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Noah It’s two days later when we finally get our first break. Cole comes in mid-morning with a folder he's holding and the look of a man who has found something he didn't expect."Eastern correspondence cross-reference," he says cryptically. "Administrative flagged something."He sets it on my desk almost reverently. I pick it up and read it. Then I read it again.Cassandra—I know that’s who did this because that’s the only person it can be. I haven’t hired anyone else permanently, why would I when she can do it for free—has cross-referenced six weeks of eastern border correspondence against Ironwood's internal administrative calendar, specifically the council meeting schedule, which is the information we log in the public-facing administrative record. And the correlation is exact. The skirmishes don't happen randomly within a window. They happen in a specific sub-window: the forty-eight hours following a logged council meeting. When leadership is occupied with internal governance,
Noah I’m still bent over my desk, neck stiff and shoulders drooping, when Piper stops by. She brings food—apparently having decided the useful thing to do is to make sure I eat. She sets it on the desk beside the operational files and stands beside me with a hand on her hip until I give in and look up at her."How are you?" she smiles, waiting for me to return the expression that will prove I’m just as happy to see her.If it weren't for the headache pulsing behind my right eye and the sinking feeling I’m running out of time to solve this riddle, my answering smile might be genuine. As it is, the most I’m able to muster is a weak substitute. She doesn’t seem to notice though. She just circles behind my chair, her hands deftly finding the knots in my shoulders and kneading them away. I drop my head back on a moan, her hands applying just the right amount of pressure. “Oh Alpha,” she murmurs, “I love it when you make those sounds for me.”“Trust me, I love it too.” I demonstrate by m
NoahDonovan Reeves is officially a pain in my ass. The whole situation has stopped being a nuisance and started being a Goddess-damned pattern.That's a different thing entirely. The nuisances, when he was just filing official complaints, were easy to address. Sure, it was a headache and took time I really could’ve used for other things. But it basically boiled down to a written response to the council and his claim was always dismissed. The ugly truth is, it’s not all that uncommon for Alphas, especially power hungry ones, to try expanding their territory through border disputes. If they lose, no big deal. If they win, even better. And unfortunately, some new Alphas or even older ones, don’t want the hassle of fighting the disputeBut this—a relentless assault on my borders—goes way beyond dipping a toe in the water to test the temperature and it takes a lot more than time I don’t have. It takes manpower, tactical plans and strategy, not to mention the risk to my men every time they
Cassandra I’m not sure why I’m so surprised. I’ve been telling myself for weeks that I’m ready for this. I've known for weeks that this was coming, that Noah was going to choose Piper, that I wanted him to, even because he deserves to be happy after everything I did and didn't do.I told myself I was ready. I told myself a lie. Because this… this pain that feels as if my ribs have been cracked open and my heart ripped from my chest, it’s unbearable. My breathing accelerates until I’m gasping for air. Torturous thoughts flood my mind and I’m helpless to stop them. My hands are wet where they cradle my face and I taste salt on my lips. He chose. He chose her and she stayed over and it's done now, it's actually done, and somewhere in this building there is a man and his wolf—his wolf who is my fated mate, who knows it, who has always known it—and he chose someone else, and it’s all my fault.A high-pitched keening reaches my ears before I realize it’s coming from me. The sound cuts off
Cassandra It’s Saturday morning, I finally have a day off, and I have absolutely no idea what to do with myself. Usually, I volunteer to help Mara in the kitchen, even if I’m not assigned. But today, she’s insisting I take some time to relax. As if I know the meaning of the word. Liam is off playing with Theo and some other boys, so I take my time getting ready for the day. That doesn’t take nearly as long as I hope it will, so I settle in the one chair in our little room, determined to finally read the book one of the girls from the kitchen lent me. She’d handed it over with a mischievous smile and said “trust me, you’ll love it!”I do not love it. I’m not even through the first chapter and the female lead has already had three demons shove their dicks in her pussy, her ass, and down her throat. But is she satisfied? Of course not. She’s pouting because demon number four, the one she really wanted, refuses to join. Maybe demon smut is just not my thing, or maybe it reminds me a bi
NoahMy wolf does not agree with my dick when it comes to Piper. The closer I get to her, the more he goes quiet. Not the good quiet, not the contented kind. This is the silent treatment, deliberately choosing not to communicate with me because he doesn’t respect my choices. I pull her into my arms anyway. She's warm and soft and it’s been entirely too long since I held a woman this way. Her hands find my shirt buttons with the same unhurried patience she brings to everything, and I let her, and when her palms press flat against my chest something in me settles into the moment by force of will."Hey," she says quietly. "You still with me?""I'm here," I assure her. And I make it true.I am here because I refuse to be anywhere else. I pull her in and kiss her the way I mean to kiss her—nothing held back, no hedging—and she makes a sound against my mouth that tells me she's been waiting for this. That hits me right in the chest. She matters to me. This matters.We end up on the couch be
Skye The words drop into the silence like stones into still water.Jaxon's eyes narrow. "What did you just say?""You heard me." My hands are steady now, even as my heart splinters. "Whatever sick arrangement you and Cassandra have planned, count me out. I won't be part of this.""You don't mean th
Skye I can't breathe.The boy—this child who just called my husband daddy—is looking up at Jaxon with complete adoration. And Jaxon... Jaxon isn't denying it. Isn't pushing him away. He's just standing there with his hand on the boy's shoulder, watching me with those cold gray eyes like he's waitin
Skye Of all the futures I imagined for myself, I never dreamed one day I would have to choose between my husband and my unborn child.My hand trembles as I smooth down the front of my dress—a soft blue one that Jaxon once said he liked. I've spent an hour on my appearance, wanting to look my best
SkyeThe rumors spread faster than I anticipated.Despite Jaxon's best efforts to contain the narrative—carefully worded statements to the elders, strategic conversations with influential pack members—the truth has a way of seeping through cracks. By the end of my first week back, everyone knows th







