บททั้งหมดของ His Father's Mate: บทที่ 61 - บทที่ 70

ARIAIt was past midnight when I found Damian in the study.The room was dark except for the lamp on the corner of the desk. He was sitting in the chair by the window with a glass of whiskey in his hand, staring out at the grounds like there was something out there worth studying.I stood in the doorway for a second. "You didn't come to bed.""I will.""It's already midnight.""I know."I walked into the room and sat on the edge of the desk beside him. He still didn't look away from the window. "What is on your mind? The meeting with Victor?" I asked."Partly."I watched him for a moment. "What's the other part?"He stayed quiet for a while that I thought maybe he wasn't going to answer. Then he said, "Her name was Nadia."He turned the whiskey glass slowly in his hand. "She was twenty-one when she died. We'd been to

CASSIANLyra was already awake when I got back to the apartment.She was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee she wasn't drinking, wearing the oversized shirt she slept in, hair loose around her shoulders. She looked up when I walked in and something in her face told me she already knew what kind of conversation this was."You went to see someone," she said."Yes.""Her?"I didn't answer because there wasn't any point pretending otherwise anymore.Lyra looked down at her coffee. "How long have you been planning it?""A few days," I said. "I have information that can destroy what Elias Hudson is doing to the company. Karla's moving too fast. If I wait any longer, it won't matter.""And you're taking it to Aria," she said. "Not Damian.""Aria," I confirmed.She went quiet for a second. "Why her.""Because she's the one I owe," I said. "Not him."L

ARIARhea started the session the same way she always did. "Don't force it. Let it come.""You say that every time," I said."Because you always try to force it.""I don't try to force it.""Aria.""I apply consistent effort," I said. "That's different from forcing."Rhea looked at me patiently. "Sit down."I sat on the mat.We were in the lower training room, the same room where my power had first broken open properly—where silver light had poured out of my hands like it had spent years trapped under my skin waiting for permission to exist. The room smelled faintly like herbs.Damian leaned against the far wall with his arms crossed. He had asked to stay for this. I had said yes because having him in the room made everything feel good somehow. Like even if the world tilted sideways, he would still be standing exactly where I left him.Raze, I knew, was extremely interested i

ARIANoah sent the addresses to Damian's phone while we were still standing on the villa steps.Damian looked at the screen for four seconds flat before the orders started immediately. Warriors deployed in pairs to five addresses. Exactly how much force was appropriate for human operatives who had absolutely no idea they had just declared war on the wrong pack.I watched him work and thought—this is what sixteen years of building Hawke Pack looked like. "The sixth address," I said.Damian looked up immediately. "It's three blocks from Gabriel's safehouse," I added. "He isn't there anymore.""They don't know that yet." I held his gaze. "They're moving too fast to verify intel first."A beat of silence.Damian looked at Noah. "Get eyes on that address now."Noah was already making the call.Victor stood off to the side watching everything unfold. "The sixth operativ

ARIA The first week without a crisis felt suspicious. There were no hunters. No council hearings. No formal, heavy-sealed letters arriving at the worst possible moments. No Karla. No board emergencies. No late-night, threatening texts from numbers that didn't exist when I tried to trace them. Just the villa. The grounds. The ordinary thrum of a life that had stopped being ordinary so long ago, I’d nearly forgotten what the feeling of normalcy was supposed to be. I spent the days waiting for something to go wrong, but got nothing. By Wednesday, I had reorganized three filing systems, helped Noah draft two pack correspondence letters, trained with Rhea twice, and visited Gabriel once. He had very vocal opinions about the curtains in the new room, which he had relayed to Clara at great length. I even managed to eat breakfast at an actual table, sitting like a person who possessed functional, human habits. Damian watched me from across the kitchen on Thursday morning with that ex