LOGINBella’s POV.He came over and sat in the chair beside the bed, close enough that I could smell the mint and rain of his scent, close enough that I could see the lines of tension in his jaw. He took my arm and found the vein with practiced efficiency and connected the line, and then he did the same to himself, and the blood began to move through the tubes between us.The familiar pull started almost immediately, that strange sensation of something leaving my body and entering his, the specific quality of connection that came from the tether. I lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling and let the feeling wash over me."The physician is not coming," I said again, and this time my voice was softer, less composed. "Are you sure?""I am sure, Arabell."He did not elaborate. He just sat there in his chair, his arm extended, his eyes on my face, and I felt the warmth of his attention on my skin even through the distance.The last thing I remembered was the warmth of his hand on my arm an
Bella's POV It was not surprising seeing Andrew already planning the wedding even though I had said it could only take place when the baby bump becomes visible. He had been moving through the packhouse all week with that specific energy of a man who believed he had won something, his shoulders looser, his jaw softer, the particular quality of relief that came from thinking the hard part was over. He did not know that the hard part had not even started. It had been a week. Seven days of watching Hailey perform pregnancy with increasing confidence, her hand resting on her stomach at every meal, her back arched just slightly when she walked, her voice softening when she talked about the baby that did not exist. Seven days of watching Andrew believe every single second of it. And today I was going to see the king for another blood therapy session. I stood in front of my mirror while Julie moved around me, her hands efficient and careful as she adjusted the fabric of my dress. The sil
Andrew's POV I sat in the carriage across from Bella and watched the palace disappear behind us. I wondered what the King's issue was with Blackthron. With Bella. I had been turning it over since the moment we walked out of that throne room. The way Ethan had looked at her. The way he had said her name, that shortened version that no one else used, like it was something private between them. The way he had asked about her finding her fated mate like it was a real possibility he was considering. I knew he was close with Alexander. Everyone knew that. The Lycan King and the Alpha of Blackthron had a relationship that went back decades, the kind of connection that produced favors and consideration and the specific quality of attention that Alexander received from the throne. That explained the interest. That explained the protection. But it did not explain why Ethan had placed my fate on Bella. He had asked her when I could marry Hailey. He had made the answer dependent on her appr
Ethan's POV I kept my hands on the armrests of the throne because if I moved them, I would have killed someone. And that someone would have been Andrew. He sat there in his chair with his hands gripping his knees and his jaw tight and his eyes darting between me and her like he was trying to read a room he had already lost control of. He sat in my throne room and called my mate a whore and he had no idea that the man he was accusing her of sleeping with was sitting directly in front of him. He had not used those exact words. But I had been listening to men twist their meaning into acceptable shapes for long enough that I heard what was underneath every syllable he spoke. She leaves the packhouse at night. She comes home smelling of another man. She is not setting a good example. He had wrapped contempt in the language of concern and presented it to me like evidence. Slade growled low in my chest. I felt it vibrate through my ribs, a deep and constant sound that I pushed down with
Bella's POVI kept my face absolutely still.Every muscle in my body was locked into the specific stillness I had learned to produce in rooms where showing what I was feeling would cost me something, and I held it with everything I had because if I let even a fraction of what was happening inside me reach my face, I would lose this moment completely.Inside, I was dying of laughter.It was bubbling up somewhere behind my ribs, hot and bright and completely uncontrollable, and I was pressing it down with every ounce of control I possessed because Andrew was sitting beside me in front of the Lycan King, accusing me of sleeping with another man, and the man he was accusing me of sleeping with was sitting on the throne directly in front of him. The irony of it was so complete and so beautiful that I could barely contain it.I wanted to see Ethan's reaction.That was the thought sitting loudest in my head, the thing I was hungriest for in that moment. I wanted to see what his face did when
Bella’s POV Andrew's shoulders tightened. "Your Majesty, I assure you... " Ethan held up one hand and Andrew stopped mid-sentence. "You had time to impregnate a woman you are not married to," Ethan continued, and his voice had not changed, still flat, still controlled, still giving absolutely nothing away, "but your people are hungry. The widows have gone unpaid. There is a school on the eastern side of your territory that has been damaged for eight months and you have not repaired it." I kept my face still and watched Andrew process the fact that the King knew about the eastern school, about the widows, about everything I had been documenting for weeks. Andrew's mouth opened and closed. "Your Majesty," he said, and his voice had shifted into a more careful register, "I have been... the Luna has been... Bella has been handling those matters personally. She has visited the east side. She has seen to the people's needs. I was not aware there were... I was not fully informed of the
Bella's POV.Julie helped me wear my nightwear.She didn't ask questions. She just picked up the soft cotton gown from where I had left it on the bed and held it open for me and helped me step into it like I was a child who had forgotten how to dress herself. Her hands were gentle and efficient and
Andrew's POVIt was late when I got back. The whole ride back my mind kept turning, replaying the King's lethal tone, the way he cut me off, the fury I felt rolling off him when I mentioned Bella.The packhouse was quiet in the way it got at this hour, servants finished, lights low, the particular
Ethan's POVI was fighting with Slade not to kill Andrew, or that's what I'm telling myself. I left him on his knees.That was the only thing that saved Andrew today, the fact that killing him would have created a problem I wasn't ready to manage yet. Not sentiment. Not restraint in any noble sens
Andrew's POVFour hours in the waiting hall.I had been sitting in the Lycan King's general waiting hall for four hours and the guards at the door had not moved and nobody had come to tell me anything and the tea they had brought two hours ago had gone cold an hour ago and I had not touched it sinc







