All Chapters of The Alpha's Christmas Sin: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Ava's POVThe first thing I noticed when we walked into the boardroom was the man sitting at the head of the table. Not anyone I recognized from the previous board dinner. I had expected Adrian but this one looked older, probably in his seventies at least, with silver hair and the kind of stillness from decades of having nothing left to prove. He sat with his hands flat on the table and a folder in front of him and looked at us when we came through the door with eyes that were doing the specific work of someone who had been assessing Hawthornes for a very long time and had not yet decided whether to update his methodology.Damian had told me about Harold Prescott on the drive over. Longest serving board member and that he had known Damian's father and had maintained his position across three generations of Hawthorne leadership by the specific discipline of caring about the company rather than the family. Harold stood when we came in. He looked at Damian first with the recognition, t

Damian's POVJamie fell asleep on the library sofa. She simply stopped talking mid sentence about something related to the Henderson carnations and the next time anyone looked at her she was sideways on the cushions with her coat syill on and completely unconscious in the very specific way of someone whose body had decided the conversation was over regardless of what the conversation had planned.Ava watched her for a moment with quiet fondness, then found a proper blanket from somewhere and draped it over her without waking her.She stood back and looked at what she had done, and looked at me. "The blanket," she said."Yes," I said. "I noticed."***Luca had disappeared somewhere around nine, his version of giving the evening space, reappearing only to collect plates and refill glasses with the quiet efficiency of someone determined to keep the kitchen table functioning without becoming part of the scene.The manor settled into late night quietness with the particular stillness of a

Ava’s POVThe silence didn’t last after Marcus Blackwind spoke. It tightened as if the forest itself was holding its breath, waiting to see who would move first.No one did at first. But I could feel the pressure shifting through the clearing in invisible layers. The kind of tension that didn’t need words. Only dominance.Damian, who was beside me didn’t react immediately. Of course he didn’t. He never did. He always watched first with stillness, then control before consequences and I've always understood that as his own way. The Alpha way.Marcus’s gaze stayed locked on me like I was the only thing in the clearing that mattered.“That’s her,” one of his wolves murmured behind him.Marcus didn’t say anything. He didn't even blink because he had already known who I was and my identity.One step was all it took for Damian to finally step forward. Just that one step was all it took for the air to change like something older had entered the conversation.“You’re trespassing,” Damian said

Ava’s POVThe ground didn’t stop trembling after the altar answered. It settled, but not entirely as if something beneath the clearing had shifted and was deciding whether to wake up fully. My hand was still on the stone, and now it felt warm and… alive.Damian’s hand was wrapped around my wrist. Firm. Steady. The contact anchored me, even while the energy moving through the altar kept building.The mind-link between us hummed like a live wire.‘You still with me?’ he asked through the mindlink quietly.‘Barely.’That earned the faintest flicker of amusement through the bond.Trust Damian to find humour while the ground was deciding whether to split open beneath us.Elena stepped closer to the altar, studying the stone like she was reading a language no one else could see.“The second layer is stabilizing,” she murmured.“Stabilizing into what?” Sera asked from somewhere behind us. Elena didn’t answer immediately. Because at that moment…a pulse. The same rhythm as the altar. Then Ston

Ava’s POVThe last howl faded slowly, after some minutes. The pack dispersed in small groups. Wolves that were not in their human form shifted back, moving quietly with the specific quality of people who had witnessed something significant and were still absorbing it.Nobody spoke too loudly. Nobody made unnecessary noise.The clearing still felt sacred, even after the energy had settled and the altar had gone dark and silent. I have not moved yet.Damian stood beside me, his warm and steady hand still around my wrist. The clearing was nearly empty now.Luca stood near the tree line, running his usual systematic assessment of everything that had happened. Sera was beside him, doing the same. Elena stood at the edge of the altar space with her notebook open, writing quickly in the focused way she used when capturing details she didn’t want to lose.“You can let go now,” Damian said quietly.“I know.” Still, I hesitated.“It feels like I should wait until it’s finished.”“It is finishe