Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 481 - Chapitre 490

AuroraClosing the door behind me feels louder than it should. It is just a door, wood and metal and a handle that sticks on cold mornings, but right now it echoes through my chest like I slammed it on a whole lifetime. I take one step onto the porch, then another. The air outside tastes different, cooler, sharper. I look around like I am expecting the world to shift in some dramatic way, but it looks exactly the same. The same trees. The same quiet. The same sky that refuses to care about whatever is happening inside me.I stand there for a moment, not sure what to do with myself. I do not know where to go. I have no plan. I am angry, yes, furious in a way that feels new and old at the same time, but underneath the anger there is this tiny spark of something I am embarrassed to admit.Excitement.A small, hidden thrill twists through me. Because I did it. I actually had the last word and walked out. The thing I used to imagine doing in my head during every fight I never had the coura

LucasThere is something I finally understand about Aurora. Something I used to think was adorable, almost playful. The way she can brighten in seconds. The way her mood lifts as if someone flipped a switch inside her. I used to think it was magic. Her magic. But now I see it is a shield. A trick she learned to keep the world from seeing her hurt. She thinks she is hiding her pain, but all she does is show me how much she has carried alone.It breaks something in me. Seeing how easy it is for her to pretend she is fine.“So, what do I have to do?” she asks, voice soft but curious. She shifts into a crisscross position on the grass right in front of me. The breeze moves little strands of her hair, and she tucks them behind her ear like she wants to look presentable for whatever she imagines this process is.“Hold your hands or look into your eyes, you know, to transfer my mind or whatever.”She looks so genuinely excited that I cannot help smiling. It is not fake. I know her face by

LucasThere aren’t any hybrids that I know of, so this is an area I am walking into without a map. I feel it in my chest as a quiet pressure, not panic, not fear, just this constant awareness that I need to understand what is happening to her before it turns into something she cannot put into words. I have spent my life knowing exactly where I stand, what I am, what rules apply to me. This is new. This is unknown. And it is wrapped up in Aurora, which makes it matter more than anything else ever has.She sits across from me with her knees drawn in a little, shoulders relaxed but not fully. Her fingers brush the inside of her wrist, slow and absentminded, like she is trying to calm a pulse she does not recognize yet. I notice how her breathing evens out every time she looks at me, even though her eyes still carry confusion. Soft confusion. Not fear. That matters.Each time her gaze meets mine, I feel it again. That faint reach from her.My wolf reacts instantly, alert in a way it has n

LucasAurora’s grip tightens around my hand so suddenly that my arm jerks back. She stops walking like she has hit an invisible wall. I turn toward her, already scanning her face, because something has shifted. I know her too well now to miss this.Her eyes are wide, unfocused, like she is seeing something that is not in front of her. There is a haze there, a distance that makes my chest tighten. Her breathing changes, shallow and sharp, and then I feel it. That familiar pull of her wolf, only stronger this time. Her wolf's presence swells in a way that makes my wolf stir hard inside me.Her eyes darken.“Aurora,” I say her name softly, but she does not hear me.She stands frozen for half a second, body tense, every muscle locked. Then she yanks her hand from mine and takes off running toward the house.“Aurora,” I snap, already moving.She is fast. Damn, she is fast. Her strides eat up distance like it means nothing, like something is pulling her forward with force she does not quest

LucasAlmost everyone from the family is out here, hovering in that quiet-not-quiet way people do when they are waiting for news that could tilt the world a little. Some sit. Some pace. Some pretend not to watch the infirmary door while watching it anyway. Alexei is inside with Irene, and I picture him close to her, probably talking too much, probably holding her hand like he can take her pain or give his strength to her. Sophia and Anastasia are in the adjacent room, decorating the one Irene will be moved to later.After Reid, this baby will be the youngest in the family, and the excitement hums through everyone. It sneaks into the air, into the way people smile too easily. It also reminds me that I still have not corrected Aurora. She genuinely believes werewolf babies are literal puppies. I keep putting it off because the look on her face when she finds out might actually be worth the wait. I already know I will be watching her more than the baby when that moment comes.I am lost i