Chapter 142

Claire's POV The anonymous payment for my father's treatment had done more than save his life—it had ignited something fierce and unbreakable in my chest. As I sat in the hospital room watching the color slowly return to his face as the experimental therapy began its work, I felt Theo's love flowing through our mating bond like liquid fire, reminding me exactly who I was beneath the layers of false accusations and fabricated evidence. I was the mate of the most powerful Alpha as far as werewolves were concerned, and I would not allow myself to be defeated by whoever had orchestrated this systematic destruction of my reputation. That evening, I transformed the spare bedroom in our house into something that would have made any professional researcher proud. My personal laptop became the centerpiece of an operation that spanned every available surface, surrounded by backup hard drives that contained years of research data, printed molecular diagrams taped to the walls like battle plans, a