جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 60

FREYAWe spent the next two days going through every name in that folder.Ethan pulled in three of his senior men who’d been in the pack back when my brother died, and we sat with them one at a time in the l meeting room off the main hall. Fen asked most of the questions. I watched from the corner with my arm still in a sling, taking notes, trying to keep my face calm even though my stomach was in knots every single time.The first two had nothing. They were just old men with clean records and confused faces when we asked about a cover up from years back.The third one, a man named Pace who handled border patrols, got very quiet immediately.“I don’t know anything,” he said, but his eyes wouldn’t stay still.“Pace.” Ethan’s voice sounded so low that it made the air in the room feel heavier. “I’m not going to ask twice.”Pace finally talked. He said he’d been paid to delay a patrol route the night my brother died, by someone he never saw clearly. Just a distorted voice on a burner phon

FREYAI felt the baby kick for the first time in the middle of a strategy meeting, and I almost knocked over my cup of water.We were gathered around the big table in the war room with maps of the mining company spread out, little markers showing where Lena’s forces and the Crestwood wolves were last spotted. Ethan was talking through the plan with Fen and two other men when a tiny flutter happened deep in my stomach.It stopped me cold for a second. Ethan caught the look on my face right away.“What is it?” he said, already halfway out of his chair.“Nothing’s wrong,” I said, putting my hand on the spot. “The baby. I just felt the baby move.”His whole face changed, going soft for just a second before he caught himself and retreated back into Alpha mode, but I saw it. That tiny flutter did something to me too, steadying me in a way I didn’t expect. This wasn’t just about Lena anymore, or revenge or even the mines. There was a person growing inside me who needed all of this to be ove

FREYATrusting Brian felt about as natural as trusting a snake to babysit, but I'd learned the hard way that pride didn’t win wars. We needed every advantage we could get, and Brian knew Lena's patterns better than anyone in this pack."She likes to keep an escape route open," he said, pointing at the map. "Always has, even back when we were together. There's a back tunnel here, cut into the hillside. If we don't block it first, she'll slip out before we even get close."Ethan studied him for a long moment, his jaw still tight. "Why should we believe a word out of your mouth?""Because I've got nothing left to gain by lying," Brian said. "Like I said earlier, she took everything from me too. My pride, my pack's respect, even half my allies. I want her to pay for it just as much as you do."I watched the two of them stare each other down like wolves sizing up, and for once I didn't feel the need to step between them. Let them hate each other. As long as they both wanted Lena gone, that

FREYACourt drained us in a way I hadn't expected, the tiredness not coming from fighting but from sitting still while strangers in suits picked apart my family's whole life.I testified on the third day, hands shaking slightly even though I'd promised myself I wouldn't let them see that. I talked about my father, the company he built from nothing, and the years Norwood Pack profited off land that was never legally theirs to take. I told them about my son, asleep at home with Gemma, and how this fight wasn't just about money or pride anymore. It was about protecting what little he had left to inherit."This land is my family's legacy," I told the judge, my voice sounding steady even as my heart pounded. "It belonged to my father, then to me. No corporation gets to take that just because they found a clever angle to do it from."Ethan sat behind me every single day, his presence comforting, even when the questions got ugly, even when the corporation's lawyer tried twisting my words in

ETHANFreya's screams came through the bond like fire. I felt every contraction like it was happening to me. I felt her pain, her fear, and her doubt equally, and it nearly brought me to my knees in the waiting room.Brian was still here. Of course, he was. And he was watching me with this small, satisfied smile that made my wolf want to rip his throat out.I'd paced for what felt like hours, my whole body vibrating with the need to get back to Freya and make her understand, to somehow force her to believe me through the bond that she was everything to me. That I'd never, never hurt her or hers.Finally, a doctor came out. "She's asking for you," he said. I practically sprinted.Freya looked small in the hospital bed, her black hair plastered to her face with sweat, her blue eyes exhausted and wary. When she saw me, something spread through her face; relief, then doubt, then something that looked dangerously close to despair."Don't ask any questions," I said, climbing into the bed b