Semua Bab The Rogue King's Protection: Bab 71 - Bab 80

Ryker's POVI threw myself into work the moment I returned to Nightshade territory because staying busy was the only thing keeping me from thinking about Tehila. The paperwork piled on my desk became a welcome distraction and patrol schedules required enough focus that her face stopped haunting every quiet moment.My brother Rafe watched me from the doorway of my office three days after my return. He leaned against the frame with his arms crossed. "You look like hell."I ignored him and continued signing off on supply requests. My fingers ached from holding the pen for a long time but I did not stop writing. Answering Rafe would mean admitting he was right and I was not ready for that conversation.The border dispute with the Iron Ridge pack escalated two days later despite my efforts to make it end. They had been testing our boundaries for weeks, pushing limits and moving markers deeper into Nightshade territory. What had started as a minor quarrel was becoming a serious threat.I ro

Dalton's POV I stood at Clearwater Ridge cemetery staring at two graves side by side. Jade Morrison's headstone was simple granite and next to it rested her father's grave with flowers someone had left recently, i’m wondering who though.  I had avoided coming here for months because facing these stones meant facing the truth of what my choices had cost and I was not sure I was strong enough for that reckoning. But avoiding this won't change anything. The dead stayed dead and the living carried guilt that no amount of time could erase. I knelt and brushed fallen leaves from Jade's headstone m hands trembled slightly. She deserved better than what I gave her. Better than a man who kept one foot in her world while his heart chased someone else. Better than the lies I told myself about love and loyalty while betraying both. "I am sorry," I whispered to the cold stone. "For

Dalton's POV I sat in Harper's office for my fifth therapy session and realized I had been opening up more than I planned to. The careful walls I had built around my past were crumbling under Harper's patient questioning and I found myself talking about things I had never said aloud before. "Tell me about your childhood," Harper said, leaning back in her chair. I talked about my father's expectations and the pressure to be the perfect Beta material from the moment I could shift.  “His love was based on that and I spent my entire youth chasing approval that always stayed just out of reach.” "That sounds exhausting," Harper observed. "It felt normal then and I didn't know anything else." "Well, normal doesn't mean it was healthy. Did it affect your relationships?" She was writing a lot things as I spoke

Tehila's POV The birds sang all through the night and I could vividly recite all their rhythms, including the wind’s patterns and the crickets’ noise.Sleep avoided me like a plague all through the night before my door was knocked on by Margaret. She was fully dressed in a coat for the weather while I reluctantly stepped down from the bed and picked up the coat from the shelf and followed behind her.“Good morning Tehila!’ she said and I nodded, words finding their way through despite how desperate I was to tell her, everything will be fine.Worries were visible on her face and I could tell she was not comfortable with everything, she was worried that I might be losing another person and it's my mother this time.And also she is worried that another secret that might ruin things might get exposed. She is not worried for me, she is worried for all, for everything we stand for and everything we will be working on.“Margaret! Look at me!x I said and she turned to look at me briefly bef

Tehila's POV I don't know why the name sounded familiar, yet it was different at the same time. It was strange! Who is Emerald? Why did she call me Emerald?She coughed violently and I could only watch with a void in me that didn't seem concerned about what she was doing.My eyes were clear but my heart was as cold as ice. Not even a human feeling seems to exist in my world at all.“I called you here not just to apologize but to say something I hid from you!” she said and I went to the small seat and sat down.“Continue!” I said, and she looked at me for a while before looking at her fingers, which looked almost gone. She peeled them and swallowed her pain before speaking to me.“I didn't mean for any of this to happen, I was just caught in the wave of what I wanted my life to be!” She said and I rolled my eyes at her.“I don't want your self-pity speech, tell me what is there to be said, and I will leave your air now!” I said and she sighed.“Your father isn't Morrison!” She said