Accueil / Werewolf / The Alpha's Lost Mate. / Chapitre 181 - Chapitre 190

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The Narrow Version

Sophie found Dominic in the study that same evening, Lena's message about the documentary crew still open on her phone. The room was bathed in the soft, warm glow of the corner lamp. She settled across from him without preamble, her dark eyes reflecting the quiet weight of her thoughts."I keep turning it over," she said, leaning her arms against her knees as she looked up at him. "Part of me likes the idea. The studio deserves to be seen properly, not just described in an article." She paused, her thumb gently tracing the edge of her phone screen. "But I don't want cameras anywhere near Elena, or near the parts of this house that are simply ours."Dominic leaned back against his mahogany desk, crossing his arms over his broad chest. His expression remained calm and steady as he listened to her concerns. He understood her protectiveness better than anyone else in the pack."Then we draw the line plainly," Dominic said, his voice deep and reassuring in the quiet room. "The studio and t

Who He Became

Dominic held the photograph up to the lamplight, a formal council portrait taken not long after he had first assumed leadership. He found himself studying the young man in it with the particular detached curiosity of someone examining a stranger who happened to share his own face."You've been sitting with that for a while," Sophie said, finding him there and settling onto the arm of his chair."I found it in an old file Lena was clearing out," Dominic said. "Look at this. I don't think I've ever seen myself look quite so rigid."Sophie studied the photograph: a young Dominic standing stiff and composed at the center of a formal council gathering, his expression carefully neutral in a way that revealed, if anything, considerably more tension than ease."You look like you're holding your breath," she observed."I think I was, in a sense," Dominic admitted. "That was not long after I took on full leadership. I remember feeling, constantly, that any visible uncertainty would be read as w

Routine Resettlement

Gerald called Halvard back within the hour of hearing the news, unwilling to let worry sit in the family's chest any longer than it had to. He had learned, over these past years, that fear left unaddressed tended to grow considerably larger than whatever had actually caused it."Tell me plainly what you've seen," Gerald said. "Dominic and Sophie are waiting on an honest answer, not a cautious one.""I understand," Halvard said. "I want to be clear: I flagged it out of habit rather than genuine alarm. A trading family relocating near the old border territory. Nothing more than that.""Any connection to Draven's old network?" Gerald asked, pressing for certainty rather than assumption."None that I can find," Halvard said. "I checked twice before calling you at all, precisely because I know how that family reacts to anything touching that particular stretch of land. The network was dismantled years ago, thoroughly, under the regional sanctions. This is simply an unrelated family seeking

Richard's Grave

Sophie stood at the edge of the small family plot, the morning still cool enough to carry the faint scent of overturned earth from the groundskeeper's recent work. She found herself unable to move for a moment, watching the whole family gather slowly behind her."You're allowed to take your time," Dominic said quietly, his hand finding the small of her back."I know," Sophie said. "I think I'm just realizing how long it's actually been since I stood here properly. Not rushing through on my way somewhere else."Ethan came to stand beside her, considerably taller now than the boy who had once found a key in a sealed card and traced it to a room full of forgotten plans. He carried a small bundle of flowers from the garden, basil and rosemary mixed in with the blooms, exactly the kind of practical, meaningful gesture Sophie had come to expect from him."I thought he'd like something that actually grew here," Ethan said, setting the bundle carefully against the headstone. "Not just flowers

The Honest Moment

The warm glow of the studio lamp illuminated the quiet room as Sophie Steele watched the footage three times before she let herself react. The small screen of Priya's laptop was propped neatly on the studio's broad drafting table, casting a soft blue light across the worn wooden surface. On the display, Elena's recorded self toddled into the frame with the particular unhurried determination only a toddler possessed, her small feet pattering softly against the polished floorboards."I wanted you to see it before I said anything," Priya said softly, leaning against the edge of the desk and watching Sophie's face carefully for any sign of hesitation. "The crew didn't plan this at all. She simply wandered in during a break between shots while the cameraman was still testing the lighting."On screen, the little girl crossed the studio floor slowly, her small hands balancing her top-heavy frame as she navigated past the tall oak shelves Richard had built by hand so many years ago. She moved

