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Todos os capítulos de The Alpha's Lost Mate.: Capítulo 161 - Capítulo 170

231 Capítulos

Months Later

Sophie Steele stood in the studio doorway one late afternoon, watching Ethan hunched over his own small desk beside the window. He was considerably taller than he had been at the start of the year. His handwriting on the math worksheet in front of him was steadier now, more confident. Looking at him, Sophie found herself struck, as she often was these days, by how quickly the ordinary months had accumulated into something that felt, looking back, like an entirely different life than the anxious, watchful one they had been living a year ago."You're staring again," Ethan said without looking up, echoing, without realizing it, the exact words Lena had once used with Rowan."I'm allowed to stare at my own son occasionally," Sophie said, crossing the room to sit beside him. "How's the homework?""Fine," Ethan said. "Gerald taught me a shortcut for the fractions last week. It's actually really useful."Rosalind's visit, months earlier, had gone beautifully, considerably warmer than even Ge

A Lesson in the Garden

Brooke had been running the lesson exactly as she always did, breathing exercises first, then the small, careful, supervised attempts at controlled instinct, when she noticed the youngest child in the group. A girl named Maren, barely five years old, was trembling at the edge of the group rather than joining the exercise at all."She's frightened," Brooke murmured to her assistant. "First real sign of instinct surfacing, and she's terrified rather than curious. I need a minute to work with her properly before the rest of the group loses focus."She hadn't taken three steps toward Maren before she noticed Ethan had already gotten there first, crouching down to the little girl's eye level with the same unhurried patience Brooke herself had modeled for him years earlier."It's okay," Ethan said, his voice low and steady. "I felt exactly like that too, the first time. Really scared, like something bad was happening to me instead of something good.""It feels hot," Maren whispered, her sma

The Heir

Dominic Steele stood at the edge of the council hall's smaller meeting room, watching his son field questions from three visiting representatives with a composure that still, months later, occasionally caught him by surprise. He found himself thinking, not for the first time, that eight years old was an absurdly young age to already carry this much presence."Explain to me again," one of the representatives said, an older man from a territory two regions over. "How did you know the weather would change that day at the community gathering, all those years ago?""I didn't know it the way you'd know something from a forecast," Ethan said, patient with the question, though he had clearly answered some version of it many times by now. "I felt it building, the same way I felt it before my own flicker surfaces. My wolf notices things before the rest of me catches up. I've learned, over the years, to trust that feeling instead of talking myself out of it.""And you've since learned to guide t

The Ethan Standard

The late afternoon light filtered through the tall, polished windows of the study, casting long amber shadows across the dark mahogany desk where Dominic Steele sat. Next to him, Sophie Steele leaned back into the soft cushions of the armchair, resting one hand gently over the swell of her stomach. Lena stood near the corner of the room with her arms folded across her chest, her posture attentive, watching the glossy black speakerphone resting in the center of the desk.Caius’s voice carried through the speaker, crisp yet undeniably warm, filling the quiet space with an air of unhurried importance. Hearing the news he had called to deliver, Sophie found herself genuinely surprised by how gently significant it turned out to be. The quiet, conversational tone of his voice was considerably calmer than the sudden, formal urgency of his initial phone call had first suggested."I wanted you to hear this directly from me, rather than finding out through a formal notice passed down from the a

Gerald, Changed

Vivienne found Gerald in the garden long after dark one evening, sitting alone beside the row of tomato plants that had, by now, produced three full seasons of fruit, and something in his stillness made her pause before approaching, uncertain whether he wanted company or simply quiet."You're out here late," she said finally, settling onto the bench beside him."I was thinking," Gerald said. "About something Rosalind said to me last week, actually. She asked whether I ever worried this version of myself might not last. Whether the man who plants tomatoes and helps with fractions and writes letters to the woman he wronged decades ago is simply a performance I'll eventually tire of maintaining.""What did you tell her?" Vivienne asked."I told her I didn't know how to answer that honestly, in the moment," Gerald admitted. "I've been sitting out here since, trying to work out whether I actually believe it myself.""And do you," Vivienne asked.Gerald considered the question with genuine

