chapter 61

Chapter 61Neah was talking.Aurora could hear her voice — warm and steady, moving from one topic to the next the way a river moved around stones without stopping — but the words were not reaching her. They kept dissolving somewhere between Neah's mouth and her ears, leaving only the shape of sound without the meaning behind it.She was too far inside her own head."Aurora."She blinked. Neah was looking at her from across the small table, her brows pulled together in the gentle, concerned way that always made her look older than she was."You did not hear a word I just said," Neah said. It was not an accusation. Just a quiet statement of fact."I did," Aurora said automatically.Neah tilted her head. "What did I say?"Aurora opened her mouth. Closed it. A small, reluctant smile pulled at the corner of her lips despite herself. "I am sorry," she admitted. "My mind is elsewhere.""I can see that." Neah leaned forward slightly, resting her arms on the table. "What is the problem?"Aurora

chapter 62

Chapter 62The morning came in grey and slow.Aurora opened her eyes and immediately closed them again. The light — even the thin, pale light of an overcast morning — felt too sharp against her eyelids. Her body was heavy in a way she had never felt before. Not the tired of a long day or a bad night. Something deeper. Something that went all the way down to her bones and sat there like wet stone.She tried to push herself upright and her arms shook with the effort."Stop."The voice came from across the room. Arthur. He was already moving toward her, closing the distance between the door and her bed in a few long strides. He reached her before she could try again, and his hand came firmly to her shoulder, pressing her back against the pillow."What is wrong with you?" he asked. He was looking at her face with that focused, unyielding attention that he turned on things he was trying to understand. Not the soft concern of someone who did not know what to do. The sharp attention of someon

chapter 63

Chapter 63Aurora woke to the smell of pine and cold morning air and the quiet awareness that she was not in her own room.She lay still for a moment, blinking the sleep away, letting her body take stock of itself. The heaviness from yesterday was still there — not as crushing as before, but present. A dull weight across her limbs that reminded her she had not fully recovered. She shifted against the pillow and turned her head.Lyra was standing at the foot of the bed.She was dressed and fully awake, her long gold hair pulled back in a sharp, clean line. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her blue eyes were fixed on Aurora with an expression that could have started a fire.Aurora blinked at her."What," Lyra said, her voice low and blade-edged, "the fuck are you doing on Arthur's bed?"Aurora sat up slowly. She did not rush. She did not apologise. She looked at Lyra with the measured patience of a woman who had faced far worse things than a jealous pack member before breakfast.

chapter 65

Chapter 65Neah had been different ever since.Aurora had noticed it the way you noticed a change in weather — not all at once, but in small, accumulating signs. The way Neah hummed without realising she was doing it. The way her eyes went soft and distant sometimes in the middle of a sentence, like her mind had taken a short trip somewhere warm and was reluctant to come back. The way she smiled at nothing.It was sweet. It was also, this particular afternoon, a problem.They were in the small kitchen near the omega quarters, preparing the evening meal together. The task was simple — broth, bread, a few root vegetables — but Neah had been standing at the counter for the last several minutes holding a bowl and staring at the middle distance with the expression of a woman who was very far away from this kitchen."Neah," Aurora said.Neah blinked. "Mm?""The bowl.""I know, I have it.""You have been holding it for four minutes," Aurora said patiently. "Without moving."Neah looked down

chapter 64

Chapter 64Arthur found her near the eastern garden, sitting on the low stone wall that ran along the edge of the herb beds. She was looking at nothing in particular — just the middle distance, the way people looked when they were letting their mind rest without fully putting it down.He sat beside her without preamble."I owe you an apology," he said.Aurora turned to look at him. Her ice-blue eyes were calm, no edge in them, no demand. She waited for him to continue."This morning," he said. "I was not — I was not in a good place when you found me on the path. I was short with you.""You were not short with me," Aurora said."I was not warm either."She was quiet for a moment. Then she said, "I understand the weight of leading a pack. It is not a small thing."Arthur looked at her. Something in the words — the gentleness of them, the easy acceptance — made something tighten in his chest that had nothing to do with guilt."You understand it from the outside," he said. He did not say

All Chapters of MATED TO THE ROUGE ALPHA: Chapter 61 - Chapter 65

chapter 61

chapter 62

chapter 63

chapter 65

chapter 64