Chapter 148

VALENTINA The world went still. Not because the rogues had fled. Not because the elders stopped their accusations. Not because my father’s voice had cracked under the weight of trying to defend me. It went still because he was here. Andres Donovan, The Alpha Supreme. My mate. The night parted like it bent to his will. His aura, raw, suffocating, and ancient, rolled through the pack like a storm front. Rogues at the borders whimpered and broke rank, scattering into the trees as if hunted by death itself. Warriors who had stood trembling seconds before dropped to their knees, throats bared, unable to withstand his command. And me? My lungs stuttered. Relief hit sharp and overwhelmingly, cut into my chest so deep it hurt. He hadn’t abandoned me. He came. He was here. But then, just as quickly, anger sliced through that relief. Why now? Where was he when the council called me a curse? When whispers painted me as a doom, not a daughter? When even my own father threatened to chain me? Veraka