جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 20

FREYAThe letter arrived on a Monday.It came by pack-registered courier, which meant it was official and formal. I couldn't even pretend it was casual or friendly as I signed for it at my door in my socks at eight in the morning and afterwards, I stood there, staring at the Norwood seal on the envelope for a long moment before I finally made myself open it.I read it slowly. The Norwood Pack was filing a right of territorial claim over jointly developed land. But I knew what it actually was. A threat. I put the letter on the table and called Orin."I know," he said before I'd finished explaining. "I've been on the phone with a lawyer since six this morning.""Can they do this?" I asked.He was quiet for a second. "Technically, there's a basis for the claim. The law is old and the language is broader than it should be. But there’s a way around it.""Tell me.""If you were the Luna of a rival pack, their territorial claim would be overridden outright. A mated Luna's rights to her bir

FREYAMy fingers were shaking when I picked up the scroll.I didn’t even know why. My hands had been steady all night. I'd talked to Gemma for hours without flinching. I'd eaten a full meal, held a real conversation, and even laughed. But the moment my fingers touched the edge of that scroll, they started shaking like I was back outside in the cold.I unrolled it slowly.The name at the top was written in clean, formal script with bold ink on thick paper. Ethan Morven.I stared at it for a long moment. Then I looked up at Gemma. "Of course it's him," I said.I didn't mean for it to come out like that. My voice sounded a little flat, and a little tired. But Gemma didn't look offended. She just looked at me the way she'd been looking at me all evening, like she could see every thought moving through my head and wasn't surprised by any of them."You know him," she said. It wasn't a question."I know of him," I said carefully. "Everyone in the territory does."She smiled. "That's not wha

FREYALena looked exactly the same as always.Soft hair. Soft eyes. That expression she wore like a costume, the one that made her look wounded and a little lost, like she just needed someone to be kind. I'd fallen for it once but I knew better now.She was standing in the lobby when we came down, and she turned when she heard the elevator. Her eyes went to me first. Then to Ethan. Then to Ethan's hand resting at the small of my back.Something crossed her face before she switched it back into that familiar look."Freya," she said gently. "I've been trying to reach you.""My number hasn't changed," I said.She paused. "I thought it would be better in person." She glanced at Ethan briefly, then looked back at me. "Could we talk? Just us?""No," I said. "Whatever you have to say, say it here."She looked down for a second, took a breath, then looked back up with those big, sorry eyes."Brian's not doing well," she said.I waited."He's not sleeping. He's barely eating. He's been—" She s

FREYAI was already running before I'd even fully thought about it.One second I was reading that text over Ethan's shoulder, and the next I was pulling my arms from around his neck, sliding down from the tree, and grabbing my keys off the ground where they'd fallen. My hands were shaking so bad I could barely get the car door open."Freya." Ethan's voice came from behind me, sounding low and careful like he was talking to someone standing on a ledge."Don't," I said. I didn't even look back. I just got in, started the engine, and drove.The whole ride home I kept telling myself to breathe in and out. Just breathe. But my chest was so tight it felt like my ribs were being squeezed. A mating ceremony. He'd already set a date without asking me or even telling me. He had a date like everything was already decided and I was just supposed to show up and that would be that.I'd spent three years of my life in a situation I hadn't fully thought about before choosing. I wasn't doing that agai

FREYAThe video was bad enough on its own. But the way Brian had sent it straight to the Norwood council, like he was filing a report and trying to prove something was the part that really got me.I watched it once, sitting on the floor of Gemma’s home with a blanket around my shoulders, and then I put the phone down and breathed very carefully through my nose.Shame flooded through me first. I knew exactly what people were going to say. The omega who threw herself at the Northern Alpha the second her marriage fell apart. The woman who proved that Brian Norwood was right about everything.But under the shame, there was something harder and colder. Rage. Real, solid rage that burned through me.Brian called while I was still processing it. I almost let it go to voicemail, but I picked up instead."I just want you to know," he said, and his voice had that satisfied edge it always had when he thought he'd won something, "that this is exactly the kind of thing that makes you look unstable