Alle Kapitel von The Alpha's Vengeful Heiress : Kapitel 31 – Kapitel 40

CHAPTER 31SERA POVThe gates of Silvermoon came into view just as the last of the storm cleared, grey light spreading thin across the estate.Kade hadn't said much on the drive back. I'd assumed it was exhaustion. I didn't push him on it. I had my own version of that silence, the kind that came after adrenaline finally let go of a body and left it too tired to talk."Rowan will want a full report the second we're through those gates," I said, breaking the silence. "The bridge collapse alone is going to raise questions. Deliberate sabotage, twice in one week, isn't something you can quietly file away."He didn't answer."And the rogues. I know you want them treated as prisoners, but Boyd's shoulder needs immediate attention, and if we're going to get anything useful out of any of them about who paid for that bridge to come down, it won't be by scaring them the moment they walk through your gates."He was still saying nothing. I glanced over. His jaw was tight, a muscle working steadily

CHAPTER 33SERA POVI didn't sleep. I told myself it was the adrenaline still working its way out of my system. But I knew, somewhere underneath the excuse, that it was Kade's face at that window that kept me awake, not any of it.An old injury that flares sometimes. I turned the phrase over until it stopped meaning anything at all. I'd heard men lie to me before. I'd built an entire company on the assumption that most people were lying to me about something, and I'd gotten good, over the years, at telling the difference between a lie built to protect someone else and a lie built to protect the liar.He hadn't sounded like either. It sounded like a man protecting a third thing entirely.I got up before dawn.The infirmary records room was smaller than my own back in Manhattan, a single locked cabinet against the far wall holding two decades of pack medical history in neat, alphabetized folders. I had access to it by virtue of my position. Kade Hawthorne's file was thin. Thinner than

CHAPTER 35KADE POV"What else?"Boyd swallowed. He glanced at the other three, none of whom offered him anything, then back at me."His hands. When he pulled his coin purse out to pay our leader, his sleeve rode up for a second. There was a mark on his wrist. Black ink, old, the kind that's been there a long time. A wolf twisted up in its roots like it was choking on them."Silence.Black ink…I had seen that mark once before.I set my gaze on him, "You're certain.""I only saw it for a second, my Alpha. But I've thought about little else since. Yes. I'm certain.""Which wrist?""Left."I straightened, my claws still out. The tattoo connected this hooded stranger to the men who'd ambushed the road months ago, which meant whoever wanted Sera dead or delivered had been planning this for far too long."You'll repeat every word of this to my Beta within the hour.” I paused. Boyd's eyes didn't waver, neither did he tremble but I couldn't rule out the fact that something strange is going on

CHAPTER 37KADE POV"Explain yourself."Tricia didn't flinch at the command in my voice."I could ask you the same thing, Alpha Kade. You're the one standing over a manifest with your own medical history exposed on a screen in front of your Beta." She crossed her arms, "But I'll go first, since you seem to be under the impression that patience is a virtue I owe you.""You knew this authorization existed.""I've known for months. I found it during the first week I was assigned here, buried the same way your Beta just found it, except I wasn't looking for you. I was looking for my own name."Rowan's eyes moved between us, his hand still resting near the phone he hadn't finished dialing. "You've been receiving shipments under the same account.""Twice a month, delivered to a private courier drop three towns over, collected personally so no one at Silvermoon would ever see the package arrive." Her lips twitched. "I assumed, for a very long time, that I was the only recipient. Finding you

CHAPTER 39 KADE POV The report from Diamond Pack arrived just before midnight. I was still in my study when Rowan came in carrying a thin folder instead of the usual stack of border reports. He closed the door behind him and crossed the room without wasting time. “My Alpha.” I looked up from the document in front of me. “What is it?” He placed the folder on my desk. “Diamond Pack sent this through their private channel.” I opened it. The first page was ordinary enough. A border correspondence. Three paragraphs about a disputed trade route, two names of pack officials, a date from several years ago. Then I saw the final page. My hand stopped. The seal at the bottom belonged to the old Council administration. Not the current seal. The one they had used before my father's death. I looked at Rowan. “Where did this come from?” “Diamond's archive.” “That doesn't answer the question.” “They were reviewing old trade records after a dispute over an eastern route. This documen