Semua Bab Detective Casie Blackwood and the Moonlit Secrets: Bab 11 - Bab 16

"And if Nathaniel is telling the truth?" Dominick asked. "If you really are fated mates who were artificially separated?" Casie met her younger brother's gaze steadily. "Then he'll have to find a way to prove it that doesn't involve human casualties." Her phone buzzed again: *I know you're reading these. I can smell your pack's scent, but also something else. It appears that your pet human has feelings for you. I can smell it in his scent. I will not lose you to a rival.* The threat in those words made Casie's wolf surge to the surface, protective instincts flaring. "He's watching us," she said, her voice tight with barely controlled anger. "Right now." Rick was already moving toward the windows, his hand on his weapon. "How close can he get without you sensing him?"

Nathaniel stood beside her great-grandmother's headstone, exactly where she'd met Elias that morning. He was taller than she remembered, broader through the shoulders, but his face remained achingly familiar. He had dark hair, sharp cheekbones, and eyes that had once looked at her with worship instead of calculation."Cassandra," he said, her full name rolling off his tongue like a prayer. "You came.""I said I would." She stopped twenty feet away, close enough to talk but far enough to react if he moved. "Where's Mason Reeves?""Safe. For now." Nathaniel's gaze swept over her, taking in the changes ten years had wrought. "You look... different. Harder.""Surviving tends to do that," she replied coldly. "Especially when you're thrown away like garbage in front of hundreds of witnesses."Pain flashed across his features—genuine, devastating pain that made her wolf whine in recognition. "I remember fragments now. Moments when the compulsion lifted just enough for me to realise what I'd

"Your heritage," Elias explained. "The dormant wolf bloodline Nathaniel mentioned. The ritual is accelerating what Casie's presence already started."Nathaniel lunged forward with a howl of rage, his human form blurring as he shifted. The massive black wolf that emerged was larger than any Casie had seen before, muscles rippling beneath midnight fur as he launched himself toward Rick."No!" Casie moved without thinking, intercepting Nathaniel mid-leap. They crashed together in a tangle of human and wolf forms, her partial shift giving her enough strength to deflect his attack."Rick, stay back!" she shouted, feeling her bones crack and reform as Shadow fought to emerge fully.But Rick didn't retreat. Instead, he stepped forward, his eyes glowing with an inner light that hadn't been there before. "I don't think I can," he said, his voice deeper, rougher. "Something's trying to call out to me, but what?”"Your wolf," Casie managed through clenched teeth as she struggled with Nathaniel's