Alle Kapitel von Alpha Romanov: Kapitel 41 – Kapitel 50

Valeria:By the time we returned to the estate my cheeks ached from smiling.I blamed Nikolai. He blamed me for challenging him to a race I had no hope of winning, though I still insisted that being lifted off the ground halfway through should have disqualified him on principle.“You cheated,” I said as we crossed the entrance hall. “And you can’t deny that you did, Alpha.”“I won,” he replied, calm as ever. “And you need to accept it,”“You picked me up.” I argued, making him chuckle.“Because I caught you.” He said, shrugging.“That is not how racing works.”He glanced down at me, amusement softening the severity he wore for everyone else. “You’ve repeated this argument four times.”“Because you’ve been wrong four times.” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.A guard near the stairs lowered his gaze with suspicious speed. I looked at him. “See? Even he agrees with me.” The guard suddenly found the opposite wall fascinating.“Do not involve my guards in this,” Nikolai murmured witho

Valeria:I waited until the bathroom door clicked shut and the shower began to run before I moved.The sound was permission. I slipped out of bed, wrapped the robe tighter around me, and padded across the room barefoot, smiling as I started setting the table for Nikolai and I in the room.Yelena arrived with two maids and a cart, all of them efficient and discreet. Her eyes swept the room, landed on the closed bathroom door, and then on me. I narrowed mine.“Please don’t make a comment,” I said.She smiled, perfectly composed. “I did not say anything.” She said, raising her hands in mock surrender.“I have a dark feeling that you had something in mind,” I said, and she smiled.“I assure you, Luna, I was not.” She set the cart down and waited.“Tea,” I told her. “And coffee for Alpha Romanov. Nothing fussy, just here, by the window.”Yelena’s mouth twitched in a way that suggested she was enjoying this more than she admitted. “It seems to me that you are starting to learn Alpha Romanov

Valeria:The bedroom door opened sometime after sunset.I looked up from the book in my hands and saw Nikolai step inside, one hand already loosening the collar of his shirt while the other closed the door behind him. He moved like a man who’d been carrying the day on his shoulders, and I could tell that he was tired.There was a weight to him that hadn’t been there that morning, the kind that comes from being expected to be steady every minute of every hour.I marked my place and set the book down. He had barely taken three steps before I was on my feet and crossing the room.He changed the moment he realized I was coming. For half a second he went still, then his arms came around my waist and a smile tugged at his mouth. “Welcome back,” I whispered softly.“I take it you missed me,” he said.I rested my cheek against his chest. “Don’t ruin it.”“I am pleased with myself.” He said softly.I pulled back enough to look at him. “Why?”“Because my wife walked across the room to hug me.”

Valeria:A few weeks in, I had grown used to Nikolai appearing behind me when I least expected him. I no longer startled the way I once had, though he could still catch me by surprise. As I stood at the mirror brushing my hair, his arms slipped around my waist and his chin came to rest on my shoulder. I smiled at our reflection.“You do realize I was trying to fix my hair,” I said. “And that you are going to end up ruining it.”“I can see that, but I doubt that I would be ruining anything.” He said gently as he pulled me to his chest.I laughed and placed my hands over his where they rested against my stomach. Somehow, this intimacy had become normal. There had been no decisive moment, no formal conversation in which we agreed the contract no longer defined us.I learned when he usually returned from council meetings and which evenings left him irritable. He learned not to speak to me before I had fully woken unless coffee or tea was involved. We shared some mornings over breakfast; o

Valeria:The moment Nikolai left the room with my father, everything shifted.My mother waited until their footsteps faded down the corridor before she looked at me. She did not examine my dress or the jewelry at my wrist. For a few seconds I allowed myself to hope she might surprise me and ask whether I was happy. Instead, she folded her hands in her lap and said, “So?”I leaned back against the couch. “So what?” I asked.“Valeria,” she said, and the single name carried the weight of all the questions she would not say aloud. Her mouth tightened. “You know exactly what I am asking, and I will appreciate if you answer.”“The marriage is fine,” I said. “You needn’t worry about it, and everything expected from me being tended to.”I glanced toward the doorway where Nikolai had disappeared. My mother noticed the movement and snapped, “You do not need to look for him every time I ask you a question.”“I wasn’t,” I said. “I was wondering why you never bothered care about how your daughter