Semua Bab The Rogue’s Savage Claim on Me: Bab 51 - Bab 60

ELOWENMy mother called on Wednesday."Saturday dinner," she announced without preamble. "Your father and I haven't seen you in months. I'm sending a car at five.""Mom, I can't just—""You don't work Saturdays, Elowen. I checked with Carmen."I closed my eyes. Of course she had. My mother was nothing if not thorough."I'll send a car," she repeated. "Five o'clock. Wear something nice. And bring that young man you've been hiding."The line went dead before I could respond.I stared at the phone in my hand. Fao was watching me from the couch, his head tilted in that curious way."Your mother," he said. It wasn't a question."She wants us to come to dinner. Saturday." I sank down beside him. "She knows about you. I don't know how, but she knows.""The loud one told her?""Rowan would never—" I paused. Rowan absolutely would, if my mother pressed her hard enough. "Okay, maybe Rowan told her."Fao considered this. "You don't want me to meet your family?""It's not that. It's..." I rubbed

FAOI smelled him before I saw him.That rotten scent — lies and weakness and the cologne that couldn't quite cover the stench of a man who thought he owned things he had no right to. It drifted through the house, tainting everything, and I felt my hackles rise before I understood why."Something wrong?" Elowen's father was watching me with sharp eyes. "You look like you've seen a ghost.""I thought I smelled something." I forced my voice to stay level. "It's nothing.""Probably Margaret's cooking." He chuckled and handed me a glass of whiskey. "Don't tell her I said that."I took the glass but didn't drink. The smell was getting stronger. Closer.Then Margaret's voice drifted from the other room: "...just an old friend of yours..."And I knew.I set the glass down carefully — so carefully, because if I wasn't careful I would shatter it in my grip — and walked toward the living room. Robert was saying something behind me, but I couldn't hear him over the roaring in my ears.The living

ELOWENTUESDAYSomething was wrong.I felt it the moment Carmen's car turned onto the dirt road leading to the cabin. Fao went rigid beside me, his nostrils flaring, head turning toward the trees."What is it?" I asked."Someone was here." His voice was low, barely human. "While we were gone. Someone was at the cabin."Carmen slowed the car. "Should I keep going?""Stop here." Fao was already reaching for the door handle. "I need to check.""Fao, wait—"But he was gone, slipping out of the car and into the darkness between the trees. I watched him disappear, my heart hammering against my ribs.Carmen killed the engine but left the headlights on. "El... what the hell is going on?""I don't know." But I did. I knew exactly who would come creeping around my cabin in the middle of the night.We waited. Five minutes. Ten. The woods were silent except for the occasional rustle of wind through the branches. I could feel Fao through the bond — focused, alert, hunting. Not afraid. Angry.When

ELOWENTrevor looked around my cabin like he was appraising a property he was considering buying. His two bodyguards — massive men in dark suits, the kind of muscle money could rent — flanked him on either side."Cozy," he said, running a finger along the back of my couch. "Very... rustic. I can see why you like it out here. No neighbors to hear you scream.""Get out of my house.""Now, now." He turned to face me, that smile still plastered on his face. "Is that any way to greet an old friend? We have so much to catch up on.""We have nothing to talk about. Get out, or I'm calling the police.""With what phone?" He nodded to one of the bodyguards, who was already holding my cell. I hadn't even noticed him take it. "Relax, Elowen. I just want to talk.""You broke into my home.""The door was unlocked.""It wasn't.""It is now." He shrugged, utterly unconcerned. "Semantics. The point is, I'm here, and we're going to have a conversation. A real one, without your... pet... getting in the

First, the bodies. They had to go before anything else.I shifted to wolf form. They were heavy, but I was strong — stronger than any natural wolf, stronger than most men. I dragged them out through the back door, one at a time, away from the driveway. Couldn't risk drag marks on the road where someone might see.The creek was a quarter mile through the woods. I pulled them into the icy water, wedged them under rocks to keep them from floating, and left them there. The cold would preserve them. The water would start washing away evidence. They'd keep until I was ready.Then I went back to the cabin.The rug was soaked — blood spreading in dark stains that would never come out. No amount of scrubbing would fix this.I shifted back to human, rolled the whole thing up, and added it to the pile of things that needed to disappear. The floorboards underneath had some blood seeping through, but they were old and dark enough that a good scrub would take care of it. I grabbed rags, worked unti