บททั้งหมดของ Midnight Debt: Never His, Always His: บทที่ 41 - บทที่ 50

ZADENSomething had changed.And it was driving me insane.I noticed it the second I stepped into the dining room the next morning. The sun was barely up, casting pale golden light across the long mahogany table. Reina was already there, sitting at the far end like always, a steaming cup of coffee cradled between her small hands.On the surface, nothing looked wrong.Her hair was neatly pulled back into a low ponytail. She wore a soft beige sweater that looked too big on her frame, and her posture was straight as ever. But the moment I entered, I felt it, that subtle shift in the air. The absence of something I hadn’t realized I had grown used to.She looked up at me.“Good morning,” she said.Her voice was perfectly polite. Calm. Controlled.Too controlled.“Morning,” I replied, my eyes narrowing slightly as I took my usual seat at the head of the table.She gave me a small nod, the kind of nod you give to someone you’re trying to remain civil with and then looked back down into her

ZADENI didn't plan to ask.That's the part I keep coming back to. I didn't sit down and decide that today I will ask my Beta about my wife because apparently I have nothing more pressing to do with my time. It just came out. At the end of a meeting that had nothing to do with her, after everyone else had filed out and it was just the two of us left at the table with cold coffee and a stack of reports neither of us had touched in the last twenty minutes."Has she said anything to you?" I asked.Damian looked up from his notes.He knew immediately who I meant. I could tell by the way his face did that thing, the particular blankness of a man deciding very quickly how to answer a question he wasn't expecting but probably should have seen coming."About what specifically?" he said."In general." I kept my voice flat. The way I say everything that matters. "She's been different this week. I want to know if something happened."Damian set his pen down.That was the first sign. Damian only

ZADENI shouldn't have gone back.That's the thing I keep telling myself. I went inside after the garden conversation, sat at my desk, opened four different documents, closed all four of them, and then stood up and walked back outside before I finished a single coherent thought about why that was a bad idea.My wolf didn't even pretend to be surprised.She was still there. Same spot, same dirt on her hands, the late afternoon light sitting on her hair like it had specifically decided to make my life more difficult. She looked up when she heard me and something crossed her face, surprise but quickly replaced with that careful neutral expression she'd been wearing around me all week.I hated that expression.I hadn't admitted that until right now, standing at the edge of the garden realizing I'd come back because I couldn't stay inside, but I hated it. I hated the careful. I hated the neutral. I hated that she had decided to give me the wall because somewhere along the way I had given h

REINAI didn't go looking for trouble.I want that on record. I was minding my business, doing exactly what I always do, keeping my head down, staying in my lane, existing in this house as quietly and as possible. I was not looking for anything. I was not trying to provoke anyone. I was simply standing in the east courtyard with a cup of tea, enjoying approximately four minutes of afternoon sunlight, when Callum found me."You look like someone who needs a worse joke than whatever's going on in their head," he said, dropping onto the bench beside me without invitation.I looked at him. "That's a terrible opener.""I know. I have worse ones. Want to hear them?"I almost didn't smile. I nearly held it together.But Callum had that particular quality that made it genuinely difficult to maintain a straight face around him. He'd been assigned to the east wing patrol three weeks ago and somewhere between his terrible jokes and his complete refusal to treat me like a piece of furniture, we'd

ZADENI started running at midnight.Not because I planned to. Not because it was scheduled or strategic or part of any particular routine. I just couldn’t sleepThis is the thing about running hard through familiar ground in the dark, it is supposed to clear everything. That's what it has always done for me. Years of using this land as a reset, a pressure valve, a place where everything that cannot be controlled can at least be outrun for an hour.Tonight it wasn't working.I ran the eastern boundary first. Harder than necessary, pushing until my lungs properly burned and the only thing that should have existed was the ground under my feet and the cold air and the dark. The trees blurred at the edges of my vision. My body found the familiar rhythm, the one that usually quieted everything else within the first ten minutes.Ten minutes passed and she was still there.Her voice You don't want me Like a fact she had already made her peaceI pushed harder.Crossed the northern ridge. The