Chapter 145
“It seems we have mutual interests, Natalia. I believe we can work together.”
“Perfect,” she breathed. “I’ll send you the details. When can you be in North America?”
“Sooner than you might think.”
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Back to the present.
I moved silently through the shadows at the edge of Blackwood territory, my wolf’s senses heightened in
the darkness.
We’d learned from Melissa that Alexander planned to propose tonight. That gave us the perfect opportunity to infiltrate while they were distracted with their little celebration.
Now, as I slipped through the Blackwood Pack’s outer defenses–impressive, but not impenetrable to someone with my skills–I reflected on how strange these alliances were.
Alpha Foster Thorn was a fallen Alpha, clinging to power by his fingernails. Natalia was a scomed woman with an ax to grind.
Neither were allies I would have chosen under normal circumstances, but they provided convenient access to North American pack politics I wouldn’t have had otherwise.
The Blackwood main house loomed ahead, lit warmly against the night. I circled toward the less guarded eastern wing, where the storage rooms and quarters for the lower–ranking pack members who attended the Alpha and Luna were located. I needed to enter the pack house and retrieve the defense maps for Blackwood territory.
I moved swiftly into the pack house, careful to mask my scent with an herbal mixture I’d perfected over years of covert operations.
Then a scent on the breeze stopped me cold.
Honeysuckle and mountain rain.
Impossible. My wolf surged forward so violently I nearly shifted right there in the darkness. I forced myself to remain calm, following the scent with careful precision until I reached a room near the end of a secluded hallway.
And there she was.
My mate. My Emma. Except she wasn’t the destitute wolf she’d pretended to be, and she certainly wasn’t
alone anymore.
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She stood by the window, her silhouette illuminated by moonlight, one hand resting protectively over her
heavily pregnant belly.
“Emma,” I whispered, the name falling from my lips before I could stop it.
She whirled around, eyes widening in recognition and fear. “Lucien? How did you-”
I crossed the room in three strides, capturing her face between my hands and claiming her lips with mine. The familiar electricity shot through my body, the mate bond flaring to life after so long dormant. She tasted just as I remembered–sweet and wild, like freedom itself.
A sharp pain jolted me back to reality. She’d bitten my lip hard enough to draw blood, her eyes now fierce with anger rather than fear.
I touched my lip, staring at the crimson stain on my fingertip with something close to admiration. “Still fighting, I see.”
“Get out,” she hissed, backing away from me.
My wolf rumbled with primal satisfaction at the sight of her swollen belly–round, full, mine.
“You’re coming with me,” I growled, seizing her wrist. “You and my pup.”
She flinched but didn’t back down. Her other hand cradled her belly protectively, like she could shield it
from me.
“You need to leave,” she said, voice shaking with emotion. “Now.”
“I’m not leaving without you.” My voice dropped into a snarl. “You’re carrying my pup. You will come with
me.”
“I won’t.” Her eyes flashed. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
I inhaled sharply, struggling to hold back the rage boiling under my skin. “That’s my pup you’re carrying. You don’t get to shut me out.”
“This has nothing to do with you!” she hissed, her voice cracking. “You lost the right to claim anything the day you lied to me–again and again!”
“Everything about you has to do with me,” I snapped, stepping closer, the bond between us thrumming like a live wire.
“You’re my mate. You’re carrying my heir. And all this time–you’ve been hiding in the Blackwood Pack like a coward?”
Her eyes widened, fury and pain clashing like a storm.
“I wasn’t hiding,” she shouted, tears glittering in her eyes. “I was living my life–away from you and your
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lies.”
I let my Alpha dominance flow outward, a pressure that would make most wolves submit immediately.” And you’re coming home with me tonight.”
To my shock, she didn’t cower. Instead, she straightened her spine and pushed back with an Alpha aura that matched my own in intensity.
“I belong to no one,” she said coldly, her eyes flashing gold. “Especially not a man who saw our bond as nothing but a ‘cruel joke.“”
Only one bloodline could produce a female with that kind of power…
“You’re a Blackwood,” I breathed, the pieces suddenly falling into place. “Alexander’s sister–Lyra!
