Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 81 - Chapitre 90

Damon's POVI ended the call and tossed my phone onto the massive desk. Metal hit solid wood with a dull thud. Ava, that stupid woman, really thought a few soft words and obedient flattery would let her pry forty percent of the dividend shares out of my hands? Yeah, right. Biggest joke of the century.I sank back into the expensive Italian handmade leather chair and let my eyes settle on the holographic screen. The agreement drafted by the best legal team on the entire East Coast was sitting quietly in the deepest layer of an encrypted folder. Black and white, line by line, every clause was like a poisoned chain locked tight around that Omega's throat. All the precious genetic repair data in her head, all the research she'd burned herself out on in that underground lab, all of it would end up as nothing more than a stepping stone for the Darkmoon Pack to dominate the whole continent.As for dividends? She wasn't getting a single cent. I was going to squeeze every bit of value out of h

Ava's POVI pulled on a gray workout hoodie, tied my long hair back in a loose ponytail, and headed downstairs in my running shoes. The huge dining room was quiet except for the low hum of the coffee machine. A servant in charge of the household handed me a cup of black coffee and relayed where everyone had gone. Adrian and Oswald had left before sunrise to inspect the territory border, while Margaret and the old chief had driven into the city for a charity fundraiser.I swallowed the bitter coffee and started jogging along the gravel path circling the manor. The Pacific morning wind rushed into my lungs, carrying that sharp mix of sea salt and pine needles. The cardio got my blood moving fast, flushing out the leftover soreness still stuck in my muscles from last night. I had never met my biological father. Everything I knew of him was limited to that faded military photo in the study. The escape route he had prepared for me, and the shelter the Bloodmoon Pack had given me, let me fe

Ava's POVFor four straight days, I had jammed my schedule full of test tubes, samples, and mind-numbing microscope data. Even at night, I locked my bedroom door before sleeping.I was avoiding Adrian on purpose. Whatever was building between us needed to cool off, fast.Right now, I was lying facedown on a massage bed in some ultra-luxury private club in Beverly Hills. Piping-hot volcanic stones pressed along my spine, and the sharp scent of eucalyptus and sage oil flooded my nose so hard it made my eyes sting.Margaret was on the treatment bed beside me. The former Luna of the Bloodmoon Pack had just gotten back from her trip."Want to know who I ran into at a charity gala in Rome?" Margaret asked, holding a glass of sparkling pink champagne. Her slim fingers tapped lightly against the crystal, making a crisp, cutting sound.I buried my face deeper into the soft towel, my voice muffled. "Don't tell me it was the Pope.""Even better, darling." Margaret gave a soft laugh, the kind tha

Ava's POVAdrian healed remarkably fast. He barely even needed medicine.After we got back from the training grounds, neither of us said a word.That weird silence hung between us like a weight, and honestly, it was getting to me.Something had to break it.I took a quiet breath and said, "Let me make you dinner. I'm actually pretty decent in the kitchen.""It would be my pleasure." Adrian smiled, gentle and easy, nothing like the tense, irritable man from earlier. It was almost like looking at a whole different person."Then go change first. I'll start cooking." I pointed at the shirt still streaked with dust and blood on his body."Alright." He nodded, but his eyes stayed on me.Twenty minutes later, the exhaust fan hummed steadily in the suite's kitchen. I stared at the thick ribeye hissing in the pan, butter melting around it, the rich smell of fat blending with the sharp bite of garlic. At last, it pushed away the stinging scent of antiseptic that had clung to me for days.I turn

Ava's POVI was the one who called Linda first."You saw the email I sent, right?" Linda's voice came through the phone, mixed with the soft rustle of papers. In the background, lab equipment clicked and hummed in a steady rhythm."I did." I picked up the whiskey glass beside me. Ice knocked against the crystal with a sharp, clean sound. The amber liquor slid down my throat, hot and biting. "That fountain-scrubbing-in-the-mud scene was pretty entertaining. Old Elizabeth has always been remarkably gifted when it comes to making people suffer.""But that's just the surface, Ava." Linda's tone lifted, edged with sarcasm. "Sylvia is out there acting like she's already the future Luna of the Darkmoon Pack, showing off all over the pack social circle. She's been cozying up to those lower-tier Beta families, and she even marched straight into my old lab asking to access your core genetic data. And Damon, that idiot, actually signed the release order."A wave of physical disgust rolled throug