All Chapters of How to Catch a Mate: Chapter 171 - Chapter 178

Serena GordeThe candle on the table had burned down to a stub hours ago. Its flame trembled, thin and uncertain, throwing long shadows that wavered over the walls of the Lions’ guest chamber. Outside, the city hummed with its usual restless life claws on cobblestone, a cart creaking, the faint echo of laughter that never reached this high tower.I sat alone with my tea, untouched and cold, staring at the single photograph I had left of her. Ashlyn.My daughter.She was no more than eight in that picture wild hair, dirt on her cheek, the same stubborn spark in her eyes that used to both terrify and awe me. I had taken it just before the council sent me away. Just before I disappeared for her sake.“For years I wanted to hold you,” I murmured to the picture. “And for years I told myself I couldn’t.”My voice broke a little on the last word. The candle hissed as a drop of wax hit the table.They had warned me the night I left the Elders, the Alpha, even the Red Queen herself. They told

Haden The ceiling fan spun lazy circles above the bed, the steady hum filling the quiet room. Desiree’s breathing was soft beside me, her hair tangled over the pillow, the sheet half-slid down her hip. The scent of her perfume mixed with the faint musk of sex, sweet and heavy. It should’ve been peaceful. It wasn’t. Sleep wouldn’t come. My head wouldn’t stop replaying the last few weeks. Ashlyn’s face every time she said his name, Krav’s face every time I wanted to punch him. The two of them standing side by side like they’d always been written that way. I turned onto my back, one arm over my eyes. The bed creaked, Desiree shifted closer, tracing a finger down my chest. “Can’t sleep?” she murmured. “Couldn’t if I tried.” She propped herself up on one elbow. “You’re thinking about her again.” It wasn’t a question. I let out a slow breath. “You don’t have to say it like that.” “Well, you are,” she said, sitting up fully now, sheet falling to her waist. “You get this l

Keiral The vision hit like lightning. One moment I was standing in the lab, halfway through reading a report on Mira’s latest bloodwork. The next, the world tilted and spun, and the ground under me wasn’t real anymore. Flashes of white, gold, blue. The air burned cold and hot at once. I saw chains made of light snapping one by one, heard voices like thunder rolling across a storm that had no end. Then a whisper—low, ancient, and sharp as glass—slid through the noise and wrapped around my spine. (Sever the bond and claim what’s lost. The broken must be bound, for only a true blood can claim a god.) I gasped and stumbled back, grabbing the counter. The sound of my own heartbeat drowned out everything else. When I blinked, the vision was gone—but the words burned behind my eyes. I’d had visions before. Small flashes. Warnings. But this was different. This felt like something had reached into me and left its mark. My hand shook as I grabbed my slate, writing the words before

AshlynThe coffee in my cup had gone cold an hour ago, but I was still pretending to drink it. The break room at the Den always smelled like burnt caffeine, pine soap, and sweat. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was home.Conan leaned back in his chair, boots up on the table like he owned it. “You really think Haden’s gonna hold the border this long?”Penny snorted. “If anyone can, it’s him. Man’s too stubborn to die.”Conan grinned. “Fair. I heard he made the new recruits scrub the south wall with toothbrushes.”“He did,” I muttered. “And if you two don’t stop talking shit, I’ll make you do the same.”That shut them up for a minute.Across the table, a young Sentinel, Tara, barely twenty if that tried not to laugh. “You’d really do that?”I looked up at her. “Try me.”Her smile vanished. I didn’t mean to scare her, but the truth was, the humor in this place always came out forced. Nobody laughed easily anymore. Not with half the pack on edge, not with a god loose in the world, and not wit