Semua Bab The Unwanted Plus-Size Luna: Bab 61 - Bab 70

Darius & The Alpha.The summons came early, at first light.A Beta delivered it without explanation and waited only long enough to see Darius rise. The path to the Alpha’s private chamber was short and empty at this hour. No guards stood outside the door. The message was clear enough: this was not a public matter and would not become one unless he chose it.Darius entered and closed the door behind him.The Alpha stood at the narrow window that overlooked the eastern training grounds. He did not turn immediately. When he did, his expression held none of the heat Kade had carried the night before. Only assessment, steady and unhurried."Sit," the Alpha said.Darius remained standing.The older man accepted that without comment and moved to the heavy chair behind his desk. He did not offer wine or the usual courtesies. He did not waste time on greetings."I was informed of the conversation in my study," he sa

Selene caught up with her near the drying racks behind the kitchens, where the afternoon heat still clung to the wood and the air smelled of smoke and drying herbs."I need a minute," Selene said. She carried a folded cloth and a small jar. "Ilsa asked if someone could return these to the storeroom shelf. I said I would. Walk with me."Wren almost refused. Then she nodded and fell into step. The path behind the kitchens was narrow and mostly empty at this hour."You have been quiet since the bond became public," Selene said after a few steps. "Quieter than usual. Some of the younger wolves think you are angry with the whole pack. I told them that was a lazy assumption.""I am not angry with the whole pack.""I know. But perception moves faster than truth here. It always has." Selene adjusted the jar in her hands. "Have you eaten today.""Yes.""Properly."Wren glanced at her. "Why does that matter to you."

The trader came in with the afternoon supply run, two mules and a covered cart, dust thick on his coat and the look of a man who had crossed more than one border to get here without rushing.Wren was crossing the upper yard toward the armory sheds when the gates opened for him. She would not have marked him from the rest of the traffic at all except for the way Darius went still beside the training posts.Not startled. Not openly tense. Only a sharpening, as if a blade already drawn had found a more precise angle. The change was small enough that most of the yard missed it completely. She did not. She had learned to read the small shifts in him, the ones that never reached his voice.The trader’s eyes found Darius across the yard and held. Recognition moved both ways, clean and immediate. Neither man smiled. The air between them carried the weight of a shared map neither intended to unfold in public. Around them the ordinary business of the yard continued,

Wren did not have to hunt the rumor this time.It found her in the training yard, spoken over the rack of practice blades by a ranking wolf who thought he was being careful."I am only saying what is already moving," he told the man beside him. "The carved wolf turned up with the household inventory. People say it was Kade’s work. People say she kept it through the second bond. That is not a small thing to keep.""If it was his carving, why was it in her things," the second man said."That is the question, is it not. Second chance in one hand, old heir’s token in the other."Wren stepped into their line of sight. Both men went still."Say it to me," she said. "If you are going to put my name on it."The ranking wolf’s jaw worked. "I was not putting anything on anyone. I was repeating what reached me.""Then repeat who reached you first."He hesitated, glanced at his companion, then back. "It came throug

Kade left her at the wall.Wren stayed until his steps faded, then walked without choosing a direction. The dual pull under her ribs sat clearer than it had all week, as if his words had given it a shape she could no longer push aside or rename.She did not go to Darius. She was not ready for the bond between them to pick up what she was carrying before she had sorted any of it herself. He would read the unrest whether she spoke or not, and she did not yet have a version of the night she could hand him without breaking something between them.She almost made it to the women’s quarters before Maren stepped into her path, a folded cloth still in her hands from whatever task she had left to intercept her."There you are." Maren took one look at her face and pointed at the low steps. "Sit.""I am fine.""Your face is doing half the talking for you already. Sit.""I do not need,""Sit."Wren sat. Maren sat b