Se connecterMabella's POV(Dual POV )"You've been awake since the fourth hour," Alfredo said, his voice low and rough like aged whiskey as he filled the doorway of the sitting room. The palace had finally gone quiet around us, the baby had settled in the next room, and I'd pushed the papers to one side, but they still called to me like unfinished business.I looked up at him, my mate, my Alpha, standing there in nothing but loose pants that hung low on his hips. The lamplight carved shadows across his broad chest, highlighting every hard-earned line of muscle. "The Collins monthly report came in," I told him, gesturing at the stack. "And the documentation cross-reference from Vida. And Fred left the bilateral framework draft on the table. I thought I'd get through them before morning.""It's the eleventh hour," he said, stepping closer, his bare feet silent on the rug."I'm aware," I replied, rubbing my eyes. Gods, my body felt heavy, but the work wouldn't wait.He crossed the room in three stri
Mabella's POV "He wants to see you," Fred told me, placing the formal request form squarely on the polished oak table in my private study. The late afternoon light slanted through the tall windows, catching the edges of the parchment and making the ink look almost alive. "Nathan. Not Alfredo. You specifically."I stared at the paper, my fingers hovering just above it without touching. Eight months of confinement in the secured wing. The sharp warning he had delivered about Elan during those chaotic days before the coronation. The man who had been Alfredo's closest friend for fifteen years, who had built shadows against this very pack, only to sit in silence afterward, processing the wreckage of his choices. My heart gave a slow, heavy thud."Why me?" I asked Fred, finally meeting his steady gaze. "He hasn't asked for anyone in months. What changed?"Fred leaned against the edge of the table, crossing his arms in that thoughtful way of his. "I pressed the guards for details. He’s bee
Mabella's POV "He asked me to be his mate," Senna told me, sitting across from me in the small east wing sitting room at a late hour with that expression—warm and slightly self-conscious in a way that Senna rarely was.The words hung in the air like the soft glow of the flickering lanterns on the walls, casting dancing shadows across the ancient tapestries that depicted generations of Crest pack bonds. I looked at her, my heart giving an unexpected flutter as the weight of her confession settled over me. Senna, the formidable Senna, who had stood like an unyielding oak through political storms and personal tempests for fifteen long years. Here she was, in the quiet hush of midnight, her usual sharp edges softened by something vulnerable and new. The late hour wrapped around us like a secret, the distant howl of a night patrol wolf echoing faintly through the open window, carrying the wild essence of our pack lands.I set down the quill I had been using to review the latest healer su
Mabella's POV "She's pushing too hard," Serena told her, appearing in the Luna quarters doorway at the early hour with that expression she wore when she had been sitting on something and had decided it couldn't wait any longer.I looked up from the baby nestled in my arms, her tiny fingers curled against my chest like the most fragile anchor in a storm I hadn't realized was raging. The soft glow of dawn filtered through the tall arched windows of our private quarters, painting the stone walls in hues of rose and gold. My body ached in ways I hadn't allowed myself to acknowledge—shoulders tight from hours bent over documents, eyes burning from late-night reviews of healer protocols. But the weight of the crown was still so new, its invisible pressure settling deeper into my bones with every passing hour."You," Serena continued, crossing the room with that directness she brought to everything. She dropped into the chair across from me without waiting for an invitation, her posture st
Mabella's POV "I don't want special treatment because of who my father is," Lira said, sitting across from both of us in the small east wing meeting room with her hands flat on the table and her eyes carrying that sharp direct quality that made me think of Renner and simultaneously of no one but Lira herself.Her voice didn’t waver. Not even a flicker. I watched her carefully, the way the morning light from the tall windows caught the determined set of her jaw, the subtle rise and fall of her chest beneath the simple tunic she wore. Twenty years old, yet she sat there like someone who had already carried the weight of a pack on her shoulders and decided it wasn’t enough.I looked at her steadily, letting the silence stretch just long enough to see if she would fill it. She didn’t. Good.“What do you want,” I asked, my tone even but firm. The kind of question that demanded honesty.Lira didn’t answer immediately. She thought about it properly, her gaze dropping briefly to her hands b
Mabella's POV "I didn't expect you here," I said, finding Senna sitting on the right side of the orange tree with her travel jacket on and her bag at her feet and her face carrying something that had shifted since the council."Fred sent me," Senna told me, glancing up as I approached."Alfredo sent Fred," I said, sitting on the left side where the bark was smooth. The morning light filtered through the leaves, warm and golden, and the valley below stretched peaceful and green. The baby was with Alfredo back in the quarters, probably grabbing at his medallion with that stubborn grip while he sang one of those off-key songs that always settled her."Yes," Senna said. "Probably."We sat in the morning quiet with the valley below and the pack waking up around us and the specific peace of the orange tree doing what it always did—making everything feel the right size. Birds called in the branches overhead. Distant voices carried from the palace—Kaia's serious little tone arguing with som







