All Chapters of The Lycan’s Tribute: Claimed By My Foster Brothers: Chapter 91 - Chapter 100

Auriela's POVThe mansion grounds at dawn had a specific kind of quiet that should have felt peaceful and didn't. It felt like something was watching me, which was either instinct or three consecutive nights of bad sleep talking. Probably both.I'd been awake since before the sun bothered to show up, which was becoming a habit I wasn't proud of. So I did what any reasonable person does at five in the morning when sleep refuses to cooperate, I went outside. Alone. In the cold. My life had apparently decided warmth and rest were bonus features, not standard.I walked the edge of the property slowly, hands buried in my sleeves, watching my breath fog in the early light. The trees were still dark, that particular shade of dark that hadn't decided to be morning yet. Everything was quiet except for the birds, who had very strong opinions about the hour and felt no need to keep them to themselves.I was about to turn back when I saw him, or already I assumed it was a he. He was standing ne

Aurelia's POVSleep and I had officially broken up.I'd been at the window since sometime around the hour where night stops pretending it's still night, watching the tree line do absolutely nothing of interest, until it did.Two figures. Dark clothes, standing at the edge of the trees like they'd grown there. Still enough that I might've convinced myself they were shadows if shadows occasionally shifted and moved. I was downstairs with my jaw set before I'd made any conscious decision about it.Rylan looked up from whatever he was reading. Took one look at my face and that was enough for him to put it down."There are men at the tree line," I said. "Again.""I know." He said, seems he already saw them. "Then why are we standing here…”"Because we can't touch them." He said it with the patience of someone who had already had this conversation in his head and won. "Not without proof they belong to Kade.""They are watching us, that's enough reason to step out”"I know that.""Like we'

Aurelia's POVThe ceiling had nothing interesting on it, which didn't stop me from staring at it for a solid twenty minutes like it owed me answers.My stomach was doing something complicated. Not nervous, I refused to be nervous,just… complicated. I didn't know what today was going to look like. Kaelen had said slow. Rylan had said focus, which could mean anything from gentle guidance to “I will personally make this unpleasant for you and call it character building.”I pulled on my clothes, told my wolf to behave, and went downstairs.The yard looked aggressively organized.Kaelen had set up markers in a wide circle, small stones, evenly spaced, the kind of careful arrangement that said ‘i woke up early and I am taking this seriously and none of you should embarrass me.’ Rylan stood at the far end with his arms crossed. Torin was stretching, which felt deeply unfair at this hour."She's here," Torin said, without looking up."I can see that," Rylan said, looking directly at me."Wond

Kade's POVI was awake before the guards called the shift change, which meant I'd beaten the dawn by a comfortable margin. I lay still and listened to the distant call go up, one guard to the next, the sound moving around the perimeter of the pack house like a slow, bored echo of itself.Then I got up, got dressed, and went to work. Because that was the whole of it, really. That was every morning.The study smelled like old paper and a fire that had given up sometime in the night. I poured water from the pitcher on the desk, drank it standing, and sat down.The reports were stacked where the captain always left them. Neat. Ordered. Full of information I didn't want face The lands were still dying according to the last reports, different villages now, same story, worded by scribes who were clearly running out of ways to describe crop failure without repeating themselves. Patrols had found nothing on the eastern boundary. The western wells were still contaminated. Three merchants had

Kade's POVThe canopy above my bed had a water stain in the upper left corner that I had never once done anything about. I stared at it in the dark the way I stared at it every morning, for roughly the same amount of time it took for me to remember that getting up was the only option I actually had.I swung my legs over the side and sat there for a moment, the cold floor finding my feet immediately and enthusiastically. Then I got dressed, in silence, in the dark, and went to work.The study smelled like paper and a fire that had died hours ago and hadn't been replaced yet. A servant had left tea and a stack of reports that had the approximate weight and joy of a small tombstone.I poured a cup, sipped it, and read.Patrol updates. Supply requests. A village to the south where the crops had blackened overnight and the magistrate was requesting emergency funds in language so carefully diplomatic it almost disguised the panic underneath. Almost.I signed what needed signing and moved to