LOGINShare
CHAPTER 71: THE HIDDEN SHADOWS
Last Updated:
2025-03-08 00:43:19
Related chapters
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 72: LIGHT IN THE DARK
HAILEY The bright rays of the morning light flooded into the packhouse, bathing everything in their warmth. But there was tension in the air, a murmur of expectation. Just before daybreak, Lyna had gone into labour, and the packhouse as a whole appeared to hold its breath. Ryan was pacing the living room, muttering to himself as his forehead was furrowed. How much time does it take to give birth to a pup? Or is anything vampire-related? Despite my own anxiety, I put a soothing touch on his arm. "She's in capable hands." Cross-species births have been handled by the pack doctor previously. Ryan's eyes met mine as he halted in the middle of his stride. Hailey, this isn't your typical cross-species birth. A vampire birthing a werewolf's child? It has never been done before. He was not mistaken. Every known law of nature had been broken by Lyna's pregnancy. It was believed that vampires were incapable of becoming pregnant, much less carrying a kid to birth. Nevertheless, here we were. "H
Last Updated : 2025-03-09CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 73: MOONLIGHT SHADOWS
AARONDespite the peace of the forest surrounding the packhouse, my mind was anything but calm; the weight of fatherhood, the inexplicable nature of my daughter's existence, and the impending threats from forces we hardly understood—it was all too much. But as I looked down at Aurora cradled in Lyna's arms, everything seemed to fade away. Her tiny fingers twitched, her violet eyes fluttering open briefly to meet mine before she fell back asleep. “How are you holding up?” Lyna’s voice cut through my mind.As I sat in the rocking chair we had set up by the window, I looked up at her. Her pale skin seemed to glow in the moonlight, and she was radiant despite the exhaustion lining her face. “I’m not sure,” I confessed, stroking her hair. “One minute I’m terrified out of my mind, and the next, I feel... whole. Like she’s a piece of me I didn’t know was missing.” Lyna smiled, her fingers grazed Aurora’s cheek. “She is. She’s a piece of both of us.” The weight of her words settled over me, a
Last Updated : 2025-03-09CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 74: AN UNLIKELY BOND
HAILEYThe midday sun highlighted the packhouse windows, warming the living room in which I sat, but I couldn't concentrate because my stomach churned miserably, a familiar ache caused by this pregnancy. Amenia, my wolf, fidgeted at the back of my head, her worry clear. You need to rest more, Hailey. "I've tried," I murmured to myself out loud, tracing the edge of my barely perceptible bump. Despite being only four months pregnant, this one felt larger and more exhausting than the last. I looked up as Adrian entered the room. The vampire king carried his usual look of superiority. His black eyes swept over me with gentle intent, and he exuded sophistication. "Hailey," he spoke in a smooth, honey-toned voice. "You are pale." Too tired to groan, I exhaled long and hard. "Thanks for pointing that out." He inched in silently, his movement as smooth as silk as usual. "Can I?" When I hesitated, it was agony that was in control. I nodded.Adrian descended to his knees before me, the chill pa
Last Updated : 2025-03-09CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 75: WHISPERS OF THE UNKNOWN
ADRIANI couldn't help but notice the tension in the air on the pack's grounds. I sensed it in the warriors' training, their eyes more fierce, their actions more precise. It was something more profound and primordial than the triplets' secrets or Azure's impending menace. And Hailey was the first. I saw the soldiers in the pack move in unison as I stood at the edge of the training area. I was envious of their admirable devotion to their queen. Even for me, such kind of loyalty was uncommon. But I wasn't thinking about them. They had her. Hailey. The connection I had with her was different from anything I had ever experienced; it wasn’t romantic—I wouldn’t dare venture into such territory anymorè—but it was profound, a connection that pulled at my very soul. She didn’t know it, but I had been dreaming of her, dreams full of whispers, warnings, and a sense of inevitability. “Adrian.” Isaiah’s voice drew me out of my reverie. The older man came towards me, his face shadowed by a mixture
Last Updated : 2025-03-09CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 76: SHADOWS OF DESTINY
