All Chapters of To Claim a Sinner: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Catherine’s POV“I have to get out of here.”The words kept repeating in my head as I hurried toward the car.By the time I slid into the driver’s seat and slammed the door shut, my chest felt too tight, like my ribs were closing in on my heart. I pressed my palm against it and leaned forward, forcing myself to breathe slowly, deeply, as if that alone could calm the storm raging inside me.This was not who I was. I had never been the kind of woman who ruined people, who schemed behind closed doors, who reached for knives instead of reason. I had built my life on patience and compromise, on believing that if I endured long enough, things would right themselves.But today, endurance felt like another word for surrender.I started the engine, my fingers tightening around the steering wheel as I prepared to drive away, away from the building. Away from the meeting that was never meant to include me, away from the realization that everything I believed about my place in this pack had been

Catherine’s POV“So you left him there,” Luna Renee repeated as if she had not heard me the first time, her eyes steady on my face while her omega set the cup down on the table beside her chair. “On a day like this?”She snorted, then looked around the room.The drawing room was too perfect, every surface polished, every piece of furniture positioned like it belonged in a showcase rather than a home. Heavy curtains framed the tall windows, keeping the room dim despite the afternoon light outside.A fireplace sat unused, more for appearance than warmth. Even the scent in the air felt controlled, a faint trace of cedar and expensive tea that told me this was a place designed for meetings, for judgment, and for reminding people who held authority.“You do understand how important this day is, right?” she asked.I nodded without taking my eyes off Simon’s mother.Luna Renee sat with the kind of composure that never looked relaxed, because it was not meant to be. Her posture was elegant, b

Catherine’s POV“Where the hell were you?” Simon’s voice slammed into my ear the second I opened the door. “I’ve been calling you!”“Simon, calm down…” Mina’s voice followed.Rolling my eyes, I stepped into the living room and found them exactly where I expected. Simon was pacing like the room was too small to hold his temper. Mina sat on the edge of the couch, her expression worried in a way that made her look harmless.I swallowed the anger that surged up so fast it burned my throat. “What’s going on?”“Where were you?” he demanded again, voice rising. “Do you think you can just disappear on a day like this?”“I didn’t disappear,” I said. “I was with Candace. I told you earlier.”Simon’s eyes narrowed. “I called you,” he snapped. “You ignored me.”I forced my expression into something small, something careful, something he would accept. “I was busy. Candace brought me to Citrine Court. She wanted to shop with her friends. When you called earlier… my phone died so…”“So you chose sho

Catherine’s POVThe doorknob turned, and the world seemed to tilt.Before I could even process the panic, Ethan’s hand was a vice around my waist, hauling me backward. Without saying a word, he dragged me into the narrow, shadowed space behind the towering mahogany bookshelf that lined the far wall.It was a space that barely fit one person, let alone two, and as we pressed into the dark, the smell of old parchment and dust mingled with the intoxicating scent of rain still clinging to his skin.I squeezed my eyes shut, my heart hammering so hard I was certain it would echo off the wood. A bitter thought flickered through the fear. I didn't understand why I was hiding inside my own study, in my own house, like a common thief.I was the one who had built this pack’s wealth, yet here I was, cowering in the dark because my husband’s brother had his hands on me.But before I could linger on that thought, the door creaked open.“That bitch is too calculating,” Simon’s voice spat, the sound

Catherine’s POVSo… this is where the rogues live.I followed the person sent to guide me through a maze of damp, lightless tunnels that smelled of rusted iron and stagnant water, feeling the weight of the city pressing down on my shoulders with every stepThe pathway leading underground felt like a descent into another world where the laws of Solaria no longer applied.I had already undergone three separate security checks, each one more invasive than the last, involving silent men with electronic scanners that seemed to peel away every layer of my disguise down to my skin.There was a reason why the Beast was known as the King of Rogues and was silently acknowledged by all packs as a force that could not be tamed or broken.He owned this entire sprawl of concrete and shadow, making him the single biggest threat to the established pack hierarchies who had learned to stay out of his way to avoid a war they knew they could not win.I swallowed hard as the man leading me finally stopped