บททั้งหมดของ Reborn for my Step brother: บทที่ 91 - บทที่ 100

ARIA For one long second the wolf's muscles stayed coiled, teeth still bared, every part of him promising the attack we'd both braced for. My heart pounded so hard I could feel it in my throat. Trenton's arm stayed locked in front of me, the blade steady in his hand, and I waited for the leap that would start the fight. But it didn't come. Instead the growl in the wolf's throat began to falter, breaking apart into something uncertain, almost confused. His head tilted to the side, slow and strange, his pale eyes locking onto me instead of Trenton. The snarl faded from his lips. His ears, which had been pinned flat against his skull, lifted just slightly, twitching like he was trying to understand something his own instincts hadn't given him words for yet. "Trenton," I whispered. "Something's wrong. He's not—he's not attacking anymore." "I see it," Trenton said quietly, though he didn't lower the blade even an inch. "Don't move." The wolf took one slow step back instead

ARIAAfter the council finally let us go, Elder Marlow asked to speak with us privately, and Trenton and I followed him down a quiet hallway to a small study lined with old books and a single flickering lamp. He closed the door behind us and gestured toward two chairs facing his desk."Sit," he said. "There is more you need to know. Things I did not say in front of the council."My stomach twisted with a fresh wave of nerves. "More bad news?""Perhaps," Marlow said, lowering himself slowly into his own chair with a tired sigh. "Perhaps only more truth. I am not always certain there is a difference."Trenton reached over and took my hand without either of us really thinking about it, his fingers wrapping tight around mine like he already knew I was going to need something steady to hold onto."Tell me," I said. "All of it. I don't want pieces anymore."Marlow nodded slowly, folding his hands on the desk in front of him. "The First Bloodline was never simply about strength," he began. "

ARIAThe palace felt like a different place the morning after the attack. Guards stood at every door, every window, every hallway that used to feel open and safe. The broken pillar in the courtyard had already been covered with cloth, but I still saw it every time I closed my eyes, the crack running through the stone, the man crumpled beneath it.Trenton hadn't slept at all. I found him in the small records room off the main hall, papers spread across the table in front of him, his hair a mess from running his hands through it too many times."You should rest," I said, stepping inside and closing the door behind me."I can't," he said, not looking up. "Not until I understand how they knew, Aria. Not until I know exactly where we're weak."I walked over and sat across from him, watching him flip through page after page of names and schedules. "Knew what exactly? That we were coming back that day?""That you'd be here," he said, finally lifting his eyes to mine. "Think about it. They di

ALPHA LOCKWOODI spent the next several nights buried in records, telling myself each time that this would be the night I finally proved my own mind wrong. I pulled hockey reports from the archive room, medical files from the healer's office, old letters from the palace records, anything that might hold a thread I could pull to unravel this strange fog settling over my thoughts. I expected to find nothing. I expected clean records, ordinary seasons, a son who had simply lived his life the way any young wolf might, without tragedy, without the grief I kept carrying around like a stone in my chest.Instead I found something far stranger.Buried in Trenton's medical file, tucked between routine notes about a minor sprain from early in the season, was a single line that made my whole body go cold. It mentioned a shoulder injury, described in careful medical language, severity noted as significant, followed immediately by another entry directly beneath it stating the injury had been reclas

ARIAHis question hung in the air between us, heavy and impossible to escape. What did you change? I opened my mouth twice and closed it again, my mind racing through every possible way to answer, every possible way to keep this locked safely inside me the way I had kept it locked away for so long. But looking at his face, worn and frightened and honestly searching, I understood I couldn't lie to him. Not about this. Not to a man who was already carrying half the truth without even understanding what it meant."I can't tell you everything," I said finally, my voice shaking. "Not all of it. I don't know what you'll think of me if I do.""Try me," the Alpha said gently. "I promise you, Aria, whatever you say in this room stays between us until you decide otherwise."I took a deep breath, my hands twisting together in my lap. "Some things were supposed to happen differently," I said slowly, choosing each word like I was walking across thin ice. "Bad things. Things I knew about before the