Todos os capítulos de The Trapped Heiress: Capítulo 101 - Capítulo 110

"He is still talking," he said, very low. "But it isn't enough.""Alpha?""Not yet." Something dark flickered behind his eyes. "A voice is only a voice; he was right about that. Without a pack, my words can't bind him."Talon waited."But an Alpha's wolf is not a voice."He turned and went back in.The man on the cot had stopped smiling.He was curled against the wall, his chains pulled taut, and his scarred face stuck with sweat. His breath came in short. The pale gray eyes that had been so calm three hours earlier were wide and unfocused, darting toward the door as it opened.Noah closed it behind him.He did not speak; he did not sit. He simply stood in the middle of the floor, and then the air in the cell seemed to bend.It happened fast. Noah's shoulders rolled, his spine arched, bone lengthened, and fur surged, and in the space of a breath, the great brown wolf stood where the man had been, golden-eyed, enormous, filling the small stone room like a storm. The single bulb swung o

The assistant wheeled out a rack full of clothes, then a second one, and then a third. Sara plucked out a lavender wrap dress and thrust it into Laurel's arms. Myra produced a cream silk blouse, Lula held up a pair of heeled sandals, and pronounced them "acceptable." Laurel found herself shoved into a fitting room, then another, then another, emerging each time in a new outfit, to be turned around, appraised, adjusted, and approved or rejected."The green one," said Sara."Too pale," said Lula."Try the red one," said Myra. "No, the one beside it. Yes, it looks perfect!""Mom, I really don't need…""Hush, dear, turn around."Laurel turned; she was laughing in spite of herself. Her mother's face was glowing, as she was delighted. She hadn't seen her mother like that in years; she seems to be enjoying herself."Oh, I am going to enjoy the experience," Myra said, giggling, as the assistant carried yet another armful of bags to the counter. "My whole shop is going to be empty by the end o

Laurel leaned her head against the window and let the warmth wash over her face.It still hurt; she wouldn't pretend otherwise. There was a small, tender ache beneath her ribs that she suspected wouldn't ease for a long time, not until three particular words were said aloud by a particular man.But she had made a decision; she had made it in a hospital corridor, with his arms around her, and again last night on a marble floor with a sapphire on her finger, she had told him yes, and she meant it.He is trying, she thought. He is trying harder than he has ever tried at anything; that's enough for now.She folded her hands over the shopping bag, closed her eyes, and let the car carry her home.The sun had slipped behind the trees by the time Noah's car turned up the drive.He sat for a moment after it stopped, one hand on the door, looking up at the lit windows of the villa. Somewhere inside, a woman was laughing; it was faint, a warm, bright sound drifting down from the second floor, an

He knocked and murmured something; a low, rich male voice answered."Alpha Abbott will see you now."The office was vast, with dark-paneled wood, lined floor to ceiling with leather-bound books. A wooden desk stood at the far end, and behind it, in a high-backed chair, sat a broad, silver-haired man with Noah's jaw and Noah's eyes, lit with an expression Laurel had never seen on any Knight.Amusement, and on a sofa to his left, with his legs crossed and a cup of tea balanced on one knee, sat her father."Dad?"Richard McKinley lifted his cup in a small, merry salute. "Hello, my dear.""What are you…""Waiting for you, of course." He grinned. "Your aunt sent a message this morning; did you think I would miss this?"Laurel looked from one man to the other; both were gazing at Lula with a gleam of identical, barely suppressed glee, like boys watching a firework they had lit themselves.Lula stepped into the room; the door clicked shut behind them.For a moment nobody spoke, then Lula rea

"I resisted; the council resisted. We had no desire to bind ourselves to the Shadow pack that closely.” His mouth twisted. “But Noah was insistent; he was relentless, in a way I had never seen. And after what had happened, how could I say no?”“The council agreed?” Laurel asked.“Reluctantly, very reluctantly.” Alpha Abbott rubbed his eyes. “And over the years, I lost control of it, request after request, favor after favor. The Hamiltons have gained a great deal from our family, more than I would like to think about. I never wanted it, but I couldn’t undo it without breaking my son’s heart.”He lowered his hand in the lamplight; his face suddenly looked old.“I thought it was gratitude,” he said. “I thought it was a boy’s way of repaying a kindness; I never asked whether it might be something more.”Nobody spoke for a long time.Laurel sat very still; she could feel her heart beating hard against her ribs, and a cold, creeping suspicion that she could not yet put into words: the kidna