《Caged by the Wolf King》全部章節：第 61 章 - 第 70 章

The road to the human kingdoms was long and treacherous. Elara rode at the front of the small company, Kaelen beside her, Sera behind them. They had brought only a dozen wolves—enough to protect them, but not enough to threaten. They were not coming as conquerors. They were coming as ambassadors. As emissaries of peace. As wolves who wanted to build something new. The terrain changed as they traveled south. The snow melted. The forests grew thicker. The air grew warmer, softer. They crossed rivers and valleys, passed through villages and towns. They saw the land change from frozen wasteland to fertile farmland, from grey skies to blue, from the harsh beauty of the north to the gentle warmth of the south. Elara had never been south. She had never seen the human kingdoms. She had only heard stories—stories of fear, of hatred, of violence. Stories of wolves being hunted, of humans being killed, of centuries of bloodshed that had created an unbreakable cycle of revenge. She did not kn

The alliance with the humans was tested sooner than Elara had expected.It began with a skirmish at the border—a stretch of forest where the wolf territory met the human kingdom. The trees were old and tall, their branches intertwining overhead to form a canopy that filtered the sunlight into dappled patterns on the forest floor. The air was cool and damp, carrying the scent of pine and earth and something else—something sharp and metallic that made Elara's nose twitch.She arrived at the border within hours of receiving the news. Her horse was lathered with sweat, its flanks heaving. She had ridden hard, pushing herself and her mount to the limit. She dismounted and walked toward the standoff, her silver eyes fixed on the scene ahead.A group of human hunters stood in a clearing, surrounded by a ring of snarling wolves. The hunters' weapons were raised—crossbows, longbows, hunting knives—but their hands were trembling. Their faces were pale with fear, their eyes wide with panic. They

The weeks that followed were filled with joy. The wolves celebrated Elara's pregnancy with feasts and songs that echoed through the great hall late into the night. They brought her gifts—warm furs woven from the softest wool, blankets embroidered with tiny wolves howling at the moon, and tiny clothes that would one day fit the child growing inside her. They surrounded her with love and hope, their eyes bright with the promise of the future. Elara accepted their gifts with a smile. She thanked them, embraced them, and told them she was grateful. She told them that their support meant everything to her. She told them that she was honored to carry the future of the pack in her womb. But inside, she was terrified. She had never been a mother. She had never had a mother who could teach her how to be one. Her own mother had been taken from her too soon, murdered by the man who was supposed to protect her. Elara had been left alone, broken, and forgotten. She had no one to guide her. Sh

The night of the birth arrived with a storm. Thunder rolled across the mountains, a low, rumbling growl that shook the very foundations of the fortress. Lightning split the sky, illuminating the world in brief, brilliant flashes of white light. The wind howled like a wounded animal, rattling the windows and shaking the stone walls. The wolves huddled in their dens, their eyes turned toward the queen's chambers, their ears straining for any sound. Elara lay in the birthing bed, her body trembling with pain. She had been in labor for hours. The contractions came in waves, each one more intense than the last, building to a crescendo of fire that made her gasp and cry out. Her silver hair was plastered to her forehead with sweat. Her hands gripped the sheets so tightly her knuckles were white. The healers moved around her, their faces calm but their movements urgent. They had delivered countless pups. They knew what they were doing. They spoke to her in soothing voices, telling her to

The twins grew faster than Elara could have imagined. It seemed like only yesterday that she had held them in her arms, tiny and fragile and utterly dependent on her. Their eyes had been closed, their limbs flailing, their cries filling the nursery. She had been terrified of breaking them, of dropping them, of failing them in some unimaginable way. Now they were crawling, exploring, getting into everything. They were curious and fearless, their silver and red eyes wide with wonder at the world around them. They pulled themselves up on furniture, reached for anything that caught their attention, and babbled in a language only they understood. Elara watched them with a mixture of pride and terror. They were so small. So vulnerable. So determined to discover everything. Every day brought new adventures, new discoveries, new challenges. Kaelen Jr. was the adventurer. He would crawl into every corner, pull himself up on every surface, and try to climb everything in sight. He was fearl