RYAN The atmosphere was tense as I strolled through the forest that surrounded the pack’s lands; the moonlight barely broke through the dense canopy above, creating long, eerie shadows that danced with every rustle of leaves; my wolf, Ares, paced restlessly inside me, his agitation a constant pressure on my mind; Hailey’s pregnancy wasn’t just a blessing—it was a storm brewing on the horizon; the bond she had formed with Adrian, no matter how innocent, gnawed at my instincts; and now, with her recent pain and Adrian’s inexplicable ability to calm her, I felt as though I was losing control of the situation. “She’s our mate,” Ares growled; “We protect her, not him.” “I know,” I muttered. I whispered out loud, know. But what are our options? If he can assist her then we let him. Ares snarled once more but stopped arguing. Although he shared my frustration, even he acknowledged that Hailey had seemed somewhat relieved by Adrian's presence. I saw Logan reclining against a tree, his face u
Last Updated : 2025-03-09CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 77: A TRAITORS' STRIKE
MARISSA The silence seemed to press against your ears, intensifying every rustle and creak, and the night was calm and eerily quiet. To get my thoughts straight, I had ventured into the woods outside the pack's boundaries. My head was a jumble of ideas from all that had transpired, including the fates of the kids, Hailey's relationship with Adrian, and my own hazardous position as Luna next to Logan. I was always calm in the forest. The tall trees, the earthy smell of bark and moss, and the distant owl's screech served as a memory of my former self before danger and responsibility weighed heavily on me. But something didn't feel right tonight. I started to feel nervous, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on up. I looked around, but I couldn't find anything strange. Nevertheless, Lyra, my wolf, was agitated. In my mind, Lyra snarled, "We're not alone." My muscles coiling in preparation for a fight, I tensed myself. "Who is it?" Despite my uneasiness, I cried out in a forcef
Last Updated : 2025-03-10CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 78: A LOYAL SERVANT'S REPORT
THOMASI've forgotten what it means to be human. The master's first thing was to steal our senses from us and leave us numb, but I faltered when I was meant to kill Marissa; the master won't be pleased with this information. I've certainly come a long way since the man who obsessed over Hailey.Azure's den was heavy and stifling with air that seemed weighty with an aura of fear that clung to my body like a second skin. The burning candles cast long shadows on the stone walls, and the faint light did little to drive back the darkness that seemed to pervade this space. I carried the burden of defeat as I traveled down the long corridor. I had left Marissa crippled for weeks, maybe months, but I was not expecting Azure to be satisfied. He required results—completely and absolutely—and anything short of that would not suffice. I approached his enormous chamber's enormous doors. They were hanging over me. They resemble gates of hell descending over me, finely made with depictions of anarch
Last Updated : 2025-03-10CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 79: SHADOWS OF DOMINION
AZUREThe air in the lair pulsed with ancient energy that had existed long before this world knew light, and I sat upon my throne, carved from obsidian and etched with the runes of power, with my fingers drumming rhythmically on its armrest. I reminded myself that patience was necessary for all great victories, and mine would be the greatest of them all. As Thomas entered the room, his posture was rigid and submissive; he was loyal, yes, but flawed—like all mortals. His previous report about Marissa lingered in my mind, a mixture of annoyance hung in my head, a mix of annoyance and contentment. Alive yet unable to function. It was a calculated decision, but not one I would have taken. "My lord," Thomas said with a slight bow. I narrowed my eyes and waved him closer. "Talk, Thomas. What's new? He moved forward warily as if he were afraid of crossing some unseen line. "The pack continues to reel. Tensions among Hailey's allies are rising, and she is preoccupied with her pregnancy. My lo
Last Updated : 2025-03-10
Latest chapter
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 198: THE PLAN
