All Chapters of The Deaf Alpha’s Unexpected Mate : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

SERAPHINEThe room was arranged again exactly as it had been the first night, and by now the ritual of it had almost become familiar, though it still stole my breath every single time I crossed the threshold. Fresh towels folded into precise squares stacked on the dresser. New nightwear laid across the bed like an offering, pale silk catching the last of the evening light through the tall windows. Bottles of perfume and lotion lined along the vanity, their labels in looping script I couldn't fully read, the glass catching gold from the lamp beside them. And beside the bed, wrapped in tissue thin as breath, a new dress for tomorrow's meeting, a new bag, and a pair of shoes.I lifted the bag first and set it right back down the second I caught the little gold plate on the price tag, the number stretching into thousands before the decimal point even arrived, more money than the entire orphanage saw in half a year combined. My stomach turned over at the sight of it, the same uneasy lurch

SERAPHINEThe moment was supposed to last longer.I had never seen Kael in that mood before, not once in the month I'd known him, the easy curve of his mouth and the low, unguarded laugh that had slipped out of him twice before he caught himself and reeled it back in. I was fairly certain, standing there with the stars still burning bright overhead and the terrace lights swaying faintly in the breeze, that this was my lucky day.I think the alpha's feeling generous today. Might be a good time to ask him for that favour.Ally's voice rang through my head, clear as if she were standing right beside me, and I knew, with a certainty I didn't often let myself feel, that this was the moment. Now or never."There's something I need to ask you," I started, my pulse picking up. This was it, the perfect opening, his guard down, the wine still warm in my chest.Mohan stepped onto the terrace before I could finish the sentence, and something in his stride- fast, clipped, wrong, made the words die

SERAPHINEThe drive was quiet, but not the same quiet as before.Kael sat across from me in the car, and every few minutes I caught him looking, not the sharp, cataloging glance he usually gave a room, but something slower, something that lingered a beat too long before he dragged his eyes back to the window like he was disciplining himself. I clutched the leather folder of contracts against my chest, my knuckles pale against the dark leather, partly for something to do with my hands and partly because the weight of it, the finality of what was inside, was the only thing keeping my nerves in check."We are here now."Mohan's signs cut the silence as the convoy rolled to a stop outside a low, glass-fronted building tucked deep in an industrial district I didn't recognize, warehouses stretching out on either side under a sky gone the color of dull iron. The guards stepped out first, opening doors for the Alpha, and then for me, and I nearly didn't recognize Mohan standing there beside t

KAELI felt them before I saw them, the low, collective growl of my own Betas and Omegas rising from the courtyard like a tide pulling back before a wave breaks.I crossed to the balcony in time to see the convoy roll through my gates uninvited, black cars trailing dust behind them, and I already knew, before a single door opened, exactly whose crest was stamped on the lead vehicle's plate.Draven Cole stepped out first, unhurried, insufferable, straightening the cuff of his jacket like he'd arrived for tea rather than trespassing on land he had no business entering without an invitation. My wolves converged on him fast, a tight, bristling ring of bodies closing in around his car, teeth bared, low growls rolling through the courtyard like distant thunder.Draven raised both hands, mock surrender, a grin spreading slow and unbothered across his face."Please, tell your dogs to back down." His voice carried easily up to the balcony, pitched loud enough that I read the shape of it clean

SERAPHINEKael had promised the orphanage visit for days, and this morning, finally, it happened.I climbed into the car beside him, still riding some of the steadiness from the night before, from the word no sitting solid in my chest where fear usually lived. The drive was short, familiar in a way that felt almost strange now: the cracked stone pillars, the sagging sign, all of it looking smaller against the memory of everything I'd seen since I'd last walked through those gates as just an orphan girl with a paint-stained satchel.The children swarmed the courtyard the moment our cars rolled through, breathless, thrilled, tugging at Kael's sleeve to show him the new boreholes, the fresh paint on the east wing, the mattresses stacked neat in every dormitory. He crouched to their level without being asked, listened to a six-year-old's entire account of the drilling process with a patience I hadn't known he possessed, and something in my chest ached watching it, watching him be gentle