บททั้งหมดของ The Captain's Forbidden Mate: บทที่ 31 - บทที่ 40

LENAI couldn't sleep that night. Every time I closed my eyes I saw that picture. My mother standing next to him, young and unafraid.Around two in the morning my phone finally stopped buzzing. A call. Unknown number again.I nearly didn't answer. Then I did."Lena," the voice on the other end was nothing like Cole's. Older. More careful. "This is Elias Thorne. I believe Cole told you about our little meeting in the woods?"My whole body went numb. "How'd you get this number?""I have my ways. I wouldn't waste your time by telling you." A pause. "I'm calling because I think you deserve better information than either pack is giving you. Or rather, you deserved better information before this call." A pause. "That was not me, was it?""No. And that concerns me more than it should." His voice was calm, but I could practically hear the gears shifting beneath the surface. "I've had twenty years to be patient. Whoever called you tonight, they do not have twenty years. You should be concerned

COLEI watched from two tables away, close enough to act if things got ugly, but far enough to let her do her thing, his way as she requested.Damien looked shaken. Just the sight of it was enough to make me think that whatever just happened was not something he was expecting to happen. Damien Holt was a very composed young man, and I'd never once seen his mask slip, not even for a second, not even when he'd received word of his mother's death years ago, back when he and I had been kids.Noah leaned over from where he'd been sitting, his chair creaking under his weight. "You see that?" he said. “I’m seeing it. That isn't acting Noah, nobody can be that good at it." Noah kept his voice low as he spoke. "If he didn't know what his uncle did, it changes everything. This changes everything. Damien's been living in a world built on a lie his whole life, just like the rest of us."I watched as Lena continued her little performance, only this time Damien wasn't smiling, his charm wasn't oozi

LENADamien met us at the edge of the old warehouse district, alone, with no backup, hands tucked deep in his jacket pockets like even he was cold on this mild night."He's inside, in the third building on the left. He said that only two of us should come in, the rest should wait outside," Damien said."Not happening," Cole said."That's what he wanted.""I don't care. I want to be with Lena as she walks into an unknown building with the man who has been in hiding for twenty-two years," Cole said, his voice protective. "I'm not letting her go in there by herself without me."Lena looked at me, waiting for me to decide."Fine," I said, "Cole comes. Astra and Noah wait by the cars in the event something goes wrong."Damien nodded, giving me a look of understanding that told me the night had taken its toll on him physically and emotionally."Is he dangerous?" I asked as we walked."I don't know. I met him for the first time an hour ago. He found me actually, not the other way around. Tur

LENAEveryone was silent for a few moments after Cole read off the text out loud."Tomorrow," Astra said after we managed to get back outside and tell her and Noah everything that had happened. "That's not nearly enough time. Not for training, not to dig into the real facts and not for anything, really.""That's part of it," Aiden added as he walked out after us into the night air. "That's why whoever moved this meeting up wanted everyone running short on time, not ready to do everything that should be done.""So what do we do?" I questioned.Aiden remained silent on the subject for a moment, considering his options. "You go," he said, looking at me seriously. "You have no choice in the fact that you must attend this meeting. However, you must approach it prepared for any scenario besides what you've been led to believe will happen during the claiming ceremony." He paused then and looked at me once more. "Any training that Astra has you do, trust and believe. Any bond that you and Col

LENAThe ceremony began before I was prepared for it to begin.One moment the hall was full of noise, murmuring and stamping feet, and the next an older man in grey robes was stepping up onto the empty space at the room's center, and all the sound was sucked out of the world. I hadn't caught his name. Someone murmured 'Elder Vane' beside me, and I made a mental note of it as I kept my gaze fixed on the place where Aiden had been standing.He was no longer there.My heart threatened to jump from my chest as I frantically scanned the crowd until Cole's hand tightened around mine, grounding me."He's fine," Cole murmured, barely moving his lips. "He moved. I saw him head left, near the second pillar. He's still watching. He just didn't want to be watched."Not that it made me feel better, but it was all I had for the moment; there wasn't time to think about anything else. My body had already tensed, half-panic and half-unease, with the feeling that something was about to happen to me for