All Chapters of The Alpha's Bargain: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

"Not just for my freedom," I said finally, the words coming out rougher than I'd intended. "For the pack's future. For the chance to be something more than a monster hiding in the mountains."Lucas studied my face for a long moment, and I saw the exact instant when his resistance crumbled. He'd been with me through the worst of the curse's effects, had seen what the isolation and enforced loneliness had done to my sanity over the decades. Whatever reservations he had about bringing Catherine here, they were outweighed by his loyalty and, perhaps, his own desperate hope for a different future."The blue suite," he said finally. "I'll have Mary prepare it. Fresh linens, flowers, whatever touches might make a frightened woman feel more welcome."Frightened. The word hit me like a physical blow. Of course she'd be frightened—taken from her family, brought to a castle that existed outside normal reality, handed over to a man who'd purchased her with gold and threats. The fact that I'd been

 "Listen to me," I said, taking his small hands in mine. They were cold despite the mild morning, and I could feel the fine tremor that meant he was trying very hard not to cry. "You need to stay here and take care of Mother. She's going to need someone strong and brave to help her while I'm away.""But I want to take care of you too," he whispered, and the last of my composure threatened to crumble entirely."You are taking care of me," I said softly. "By being safe, by being good, by making sure our family stays together. That's the most important job anyone could have."He searched my face with the intensity of a child trying to understand adult decisions that made no sense. "Will you come back?"The question hung in the air like a challenge. I could lie, paint pretty pictures of temporary arrangements and eventual reunions. Or I could give him the truth, however brutal it might be."I don't k

 The first thing I noticed wasn't the silence—though that would come later, pressing against my eardrums like cotton wool—but the lights. Tiny pinpricks of gold that danced between the trees like earthbound stars, too regular to be sunlight filtering through leaves, too purposeful to be mere reflection.Fireflies, my rational mind insisted. Nothing more than insects going about their evening business, despite the fact that it was barely past dawn and fireflies didn't typically illuminate forests in broad daylight.But rational thoughts felt flimsy here, as insubstantial as the mist that curled around my ankles with each step. The deeper I walked into the forest, the more the normal rules of the world seemed to... bend. Time felt different. Distance felt different. Even the air felt different, thick with possibilities that made my skin prickle with unease.The path beneath my feet was well-worn but somehow wrong—too smoo

 The mare picked her way down the slope toward the castle with careful steps, as if she understood the significance of this final approach. Below us, formal gardens spread in geometric patterns that spoke of centuries of careful cultivation, though something about their perfection suggested they maintained themselves through means that had nothing to do with gardeners and pruning shears.Roses bloomed everywhere—climbing walls, bordering paths, creating living sculptures that should have been dormant in the October chill. Their perfume drifted up to meet us, so intense it made my head swim with remembered dreams. Dreams I'd been having for weeks now, filled with golden eyes and voices that called my name from shadows.This place has been calling to me, I realized with a start that felt like ice water in my veins. The dreams, the restlessness, the feeling that something was waiting... it was this place. It was him.

_*]:min-w-0 !gap-3.5"> She knows, I thought with a mixture of exhilaration and terror. Somehow, impossibly, she knows exactly what I am. But instead of the fear I'd expected to see—the recoil that any sane human should display when confronted with predatory attention—she simply inclined her head. A small nod that could have been acknowledgment, acceptance, or something else entirely. Then she turned away and continued down the path, leaving me staring after her with my heart hammering against my ribs like a caged animal. "Did you see that?" I asked Lucas, my voice barely above a whisper. "I saw a woman looking around at an impressive piece of