Semua Bab Beyond Reasonable Doubt (Full Series): Bab 91 - Bab 95

Chapter 21Jordan POVI went to the gardens because I needed to be somewhere that felt less suffocating.Inside the packhouse, everything had edges. Voices lowered when I passed. Eyes tracked too long. Even the quiet felt staged, like everyone was holding their breath and waiting for the next warrant to land.The garden didn’t care.It sat behind a low stone wall on the east side—raised beds, trellises, herbs that smelled like someone still believed in ordinary life. Damp soil, rosemary, a little mint. The air was cold enough to sting, but it was clean.I carried a cup of coffee out there like it was a life choice instead of a coping mechanism. I hadn’t slept much, and my brain had been chewing on the same three things since Maddox’s office:One month. A bride. And the word mate falling out of his mouth like a mistake he couldn’t undo.I took a sip and made a face. “Great. Coffee that tastes like regret.”I was wearing a white shirt I’d grabbed without thinking—soft, thin cotton. No b

Chapter 23Jordan POVI told myself I wasn’t going to think about the kiss.That was my first lie of the day.My second lie was that I’d be able to function like a normal attorney after being kissed in a garden by my client—an Alpha—who looked at me like I was the only thing in the world he couldn’t outthink.I sat at the kitchen table in my suite with my laptop open and a legal pad full of bail conditions, and my brain kept rewinding to the moment his mouth hit mine. Not the sweet part. Not the “oh wow, this is romantic” part.The hungry part.The part where he didn’t ask.The part where I didn’t hesitate.And the part where he stepped back afterward like I’d become radioactive.That last part bothered me more than the kiss itself.Because I could handle desire. I could handle impulse. I could even handle the sparks I couldn’t explain and the bond conversation that made my stomach twist. What I couldn’t stand was being treated like I was the mistake.I pressed the edge of my pen into

Chapter 25Jordan POVMaddox’s question didn’t sound like a trap.That was what made it dangerous.“Did your father ever mention wolves to you?”For half a second, I forgot I was standing in a library on a property that had cameras in the trees and secrets in the walls. I forgot I was building a surrender plan and a bail package and a compliance narrative. I forgot Silvia Smith was circling like she had a stopwatch in her pocket.All I heard was father.And the way Maddox said it—quiet, precise—like he already knew the answer mattered.My throat tightened.Kane’s eyes flicked from Maddox to me, alert.Rowan stayed near the shelves, arms crossed, face blank. But his body went subtly still, like the room had shifted and he was tracking what might break.I forced air into my lungs and made my voice steady.“No,” I said. “Not directly.”Maddox’s gaze didn’t move. “Not directly,” he repeated, like he was filing the phrase away.“I was a kid,” I added, because I needed him to understand I w