All Chapters of Framed: The Alpha's Broken Vow: Chapter 11 - Chapter 19

POV: Vaela​I stayed crouched near the wall, keeping the light fixed on the fresh carving in the stone, and I did not look up at Caedric even though I could feel him standing right beside me.​"Do not touch the edges of the carving," I said, moving my finger along the rough groove without making direct contact with the stone, "the marks are fresh, which means whoever carved this symbol was standing in this exact alley less than an hour ago."​"I know this symbol, Vaela," Caedric said, bending down so close to me that his arm brushed against my shoulder, and his voice sounded low in the quiet night, "this is not just some random mark left behind by a rogue wolf, because I saw this exact shape in my father's private journals when I was twenty years old."​"Your father did not invent this symbol, Caedric," I said, turning my head slightly to look at him while keeping my light steady, "this mark belongs to an old Ashmoor pack tradition, and it was used decades ago by wolves who operated c

POV: Vaela​I sat at the table in the safehouse kitchen, staring at the formal letter resting beside my coffee cup, while Maya stood near the stove checking the security monitors on her tablet.​"Are you really going to ignore an invitation signed by Queen Evelyne herself?" Maya asked, turning around to look at me while she wiped her hands on a towel, "you know how she gets when people do not show up to her dinners."​"I do not care about her feelings or her dinner parties, Maya," I said, sliding the letter away from me without opening it again, "she called me to the palace because she wants to inspect my security company, and she wants to look into my face to see if I am going to cause trouble for her council."​"She also asked you to bring Nyra," Maya pointed out, stepping closer to the table and leaning against the chair, "which means someone inside the court has already told her about the girl."​"Nobody is taking my daughter anywhere near that palace," I said, my voice rising as

POV: Vaela​I carried Nyra back into the inner bedroom of the guest suite, shutting the double doors firmly behind us so Isolde and the guards would remain outside in the sitting area, and I sat on the edge of the mattress while holding my daughter tightly against my chest.​"You are safe now, Nyra, nobody in this palace is going to touch you or hurt you," I said softly, smoothing her dark hair down while her tiny hands slowly loosened their grip on my collar, "I am right here with you, and Maya is standing right at the door."​"I do not like that woman, Mommy," Nyra sobbed, hiding her face in the crook of my neck while her small body shook with quiet tremors, "she smells like those bad papers you keep in your locked bag, and her voice sounded like the person in my bad dreams."​"She is leaving now, sweetheart, so you do not have to look at her anymore," I said, laying her gently on the pillows and pulling the light blanket over her shoulders, "just close your eyes and focus on my voi

POV: Caedric​I stood near the large window in my private office, staring down at the white paper in my hand while Jaxon sat on the chair near the door, watching me in complete silence.​"The test came back as a ninety-nine point nine percent match," Jaxon said softly, breaking the quiet in the room, "the chief medical officer personally processed the sample to ensure absolute accuracy."​"Seven years, Jaxon," I said, my voice cracking as I stared at the dark ink print on the bottom of the page, "she spent seven years growing up in another territory without me knowing her name, without me holding her when she was a baby, and without me seeing her take her very first steps."​"You did not know, Caedric," Jaxon said, standing up and stepping over to place his hand on my shoulder, "you were searching for Vaela the entire time, and you had no idea she was pregnant when she disappeared from the east wing."​"That does not fix anything," I said, folding the white paper and shoving it into m