Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 21 - Chapitre 28

The moment his eyes landed on me dark, unreadable, burning with something I couldn't name. I should have turned around and fled. Forgotten the sheets. Slept on the bare mattress. Anything but this but my feet were rooted to the floor. He just stood there, shirt still tangled around his arms, watching me like I was the one who'd done something wrong. Which….technically, I had. "The sheets," I managed, voice coming out embarrassingly breathless. "I just……,I left them here earlier. When I made your bed." He tilted his head. "You made my bed." It wasn't a question. "I….yes. The servants were busy and you'd just come back from the fight and” I was rambling. Stop rambling. "It doesn't matter. I'll just grab them and go." I moved toward the bed, refusing to look at him, refusing to acknowledge the heat crawling up my neck. The sheets were folded neatly at the foot of his bed of course they were, because I'd folded them myself and I grabbed them, clutching them to my chest like a s

Fenrir's POV The council chamber smelled of old parchment, burnt wood, and the suffocating weight of tradition. I stood at the head of the long oak table, fists planted on the surface, staring down six of the oldest, most insufferable lycans in the pack. "The bloodline must be secured," Elder Thorne rasped, his voice like gravel scraping against bone. "The ritual was a formality. The magic ensured the child would take. But the act itself, the physical union must be performed to solidify the bond between sire and surrogate. It is tradition. It is law." "The child is already conceived," I said flatly. "The surrogate is pregnant. The line is secure." "The line is half secure," Elder Morwen countered, her sharp eyes glittering. "The child grows, but the pack grows restless. They whisper that their Alpha refuses to claim his surrogate. That he is weak. That he cannot perform his most basic duty." My wolf stirred, a low growl rumbling in my chest. They dare question us? "The p

The first thing I did after Fenrir disappeared behind the council chamber doors was check whether the guard was still outside my room as I searched my belongings for the silver ring my mother had left me. It was gone. I checked beneath the mattress, inside my drawers, and even between the pages of the book I'd been reading before Fenrir came to my room the previous night. Someone had left the ring at the eastern gate. Someone had known enough about my mother to send a warning to the Alpha. And Fenrir had recognized the symbol engraved inside it. What frightened me most wasn't that a stranger knew about my past. It was that Fenrir knew something I didn't. I sat on the edge of my bed, staring at the pendant resting against my palm. The crescent moon and four tiny stars glimmered in the morning light. “Who were you, Mama?” I whispered. She had died when I was young, leaving me with more questions than memories. I'd spent years suffering under my step mother. Instead, here I

"Don't tell me it's that maid again.I've told you countless times I'll be downstairs for breakfast!" I called out, throwing open the door with more force than necessary. Nyko stood in the hallway, one eyebrow raised, looking far too amused for someone who'd just been shouted at. "Oh sorry, I thought…" I stammered, heat rushing to my cheeks. "You thought I was a maid?" Nyko's grin widened. "I'm flattered. Truly but no, I came to see if you wanted to join us in the bay today. The Alpha's ordered a hunt, and the water's perfect for swimming after." Before I could answer, a strange sensation rippled through my chest something warm and restless, like a second presence stirring awake inside me. “Say yes. I want to see the water. Finally. I was starting to think you'd never hear me.” My wolf purred. My hand flew to the mark beneath my ear, which had suddenly grown warm. "give me a moment," I managed, then shut the door in Nyko's confused face. I pressed my back against the wood, heart