Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Alpha’s Plus Size Obsession: Kabanata 151 - Kabanata 160

Mary Ann’s POVModric’s Alpha ring sat between us.Black metal.The Volkov wolf.A symbol that had shaped almost every choice he made since childhood.He had removed it from his hand and placed it before me as though giving up the thing he once valued most might prove how much he had changed.The council chamber had emptied, but the presence of three packs remained around us. Ironclaw’s banner hung behind Modric. Mooncrest’s silver moon stood across from it. Nightveil’s restored crescent rested beside the provisional agreement I had signed only minutes earlier.Three identities.Three responsibilities.One life I was finally trying to claim as my own.And now Modric was placing another choice before me.“Tell me whether there is any place for me in the life you are building.”I stared at the ring.My wolf moved quietly beneath my skin.She felt Modric’s fear through the bond. Not the fear that had driven him to surround me with guards or follow me into Nightveil. This fear was softer.

Modric’s POVThe first apology took me three hours to write.Not because I did not know what I had done.Because every sentence I wrote tried to become an excuse.I was young.Velvera encouraged me.Cassius arranged the circumstances.My father taught me that weakness must be punished before anyone could see it in me.All of those things were true.None of them changed the fact that I had looked at Mary Ann Sterling and chosen cruelty.I sat at the small desk inside the recovery room with my injured side tightly bandaged beneath a loose shirt. Elara had forbidden me from working, walking without support, attending council meetings, or doing anything she considered likely to reopen the wound.Writing had not appeared on her list.Kylian stood near the window with a stack of reports from the outer villages.“You have been staring at the same page since breakfast.”“I am writing.”“You have written six lines.”“They are important lines.”He crossed the room and reached for the page.I co

Mary Ann’s POVThe carriage ride to the southern lake was far too quiet.Not an angry silence.Not the cold silence that once filled every room Modric and I shared.This silence was awkward.Uncertain.The kind that came when two people had known each other for years but had never learned how to speak without politics, resentment, duty, or pain standing between them.I sat on one side of the carriage while Modric sat across from me.He had dressed simply.No ceremonial Alpha coat.No expensive jewelry beyond his Alpha ring.No flowers waited on the seat beside me. No gift box rested near his feet. He had listened when I said I did not want jewels or public displays designed to impress the pack.Only the two of us occupied the carriage.The guards followed far enough behind that I could not hear their horses unless I focused.Modric’s injuries still limited his movement. He kept one hand near his side whenever the wheels struck a rough patch in the road, though he tried to hide the pai

Mary Ann’s POV“He will hurt you again. Men like him always do.”Velvera’s warning followed me long after the guards took her from the council chamber.I told myself it did not matter.Velvera had wanted to leave one final wound behind. She had already failed to provoke me with details of the affair, so she chose fear instead.It was a calculated statement.A cruel one.That did not mean it was false.I had once believed Modric could not hurt me more than he already had.Then he abandoned me on our wedding night.I believed the humiliation would end when we left the academy.Then he carried it into our marriage.I believed the mate bond would force him to treat me differently.Instead, he used his confusion about it as another reason to punish me.Modric was changing now.He listened.He apologized without excuses.He asked permission before touching me.He stepped away at my door instead of assuming dinner entitled him to a kiss.But change did not erase pattern.People could behave

Modric’s POVMary Ann’s kiss lasted less than a second.It still followed me through the entire day.The warmth of her lips against my cheek remained long after we returned from the forest. I felt it while Elara changed the bandage around my side. I felt it during the reconstruction meeting. I felt it when Marek presented three pages of security updates and had to repeat the final report because I had not heard a word.It was only a kiss on the cheek.A small gesture.Entirely her choice.That was what made it matter.Mary Ann had said no when I asked to kiss her. I stepped back. I accepted the answer. Then she chose to return and touch me in the way she wanted.The kiss was not permission to ask for more.It was not proof that she had forgiven me.It was not a promise that another would follow.I repeated those truths until my wolf stopped trying to turn the memory into a future.He was less patient than I was learning to be.Kylian entered my office shortly before noon carrying a pi