جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 30

FAMILY EXCITEMENT Maxwell POV I stared at the ringing phone for what felt like an eternity, my fingers hovering above the screen as though touching it would change everything. Ronin’s name glowed boldly, almost arrogantly, on my screen—like it belonged there, like it had always been meant to appear in my life.My heart pounded so loudly that I could barely hear the laughter erupting around me.“Pick it up!” my sister shouted again, clapping her hands in excitement.“Don’t let him think you’re ignoring him!” my younger brother teased, nearly choking on his food from laughing too hard.My mother covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes shining with a joy I hadn’t seen in her for so long. Even my father, who was always composed, leaned forward slightly with an amused smile tugging at his lips.I felt my cheeks burning. Heat rushed up my neck like I was a child again—shy, exposed, and suddenly the center of attention.But this time, it wasn’t humiliation. It was happiness.With tremb

HUMILIATION Lena POV I did not stop walking until I reached the far end of the hallway, where the noise of the classroom behind me became nothing more than a muffled echo. My breath came faster than it should have, and my hands were trembling—not from fear, but from the force of emotions I had kept locked away for too long. The anger in my chest was hot, sharp, and alive, like a flame that had finally found oxygen.For months, I had swallowed humiliation like bitter medicine. For months, I had been forced to smile politely while people stabbed me with their words. For months, I had been expected to accept my place at the bottom of the pack’s social hierarchy, as though rejection had stripped me of dignity.But today, something had changed. Today, I did not swallow. I spat the truth out.And as I leaned against the cold wall at the end of the hallway, closing my eyes briefly, I realized that the rush of relief I felt was unfamiliar. It felt like stepping out of a cage and realizing

GENUINE CONVERSATIONLens's POV The wind did not last long, yet its presence lingered like a bruise on the air.For several seconds after it stopped, Ronin remained still, his body tense, his gaze fixed on the forest as though he expected the trees themselves to reveal an enemy. I could feel his heartbeat through the closeness between us—steady, powerful, protective. My own heart beat faster, not from love now, but from instinctive fear.My wolf stayed silent, unusually withdrawn, as though she too was listening to something deeper than sound.The forest, which had moments ago felt like a sacred sanctuary, now felt like a trap dressed in beauty. Ronin finally exhaled, slow and controlled, though his eyes remained sharp.“We should go,” he said quietly.I nodded without argument. Something about the wind had unsettled me too deeply to resist. I did not know what it meant, but I knew it was not normal. I knew it was not harmless.Ronin reached for my hand, and the moment our fingers in

ELDER'S CONTEMPTLena's POV The news did not arrive like a whisper. It arrived like a blade.It was late afternoon when the council guards appeared at our doorstep, their heavy boots grinding against the stones of our yard as though they had come to announce a death. My mother had been inside folding clothes, my father seated outside, sharpening his hunting knife with the slow patience of a man who believed he still had control over his life.But the moment the guards stepped forward, my father’s hands paused.And my mother’s breath caught.In our pack, guards did not visit a family’s home unless the matter was serious. Unless shame was about to be delivered like a verdict.They did not greet us warmly. They did not smile. They only bowed their heads slightly, with a formality that felt colder than winter.“The Elders request the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Hale,” one of them said.My father rose slowly, wiping his hands on his trousers.“What is it about?” he asked, his voice cautious.

SOLD IN THE HIDDEN MARKET Lena's POV I knew something was wrong the moment they blindfolded me.Not the rough, careless kind of wrong I had grown used to in my parents’ house. Not the familiar sting of a slap or the suffocating weight of humiliation. This was colder. Calculated. Ritualistic.They did not speak to me as they bound my wrists with silver-threaded rope. Silver did not burn my skin fully, but it weakened me enough to keep my wolf subdued. She paced inside me restlessly, claws scraping against the walls of my consciousness, but she could not surface. The ropes hummed faintly with enchantment.I did not cry. Not because I was brave. But because I was too tired.The cart they threw me into smelled of iron and damp wood. When it began to move, I felt every jolt in my bones. I tried to count the turns, the slopes, the time between stops, but eventually the forest swallowed all sense of direction. My wolf strained to mark territory, to map scent and sound, but the air itself f