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Chapter 84

ผู้เขียน: Sabastine
last update ปรับปรุงล่าสุด: 2025-07-14 23:52:39

Ashton's POV

The love wasn't a gentle warmth; it was a feral, desperate thing, born in shared vulnerability, forged in secrecy, and now a raw, open nerve exposed to the salt of her absence. It was the only truth he possessed, the only thing anchoring him against the tidal pull of duty and despair.

"You make it sound simple," Ashton murmured, the fight draining again, leaving the familiar, aching hollow.

"It’s not," Jensen said, clapping a heavy hand on Ashton’s shoulder. The contact was brief, firm, a tether. "It’s the hardest damn thing in the world. But standing here, radiating misery? That’s giving up. And the Ashton I know, the one Novah loved… he doesn’t give up. He fights dirty when he has to, but he fights." He squeezed once, then let go, stepping back. "Your call, Alpha-heir. Brood by the pillar, or cast a shadow they have to reckon with. Either way, Loveth’s coming over. Brace yourself."

Jensen melted back into the crowd, leaving Ashton exposed. He saw Loveth detach herself
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  • Mated To My Stepbrother    Chapter 86

    Ashton's POV “She knew you had that scar,” Jason continued, his voice thick now, “the one above your eyebrow? From when you were a kid. She saw it once, when the wind blew your hair back. She wondered how you got it. Made up stories about it in her head. Heroic ones, usually.” He met Ashton’s eyes again, his own glistening slightly. “She knew you weren’t really listening when Loveth talked, that your eyes would go distant. She thought… she thought you looked lonely.”*Lonely.* The word struck a chord so deep it vibrated through his entire being. He *had* been lonely. A loneliness so profound it felt like a separate entity, a shadow self. And Novah, perfect, luminous Novah, had seen it. Had seen *him*.The desperate love, that feral, consuming thing, surged up, choking him. It wasn’t just passion; it was recognition. It was the terrifying realization that the person he thought he was protecting by pushing her away was the only one who had truly *seen* him in the darkness.The carefull

  • Mated To My Stepbrother    Chapter 85

    Ashton's POVThe gilded cage of the celebration hall pressed in, a suffocating miasma of perfume, forced laughter, and the low thrum of pack awareness. Loveth’s retreating figure, radiating fury like heat haze, barely registered. The victory – if you could call icy control and veiled threats a victory – tasted like ash. It was hollow, a temporary dam against a flood that threatened to drown him. The pillar at his back offered no real support, just the illusion of it. The moon’s cold eye through the high window was the only truth, a silent witness to the desolation inside him.*Novah.*Her name was a shard of glass twisting in his chest, sharper now after Loveth’s poisoned touch. The pack’s energy shifted around him, a complex current of wary respect, lingering shock, and the ever-present undercurrent of opportunistic speculation. Whispers slithered through the air, brushing against his heightened senses like unwelcome hands. *Alpha-heir… dangerous… control… Loveth… shadow… Novah…*He

  • Mated To My Stepbrother    Chapter 84

    Ashton's POV The love wasn't a gentle warmth; it was a feral, desperate thing, born in shared vulnerability, forged in secrecy, and now a raw, open nerve exposed to the salt of her absence. It was the only truth he possessed, the only thing anchoring him against the tidal pull of duty and despair."You make it sound simple," Ashton murmured, the fight draining again, leaving the familiar, aching hollow."It’s not," Jensen said, clapping a heavy hand on Ashton’s shoulder. The contact was brief, firm, a tether. "It’s the hardest damn thing in the world. But standing here, radiating misery? That’s giving up. And the Ashton I know, the one Novah loved… he doesn’t give up. He fights dirty when he has to, but he fights." He squeezed once, then let go, stepping back. "Your call, Alpha-heir. Brood by the pillar, or cast a shadow they have to reckon with. Either way, Loveth’s coming over. Brace yourself."Jensen melted back into the crowd, leaving Ashton exposed. He saw Loveth detach herself

  • Mated To My Stepbrother    Chapter 83

    Ashton's POVThe heavy velvet curtain fell back into place behind Jensen, sealing Ashton once more within the suffocating embrace of the pack hall. The noise surged – a tidal wave of forced laughter, clinking glasses, and the low thrum of a dozen conversations overlapping. It washed over him, thick with the scent of pine, damp earth, expensive cologne masking primal musk, and the cloying sweetness of spiced wine. Pack feeling. It wasn’t unity; it was a living, breathing entity composed of ambition, fear, loyalty, and simmering discontent. He felt its currents shift around him like water parting for a stone, dense with speculation. *The Alpha-heir emerges. What did Jensen say? Is he broken? Angry? Planning?*He didn’t walk towards the throng. He drifted, a shadow detaching itself from the deeper darkness near the terrace doors. His movements were deliberate, slow, each step measured against the frantic energy of the celebration. He felt eyes tracking him – Beta Marcus’s assessing gaze

  • Mated To My Stepbrother    Chapter 82

    Novah’s POV"You don't have to deny anything just for the sake of it," she said, her voice calm but firm. "You are an Alpha-heir because you're meant to be strong—not weak, not broken."Ashton let out a dry scoff and raised a brow. "Is this what you call weak?" he asked, gesturing vaguely toward himself—his clenched jaw, the tiredness in his eyes."Yes," she replied without hesitation, stepping closer. "This—this quiet self-destruction, the way you're shutting everyone out, pretending like it doesn't hurt. That is weakness, Ashton. And I know that’s not who you really are."He looked away, jaw tightening, but she wasn’t done."You need to stand up and realize that you're more than this moment. You're more than what you're feeling right now. You are set to be Alpha soon—not because someone handed it to you, but because you earned it. Because you were born to lead."Her voice softened, but the conviction in it remained."And I know you love her. I know it’s tearing you apart. But you’re

  • Mated To My Stepbrother    Chapter 81

    Novah’s POV The whiskey glass was a cold, dead weight in Ashton’s hand. The cool pane of the terrace door pressed against his forehead offered no real relief, just a different kind of numbness. Outside, the moon bathed the manicured gardens in silver, indifferent to the turmoil inside him, inside the hall. The muffled thump of the music, the layered scents of roasted meat, perfume, sweat, and pack – it all pressed in, a physical weight against his chest. He closed his eyes, but the darkness only intensified the image burned onto his retinas: Novah’s face, not as he’d last seen it – scared, hurt – but as he *needed* to see it. Smiling. Hers. *His*.The heavy velvet curtain beside him rustled. He didn’t need to look. The scent – old leather, pine needles, and a deep, steady calm – identified the intruder before the gravelly voice spoke.“Rough night, Ash?”Ashton didn’t move. “Is there another kind?”A low hum vibrated beside him. Jensen, his father’s Beta and the closest thing Ashton

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