A New Hint

Sophie was folding a small stack of Elena's outgrown clothes when Ethan wandered into the nursery, considerably more distracted than his usual purposeful self, and settled onto the floor without quite announcing why he had come."You're not here to help with laundry," Sophie said, amused."No," Ethan admitted. "I wanted to ask you something, actually. I've been thinking about it for a while.""Ask," Sophie said, setting the folding aside to give him her full attention."Do you think you and Dad might have another baby someday?" Ethan asked, direct as ever, though something in his tone carried more hope than his usual matter-of-fact questions. "Not Elena. I mean after her. Another one."Sophie considered the question carefully, surprised by it, though she probably shouldn't have been, given how thoroughly Ethan had settled into his role as Elena's devoted, patient older brother."Why do you ask?""I like having a sister," Ethan said. "I like teaching her things, even though she's still

Her First Word

Dominic Steele was still holding Sophie's hand pressed softly against her own when the sharp knock sounded against the wooden paneling of the study. He felt the slight spike of tension in his jaw as he released her fingers, half-expecting some urgent council matter or a sudden regional update given the suddenness of the interruption. He crossed the room with steady, deliberate steps and pulled the heavy oak door open himself. Instead of a grim council messenger, he found Ethan standing in the hallway, breathless and grinning in a way that told Dominic immediately nothing was wrong at all. "She said it," Ethan announced, before Dominic could even open his mouth to ask what had happened. "Elena. She actually said a real word. I didn't want to wait to tell you." Sophie was already crossing the room toward the open doorway, her own quiet news momentarily forgotten in the face of Ethan's obvious, radiant delight. "What did she say?" she asked, a warm smile spreading across her face.

Vivienne's Peace

Vivienne sat alone in the small study off the east corridor, the same room where she had once drafted the full, unflinching record of Gerald's thirty years of manipulation. She found herself turning the old pages over again after so long, genuinely surprised by how little weight they carried anymore."You're reading that again," Gerald said, finding her there during one of his regular visits from Rosalind's territory. He settled into the chair across from her with easy familiarity."I am," Vivienne admitted. "I don't know why, exactly. I think I wanted to see whether it still hurt the way it used to.""Does it?" Gerald asked, genuine curiosity in his voice rather than any defensiveness."Less than I expected," Vivienne said. "I think that's what surprised me most, sitting here. I wrote every word of this with my hands shaking, certain the honesty would cost this family everything. Reading it now, it simply reads like history. Difficult history, but history all the same, not an open wo

An Easy Yes

Golden evening light slanted softly through the study's high windows as Sophie and Dominic sat with the broadcaster's follow-up request. They turned the printed proposal over between them for less than an evening before reaching a clear, unanimous decision, moving far quicker than any of the earlier media conversations had ever taken."This one feels different," Sophie said softly, leaning back against the leather armchair as her thumb gently brushed over the edge of the paper. "It's not about us. It's not about digging into the past or putting our private life on display. It's entirely about the program, the training field, the work Ethan's actually doing.""I agree," Dominic said, setting his tea mug down on the wooden desk with a slow, thoughtful nod. "Though I think the final say belongs to him, not us, given how directly it touches something he built himself.""Of course," Sophie replied, a warm smile touching her lips. "He's earned the right to make the call on his own work."Th

A Quiet Life

Gerald was pruning the last of the season's tomato vines when Ethan found him, considerably taller now than the small boy who had once helped plant that very first uneven row. He straightened slowly, his back no longer quite as forgiving as it used to be, and studied his great-nephew with obvious pleasure."You've got dirt on your face," Ethan observed."I generally do, these days," Gerald said. "I've found I don't mind it nearly as much as I once would have."Ethan sat down on the low garden wall, watching him work for a while in comfortable silence. "Do you miss it? The council. The old life, before all this."Gerald considered the question honestly, the way this family had taught him to consider everything. "I thought I would, for a long time. I don't anymore. I think I've finally stopped measuring my days by how much authority they contain.""What do you measure them by now?" Ethan asked, genuinely curious rather than simply making conversation."Whether I was useful to someone wh

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