جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 110

Jacob *The walk back to the manor was quiet in a way that felt heavy rather than peaceful. The path through the grove curved between tall trees whose leaves whispered softly overhead, but neither Krista nor I spoke for several minutes after leaving Elder Lenore behind. The seer’s words lingered between us like smoke that refused to clear.Krista had folded her arms around herself tightly, her fingers curled into the fabric at her elbows as if she was trying to hold herself together. She kept her gaze fixed ahead, her expression unreadable, but I could see tension in the set of her shoulders and the rigid line of her mouth. I understood it well enough.Lenore had practically suggested we resume behaving like mates after years apart and after all the damage I had caused. Even for me, the idea had been jarring. For Krista, it had to feel unbearable.After another stretch of silence, I finally said, “We do not need to do anything yet.”She did not look at me, but I saw her brows pull to

Jacob*Despite myself, I smiled again. The memory of our kiss still lingered between us like heat under skin, and Elder Lenore’s instructions loomed heavily over everything. But as Krista walked beside me with amusement softening her expression and sunlight catching against the strands of her hair, it became painfully easy to understand why my wolf refused to let her go. A smile tugged at my mouth despite myself as I glanced sideways at her.“What makes you think I was ever caught,” I asked lazily, “just because I happened to be part of the prey?” The late afternoon sun filtered through the trees around us, painting shifting gold across the path as we walked back toward the manor grounds. The breeze carried the scent of pine and earth. “It’s truly a pity we weren’t childhood playmates,” I continued. “You would’ve known then that I always led the prey to victory.”Krista rolled her eyes with immediate disbelief, though there was laughter in it. “Always?” she repeated dryly. “If you’re

Jacob*Then, more to herself than to me, she muttered, “So this means Krista is still your Luna, isn’t she?”The question settled heavily between us. I nodded once and Laurel laughed again. This time, there was something brittle in it that immediately put me on edge. She began pacing again, rubbing both hands over her face before letting them fall to her sides. Annoyance blazed openly in her eyes now, hot and restless.“Surely,” she said tightly, “Elder Lenore gave some sort of solution to this. There has to be a way to fix it.”“There is,” I replied carefully. “Or at least, we hope there is. We’re going to try to draw Krista’s wolf out.”Even as I said the words aloud, they sounded absurdly complicated and ridiculous. If someone else had been telling me this story weeks ago, I might have thought the Goddess herself was playing some cruel joke.Laurel folded her arms across her chest tightly.“It won’t be easy,” I continued. “But we have to try.”“With all due respect,” Laurel said s

Jacob*“You broke your mate bond recklessly because you said it was me you truly loved. Then the second your precious ex-mate comes back looking tragic, suddenly you’re chasing after her again while keeping me dangling behind you like some spare option.” Laurel said, voice dripping scorn. “You posture like you’re noble, but really, you’re just selfish. You want both of us because your ego can’t stand losing either one.”“It’s heartening to see that you think so poorly of me, even after knowing me for so long.”She stepped closer again, glaring up at me with open contempt. “You’re a whore of a man, Jacob.”My wolf lunged violently inside me at the insult and my eyes glinted with fury at her words.Laurel either didn’t notice or didn’t care. “And Goddess,” she laughed bitterly, “I was such a fool for wasting my time on you. Krista was right to leave your sorry ass. I only wish I had been smart enough to do the same sooner.”The words struck something ugly inside me, not because they hu

Jacob*I watched silently as Tamsin, head of my household staff, took in the sight of my room with nary a word, though her lips pursed ever so slightly as she stepped carefully over shattered glass and splintered wood. Her gaze moved from the overturned furniture to the ruined curtains hanging crookedly from their rods before she bent to right one of the armchairs Laurel had sent flying across the room earlier.I understood her expression perfectly. The room looked like a warzone. One of the windows remained cracked from Laurel driving the broken table leg into it, and the cold evening breeze slipped into the room through the fractures, stirring the curtains weakly.Tamsin straightened the armchair with the same composure she approached everything with, but I did not miss the careful look she cast around the room again afterward. It wasn’t fearful exactly but more thoughtful than anything else. She had likely spent years managing household disasters, but I doubted many of them involv