All Chapters of The Alpha's Forbidden Auction Mate : Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Mira's POVThe dreams started small enough that I almost didn't notice the pattern forming beneath them.Not the fractured, terrifying visions that had plagued me during the first weeks after the auction, fire and screaming and half-formed memories I couldn't properly hold onto. Nothing like the strange, layered voice from Rowan's temple dream that he'd finally described to me weeks earlier, unsettling and ancient and clearly connected to whatever prophecy still hung unresolved over both our heads.These were ordinary. Almost embarrassingly so.The first one, I barely remembered upon waking, only a fragment lingering, Rowan and me arguing about something trivial, the particular details already dissolved by morning though the tone of the argument, familiar and comfortable rather than genuinely tense, stayed with me longer than the actual content did.The second arrived a few nights later, considerably more vivid. We were sitting in the garden, the same spot where we'd shared that quiet

Mira's POVIt happened over something stupid. That was almost the worst part.We were in his study, the usual evening arrangement, reports scattered between us, and I was complaining, half-joking, about the way he always left his ink pot uncapped, threatening to ruin something important the moment anyone brushed too close to it."You did the exact same thing with the blue one," I said, reaching over to cap it myself before disaster struck. "Remember? Knocked it straight onto the Hendricks agreement. You spent an hour trying to blot it out before giving up and just rewriting the whole page."Rowan went very still.I kept talking for another few seconds before I noticed, still riffling through the stack in front of me, and when I finally looked up, something in his expression made the rest of the sentence die in my throat."That didn't happen," he said quietly.I frowned. "What?""The blue ink. The Hendricks agreement. It never happened. I've never spilled ink on that document."I opene

Mira's POVI was carrying a basket of fresh bread back from Mrs. Hollis's stall, weaving through the marketplace's midday crowd, when one of the younger pack girls fell into step beside me without warning.I recognized her vaguely, one of the children who occasionally trailed after Toby during his relentless campaign to learn everything about Blackwood, though I couldn't immediately place her name."Can I ask you something?" she said, entirely too casual for whatever question she was clearly building toward."Sure.""Did the Alpha smile because of you?"I nearly dropped the entire basket.Bread scattered dangerously close to the edge before I managed to catch it properly, heat flooding my face immediately, and the girl watched my flustered recovery with obvious delight, apparently having anticipated exactly this reaction."No," I said, too quickly, the word arriving before I'd properly composed myself.She laughed, bright and unbothered by my transparent denial."I've lived here my wh

Rowan's POVThe messenger arrived at dawn, dressed in pale silver rather than any colors I recognized from the surrounding territories, and the moment I saw the seal pressed into the sealed letter he carried, my entire morning reorganized itself around a single, unavoidable priority.The crescent moon, three thin branching lines radiating from its center.Identical to the mark spreading slowly across my own wrist.I called the council together within the hour, the letter sitting unopened on the table in front of me until every senior warrior and advisor had assembled, and only then did I finally break the seal, unfolding the parchment with hands considerably less steady than I wanted them to be.The message itself was brief, elegant, written in a careful, formal hand that carried none of the urgency its contents actually warranted.The Moon Court requests the presence of Alpha Rowan of Blackwood, at his earliest convenience, regarding matters of shared ancestral concern. One guest may

Rowan's POVThe moment we stepped through the Moon Court's outer gates, the entire courtyard shifted around us, the particular ripple of acknowledgment I'd grown accustomed to throughout years of political gatherings, though considerably more pronounced here than anywhere I'd previously experienced it.Warriors bowed as we passed, deep and immediate, none of the perfunctory nods I usually received at smaller territorial functions. Attendants stepped aside without being asked, clearing paths through the crowded entrance hall with a promptness that suggested genuine deference rather than simple courtesy. Others, less disciplined in their reactions, simply stared, quickly glancing away whenever I caught their eyes directly, though not quickly enough to hide the obvious weight of their attention.I'd grown accustomed to this reception within my own territory, the accumulated respect of years spent proving myself capable of leading Blackwood through genuine crisis. Watching it repeat itsel