บททั้งหมดของ The First Wolf I loved: บทที่ 81 - บทที่ 90

I had almost forgotten what a slow afternoon felt like.Big Bite hummed with its usual symphony of soft clinks and distant conversations, but the rush had passed, leaving behind the gentle stillness you’d always take for granted until you were swamped with work. Sunlight slipped through the blinds in warm stripes, painting the counter in pale gold. I wiped the same spot twice, more out of habit than necessity, letting myself breathe in the calm.For the first time in weeks, the quiet felt like company instead of accusation.The bell above the door chimed. I didn’t look up immediately; customers came and went with predictable rhythm. But something in the air shifted, a familiar presence pulling at a thread inside me. My heart synched with another. When I lifted my gaze, I saw him.Dom.He paused just past the doorway, as if checking whether he was welcome. His shoulders seemed broader in the late afternoon light, his eyes darker but softer, searching for permission before he took anoth

The council room emptied slowly, chairs scraping softly against the floor as the elders filed out in pairs and quiet clusters. Their voices faded down the corridor, leaving behind the scent of old wood and something new, something unresolved. When the door finally closed, the silence felt thicker than before, as if the room itself was listening.Dom and I remained.I stayed seated for a moment, hands folded on the table, letting the echo of the meeting settle inside me. My thoughts moved like water after a stone had been thrown, rippling outward, touching things I hadn’t planned to examine just yet. Next to me, Dom stood by his chair, one hand resting on it.“You did well,” he said quietly.I looked up at him. Without the elders, without the weight of watchful eyes, he seemed different. Still Alpha, still solid, but more human in the quiet. “I wasn’t trying to impress anyone.”“I know,” he replied. “That’s why it mattered.”I exhaled and leaned back, the tension easing from my shoulde

The construction site breathed with purposeful noise.Metal clanged against metal in steady rhythm, a language of progress spoken in hammers, drills, and shouted measurements. Dust rose and settled in slow waves, catching the sun as it filtered through the skeletal frame of what would soon become the zonal office. Marcus stood near the edge of the site, hard hat tucked under his arm, boots planted firmly on packed earth that would one day be tiled and polished. His big dreams was coming to fruition. He had more money in the bank than he knew what to do with.For a project barely out of its infancy, the construction was doing well. Better than expected.Marc scanned the structure with a practiced eye, noting how the steel beams locked together like a promise being kept. The foundation had cured evenly. The first walls were already standing tall, confident in their lines. Progress charts clipped to a nearby board told the same story his instincts did. This build had momentum.“Morning,

The moon sat high above my roof that night, round and unblinking, as if it had chosen me specifically to watch. Its light spilled through the windows in silver ribbons, touching the floor, the walls, my skin. I should have closed the curtains. I didn’t.I lay on the couch, one arm draped over my eyes, breathing slowly. Too slowly. The Luna spirit stirred inside me, restless and awake in a way that felt far too intimate. It was not pain. Not fear. It was want. A want I had felt before.It wanted Dom. No, the alpha inside Dom.The pull came in waves, warm and insistent, curling low in my stomach and spreading outward like heat through embers. My thoughts betrayed me easily. His voice. His presence beside me in the council room. The steadiness of him. The way his touch had been careful, restrained, as if he understood how dangerous it would be to take more.I groaned softly and turned onto my side.This was exactly what I feared.I liked Dom. That part was real, undeniable. But this hung

Marc and Jade were back in his cabin. Deep in the trees, wrapped in a quiet so complete it felt deliberate, as though the forest itself had decided to give them privacy. Wind threaded softly through the branches outside, brushing pine needles together in a slow, steady rhythm. Inside, the air was warm and carried the faint scents of cedar wood, spent firewood, and the lingering trace of whiskey.Marcus lay on his back beneath the sheets, staring up at the ceiling beams he’d sanded and sealed with his own hands years ago. Jade lay beside him, partially draped across his chest, her head resting where his heartbeat was strongest. His arm circled her almost absentmindedly, thumb moving in slow, thoughtful arcs against her skin.For a long time, neither of them spoke.Silence didn’t feel like something to escape here. It felt earned. After weeks of noise, expectations, and endings spoken aloud, the quiet was a kind of balm.“I’m not ready,” Marcus said eventually, his voice low and careful