All Chapters of CLAIMING HAILEY : Chapter 161 - Chapter 170

JADENAs far back as I could remember, I had questioned my mother.Why had she relinquished us? Why had she never come back for us? Why had she allowed me to grow up under another's rule while she sat on the throne of all beings?But now, here in this grand hall, watching her hold court in a room full of the most powerful beings in the universe, I finally understood.She wasn't just powerful. She wasn't just strong.She was unstoppable.The Fae Queen had called this council to call for justice for her daughter, to demonize my mother as a tyrant who had killed an innocent girl. But Hailey—our mother—hadn't come to plead for mercy. She had come to command."Justice?" she echoed, her voice firm, but echoing through the chamber like a storm off in the distance. "You stand before me, before this council, and speak of justice?"The Fae Queen raged. "You murdered my daughter!"Hailey did not flinch. "Your daughter broke into my home," she said with cold calculation. "She attempted to enslave

RYANI could still feel Isaiah's words echoing in my head as I ran."Athena has cursed you. You will lose your hold. You will become worse than the idea of death. You will kill a thousand. You will make Hailey watch."The weight of his prophecy pressed upon my chest, weighing me down like a rock set to suffocate me from the inside out.I clenched my teeth and pressed on, my wolf Ares growling and fighting under me. He had been tense ever since that confrontation with Athena and Flora. Initially, I'd thought it was the effect of battle's aftermath, the residual anger of a warrior who'd fought too many battles and carried too much burden.Now, I wasn't so sure.Ares had never been anything other—nature in flesh, wild, a power of. But he'd been mine too. I'd commanded him. I'd controlled him.But lately.Lately, it'd appeared he was receding."Kill. Kill them all."His snarl a constant echo at the back of my mind, a demanding summons that'd grown louder after Athena's touch, after Flora

HAILEYThe air seemed with strength, thick with something eternal and sacred. I had witnessed countless wonderful things during my lifetime—seen soldiers appear and disappear, watched kingdoms collapse and rebuild—but nothing could ever have prepared me for what I was witnessing here.Alexia was at the center of it all, her eyes wide with horror, her body trembling as the last vestiges of the Priestess's magic coursed through her. The woman who had been the linchpin of magic in our world lay dead at her coven, her dying act deciding Alexia's fate in ways none of us could have conceived.I edged forward cautiously. The room was unstable, as though the very nature of reality was spinning on its axis around us. Members of the Council, who had gathered to behold either remained stunned in silence or fell to their knees in prayer. Sacred magic which the Priestess once wielded now belonged to Alexia.Her head snapped toward me, eyes blazing with a light that fastened them on mine. For a mom

HAILEYThe palace was still.Moonlight streamed through my chamber window, casting silver streaks on the marble floor. The weight of duty pressed on my chest, heavier than the blankets strewn over me. Sleep had been a fleeting luxury, stolen in brief moments between crises, but tonight, exhaustion finally claimed me.Or so I thought.A shift in the air caused a shiver to trickle down my spine. My wolf roused, a low growl thrumming in the recesses of my mind, but I did not stir. I had learned long ago to recognize when I was being watched.A presence lingered in the room.Gradually, I opened my eyes.He was at the foot of my bed.Thomas.I had forgotten how to breathe for a moment. All those years, and he had not changed—same pointed jaw, same frigid eyes that once looked at me with warmth and then, something darker.For a moment, I was hurled back through time, to a version of myself who had loved him, once dreamed of a future with him. And then the reality slammed into me like a tida

THOMASThe stench of sweat and blood clung thick in the air as I stepped into the dungeon, the torches flickering to send leaping shadows across the cold stone walls.Bound to the heavy chains screwed into the floor was Connor, self-proclaimed King of Bears. His massive frame rested forward, but even in chains, he was a giant—a monster barely restrained. The fool had actually tried to attack me. Big mistake.His amber eyes snapped to mine as I entered, brimming with raw fury. Good.I had wanted him angry.I had wanted him desperate.Because desperation made men stupid. And stupid men made mistakes."You've finally risen to confront me, coward?" Connor swore, blood frothing on his lips. He strained at the chains, testing their limits, muscles distending. "I should have known you'd creep back to this world. Only vermin won't lie still dead."I smiled and approached him. "Watch it, Connor. Warnings aren't going to get you out of this one."His laugh was low and guttural. "Save me? From y