All Chapters of The Ruthless Alpha's Claimed Breeder: Chapter 71 - Chapter 78

CIARAThe warm summer wind blew across the high meadow. It had been a full year since the winter solstice birth. The dark, bloody nights of war and cold stone felt like a long time ago. Up here, far above the packhouse in the high green pastures, everything was quiet and warm under the afternoon sun.I stood near the edge of the trees with my bare feet in the soft dirt. Beside me, Hayes leaned back against a broad pine trunk. He wore simple leather pants and no shirt. The sun beat down on his chest, showing the pale white scars left over from the winter fights. His long hair was tied back, and his gold eyes stayed fixed on the tall grass ahead of us."Look at them," Hayes said softly. A quiet smile pulled at the corner of his lips. "They are already heading toward the edge."In the middle of the field, two small, furry shapes rolled over each other in the sun.Our son was a year old now. He was a heavy, silver-furred pup with big paws and bright gold eyes. He bounced on his front feet

CIARA"You have two options, Alpha," Valen said, his voice carrying clearly across the quiet yard. "Hand over the twins peacefully, or watch the Capital march ten thousand men up this pass. You have until dusk to sign the transfer."Hayes didn't say a word. He stood on the bottom stone step, his broad shoulders locked tight, his right hand resting on the iron pommel of his broadsword."Hayes," I whispered, stepping off the plank into the cold dirt beside him. "Look at the guards."The two knights riding behind Valen were already resting their hands on their hilts. They weren't here to negotiate. They were here to measure our walls.Valen unrolled the parchment, the dark red wax breaking with a crisp snap. "By royal decree, the Luna Ciara and her pups belong to the Crown. If you resist, you will be executed for treason, and the children will be taken by force anyway.""They're two days old," I said, my voice shaking with raw heat. "You think I'm letting you take my babies?"Valen final

CIARAEver since Gabriel pressed his mouth to my wrist in the Great Hall, my mark had been throbbing with a sick, feverish heat. Hayes had spent the entire afternoon pacing the floorboards of our quarters, his heavy boots thudding back and forth while he barked orders down to the courtyard. Every time he looked at my skin, his eyes turned dark gold, but he was too angry to come near me.By midnight, the heat under my skin felt like needles. I was sitting at the wooden table in my thin linen shift, trying to cool my collarbone with a wet cloth, when the side door to the balcony creaked open.I stood up instantly, my hand going to the iron dagger on the table. "Who is there?"Nobody answered. The wind blew through the crack, carrying a small, square wooden box wrapped in dark velvet. It sat right on the stone threshold of the balcony door.I walked over slowly, picked up the box, and brought it to the candlelight. Inside lay a dress made of crushed silver silk. The fabric felt like cold

CIARAThe rain had stopped, leaving the stone courtyard cold. I sat alone on the cracked edge of the stone fountain where Hayes had slammed Gabriel hours earlier. My high-necked wool dress was still heavy and damp around my ankles, but I didn't care enough to go upstairs and change. Hayes was inside with the twins and I didn’t want to run into him. "Sitting in a puddle crying over two idiot males is not going to win you a war, Luna."I jumped, my hand dropping to the small iron dagger tucked inside my belt.Standing near the wooden stable archway was a tall female wrapped in a thick coat of white wolf fur and boiled black leather. She had sharp, icy blue eyes, pale scarred skin, and two heavy steel broadswords strapped across her back. She didn't walk like a noble lady—she moved like a veteran enforcer who lived on horseback.It was Lady Vanya, the female Alpha of the Frost-Peak clan from the northern tundra."I am not crying," I said, wiping the cold moisture off my cheeks with th