Considered, Not Swept Up

Gerald Steele sat with Rosalind's question for three full days before he let himself begin answering it in his mind, wanting his response to come from something steadier than the surge of emotion her voice had stirred in him that first night."You've been quiet," Rosalind said gently when she called again, not pressing him for an answer. "I don't want you to feel rushed, Gerald. I asked because I meant it, not because I expected an immediate reply.""I appreciate that," Gerald said. "I want to give you an answer I've actually thought through properly, not simply the answer my heart wants to give the moment I hear your voice.""Take whatever time you need," she said softly. "I've waited thirty years already. A few more days won't undo anything."He spent those days walking the garden, turning the question over from every angle he could manage. He weighed what moving closer to her would actually mean: not simply the romance of it, but the practical shape of a life split between two terr

Trust Restored

Dominic Steele stood at the head of the council table, looking out over a room considerably fuller than it used to be. Not for the first time in these past months, he found himself struck by how completely different this gathering felt from the tense, guarded sessions of a few years earlier."Before we move to the regular agenda," he said, "I want to open the floor, as I've done every session this past year, to any concerns members wish to raise about my leadership, or this family's conduct, without needing to route them through formal complaint first."A younger council member, a woman named Petra who had joined only recently, raised her hand with obvious hesitation."I have something, actually," Petra said, "though I want to say first that I don't intend it as an accusation. Simply a question.""Ask it plainly," Dominic said warmly. "That's precisely what this time is for.""I've heard, through some of the older members, about how differently these sessions used to run," Petra said.

Gerald's Answer

The afternoon sun blazed over the council hall parking lot, casting long, stark shadows across the blacktop as Dominic Steele unlocked the family sedan. Beside him, Sophie Steele adjusted her coat over the growing curve of her stomach, leaning slightly against the passenger door to rest her aching lower back. Before Dominic could pull open the door for her, the swift, rhythmic sound of heels clicking frantically against the pavement echoed across the quiet lot.Lena Marsh caught up with Sophie and Dominic just as they were reaching the car, breathless from hurrying across the parking lot. She clutched her phone tightly in one hand, her hair slightly tousled from her sprint from the building’s main entrance. She didn't wait for either of them to ask before she started talking, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath."Gerald called me this morning," Lena said, placing a hand over her heart as she steadied her footing. "He wanted you both to hear this from someone he trusts,

Thriving

Sophie sat at the drafting table with her laptop open to the studio's quarterly numbers, considerably rounder now in her final month of pregnancy than she had been at any point since Ethan's own arrival. Looking at the screen, she found herself genuinely startled by the figures Priya had just sent through."These can't be right," she said, scrolling back through the spreadsheet a second time."They're right," Priya said, her voice carrying through the video call with obvious delight. "I triple-checked them myself before sending. We've grown forty percent since the feature ran, and it's not slowing down. I've had to turn away three new client inquiries this month alone, simply because we don't have the capacity to take them properly.""I think we need to talk about hiring," Sophie said, turning the number over with genuine professional consideration rather than simple disbelief now. "A junior designer, at minimum, someone who could handle initial client consultations under your directi

On their Own Terms

The quiet hum of the night enveloped the main villa, the soft moonlight pouring through the tall glass windows of the study and casting gentle silver light across the dark hardwood floor. Outside, the breeze rustled gently through the trees, but inside, a warm, still silence reigned.Sophie brought Priya's news to Dominic that same evening, both of them settling into the study long after Ethan had gone to bed. The details of the national feature and the award nomination still sat between them like something too large to fully take in at once. The sheet of paper on which Sophie had jotted down Priya's excited words rested on the desk between them, its neat handwriting gleaming under the amber desk lamp.Dominic stood near the edge of the large mahogany desk, his posture relaxed yet attentive as he studied his wife's face. He knew how carefully she guarded their private life, how fiercely protective she was of Ethan, and how hesitant she had been in the past whenever the public eye turn

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