All Chapters of Barren? Honey, I'm Just Getting Started: Chapter 91 - Chapter 100

- WILLOWMy mother was sitting on the sunlit terrace, wearing a soft cream cardigan, sipping chamomile tea while flipping through a botanical sketchpad. It had been nearly two weeks since I'd had a quiet moment to sit with her properly between the assembly prep and Dexter's mountain estate."Willow, darling, it's been a long time since you last came." She smiled, her warm gray eyes lighting up as she set her tea cup down. "You look exhausted, darling. Come sit."I dropped into the cushioned wicker chair across from her, letting out a long, heavy sigh that felt like it came from the bottom of my lungs. "The administrative clerks are a nightmare today, Mom.""Lucille again?" Josephine asked gently, pouring a second cup of tea and sliding it toward me."Lucille, the Lambert family, the whole capital," I muttered, taking the warm cup in both hands. "Everyone's obsessed with who Dexter is supposed to marry."Josephine looked at me for a long, quiet moment, her eyes soft with that deep, mat

- WILLOWA sudden, piercing screech shattered the midnight quiet.The bright red perimeter alarm on the wall above the doorway exploded into a flashing, strobing light, its harsh siren echoing violently through the palace guest wing.Dexter was off the bed in a split second, his warlord instincts kicking in before he was even fully upright. He grabbed his tactical belt from the chair, his dark eyes instantly snapping into cold, lethal focus."Breach alarm," Dexter growled, pulling his sidearm from its holster with a sharp clack. "Eastern wing perimeter just got blown."Dexter was already at the balcony door before the second wave of the siren could finish echoing. He pulled the glass panel back with one sharp jerk, his dark eyes locked on the courtyard below. He jammed his tactical belt around his waist, checking the magazine clip on his sidearm with a quick, practiced click."Stay inside the bedroom, Willow," Dexter said sternly, without leaving room for debate. "Don't open the door

- WILLOWThe private conference room attached to Noah’s office. I slammed the physical printout of Lucille’s data transfer log onto the glass table. The paper slid across the smooth surface and bumped right against Noah’s laptop."Look at the routing address," I said, leaning my hips against the edge of the table and crossing my arms. "She didn't just back up our files. She routed a live copy of our master tax ledgers straight to Sherlyn's private server in Sector Two."Noah leaned forward, tapping his chin with a pen as he scanned the IP headers. "Well, well. Looks like the rats are coordinating their schedules. Sherlyn must be planning a nice little surprise for us on the assembly floor.""A surprise?" I let out a dry, sharp laugh. "Try a frame job. They're going to stand up in front of fifty pack delegates tomorrow morning, wave these forged logs around, and scream that the ex-Ashbourne luna leaked internal state documents to sabotage the trade vote."Dexter was sitting on the cor

- WILLOWI was walking back from the supply closet holding a stack of blue folders when I heard them. Two junior administrative clerks were standing by the water cooler in the third-floor hallway, whispering back and forth like a couple of middle-schoolers trading gossip behind the bleachers."I'm telling you, it's some kind of dark charm," one of them hissed, her eyes darting over her shoulder as I turned the corner. "Nobody from Ashbourne Pack just walks in and wraps King Noah and Dexter around their finger like that. She definitely used a binding rune or some dirty magic.""Right?" the other one scoffed, loud enough for me to hear every word. "Look at her. Severed bond, zero family backing, and she's walking around like she owns the palace. Poor King Noah and Dexter don't even realize they're being played. Lord Lambert was right. She's just a parasite."I didn't stop walking. I didn't snap back or give them the satisfaction of seeing my hands shake. I just kept my stride steady, dr

- WILLOWThe door to Dexter’s private quarters slammed shut behind us with a loud, ringing crash that rattled the glass-framed maps on the wall.I didn't even have time to blink before Dexter backed me up against the heavy oak paneling, his large hands slamming flat on either side of my head. His dark eyes were wild, blazing with fury and panic that he was barely keeping locked down."What the hell were you thinking?" Dexter growled, his face inches from mine, his voice vibrating with a low, dangerous growl. "Sneaking off to an abandoned warehouse to meet your ex-mate alone. Are you trying to give me a heart attack?""I was gathering intel!" I shot right back, pushing hard against his chest with both hands. "I didn't need a babysitter, Dex! I handled Callum in ten seconds flat, exactly like I planned!""That's not the point!" He didn't budge an inch, his heavy frame trapping me against the door. "You didn't tell me! You just walked out into the dark like your life is some disposable v