All Chapters of Shadows of a Journalist: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

The estate felt darker these days.Lena moved through its halls like a restless spirit - eyes sharp, every creak of floorboards, every whisper of the wind a clue waiting to be unearthed. Sarah’s journal offered fragments, but Lena needed more. She couldn’t stop until each secret was uncovered, each lie exposed.One evening, alone in the dim light of the library’s hidden alcove, she traced her fingers over old letters and faded photographs spread across the ancient desk.The words hit her like blows: coded messages, cryptic references to “the council,” shadowy meetings deep beneath the estate, and threats disguised as warnings. A map hidden inside the back cover of one dusty book hinted at secret tunnels burrowed beneath Rathbone grounds.She realized the scale of what she was up against - and knew the risk was greater than ever.Meanwhile, Jeremy watched from a distance, his heart a war zone.Each discovery Lena made tore at him, not because the secrets frightened him - they had long

The shadows of Rosewood deepened as Adam intensified his search for Lena. Each day he grew more determined, his concern escalating alongside the dangers she was diving into alone.Adam’s investigation led him to allies few would suspect - Jacob, a skilled hacker with a grudge against the Rathbone family, and Peter, a former pack member now estranged but fiercely loyal to justice. In a dimly lit safe house on the town’s outskirts, Adam laid out his plan.“She’s chasing ghosts that could burn us all,” Jacob said, fingers dancing over keyboards. “But if you want to find her before someone else does, we’ll have to move fast.”Peter nodded. “I know where she goes. The estate’s hidden passages - the tunnels Sarah once used. If she’s searching there, she’s swimming in dangerous waters.”Adam’s jaw tightened. “Then that’s where I’ll start.”~”~ Meanwhile, within the Rathbone estate, Jeremy’s mind was a battlefield of desire, duty, and dread.He watched Lena from across rooms, traced the cur

Lena’s breath caught as Jeremy’s lips pressed against hers—a shock that sent a shiver cascading through her, mingling with something deeper, more forbidden. It was as if the world dissolved around them, all danger and suspicion momentarily erased by the heat of that charged kiss.Time seemed suspended; the cold stone walls of Rathbone manor, the lurking shadows of the pack’s enemies, the relentless fear—all faded beneath the fire ignited between them. Her heart pounded wildly, a fierce rhythm that drowned out the chaos of her thoughts, even as uncertainty clung stubbornly to the edges.But as the kiss lingered, soft and demanding, reality surged back with a ruthless tide. The stakes were enormous—the fragile balance of power within the pack, her relentless pursuit of Sarah’s killer, Jeremy’s position as Alpha—all threatened by this moment’s reckless intimacy.When Jeremy finally pulled away, his dark eyes locked onto hers, searching, vulnerable yet fierce, Lena’s pulse thundered—not j

The flickering firelight cast long dancing shadows across the walls of Jeremy’s private study - a room lined with heavy books, ancient artifacts, and the lingering scent of cedar and old leather. Outside, the rain beat steadily against the windows, muffling the distant howls of the forest pack.Lena sat on the edge of an ornate leather armchair, clutching Sarah’s journal in her lap. Jeremy had been unusually quiet tonight, his usual mask softened by a weight that made him seem almost vulnerable. For the first time in months, the air between them hummed not just with unspoken secrets, but a charged intimacy that neither could deny.Jeremy paced slowly near the hearth before turning to her, his sharp eyes glinting with both caution and something deeper.“There are things you need to know, Lena,” he began, his voice low, threading around the room like a promise and a warning. “Things about the pack that you’ve only touched the edges of.”Lena nodded, heart pounding as she set the journal

The ball pulsed with life—the steady rhythm of music, laughter, and the murmurs of alliances forged and broken in shadows. Yet for Jeremy, the world had narrowed into a singular focus: Lena.Across the gilded room, she moved with effortless grace, radiant under the chandelier’s glow. Her beauty was both breathtaking and dangerous, igniting a fire within him that nothing could quell.She’s mine, I told myself again and again, though the stark laws of the pack forbade it. My heart thundered, the desire to claim her consuming every thought. Mating with her - binding her to I - was the only way to protect her now. But the cost was profound. Once mated to an Alpha, Lena would be forever severed from her human life. The pack’s world would be all she knew and if it came out to the pack they would both be banished.Jeremy’s gaze burned with longing and protectiveness as he scanned the room for a way to escape the prying eyes and whispers.She’s breathtaking, Jeremy thought, heart pounding. I