All Chapters of The Lycan King's Secret Triplets : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

ValerieThe first wolf broke through the tree line just as the guards set me down against a rock face. Both men turned to face the threat with weapons already drawn, their bodies tense."Nadia, get her further up the ridge," one of them said. "We'll hold them here.""There are too many," Nadia said. "You can't hold a full hunting pack alone.""We don't have another choice."The wolves emerged from the trees one by one. Their eyes glowed with the same hunter's focus, their bodies massive and dark against the snow. I counted six of them before I lost track, my breath catching in my throat."Nadia," I said, "we have to move.""I know."She pulled me up, and I stumbled forward on legs that felt barely capable of holding me. Behind us, the first wolf lunged, and one of the guards met it head on. His blade flashed in the dim light, and the sound of impact echoed off the rocks."Go!" he shouted. "Don't stop!"Nadia dragged me further up the ridge. The sounds of the fight echoed behind us, sn

ValerieThe days blurred together after that.I found a shelter on the edge of town, a run-down building run by a tired woman who did not ask questions. She gave me a cot, a blanket, and a bowl of soup, and I accepted all three without complaint."Don't get comfortable," she said, not unkindly. "We're full most nights. You'll have to fend for yourself during the day.""I understand.""You got any skills? Anything you can do for work?""I can clean," I said. "Cook. Basic things."She nodded. "There's a diner two blocks over. They're always hiring. Tell them Marta sent you."I went to the diner that afternoon. It was a small place, greasy and warm, the kind of establishment that served coffee all day and pie for a dollar. The owner, a heavyset man named Frank, looked me over with the same calculating eyes the man in the alley had worn."You look rough," he said."I've had a rough week.""You pregnant?""Yes.""How far along?""I don't know exactly. A few months."He grunted, wiping his

ValerieThe first cry came just after midnight, sharp and demanding, filling the small room with sound."A boy," Greta said, lifting the baby carefully. "Strong lungs on this one."I held him against my chest moments later, exhausted but unable to look away from his small face. His eyes were already open, watching me with an alertness that seemed too old for someone so new to the world."Leo," I whispered. "You're Leo."He was perfect. Small and wrinkled and red-faced, but perfect. I counted his fingers, his toes, the soft curve of his ears. He was real. He was here. He was mine.The second contraction hit before I had even caught my breath, and Greta moved quickly, guiding me through it with the same steady patience she had shown all night."Another boy," Greta announced minutes later, and this one wailed immediately, loud and furious, kicking against the blanket Greta wrapped him in."Someone's got opinions already," Greta said, half smiling despite her exhaustion."Jax," I said, wa

ValerieIt started with a torn hem and a need to keep my hands busy. I had been sitting on the floor of that cramped apartment, the children finally asleep, the silence pressing in around me like something alive, and I had picked up one of Maya's old dresses just to have something to do.The tear was small, easily mended, but once I started stitching, I couldn't stop. My hands moved on their own, adding small details I hadn't planned, a line of careful embroidery here, a tiny stitched flower there, and by the time I looked up, hours had passed and the dress looked like something from a shop window instead of a hand-me-down.That was how it began. Night after night, I stitched and hemmed and redesigned, teaching myself through trial and error, letting my fingers learn what my mind had never been taught, until the day came when I finally gathered enough courage to walk into a boutique and ask if they would look at my work.The boutique owner turned the coat over in her hands, examining

DimitriThe financial summit's opening reception buzzed around me, though I heard none of it. My attention was fixed entirely on the documents spread across the table in front of me."Your Majesty," an aide said carefully, "the Whitmore delegation is asking to speak with you.""Tell them I'll be there shortly."I had not attended a human gathering in months without a purpose buried beneath the surface politeness required of these events. This one was no different. Somewhere in the tangled web of shell companies and offshore accounts I had spent six months tracking, a single trail kept reappearing. Faint but persistent, leading toward exactly the kind of untraceable wealth someone might use to disappear completely."Anything new from the surveillance team?" I asked my Beta, who stood at my side, going through reports on his tablet."Nothing conclusive, my King. The trail runs cold again just past the third holding company.""It always runs cold.""We'll keep looking."I had spent fortu