Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 261 - Chapitre 270

A flash of irrational ire heats my cheeks. Would he let the crone bandage his wounds?“Where’s Darragh?” I call over to Una where she’s returning things to a shelf.“I’m not sure,” she says. “When I finish with this, I’ll find out, okay?”I nod. I don’t need to haul myself out of this bed to find him. Everything is okay now. This dread is just an aftershock from what we went through. I make myself breathe and focus on the room.At least a dozen females are clustered among the empty cots, whispering in worried tones, casting me sympathetic glances. Haisley and Cheryl’s concern is an obvious put-on for show, but the others seem genuinely upset. I wouldn’t have guessed anyone beyond our cabin would be that concerned. Their red eyes and noses make me feel weird.Where was this show of concern when I was little, and my mom was gone, and I needed to not be alone more than anything else?But they wouldn’t have been allowed to gather like this, would they? Not in Declan Kelly’s time.When I w

“But the story I’m going to tell you happened long before Killian became alpha.” Abertha’s gaze drifts toward the ceiling like she’s calling up an old memory. “It was the winter we ran out of heating oil right before that bad blizzard. Darragh would have been nine. His sister, Iona, would have been fifteen. That full moon, their father, Cormac Ryan, had lost his challenge, and his entrails were still settling in Declan Kelly’s stomach. Declan, of course, didn’t waste any time sending the new unprotected female to his basement. A warning to any male who considered doing what Cormac had done.”My stomach hurts. A sour taste floods my mouth.Abertha lowers her gaze to meet mine. “And of course, Iona’s brave little brother fought his way down with nothing but his pocket knife to bring her back up again.”My torn nails dig into the bedsheet.“He was outnumbered, but he was as fierce then as he is now. He put out Declan’s second’s eye. As the story goes, he came a hair’s breadth from the al

“Seriously?” Madog Collins is as close to a king as North American shifterdom has. He’s an institution, and a canny, vicious motherfucker to boot. I can’t imagine anyone taking him out. I wonder if Abertha’s heard anything. She was born to Moon Lake pack, and she keeps a place there. There seems to be no love lost between her and Madog, though. She spits every time she has to mention him by name.“I guess the whole plan for a united shifter nation under Moon Lake is a bust.” Killian smirks. “What with Madog M.I.A., and his own pup founding a new pack. It’s anarchy now.”“You like to see it,” I say.Killian nods. “You do.”We stand for a few moments in silence, listening to the murmurs of the females and the nighttime animals taking up in the woods surrounding this cluster of cabins. I neither scent nor hear anything that doesn’t belong, but my nerves don’t unwind. They can’t. I can’t see Mari, and there is a raw pain flowing through the bond. Abertha’s supposed to be healing her.I sh

I know which one I want. I know how quickly and irreversibly my foolish heart has pinned its hopes on him. And I also know how many times in my life fate has broken my way.I open the glass door, my heart speeding like everything is riding on this next moment, like I’ve got no hard shell left, like I’ve shed whatever resilience I once had, and now I’m raw and pink and exposed.There are twice as many males in the lodge as were gathered outside. Some are on laptops and phones, some sitting or hovering as if they’re waiting for orders. Up on the dais, someone has pushed together two tables, and a dozen males surround it, gesturing at a huge map.Darragh is up there next to Killian, talking to two males in black suits. A harsh chemical scent assails my nose, and my stomach churns. Humans.My wolf growls as my claws extend, snicking through my fingertips. Darragh’s gaze flies to mine. My pulse skids to a halt.Without a second’s hesitation, he stops mid-sentence, steps down from the dais,

“You knew then?”His jaw clenches. “I stayed away.”I crane my neck to check out the top of the treehouse. It’s mostly hidden by leaves, but the very tip top clears the canopy, and above a white cupola, there’s a copper weathervane, tarnished green, and where there should be a rooster, there’s a mermaid, her tail pointing east.It’s everything I would have loved back then. Before.I don’t know what to say if I don’t want to cry.I approach the hanging rope ladder. Darragh holds it taut so it’s easier to climb, but I’m still short of breath by the time I reach the first platform. I sit on the edge, dangling my legs over, to catch my breath. Darragh lowers himself beside me.We’re silent for a while. Up this high, I can pick out the lodge’s roof and some of the more exposed cabins in camp from the fall foliage. In the far distance, the steeples of the churches in Chapel Bell rise into the washed out blue sky.Lucan and Fallon’s vehicles are parked down by the shack, but they’ve made the