AUDACUSFire spat and spat in the fire before me, shadows curling around the walls of stone like hungry snakes. I reclined in the chair of dark, high-backed obsidian in the center of my war room, robes of smoke and midnight folded around me in loops of fate. My hands tapped a slow, calculated beat on the bent armrest, lethal.Lilith sat motionless in the adjacent room.Her breath—if one could even call it that anymore—was shallow. Barely there. Her fall into the coma had been abrupt, unforetold, un-theatrical. Just. silent. A silence so deep that it vibrated through the realm.And I hated it.She alone had ever spat venom right back at me and still made me crave the taste of her defiance. Her anger. Her fury. But now? Glass. Shattered. Cold. And worse—silent.No more filthy words.No more threats that she'd rip out my heart if I ever sinned against her daughter.Now, all I had was time.But Ryan… oh, Ryan didn't have time at all.Ideal.A knock echoed on the door—sharp, brief. My gene
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 197: LOOMING WAR
RAYThe night was mine. The odor of war clung heavy to the atmosphere, and the promise of approaching chaos made my skin crawl, bones moving just below as I stretched through all my shapes. Tonight the game was set, and I, Ray, his most trusted one, had the honor of delivering the king's new scheme.Audacus loomed over us, demonically serene, every inch of him a vision of lethal refinement. That voice, so smooth but colder than winter's cold, was a force no sane man would want to challenge. "Keep them busy," he instructed us, fingers lazily spinning a glass of dark wine as if this plan wasn't going to break the world. "Isolate Hailey and Ryan at all costs. The two of them together are trouble. Alone, they fall apart."A vicious grin crept gradually across my lips. Simple in appearance. Deadly in purpose."What about the others?" I asked, masking my enthusiasm with polite calmness.Audacus's golden eyes flashed to mine, as cutting as a knife. "The triplets are strong, but unripe. Diver
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 196: INFILTRATION
AUDACUS The moment I stepped through the massive glass doors of Kings Enterprises, the atmosphere shifted. Clean, polished, professional—exactly how humans liked to present their tiny empires. It was nearly funny. The whole building reeked of ambition, desperation, and carefully hidden fear. It smelled like opportunity.I adjusted the mortal guise I was wearing: well-pressed suit, comfortable leather loafers, and a pair of glasses perched low on the bridge of my nose. The perfect image of a struggling investor who'd at last been able to scrounge up sufficient capital to swim with the sharks. Beneath, I smiled. They had no idea.The receptionist greeted me with that rehearsed corporate warmth. "Welcome to Kings Enterprises, Mr.?""Addison," I supplied the alias with ease. "Jon Addison. I'm here to see your investment representative. I'm interested in purchasing direct stock."Her fingers flew across the keyboard, and within a second she nodded. "Right this way, Mr. Addison."It all pr
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 195: LOOMING WAR
RAY The night was mine. The odor of war clung heavy to the atmosphere, and the promise of approaching chaos made my skin crawl, bones moving just below as I stretched through all my shapes. Tonight the game was set, and I, Ray, his most trusted one, had the honor of delivering the king's new scheme. Audacus loomed over us, demonically serene, every inch of him a vision of lethal refinement. That voice, so smooth but colder than winter's cold, was a force no sane man would want to challenge. "Keep them busy," he instructed us, fingers lazily spinning a glass of dark wine as if this plan wasn't going to break the world. "Isolate Hailey and Ryan at all costs. The two of them together are trouble. Alone, they fall apart." A vicious grin crept gradually across my lips. Simple in appearance. Deadly in purpose. "What about the others?" I asked, masking my enthusiasm with polite calmness. Audacus's golden eyes flashed to mine, as cutting as a knife. "The triplets are strong, but unripe. D
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 194: CHAOS
AUDACUS The council chamber stank of old magic and old pride. It clung to the stones, bleeding into the mortar like the blood of all fools who'd ever sat upon high thrones and imagined that they were invulnerable. I was in the center, hands clasped behind my back, the gravity of a century measured in the loose bend of my shoulders. Ten wizard elders stood around me, faces etched with lines made of centuries, eyes filmed over by complacency. The robes flowed over the marble floor as they shifted to stand nearer, as if attitude itself might distort fate in their direction. "Audacus," the oldest, Master Callum, said, his voice husky with a challenge never breached in all his years. "Your arrogance does not belong here. You are not welcome." A smile flared at the edge of my lips. "Arrogance is the right of the already triumphant. You just haven't quite caught up with reality." Whispers circulated around the circle, soft, trembling shivers from tired old gods in mortal flesh. I could
