what it did to Rowan. It cut through him like a knife dipped in old pain. The color left his hands as they made fists. For just a moment, he looked lost. Really, truly lost.My heart jumped. Did he remember?No. Not everything. That would have broken him right here in front of me. But maybe something small came back.The quiet went on too long. Asher was still waiting for an answer. His bright eyes moved between us. He looked confused like a child who walked into something grown up without knowing why the air felt heavy.I had to fix this moment. Fast.I walked to Asher and got down next to him on the couch. I put my hand on his curly hair. His hair was still warm from sleep. Touchi

• The Alpha’s Forgotten Bride   Chapter 18: The Echo of a Ring

  (Rowan’s POV)She was walking beside me, silent, with her head slightly bowed and her scarf covering most of her face like a mask. But I could still feel her unease—buzzing like static in the air between us.It wasn’t fear exactly. Calla didn’t seem the kind to fear easily. No, this was… wariness. The kind that comes from walking too long in shadow.And yet, she hadn’t flinched when Elder Elira called out to me.I had glanced at her, expecting at least a flicker of reaction. But she’d held herself still, unreadable. Calm on the outside, but something told me that her silence was tightly controlled.She was hiding something. That much I knew.But I didn’t push.Not yet.Instead, I just kept walking, leading them through the winding corridor that veered off the main path. The private wing wasn’t far—intentionally hidden behind a thicket of climbing vines and aged stone, a place I’d built to be both sanctuary and stronghold.For wolves like me who needed space. And for secrets that neede