جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 20

Caspian: Caspian had seduced queens, diplomats, and enemies who should have known better.He'd talked his way out of assassination attempts, into political alliances, and through negotiations that should have ended in war. Charm was his weapon of choice, and he'd spent thirty years perfecting it into something sharp enough to cut through any defense.So when Alaric pulled him aside that morning and said, "You're on Elara duty. Make her comfortable. Make her compliant," Caspian had assumed it would be easy.He'd assumed wrong.Now, standing outside the guest suite they'd given her, the one that connected to their private wing because like hell were they letting her sleep anywhere they couldn't reach in seconds. Caspian was reconsidering every life choice that had led to this moment.Behind the door, he could hear her moving around. Angry, jerky movements that spoke of a woman who was absolutely not comfortable and definitely not compliant.This is going to be fun, Kieran's voice echoe

The water shut off.Caspian straightened in his chair, smoothing his expression back into something calm and controlled.A few minutes later, the bathroom door opened.And Caspian forgot how to breathe.Elara stood in the doorway wearing nothing but a towel.Her dark hair was wet, dripping water down her shoulders. Her skin was flushed from the heat of the shower. And the towel...the towel was wrapped around her body in a way that covered everything important while somehow making him want to rip it off and see what was underneath."I don't have clothes," she said, her voice tight.Caspian's brain had stopped working."The... the clothes," she continued, gesturing toward the bed where he'd left them. "I need to...I can't get dressed with you staring at me like that."He was staring. He knew he was staring. But he couldn't seem to stop."Caspian." Her voice cracked slightly. "Please."That snapped him out of it."Right." He stood abruptly, nearly knocking over the chair. "I'll...I'll tur

The next entry was dated a month before her grandmother died.Elara's hands were shaking so badly she could barely hold the journal.April 2ndI'm out of time.The doctors say weeks. Maybe a month if I'm lucky.I should tell her. I know I should tell her. But how do you tell someone their entire life has been a lie? That they're not what they think they are? That they were promised to werewolf kings before they could even speak?How do you tell your granddaughter that you sold her to save both your lives?I can't. I'm a coward, but I can't.So I'm writing this instead. Leaving it for her to find in the cottage. Hoping that when the time comes, when the spell breaks and the truth becomes unavoidable, she'll read these words and understand.I made a deal twenty-three years ago. The Alpha King offered protection from the Fae Court that wanted my daughter and granddaughter dead. In exchange, I promised him Elara when she came of age.I thought I was saving her. Thought I was buying her a

Elara's cheeks flushed pink. "Nothing happened.""I know." Kieran stopped a few feet away from the bed. "Doesn't make it easier."She studied him for a long moment, and Kieran forced himself to stay still under her gaze. To let her look. To let her see whatever she needed to see."You're different from him," she said finally."From Alaric?""From both of them." Her head tilted slightly. "Alaric is... controlled. Caspian is charming. But you...." She paused. "You feel like you're barely holding yourself back."Kieran's lips curved into a slow smile. "That's because I am.""From what?""From claiming you." The honesty came easily. "From marking you. From making absolutely certain every wolf in this territory knows you're ours so they stop looking at you like you're available."Elara's breath hitched. "I'm not....I haven't...""I know." Kieran took another step closer. "But they don't. Not yet. And until you're marked, until the bond is sealed, you're vulnerable.""To what?""Rival Alpha

Elera:The dinner had been a nightmare.Two hundred pairs of eyes watching her every move. Wolves whispering behind their hands. The weight of expectation pressing down on her shoulders until she could barely breathe.She'd sat between Alaric and Kieran at the head table, Caspian on Alaric's other side, and tried to smile. Tried to nod. Tried to pretend she belonged there while her hands shook and her stomach churned.The food had been excellent. She hadn't tasted a single bite.Wolves had approached throughout the evening, some to offer congratulations, some to assess her, some whose intentions she couldn't read at all. And through it all, the triplets had flanked her like guards, their presence both comforting and suffocating.This is your life now, a voice whispered in her head. Two hundred wolves. A pack house. Three men who claim you belong to them. Forever.She'd made it through dinner. Through dessert. Through the speeches and toasts that seemed to go on forever.And the moment