Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 11 - Chapitre 20

Aurora's POVSmith's palm left a spiderweb of cracks running through four hundred years of oak, and for one eerie second all I could think was that some council carpenter was about to have a very bad week."Movee ," he said, and didn't wait to see if the door agreed with him. He hit it again, shoulder first, and the ancient hinges gave with a groan that echoed the whole length of the chamber. Two council guards flanked us instantly, hands raised, no weapons drawn."Sir, the doors were sealed under standing order, we can't jus—""Then unseal them!," Smith said, "or step aside, because I am walking through one way or another, and I would genuinely rather it not be through you."The presiding elder's voice cut across the chamber behind us, sharp and unexpectedly firm for a woman who'd looked half asleep twenty minutes earlier. "Let them pass. Whatever this is, it stopped being council business the moment he said 'penthouse.'"The guards parted. Smith didn't thank her. I caught his eyes f

Aurora's POVShe really was wayy smaller than I expected. That was the first thing that struck me, standing in the floodlit courtyard with Rio's enforcers stationed at four visible points around us, their eyes never once leaving the tree line — an elder who'd apparently been waiting thirty years to have this conversation turned out to be barely five feet tall, wrapped in a shawl the color of old rust, leaning on a cane that looked older than the pack charter itself. The night had gone cold enough that her breath showed, small and steady, unbothered by the four armed men watching her every move."You can stand down your dogs, Alpha," she said to Smith without even looking at him, her eyes locked entirely on me. "I'm eighty-one years old and I walk with a cane. I'm not here to hurt anyone.""They stay where they are," Smith said, not unkindly. "Until I decide otherwise.""Fair enough. I'd have said the same thing in your position." A thin smile crossed her face, gone as fast as it arriv

Aurora's POVThe phone sat in the center of the small conference room like something radioactive, all four of us staring at it instead of each other, waiting for Rio's nod that the line was secure."Trace is running," Rio said, eyes on his laptop screen. "Won't get a location off a call this short, but I'll know what continent she's calling from, at least, and that's more than we had an hour ago.""Does it matter what continent," I asked. "If she can put a sniper on Ashwood soil and a jammer in my own penthouse, she's already close enough to hurt everyone I love. The rest is just geography.""It matters," Smith said, "because geography is the only thing that tells us how much time we actually have before she's standing in front of us instead of talking through a phone.""Go," Rio said finally.Smith hit the speaker button himself. "This is Alpha Calloway. You're speaking to Aurora Voss's mate and her council. State your business."A pause. Then a laugh — soft, unhurried, the kind of l

Aurora's POVMorning came too fast and too gray, sunlight barely cutting through the blinds when Maya's babbling woke me before my alarm ever got the chance. I found her sitting up in her crib, gnawing determinedly on the ear of her rabbit again, delighted with herself the second she saw me, both arms reaching up like the whole terrifying night before had never happened at all."You have no idea how close that was, do you," I murmured, lifting her out, pressing my face into the soft crook of her neck until she squealed and squirmed against the tickle of it. "None whatsoever. Lucky girl."I carried her out to the kitchen and found it fuller than it had any right to be at seven in the morning — Marcus at the stove attempting something that smelled suspiciously like burnt eggs, Rio at the counter methodically slicing fruit like it was a tactical operation, Cole sprawled across two barstools with his head on Zara's shoulder, both of them still half asleep, and Smith standing at the window

Aurora's POVConstance looked quites smaller in the hospital bed than she had in that courtyard, her shoulder wrapped thick in bandages, an IV line taped into the back of one papery hand, but her eyes were sharp and alert the second I walked through the door, tracking me across the room like she'd been waiting specifically for this."You look terrible," she said, by way of greeting."You got shot two nights ago.""And yet somehow I still have better color than you do right now." A ghost of a smile crossed her face, gone as fast as it arrived. "Sit, child. I don't have the strength to keep this brief, and I'd rather say it once than have you make me repeat myself."I sat. Smith stood by the door, giving us space but close enough to catch every word, and I was grateful for it without needing to say so out loud. On the table beside her bed sat a small paper cup of pudding, untouched, and a folded newspaper someone had clearly brought her out of habit more than expectation she'd have the