บททั้งหมดของ The Rogue’s Savage Claim on Me: บทที่ 91 - บทที่ 100

FAOWe reached the ranch at dawn.The road wound up into the mountains, through dense pine forest that reminded me painfully of the woods around Elowen's cabin. The same quality of dark between the trees, the same way the light came in at angles through the canopy. But these woods were different. I could smell wolves everywhere. Territory markers. Pack scent layered so deep into the land it had become the land. Home, something in my chest whispered, even though I'd never been here before.The walls came first.They rose out of the forest like they'd grown there, stone and timber, thirty feet high, covered in moss and creeping vines where the trees pressed close. You could almost miss them if you weren't looking. Almost believe they were just another ridge in the mountain landscape, another fold in the terrain. The kind of thing a hiker would photograph and post and never think twice about.But we were looking. And the walls went on for miles."The entire mountain is enclosed," Corvin

"I'm not—" Fao stopped, swallowed. "I don't know how to be what you need. I spent twenty-one years as a rogue. I don't know your laws, your customs, your history. I don't know anything.""You'll learn," Sylvia said simply. "And until you do, we'll guide you. That's what pack is for.""But I'm not— I've never led anyone. I've never even been with anyone until—" He glanced at me, then away. "I don't know how to be an Alpha.""Your father didn't either, at first." Sylvia's expression softened. "Fenris was young when he took over. Hot-headed. Impulsive. He made mistakes. But he learned, and he became the greatest Alpha our people had known in centuries." She stepped closer, her voice dropping so only we could hear. "You have his eyes. His jaw. His stubborn chin. You'll find your way, Fao. You're his son."Something flickered across Fao's face — pain, longing, grief for a man he couldn't remember."The Alpha needs rest," a voice cut in. Thalia, stepping forward from where she'd emerged fro

"Fine," I said through gritted teeth. "Handle him. But he doesn't die. Not yet. Elowen deserves to see him answer for what he's done."Sylvia nodded. "Understood."We talked for hours. House Varen's movements. The other packs' likely responses to my return. The logistics of a coronation. The question of what to do about Elowen's human family, her human friends, her human life.By the time Corvin finally led me back to the royal suite, my head was spinning.The bedroom was empty when I entered, but I could hear water running. The bathroom door was cracked open, steam curling out."El?""In here."I pushed the door open and found her in the walk-in shower — massive, all stone and glass, with multiple heads and a built-in bench. She was sitting on the bench, her wounded leg stretched out carefully to keep weight off it, bandages removed, letting the hot water run over her.She looked up at me, wet hair plastered to her face, and smiled tiredly. "I couldn't take it anymore. I smelled like

ELOWENI woke to the sound of Fao breathing.For a moment, I didn't know where I was. The bed was too big, too soft, the sheets too smooth against my skin. The ceiling was wrong — timber beams instead of the water-stained plaster of my cabin.Then it all came rushing back. The attack. The fire. The twenty-hour drive. Three hundred wolves kneeling in the dirt.My cabin was gone. This was home now.I turned my head carefully. Fao was beside me, sprawled on his stomach, one arm thrown across my waist. He was out — deeply, truly asleep in a way I hadn't seen since... maybe ever. His face was slack, the tension that always lived in his jaw finally gone. He looked younger like this. Softer.He needed this sleep. After everything — the attack, the drive, the council meeting, the weight of three hundred expectations — he needed this.Which meant I needed to pee without waking him.I eased out from under his arm, moving inch by inch. My leg throbbed, but I ignored it. I could hop to the bathro

By late afternoon, we'd met what felt like half the pack.Warriors who wanted to assess Fao with sharp eyes, measuring him against whatever standard they carried in their heads. Elders who looked at him like they were seeing a ghost, something old and familiar returned. Pups who stared at both of us with unabashed curiosity, the smallest ones trailing after the wheelchair at a respectful distance before their parents called them back. And everywhere, the same greeting, one knee, bared throat, "Alpha.""Does it get less weird?" I asked Nina as we finally headed back toward the lodge, Fao pushing my wheelchair while Corvin walked alongside."The bowing? Yeah, eventually. The first time someone bared their throat to me, I had no idea what to do." She grinned. "I just said 'uh, thanks?' Declan was mortified.""I just don't know what I'm supposed to do." I glanced back at Fao. "He's learning to lead, but what's my role? I can't shift. I can't fight, not like them. I'm just human."Fao's ha