บททั้งหมดของ THE ALPHA'S STEPMATE: บทที่ 11 - บทที่ 15

The Thorne manor dining room was a monument to wealth and oppression. The table, a vast expanse of polished black marble, seated only three of us, making the silence feel cavernous. A single, ornate chandelier cast a blinding, cold light on the immaculate setting.Kael was on my right. His presence was a solid, radiating heat - a silent promise of protection and the source of the steady, low thrum in my chest. We had agreed: tonight was a performance. We had to project the illusion of a settled, stabilized bond.Marcus Thorne sat at the head, looking less like a father and more like a judge presiding over a tribunal. He was impeccably dressed, but his salt-and-pepper hair was slightly dishevelled, betraying his recent stress. He didn't speak as the housekeeper served the elaborate meal. He simply watched us.The food was untouched. The tension was the only thing being consumed.Finally, Marcus placed his fork down with a sharp, metallic clink that echoed in the silence."You two seem.

The victory from the scent test was short-lived. Marcus, while accepting the bond's stability, was not ready to trust me. He increased the surveillance, assigning Ethan, Kael's Beta, to be our permanent, silent shadow.Ethan's presence was a constant, icy judgment. He followed us through the manor, maintaining a respectful distance from Kael, but never breaking his direct, hostile glare at me. His skepticism was palpable - a living reminder that even among Kael's inner circle, my acceptance was conditional at best.The tension between us was suffocating. During training sessions, Ethan would watch with narrowed eyes as I guided Kael through psychic exercises, his lips pressed into a thin line of disapproval. At council briefings, he positioned himself strategically - close enough to Kael to whisper concerns, far enough from me to make his disdain clear."He doesn't trust you," Kael said one evening as we walked through the manor's east wing, Ethan's footsteps echoing twenty paces behi