Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 8

The pregnancy test was still clutched tightly in my hand when I stepped out of my room.For almost twenty minutes, I had sat on the cold bathroom floor, staring at those two pink lines as if they might suddenly disappear if I looked hard enough.They didn’t.They remained there—clear, bold, undeniable.Positive.My trembling hand slowly moved to my stomach. Nothing felt different yet. No sign that a life was growing inside me. But the test said otherwise, and those two lines couldn’t lie.I placed the stick carefully beside the sink and washed my hands, though my fingers still shook. Then I looked at myself in the mirror for a long moment.“You can do this,” I whispered softly to my reflection. “Just tell him. Everything will be okay.”The girl staring back at me didn’t look convinced.Truthfully, neither was I.The walk to Kael’s study usually took seven minutes.I knew every corner of the pack house by heart—the long eastern hallway, the wall lined with hunting trophies, the dark wo

Because if I turned around and looked at Mila again, I knew I wouldn’t be able to leave.And if I stayed, my daughter would grow up watching me love a man who had already chosen someone else.She would grow up in the shadow of rejection.That was the one thing I refused to allow.The southern border of the pack was silent at this hour.No guards.No patrols.I knew this side of the territory better than anyone. I had spent my childhood running through these woods, climbing the rocks near the creek, sneaking past ward markers when I was young enough to think rules were games.I knew exactly where the protection barriers weakened.Exactly where I could leave unnoticed.I stopped beside the final tree at the edge of Ashveil territory.For a moment, I simply stood there.Behind me was everything I had ever known.My home.The scent of pine trees and smoke drifting from pack chimneys. The warmth of familiar wolves sleeping safely nearby. The invisible connection every pack member shared—a

I stopped in the middle of the dark forest path, completely still.A strange ache pulsed through my chest.He felt it.Even after the rejection… even after the bond had been broken, some instinct deep inside me knew Kael could still feel me leaving. The connection between mates didn’t disappear instantly. It lingered. Reached. Held on long after it was supposed to end.Somewhere back in that study, he was awake.And he knew I was walking away.I closed my eyes briefly, forcing down the pain threatening to rise again.Then I kept moving.The southern border marker stood at the edge of the woods, old and weathered beneath the moonlight.The Ashveil symbol carved into the stone had faded over the years, softened by rain and time. Two overlapping circles—the mark of the pack I had called home my entire life.I had crossed this border hundreds of times before.But never like this.Tonight, there would be no coming back.Beyond the marker, the trees opened onto an empty road stretching endl

The bell over the diner door didn't ring so much as clatter, a tired metal sound that Donna kept saying she'd fix and never did. I'd learned the exact weight to push it so it wouldn't clatter twice.Eight months. Eight months since the tree line, since Ada's hand digging into my arm, since I'd made the decision that same night before I let anyone talk me out of it. Eight months since I'd let myself think about any of it long enough to feel it."Table four's getting impatient," Donna called from behind the counter, not unkindly. She said everything without much heat in it, like she'd used up her urgency decades ago and had none left to spare."I'm going." I braced one hand against the small of my back and pushed up from the booth where I'd been catching five minutes off my feet. Nine months pregnant didn't leave much room for catching breath sitting down either, but it beat standing.The bell clattered again. I didn't look up right away — I never did anymore, that reflex long since tra