All Chapters of The Rogue's Reluctant Mate: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

"And the rogues?" I asked. "Did we send a message to them?" Austin smiled, that cold, empty smile that I'd come to recognize as him being particularly pleased about something. "Hask arrived at their camp with news that the pack is now fully reorganized under a new Alpha, that our intelligence network has been dismantled, and that anyone from the pack found assisting them will be permanently exiled. He also arrived wounded, because I made sure the sentries managed to get one good slash in as he escaped. The rogues now know that helping defectors will give them injured resources and no information advantage." He moved his king forward with deliberate care. "It's the optimal outcome. They'll probably leave us alone for a while because the cost benefit isn't there." "You did all that while looking like you were just reviewing supply manifests," I said. "I was reviewing supply manifests" Austin corrected. "The Hask situation was just something happening in the background. The real wo

Esther was working at a stone counter when I arrived, grinding something in a mortar. She looked up, and I saw the moment she recognized me. Her entire posture shifted.not aggressively, just cautiously. The kind of caution someone develops when they're not sure if they're about to be blamed for something. "Luna," she said, setting down her tools. She was probably in her late fifties, with gray hair pulled back severely and lines around her mouth that suggested she'd spent a lot of time frowning or thinking hard about something. "Is everything alright?" "fine," I said, which wasn't quite true but wasn't quite false either. "I wanted to ask you about growing things. I'm trying to start a garden on the eastern ledge, and Garrett suggested you might know what could actually grow down here." Something shifted in her expression. Not relief exactly, but a slight loosening of the tension she'd been carrying. "You're growing food?" "Hopefully," I said. "Or at least things that could be f

"Garret recommended deeper, actually," Esther said. She was looking at Austin the way she'd been looking at things since the council restructuring..carefully, assessing. "We compromised." "Good," Austin said. He seemed genuinely pleased by this, which was strange enough that I asked him about it later when we were back in the den. "Why would you care about how we compromised on garden bed depth?" I asked. He looked up from some reports he was reviewing. "Because compromise means you're actually working together rather than just following orders. That's what makes something sustainable. Not the fact that the Alpha said to do it. The fact that the people doing it feel invested enough to have opinions about it." He set down his pen. "Also, if the system is working and people aren't resentful about their assignments, they're less likely to do stupid things like help defectors escape or maintain secret intelligence networks." "So the garden is a political project," I said. "Everythi

" Do you think she wants to challenge you?" Selena asked. "It would be a death wish," I said. "Sofia's smart enough to know she can't win against me directly." I finally looked up at her. "But she's also arrogant enough to think she might find another angle. A weakness she can exploit." Selena's expression remained neutral, but I caught the slight tension in her shoulders, the way her fingers tightened almost imperceptibly around her cup. "Me" she said softly. "Possibly," I admitted. There was no point in lying to her. Selena wasn't some fragile thing that needed protection from harsh realities. She was my creation , a weapon I'd forged from broken pieces, a Luna worthy of standing at my side. "Sofia never did understand the value of what was right in front of her. She always thought power came from force, not strategy." Selena set her cup down and moved behind me, her hands coming to rest lightly on my shoulders. The touch wasn't sexual; it was proprietary. Claiming. "What's you

"Do you think she wants to challenge you?" Selena asked. "It would be a death wish," I said. "Sofia's smart enough to know she can't win against me directly." I finally looked up at her. "But she's also arrogant enough to think she might find another angle. A weakness she can exploit." Selena's expression remained neutral, but I caught the slight tension in her shoulders, the way her fingers tightened almost imperceptibly around her cup. "Me," she said softly. "Possibly," I admitted. There was no point in lying to her. Selena wasn't some fragile thing that needed protection from harsh realities. She was my creation , a weapon I'd forged from broken pieces, a Luna worthy of standing at my side. "Sofia never did understand the value of what was right in front of her. She always thought power came from force, not strategy." Selena set her cup down and moved behind me, her hands coming to rest lightly on my shoulders. The touch wasn't sexual; it was proprietary. Claiming. "What's your