Se connecterKaireen's Pov Rowan appeared in the doorway of the bedroom looking slightly uncomfortable like he had heard way too much of our conversation. "Thanks for the hospitality," she said to him, her voice genuine despite the awkwardness. "And for taking care of her when I couldn't. I owe you one.""You don't owe me anything," Rowan said, standing up to shake her hand. "You're her best friend, which means you're under my protection too. If anyone tries to hurt you again, they'll answer to me."Rhia smiled and nodded and then she was gone, the sound of the front door closing behind her echoing through the cabin, and suddenly it was just me and Rowan alone in this bedroom with the fireplace crackling and the tension between us thick enough to cut with a knife.I pushed the blankets aside and stood up on shaky legs, my body still sore and protesting the movement, but I needed to be closer to him, needed to touch him and make sure this was real and not some fever dream I
Kaireen's Pov I woke up to bright light streaming through unfamiliar windows and the feeling of warm soft sheets wrapped around my body, so different from the cold damp stone floor of the dungeon that for a moment I thought I was dreaming, thought maybe I had died down there in that freezing cell and this was some kind of afterlife. This was not my bedroom in the pack house. This was somewhere else entirely, a cozy space with wood-paneled walls and rustic furniture and a stone fireplace in the corner that was crackling with a low fire. The bed I was lying in was massive and covered in thick blankets that smelled like pine and winter air and underneath it all was Rowan's scent, that familiar combination of cedar and rain that made my wolf purr with contentment.His private cabin. He had brought me to his private cabin.I tried to sit up and immediately regretted it as The door to the bedroom opened and I tensed expecting Rowan but instead Rhia walked in carrying a steaming mug of co
Ronan's Pov "Ronan, thank god you're back," she said, her voice high and hysterical. "That girl attacked me in front of everyone, she assaulted me and humiliated me and spread lies about you and her having some kind of relationship—""How dare you take her away like that," she continued, not letting me get a word in. "I'm your wife! I'm your Luna! You should be supporting me, protecting me, not running off to save some delusional girl who thinks she can steal my position!""She had no right," I said, and my voice came out so cold it could have frozen the room. "No fucking right on earth to touch her. No right to hurt her. No right to have her thrown in the dungeons like a common criminal when she's done nothing wrong.""Nothing wrong?" my mother's voice rang out from the doorway and she stepped into the room wearing her usual expression of disappointment mixed with superiority. "She assaulted the Luna of this pack, Rowan. She confessed in front of dozens of witnesses that she's been
Ronan's Pov I felt my wolf surge forward with a roar that nearly burst out of my throat and I had to grip the edge of the table to keep from shifting right there in the middle of the pack house hallway, had to use every ounce of control I possessed not to smash through the nearest window and run straight to wherever my mate was being held. I did not wait to hear anything else, did not bother responding or hanging up properly, I just dropped my phone and ran, shoving past pack members who scattered out of my way when they saw the expression on my face, taking the stairs down to the lower levels three at a time until I reached the heavy iron door that led to the dungeon levels we rarely used anymore. The dungeons were beneath the original pack house structure, ancient stone corridors lit by flickering torches that cast dancing shadows on damp walls, the air down here cold and stale and smelling of mold and old blood from decades of prisoners held in these cells. We only used them
Ronan's Pov By the time I finally finished going through the border patrol reports with my beta it was well past nine in the evening and I was so exhausted I could barely see straight, my eyes burning from reading documents under harsh office lighting for the past six hours, my shoulders tight with tension from sitting in the same position reviewing territory maps and security protocols. We had been dealing with increased rogue activity on the eastern border and it was taking everything I had to keep the pack safe while also managing internal politics and trying to figure out how to publicly claim my mate without causing a civil war."That's the last of them," Garrett said, closing the final folder and stretching his arms above his head with a groan. "We've got patrols scheduled every two hours on the compromised sections and I've assigned extra guards to the areas where we found evidence of vampire scent markers.""Good," I said, rubbing my temples where a headache was
Kaireen's Pov The words were barely out of my mouth before my mother shot up from the couch like she had been struck by lightning, her face twisted in absolute fury, and she came at me with her hand raised high ready to slap me across the face the way she had done so many times when I was younger and could not fight back."How dare you call her name like that!" she screamed, her voice shrill and piercing. "You disrespectful little—"But I was not that scared little girl anymore, was not the broken adopted daughter who took every hit and insult without defending herself, and when her palm came swinging toward my face I caught her wrist mid-air and shoved it away hard enough that she stumbled backward."Don't," I said, my voice deadly calm. "Respect your old age and let me be. You don't get to hit me anymore."The shock on her face was almost worth everything else, like she could not believe I had actually dared to stop her, could not process that I was no longer under her control. But







