تسجيل الدخولMabella's POV "One year today," Sera told me, appearing in the dispute hall doorway after the morning session with Kaia right behind her and that expression—warm and certain and entirely Sera. The kind that made the whole room feel steadier just by her presence.I looked up from the notes I was sealing, the ink still drying on the latest resolution. The hall smelled of polished wood and faint herbs from the sachets we kept in the corners. "Sera. A full year since the kitchen. How are you even keeping track with everything else going on?""It's the founding story of this pack's current era," Sera replied pleasantly, stepping inside with Kaia at her side. "We tell it to the children now. The smoke, the compound, the Luna who walked in with nothing but courage and turned everything around. They listen like it's a legend."I set the quill down slowly, a small laugh escaping me. "How does everyone know about the kitchen? I thought that was buried in the early reports. Who started spreadi
Mabella's POV"She handled it herself," Elder Bowen told me, appearing in the Luna quarters doorway with an expression I had never seen on his face before—specifically, completely, genuinely surprised. His usual calm authority was cracked, replaced by wide eyes and a slight shake of his head as if he still couldn't believe what he'd witnessed.I looked up from the stack of bilateral agreements I was reviewing, setting my quill down carefully. "Kaia? Tell me everything, Elder Bowen. Don't leave out a single detail. How did this happen?""A minor dispute in the market this morning," he explained, stepping fully inside and closing the door behind him. "Two vendors are arguing over a boundary line for their stalls. Nothing that should have escalated, but tensions have been high with the new trade routes from Caldwell. I was already on my way to address it when I saw Kaia there, right in the middle of it."I leaned forward, my heart picking up pace. "Thirteen years old and stepping into a
Mabella's POV "She said something," Alfredo told me, appearing in the Luna quarters doorway with an expression I had never once seen on his face before—completely undone and completely certain at the same time. The specific look of a man who had just witnessed something irreversible and magnificent.I looked up from the papers spread across the low table, my quill freezing mid-sentence. "Alfredo, what is it? You look like you've seen the moon itself descend.""Sol," he said, stepping inside, his voice rough with emotion. "She said something. Our daughter. She spoke."My heart slammed against my ribs. I set everything down immediately, papers scattering slightly. "What did she say? Tell me exactly, Alfredo. Don't leave anything out.""It wasn't—it might not have been a full word exactly," he said, trying to be precise but clearly struggling, running a hand through his hair. "It was more of a sound, but deliberate. Come, love. You need to hear it yourself."I rose so fast that the cha
Alfredo's POV "She ran this morning," Caspian told me, standing just inside my study with that specific expression on his face—somewhere between professional satisfaction and personal bewilderment. It was the look of a healer who had witnessed a miracle he still couldn't fully explain."Ran?" I repeated, setting down the patrol roster I'd been reviewing. The word felt almost foreign after everything my mother had endured."The east garden," Caspian continued carefully, his hands clasped behind his back. "At the sixth hour. Three full circuits at a pace I would describe as determined. Not a jog. Not a walk. A run, Alpha. Strong strides, steady breathing. She even outpaced one of the younger warriors who tried to keep up."I leaned back in my chair, a slow smile tugging at my lips despite the weight of everything else on my mind. "You're certain it was her? Serena?"Caspian nodded, a rare chuckle escaping him. "No doubt. She waved at me when she passed the second time and shouted some
Mabella'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 "Are you ready?" Alfredo asked, and we were standing outside the coronation hall doors. The sound of fourteen allied delegations and ten thousand pack members rumbled through the thick wood like a living heartbeat. Everything had been building toward this specific morning, and there
Alfredo's POV "Everyone is asleep," Fred told me from the doorway of the war room at a late hour, and his voice had that specific quality it had on the nights when everything was done and he didn't quite know what to do with the absence of the doing. He lingered there, shoulders loose for once, b
Mabella's POV "Annabella wants to attend," Fred told me, appearing at the Luna quarters door with that careful expression he wore when old threads from the past suddenly pulled tight again.I looked up from the baby, who was nestled against my chest doing that half-dozing thing where her tiny fi
Alfredo's POV "She's in the healer's hall again," Fred told me, appearing at the war room door with that careful look he got when he wasn't sure how much to say. "Third morning in a row. Pre-dawn. She's been going before I wake up."I looked up from the stack of final delegation confirmations spr







