บททั้งหมดของ The Butcher's Bride: บทที่ 61 - บทที่ 70

The river rushed, a cold, dark barrier that separated two worlds.‎‎On one bank was my father’s territory, surrounded by the ghosts of his regret. On the other stood Kaelen, Vexa, and Torian, the "savages" he had banished.‎‎And in the middle, standing in the freezing current, was me.‎‎"I believe you," Loine said, his voice carrying over the water. He looked at the Mark on my neck, then up at my eyes. "I believe Julius is a monster. I always suspected... deep down."‎‎"Then march with us," I said. "Bring the heavy artillery. We hit the estate at dawn."‎‎Loine shook his head slowly. "I can't."‎‎"Coward," Vexa spat from the shadows, her hand tightening on her bow.‎‎"It's not cowardice!" Loine snapped, his Alpha aura flaring briefly. "It's the Law! If I march my army into Bloodmoon territory without cause, the High Council will sanction us. They will send the Enforcers to wipe out my pack along with yours. We will be fighting a war on two fronts."‎‎"I gave you cause!" I shou

The Blackwood Trust Casino was a monument to human greed and wolf power.‎‎Sixty floors of glass and steel pierced the night sky of Seattle. Inside, millions of dollars changed hands every hour over poker tables, roulette wheels, and slot machines. It was loud, bright, and reeked of desperate perfume and stale cigarette smoke.‎‎I stepped out of the black town car we had "borrowed" from a parking garage three blocks away.‎‎The valet rushed forward. "Good evening, Miss. Welcome to Blackwood."‎‎I didn't look at him. I handed him the keys with a dismissive flick of my wrist, not bothering to make eye contact.‎‎"Park it close," I said, my voice bored and icy. "If there is a scratch on it, I will own your house."‎‎The valet gulped. "Yes, ma'am."‎‎I turned to the man stepping out of the passenger side.‎‎Kaelen looked... devastating.‎‎We had raided a high-end boutique an hour ago—breaking the window, grabbing what we needed, and leaving a stack of stolen cash on the counter.

The shockwave from the vault explosion was still rattling my teeth as we tumbled out of the ventilation shaft and onto the floor of the casino’s main kitchen.‎‎I hit the tiles hard, coughing up drywall dust. Kaelen landed beside me, instantly rolling to his feet, his pistol raised. Vexa crashed out next, clutching her ribs but grinning like a maniac.‎‎"Did you hear that?" Vexa cackled, dusting off her trench coat. "That was the sound of a billion dollars vaporizing."‎‎"Focus," Kaelen snapped. "We aren't out yet."‎‎He was right. The kitchen was chaos. Chefs were screaming, dropping pans. The fire alarm was blaring a deafening, rhythmic shriek that made it hard to think.‎‎And through the swinging double doors leading to the casino floor, I could hear them coming.‎‎Heavy boots. The rack of slides on automatic weapons.‎‎"Back door is blocked," Jinx’s voice crackled in my earpiece. He was still in the ceiling crawlspace, navigating the ducts. "They have a SWAT team at the loa

The city of Glass and Steel was burning.‎‎We watched from the roof of a parking garage three blocks from the riot. The air smelled of tear gas, burning rubber, and the metallic tang of magic unleashed in anger.‎‎Down on the streets, the order of the Bloodmoon dominion was disintegrating.‎‎The broadcast had done more than just expose a crime; it had broken the spell of fear that Julius had cast over the region for more than 60 years. The citizens, shopkeepers, low-ranking wolves, even humans who lived under pack protection were tearing down the banners of the Blackwood family.‎‎I watched as a group of shifters overturned a Bloodmoon transport truck, dragging the enforcers out and disarming them. They weren't killing them; they were zip-tying them to lampposts.‎‎"It's beautiful," Vexa whispered, leaning on the parapet. She was nursing a stolen bottle of water, looking down at the chaos with professional admiration. "Total anarchy."‎‎"It's not anarchy," Kaelen corrected, his

The valley was quiet, but it wasn't peaceful.‎‎It was the heavy, suffocating silence of four hundred soldiers holding their breath. The combined armies of the Crescent Moon and the Bone Yard had set up a temporary forward operating base in the tree line, just two miles from the Bloodmoon estate.‎‎There were no fires tonight. No songs. Just the sound of whetstones sharpening steel and the low murmur of prayers being offered to the Moon Goddess.‎‎I sat on a fallen log near the command tent, watching Kaelen.‎‎He was sitting on a crate, shirtless, while Rhea tended to him. The moonlight washed over his skin, highlighting the map of his life, the old burn scars from the Night of Ash, the fresh bullet graze from the casino, the bruising from the taser darts in the lab.‎‎He looked like a mosaic of violence. A weapon that had been broken and re-forged too many times.‎‎Rhea was wrapping a fresh bandage around his ribs. Her hands, usually steady, were trembling.‎‎"You're tight," s