All Chapters of Hated and His to Claim : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

VLADIMIR After we brought down the Risemoon pack, other packs started pouring in like rivers after heavy rain. They came with gifts, shaking hands, eager to form alliances with the Mancini. The hall was filled with the scent of oil, wood smoke, and the faint metallic trace of silver coins being counted. But not everyone showed up. A few neighboring packs kept their distance. No messengers, no banners, not even a polite smile. Their silence said everything; they didn’t support us, and they weren’t happy about Risemoon’s fall. We in the Mancini cannot afford to appear weak. Rumors breed like vermin; old enemies still sharpen their teeth and wag old grudges. Several packs still scheme for war against us. Now is not the time for weakness. The true cause of the warriors’ deaths had to remain buried, whatever the cost. Tom offered no argument. He simply obeyed. Craig pinged into my mindlink: "Alpha, shall we permit the seer into Ivy’s mother’s ward?" "Yes," I sent back. "But stay alon

VLADIMIRThe moment Ivy pulled the blanket over her head and announced she would be fine, something inside me tightened; not the relief I expected, but a startled sort of disbelief.Could that mean she was being honest? Could it mean she wasn't staring at me with that predatory sort of desire other she-wolves wore like perfume?Surprising.Other she-wolves would have leapt at the invitation I’d practically handed them. Ivy simply shrugged it off.I felt a sourness coil in my gut. After everything, I had offered her an opening and she had refused it. The thought of that disgusted me. She was Alpha Hunt’s daughter, I should remember that and stop letting the mate bond blur my judgment.I laid back on the bed the right way, trying to settle, and felt it: a soft, cold current running through my bones where the blanket no longer protected me. The mattress’s warmth bled away to the night air.My body shivered.Shit. It was colder than I’d expected.Hastily I slid open the bedside drawer, gr

IVY Colorful. Loud. Tsk. The words rolled through my mind like old echoes, and for a fleeting second, Vivian’s pinched, judgmental face blurred into another, Erica’s. My stepmother. That vicious woman who could never stop pushing, always digging her claws in deeper just to see me flinch. "Give up dancing for your stepsister, Jasmine." "Jasmine should have been the first daughter, not you." "How about you go stick to that sick wench of a mother?" "An ugly duck like you doesn’t deserve a place in this pack house. Your place is the storeroom." Each phrase marked itself into me like a scar I could never quite scrub away. Vivian’s voice snapped me back. "What will I do with you?" she asked with a click of her tongue, her gaze crawling over me like a butcher inspecting meat. "You are not fit to become our Alpha’s wife. I wonder what Alpha Vladimir saw in you that made him take a liking to you. You’re as skinny as a bone. And your face…" She wrinkled her nose as if the word itself w

IVY The car rolled to a stop in front of the Mancini Pack hospital. I climbed out and stepped across the threshold; the building breathed with muted sobs and hurried footsteps. A hollow, shared grief hung in the corridors. I paused, the sounds pricking at some small, vulnerable place inside me. "Did someone die?" I asked Craig, my voice barely more than a thread. He answered simply, "Yes," then nodded toward the inner wing. My pulse knocked against my ribs. My nightmare had delivered death into waking life again, an ugly déjà vu that left guilt simmering in my chest. I forced my feet to move. As I made my way toward the VIP ward, murmurs folded around me like cold drafts. "Isn't she the one?" one woman whispered. "The daughter of our Alpha's enemy, the one he married." Word of my origin pack had spread so quickly that even hospital corridors held it now. I had never thought my origin pack was a secret worth hiding; apparently, others did. Before I could step forward, three wom

IVY "You already did," I said, shoving his hand away from mine. The look on Vladimir’s face was torn, part wounded, part unreadable. I turned from him, forcing my legs to carry me away as quickly as possible. My only focus was on reaching my mother’s ward.The polished floors of the hospital reflected the fluorescent lights above as I made my way through the quiet corridors. When I finally reached the VIP ward, I hesitated before pushing the door open.Inside, my mother sat upright on her hospital bed, her posture steadier than I remembered. A woman in scrubs stood beside her, speaking softly. Their quiet exchange stopped the second I stepped in.I closed the door gently behind me, the click echoing faintly. The nurse turned, her expression shifting to polite neutrality."Ivy," Mum said, her eyes brightening with surprise."Is that your daughter you were speaking about?" the nurse asked, glancing back at her.Mum’s smile softened her tired features. "Yes. Thank you for your help.""Y