บททั้งหมดของ My Mate's Father Claimed Me: บทที่ 81 - บทที่ 90

  **Kael's point of view** The silence in our rooms was a real thing that was thick and hard to breathe. It had a taste, like the bitter ash of burned bridges and fears that weren't spoken. Lyra had taken Kenny to the nursery next door, and her leaving was a silent accusation. The sound of my own roar still seemed to shake the stone walls. I had never yelled at her like that before. The control I was proud of, the unshakable core of the Alpha, had broken under the weight of one terrible truth: I was afraid of my own son. No. Not of *him*. Never of the boy who looked me in the eye and laughed when I threw him in the air. I was scared of the power that was growing inside of him, a power that was as basic and unbreakable as the tides. A power that could tear apart the fragile tapestry I had worked so hard to we

  **Kael's Point of View The change in the pack didn't happen all at once. It was a slow, quiet thaw, like the first warm breath of spring on a frozen landscape. People told each other about what happened with Liana, and the story grew softer with each telling. *The Bridge made her tears stop hurting. It wasn't a story of judgment; it was one of comfort. Before, people had looked at Kenny with wary glances. Now, they looked at him with hesitant curiosity and, at times, a flicker of desperate hope. The facade of perfect harmony that I had worked so hard to keep up began to feel less like something I had to do and more like a prison we were all slowly, gratefully, getting out of. The change in me was the most important. The constant, grinding pressure

  **Lyra's Point of View The first breath I took in the Echo-Verse made me gasp and hurt my lungs. It wasn't really air. It was the ghost of air, thin, cold, and tasting like static and old graves. The psychic pressure hit me right away and was huge. It felt like a weight on my soul that would crush my mind. The golden thread that connected me to Kenny, my lifeline, shone brightly in my mind, like a single, defiant star in a sea of gray. The Sanctum around me was dead inside. The glowing runes had turned into scab-like growths that gave off a faint, glowing light. The living roots that made up the door frame were dead and dry, and their bright green color had turned into a sickly white. The stone itself looked like it was crying a thin, black sludge. This wasn't a place. It was a look at a place's body.

  **Lyra's Point of View** The word "sanctuary" was relative. The Sunken Grove wasn't a safe place; it was a sensory overload. The first few days were just a test of how long you could last. It felt like breathing soup because the air was so full of life energy. Every noise was louder, and every smell was a strong mix that made my head spin. The grove's constant, low hum was a physical pressure on my eardrums, and the note was so low that it shook my bones. It was worse for Kenny. His senses were still growing, but they were being overloaded with too much information. He cried almost all the time. It was a raw, sad sound that was hard to hear over the grove's own music. He couldn't sleep because his small body was twitching and flinching at the unseen flow of energy. Kael and I took turns holding him and roc

  Lyra's Point of View Outside of the Sunken Grove, the world felt... thin. The familiar forest seemed muted, with colors washed out and sounds far away after the Cradle's overwhelming, bright pressure. It was like someone had put a filter over reality and taken away its essence. And as we drove north toward SwiftRun territory, the feeling got stronger with every mile. Kenny was a heavy, quiet weight in my arms. He had his face buried in my neck, and his little fingers were gripping the fabric of my tunic. There was a tight, painful line between us that was like a golden thread. He wasn't just feeling the gray anymore; he was drowning in it. I whispered to Kael, "He's taking it all in," my voice tight with fear. "He can't protect himself from it. It