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 193: AUDACUS
AUDACUS Been out again in the mortal world feels so surreal but good, it's been so long, too long really but the night tasted sweet. Sweeter than a vow. More bitter than deceit. I stood beneath the crooked arm of a dying oak, one hand leather-gloved, the other bare, tracing my finger along the cold curve of my ring. The dark stone pulsed softly beneath my fingers, full of the quiet, slow hunger I always kept just beneath my skin. The world was still tonight. Even the wind had enough sense to whisper not when I heard it. I could sense the earth beneath my feet, the shift of shadow as it crawled towards me, drawn like a moth battering itself around its own funeral place. The shifter was late. It was always so with beasts bound by fear and not by love. Still, I was impressed by its cunning. Its guile. The art of slinking in and out of hides like leaves from a book. Finally, the beast emerged out of the woods. A distorted shape, wrapped in the stolen form of a man — the fifth, I thi
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 192: HE'S COMING
LOGAN The air reeked of blood, pungent enough to slice through bone-deep exhaustion. I arrived too late for the battle, but just in time for the cleanup. Marissa stood with her arm raised over the shape-shifter's deformed body, which collapsed at her feet like a crumpled flower. Its body shook as if even death would not claim it cleanly. Her sword dripped with black, noxious ichor. I'd wanted to feel proud — darn it, I was proud — but my wolf howled inside my chest walls, screaming for vengeance. "Are you alright?" I pressed forward, ready to catch her if her legs gave out under her. Marissa cleaned the knife on her hand, jutting chin as if the fighter I knew her to be was finally free of that cage she'd been holding herself in. "It won't be the last." That solitary stark truth weighed between us like a boulder. "Not if I have any say in it," I growled. And I meant every damn word. ISAIAH The scent of smoke still hung in the air, seeping into the stone walls like an unwelcom
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 191: MOTHER'S CHOICES
TURTELA The castle had never been this still, not really. Even at midnight, its old bones vibrated with the thrum of wards and remembrances. But tonight, after the fight, after blood and smoke, the stillness was oppressive as ever. It lay on my chest like a heavy hand, smothering the wolf inside me who trotted in ceaseless circles, anxious and watchful. I should have stayed in my own chambers. Should have soothed myself with a hot bath or the echoing sound of dad's voice up and down the halls. Instead, my own feet led me out, past the marble pillars, to the garden where everything was bathed in moonlight. And she was there. Serenia. Sitting on the stone bench like it was her own, as if she had burst forth from the earth itself, dark hair falling like silk down her back. She was so still that I almost mistook her for another statue, some forgotten relic the old kings had left. I did not sneak up on her. I wanted her to hear me coming. I wanted her to know that I was not afraid.
CLAIMING HAILEY CHAPTER 190: A DAUGHTER'S VERDICT
ISAIAH The moment Hailey's call brushed my thoughts, I felt it — the shift in the air. There was no desperation in her tone, no panic, but resolve. And that scared me more than any battlefield ever managed. I arrived in the courtyard as the moon carved silver wounds in the stone. My steps faltered as my gaze met hers. Serenia. The last time I'd ever seen her was under other skies — when I'd lost all hope of having a mate. When fate woke me up, I'd never expected that she would be bound to me again, or in this manner. She was now by Hailey's side. Not as an enemy. Not even as a stranger. Her eyes settled on me, hard and unflickering. "You came," she said. I cleared my throat, finding my balance. "Your mother summoned me." Her lips curled into a semblance of laughter, but there was no warmth behind it. "Oh, naturally she would. Always the Queen, always the commander." I started to open my mouth in defense of Hailey — habit — but Serenia raised a hand, stopping me. Her voice so
