INICIAR SESIÓNLisa POV“Lisa, please. This is not something you need to be part of.”The urge to scream climbed up my throat.“You’re already talking about me. So I am part of it.”My chest tightened, and I could hear the thud of my blood in my ears. Alpha Kieran looked at my mom, then back at me, his mouth opening and closing as if the words were stuck in his throat.I stared at them across the small gap. Alpha Kieran's eyes stayed on my mother, waiting for a nod that did not come. "Mom, let him talk," I snapped. "If this is about me, you have no right to hide it.""This is not your burden," my mom said. Her hands shook as she smoothed her skirt. "You are a surrogate. That is your only role. You do not need to drown in the mess of Cameron’s life."The words "just a surrogate" stung like a slap, but I kept my eyes locked on Kieran.“I’m not just a surrogate, mom. If something is wrong, it affects me too. I deserve the truth."Kieran gave a slow nod. "You do. But this truth is…dark." He hesitated
Lisa POV"What is going on?" I leaned toward my mother as I looked for an answer."Your guess is as good as mine," she said. Alpha Kieran stood with Nadia, but his eyes stayed locked on my mother, a smile stretching across his face. "We should excuse them to talk," my mom whispered. She didn't look at me; her eyes remained fixed on Alpha Kieran.I shifted my gaze to Nadia. She usually wore clothes like a shield of high fashion, every hair a perfect coil. Today, the makeup was gone. Her outfit was simple. She gave me a nod, her eyes dropping to the curve of my stomach before she turned back to Cameron."Help me with lunch," my mom said to me.In the kitchen, the air felt thick. I gripped a carrot under the running water, rubbing the skin until it squeaked. Nearby, my mom’s knife clicked against the cutting board, but it kept stopping. She would tiptoe toward the doorway to catch a sound from the other room, only to turn back and give me a shake of her head. No clues. But Franklin’
The moment those words, “I love you,” left my mouth, it felt as though I had done something forbidden and something exhilarating at the same time. Even I didn’t know how or why I said it at that point, when it wasn’t as though we were having sex for the first time. We’ve had it countless times, but somehow I just felt like saying it then.His muscles locked under my touch, or perhaps it was just a fragment of my own imagination from the dread I felt after saying “I love you” to someone who was already mated to another woman. I bolted upright, dragging the blanket over my chest and sliding to the far edge of the mattress.“I didn’t, I didn’t mean it. I mean, you should ignore me. I wasn’t thinking straight.”His eyes remained on me, lids heavy and unfocused in the post-sex haze, or whatever it was that made him look more frail than usual.“You shouldn’t apologize,” he said, curling his fingers around my hand and tracing a slow circle over my knuckles with his thumb. “I don’t mind it.”
Cameron POVEvangeline remained on the floorboards beside the window, her arms locked around her knees. I stood in the center of the rug and tried to find the energy to move toward her. Franklin reached down to grab her elbow, and she screamed. He snapped his hands up and backed into the doorframe.“You let her speak to me like that,” she said. She stared at me, blinking through the water in her eyes.“She’s under pressure,” I said.“And I’m not?” She pushed off the floor and marched at me. “You know me. I wouldn’t hurt you or Nadia. I love you both.”I dropped into the chair. “Nadia doesn’t hate you.”“But you spoke to Desmond.”“I told you I was upset,” she said. “I didn’t mean to give him the information he’s using. Everyone makes mistakes. Why is the whole house now full of people pointing at me for things they are doing themselves?”I didn’t answer. I didn’t have the breath for an argument. “Can we talk in the morning, when the sun is up?” I said.She wiped her face with the back
NADIA POVThe pre-trial chamber was a long room with tables and walls that absorbed sound. The presiding elder sat at the head of it. She had been in the judicial seat longer than I had been alive.Franklin waited for me in the parking lot.“I’ll stay out here,” he said. “Let them think what they want for now.”I held his gaze. “If this goes wrong, you don’t stay outside.”“I won’t.”Elder Justine asked to speak to me alone before the session began. I followed her to the side, away from the center.“You understand the position you’re in,” she said. “You’ve been given room others wouldn’t have.”I let that sit. They gave grace because of what my brother represented.I folded my arms. “I didn’t come here to beg.”“I didn’t ask you to beg,” she said. “There is a path to resolution that does not require a full proceeding. If both parties can reach a private agreement—”“I won’t be apologizing to Desmond.”“Nadia, please listen. You and Desmond should speak. You reach an agreement. Somethi
NADIA POVI was on my fourth position when I stopped trying to sleep and just lay there, looking at the ceiling.The trial sat at the front of my mind no matter how I tried to push it back. Two days. That was all I had before everything moved from quiet talk to public judgment.I should not have been afraid.Desmond did not scare me. What scared me was how much he knew.He knew about me and Franklin. He knew about Cameron and Lisa. Those were not things people guessed. Those were things people were told.I sat up.There were only so many people who had access to that level of detail.I ran through them one by one.The household staff. Seven of them, all live-in, most of them long-term. The youngest had been with us for six years. They were paid well and understood what loyalty to an Alpha house meant in practical terms. That did not mean coercion or fear was impossible. A well-paid person could still be threatened. I noted it, but I set it low.Desmond had resources. He could have pai
CAMERON POVThe Council chamber was one of the worst parts of being Alpha. It was filled with men who believed their bloodlines made them superior to everyone else.Elder Council members flanked me on both sides, a row of gray-haired men who carried the stale scent of entitlement.And then there was
CAMERON POVI woke up gasping, my cock painfully hard.The dream clung to me in vivid detail. I could still feel her around me and hear her voice saying my name. I lay in the dark breathing hard, trying to orient myself.Evangeline slept beside me, her platinum hair spread across the pillow.My mate
CAMERON POVI stood under the shower with the water scalding hot, trying to wash away the restlessness crawling under my skin.It didn’t work.Nothing worked.Evangeline was my mate. The woman the Moon Goddess had chosen for me. The woman I had sworn my life to. Lisa meant nothing. She was a contrac
LISA POVMy phone rang twenty minutes later. I glanced at the screen and swore under my breath.My father.I let it ring twice more before answering.“What do you want?”“Lisa.” His voice carried that familiar concern he used when I was younger, the same tone he used whenever he tried to smooth thin







