Todos los capítulos de The Alpha's Bargain: Capítulo 61 - Capítulo 70

(Kieran POV)I filled that doorway like wrath itself, though I kept my face carved from stone. Professional. Controlled. The mask I'd perfected over decades of absolute authority suddenly felt fragile as tissue paper.Catherine sat among my servants like she belonged there. Like she was one of them.The rage that swept through me had teeth. Not the clean anger of challenged authority—I'd dealt with that plenty over the years. This was something uglier, more primitive. The wolf snarling at seeing its mate consorting with the pack while rejecting the alpha's attention.She looked... radiant. That was the word that cut deepest. Catherine Montgomery, who'd been pale and careful during our formal encounters, was flushed with laughter in Mary's kitchen. Her dark hair had escaped its pins, curling around her face in ways that made my fingers itch to touch. Her smile came easy here, unguarded in a way it never was with me.They'd

(Kieran POV)Hours later, I found myself in the corridor outside Catherine's chambers like some lovesick fool. The rational part of my mind sneered at the pathetic picture I made—a grown man, an alpha, pacing outside a woman's door like a boy with his first crush.But the wolf didn't care about dignity. It only knew that our mate was behind that door, probably still glowing with satisfaction from her successful rebellion. Still thinking about Mary's warm kitchen and Jamie's easy laughter while I prowled the halls like a ghost in my own castle.The scent of her drifted through the heavy wood—rose and rain and something indefinably Catherine that made my chest tight with longing. She was awake; I could hear the whisper of fabric as she moved around the sitting room, the soft sound of pages turning as she read by lamplight.What book held her attention when sleep eluded her? Was she thinking about tonight's confrontation, planni

(Catherine POV)I moved through the gardens like a ghost, my sketchbook filling with images that felt more like evidence than art. Every flower bed told a story, every carefully placed stone suggested intention beyond mere decoration. This wasn't just a garden—it was a autobiography written in growing things.The hedge maze drew me despite myself. It rose in the distance like a green fortress, its walls towering higher than seemed natural for trimmed yew. Even from across the expanse of formal gardens, I could sense its complexity—paths that doubled back on themselves, choices that led to dead ends or deeper mysteries.A puzzle, I realized. Like everything else in this place.I found another bench positioned to give me a clear view of the maze's entrance, and settled down to capture what I could see of its intricate patterns. My charcoal moved across the paper with growing confidence, mapping the visible paths while my mind t

(Kieran POV)The change rippled through me like silk sliding over steel—bones reshaping, muscles flowing into new configurations, senses exploding into hyperclarify that made my human form feel like walking through fog. Four legs carried me across the castle grounds with the silent grace that only came naturally to apex predators.I'd told myself this was about security. Catherine was exploring the gardens alone, and there were... things in the deeper shadows that might find a solitary human woman irresistible. Ancient contracts bound most dangers away from the castle's immediate grounds, but magic was slippery, and I'd learned not to trust in protective wards when something precious was at stake.But the wolf knew better. The wolf understood that this had nothing to do with security and everything to do with the hunger that had been gnawing at my chest since she'd arrived.She'd refused my dinner invitation. Chosen the servants' t

(Catherine POV)Sleep had been eluding me for hours. I lay in the massive bed with its silk hangings, staring at shadows that danced across the ceiling like accusations. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw that moment in the garden—the certainty of being watched, the shape in the hedge maze's shadows that had felt both foreign and achingly familiar.You could simply ask permission.Had I really said that to whatever lurked in those hedges? The memory made my cheeks burn with embarrassment and something else I didn't want to examine. Because there had been a moment, just before I'd turned away, when I'd wanted to step closer. Wanted to see what had been studying me with such focused intensity.Madness. Complete, irrational madness.The clock tower chimed midnight, its deep bronze notes rolling across the castle grounds like a funeral bell. In London, midnight meant gas lamps and late carriages, the comfortable sounds