All Chapters of Son Of The Betrayed-A Wolf Shifter Romance: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

The difference hit me hard. Everybody had kept teasing Takoda about staying. Rowan. Reeves. Even Mason.At first, I had assumed they were exaggerating. Now, I wasn't so sure. Maybe staying really was unusual for a Blackwell. Maybe sitting around a fire until one in the morning was a minor miracle.A girl wrapped in a blanket wandered past barefoot in the snow. Nobody stopped her. Nobody questioned her.Black Hollow accepted weird behavior as long as it was entertaining.“Hypothermia's a choice, apparently,” I muttered, pulling the thick fleece of Takoda’s hoodie tighter around my chest.Takoda followed my gaze, his dark eyes tracking the moving blanket. The girl was now attempting to dance, her pale toes sinking into the white frost.His mouth twitched, a tiny infraction of his usual stoic mask. “Apparently.”Victory. Tiny victory. Still counts.The fire popped loudly, sending a brilliant geyser of orange sparks spiraling upward into the canopy. Music drifted through the trees, heavy

With Takoda’s hand clasped in mine, it felt like the rest of Black Hollow disappeared entirely.No wolf politics intruded on the cab, no Carter shadowed the glass, and no old bloodlines dictated the mood. Just his hand holding mine inside the quiet warmth of the truck while snow fell softly beyond the windshield. Takoda looked down at our joined fingers like he wasn’t entirely sure how we had reached this point either. The quiet realization did dangerous things to my chest. For all his control and all his fierce restraint, this closeness seemed entirely new for him, too. The raw intimacy, the physical proximity, and the simple act of wanting someone enough to stay still beside them instead of running away into the woods all felt uncharted.My thumb brushed lightly against the side of his hand before I could think better of it. It was a microscopic movement. Takoda inhaled sharply, his chest hitching beneath his dark jacket. The sound was subtle, yet it remained entirely loud enough to

The next morning came with snow covering rooftops and porch rails in uneven layers while pale winter sunlight filtered through thick gray clouds that hung low over the mountains.I stood in the kitchen wearing Takoda’s hoodie while staring out the back window at the snow-covered woods behind our house. The hoodie's oversized sleeves swallowed my hands while the scent of Takoda clung faintly to the fabric. I snort at the fact I’d officially adopted an emotional support hoodie.“You know,” Trin’s voice drawled behind my shoulder, breaking the silence, “most people take a guy’s hoodie after kissing him.”I closed my eyes briefly, my face burning.Slowly, I turned around finding Trin leaning heavily against the kitchen doorway, a coffee mug in one hand and entirely too much amusement on her face. “You’re all pure vultures,” I muttered.“Not true,” she replied smoothly, taking a slow sip. “We’re just aggressively emotionally invested.”The kitchen smelled like cinnamon pancakes and fresh c

Harmony looked seconds away from spontaneous combustion. Her eyes bounced between me and Takoda before she clutched the books against her chest dramatically."No," she breathed, her voice a hiss in the quiet aisle.I narrowed my eyes at her sudden theatrical display. "No what?""No to whatever this is," she claimed, pointing a wild, gesturing hand between the two of us. "I leave you alone for five minutes, and suddenly he's roaming Main Street looking for you like some kind of emotionally unavailable bloodhound."A laugh escaped me before I could stop it, the sudden sound echoing off the timber shelves.Takoda looked completely unoffended by the accusation, his jaw relaxing slightly as he shifted his weight. Which, honestly,

At takoda words, Harmony looked entirely too pleased with herself, hugging her stack of books tighter against her chest. "I love helping people," she claimed with an innocent blink."You create problems professionally," I countered, fixing her with a flat glare."I create opportunities," she corrected proudly.Mrs. Bellamy snorted loudly from behind the cash register, tapping her pencil against the wood. "The girl's got a point, Ana."She absolutely did not. I pointed an accusing finger at the elderly shopkeeper. "You're enabling her."Mrs. Bellamy took a slow, deliberate bite of her blueberry muffin, unbothered. "I've been enabling troublemakers since 1978, honey."Takoda didn't look particularly bothered by any of the crossfire. In fact, the faintest hint of amusement lingered around the corner of his lips, a small shadow breaking his stoic mask.Harmony tucked her phone away into her coat pocket, checking her watch. "Anyway," she announced proudly, stepping toward the exit, "Saturd