جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 40

Ronan's POV I let the silence stretch a while before I spoke, savoring the way it pressed down on him even as he sat there pretending it didn't."You know," I said, low, circling the sofa slowly, "there's something almost admirable about a man who'll sit in another man's house, in the middle of another man's territory, and act like he still has the right to look this calm.""Why are you here, Ronan?"His voice came out flat. Cold. No fear in it at all, which irritated me more than fear would have."Because everything in this territory belongs to me," I said, stopping directly in front of him now. "The land. The house you're sitting in. The air you're currently wasting on questions instead of answers. That's not opinion, Marcus. That's the constitution this pack was built on. I could quote you the exact article if you'd like."Marcus grinned.Actually grinned, slow and humorless. He had the expression of a man who'd stopped being afraid of me a long time ago and hadn't bothered mentio

Vanessa's POV "What baby?"Odalys's voice cut sharp through the room, her eyes narrowing between me and the doctor, and I felt my whole body go still, the doctor's mouth already opening to answer a question I couldn't afford answered."There's a program I've been running," I said quickly, cutting in before the doctor could finish the thought, my voice smooth despite the frantic calculation happening behind it. "Quietly. A few weeks now. I've been going out to the outer settlements, checking on werewolves living in poverty, trying to see what the pack could actually do to help rather than just talking about it at council meetings."Odalys's brow lifted, curious rather than suspicious, which was exactly what I needed."One of the women I've been working with," I continued, warming to the lie now that it had taken shape, "was pregnant. Domestic violence. Her mate got physical with her a few nights ago, and I had her transferred here for proper care. The doctor's simply confused which pa

The Elder's VerdictRonan's POV The road to Elder Wren's house narrowed the closer I got to it, gravel giving way to packed dirt, the trees pressing in thick enough on either side that the headlights barely cut through more than a few yards of dark at a time. I'd made this drive perhaps a dozen times in my life, and every single one of them had come with the same low, uneasy feeling settling into my chest before I'd even parked the car.The house itself sat low and old at the end of the drive, timber walls gone silver with age, a wraparound porch sagging slightly at one corner where the wood had softened over decades of weather. No electricity ran to this part of the property by choice, the Elder insisting on oil lamps and firelight the same way his own grandfather had, and the windows glowed warm and amber against the dark as I climbed the porch steps.He'd built this pack before my father was born. I'd grown up hearing the stories the way every pup in this territory grew up hearing

Ronan's POV My shoulders sagged the moment I reached my room, the door clicking shut behind me heavier than any door had a right to sound.I hurt her too badly, I thought, sitting on the edge of the bed, my hands hanging loose between my knees. I've been so consumed with keeping some illusion of balance between two women who were never meant to share a single house that I stopped noticing what the effort actually cost the one who mattered most.'You're only realizing that now,' my wolf said, low, unimpressed. 'Months late, and only because tonight embarrassed you in front of the entire pack.'That's not fair.'Isn't it.'I didn't have an answer for him.The door opened without a knock, and Mandy stepped in, already tugging the pins from her hair, her dress sliding off one shoulder as she crossed toward the bed and sat close beside me."That was mortifying," she said, kicking off her heels one at a time. "Everyone saw it. Odalys practically had a front row seat, and you know she'll be

Two WeeksVanessa's POV The alarm's shrill ring sliced through the fog of sleep, and I lay there a moment before forcing my eyes open, staring at the ceiling while my body slowly registered the same low, persistent ache it woke with every morning now.A tray sat waiting on the small table near the window, the way it had every morning for the past few weeks, toast, fruit, some careful arrangement of things meant to nourish rather than delight. I ate without tasting any of it. Everything had gone stale on my tongue lately, flavor dulling into something flat and gray no matter what the kitchen sent up, some cruel side effect the doctor had mentioned only in passing, as though a woman losing the ability to enjoy food was simply an unremarkable footnote to the larger business of growing a child.My body had become a stranger to me in other ways too. The swelling in my ankles by evening. The way my back had started aching in places it never used to. The dizziness that came and went without