Chapter 346\u00a0<\/p>\n
Author\u2019s POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
Back at the Vale estate, Scarlett\u2019s excitement only grew the longer Alaric spoke.\u00a0<\/p>\n
071\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finished\u00a0<\/p>\n
She laughed coldly. \u201cIf that\u2019s the case, then perfect. With Riley\u2019s crippled body, I doubt she\u2019d last a day under that Stormridge Alpha\u2019s hands. She\u2019ll die before I even lift a finger.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlett leaned in close to Alaric, her eyes gleaming with malice. \u201cWhen are you planning to act, Father? Just don\u2019t let Kael find out. He\u2019s completely on Riley\u2019s side now. If he knew, he\u2019d raise hell.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alaric scoffed. \u201cI\u2019ll handle it. You keep playing innocent. Don\u2019t slip up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlett nodded eagerly. \u201cI\u2019m just waiting to watch that little bitch scream for mercy when Northhaven\u2019s Alpha gets his hands on her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the hospital, Riley sat upright in bed, staring blankly out the window. Her body was still aching, wrapped in gauze and shadows of exhaustion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The door opened. Zara walked in with Mia close behind, carrying a thermos of hot food.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Riley slowly turned her head. Her eyes landed on Zara-and chilled over.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zara approached cautiously and sat beside her, her tone soft. \u201cSweetheart, you must be hungry. I brought-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not my mother,\u201d Riley said flatly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zara\u2019s breath caught. The air seemed to still between them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether you accept it or not, I am your mother. That won\u2019t change\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt already has,\u201d Riley replied, her voice cold as the frost. \u201cBirth without care is no bond at all. I gave you back what I owed. That was the end.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zara\u2019s eyes welled with tears. \u201cYou really hate me that much? What do I have to do, Riley? Tell me. What will make you forgive me?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Riley didn\u2019t answer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not because she didn\u2019t have one-but because there was nothing left to say.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zara tried to compose herself. \u201cJust eat something, okay? We can talk after-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLeave.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The word cracked like a whip.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zara flinched. \u201cRiley, please\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Riley didn\u2019t raise her voice. She didn\u2019t have to.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 346\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking at you kills my appetite.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finished\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zara stumbled to her feet like she\u2019d been struck. Her hand flew to her mouth to muffle the sob threatening to break free. She rushed out the door.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Outside, she collapsed against the wall, trembling, holding back her tears with a force that made her shoulders shake. She wept silently, ashamed to let the nurses see her fall apart.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Minutes passed. When she looked back into the room through the glass pane, her heart twisted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mia sat by Riley\u2019s side, feeding her gently with a spoon. Riley-cold, silent Riley-was smiling.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A real smile.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her eyes glowed softly. Her lips moved in conversation. She was laughing. With Mia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zara\u2019s heart clenched.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She had never seen that smile directed at herself. Not once.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not even as a child.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was Mia who received her daughter\u2019s warmth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A truth settled over her like ash: Riley didn\u2019t want her. Might never forgive her. Might never even try.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She waited until Mia stepped out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mia jumped slightly, startled to see Zara still there. \u201cLuna Zara, I thought you\u2019d already gone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGo on ahead,\u201d Zara said curtly. \u201cI\u2019ll stay.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mia hesitated. \u201cLuna, Riley is very tired. Maybe it\u2019s better if-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zara\u2019s expression darkened. \u201cAre you telling me when I can see my own daughter?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mia lowered her gaze. \u201cOf course not. I\u2019ll wait downstairs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zara didn\u2019t wait. She pushed the door open.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Riley didn\u2019t react.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But this time, she didn\u2019t send her away either.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She turned her face toward the window again, as if preparing for a storm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And deep inside, her wolf stirred again-quiet, alert, ready.\u00a0<\/p>\n
788\u00a0<\/p>\n
M\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
14:58\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Pack\u2019s Daughter\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 347\u00a0<\/p>\n
Riley\u2019s POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finished\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t look at her when she stepped inside. I didn\u2019t need to. I could feel her energy shift the moment she crossed the threshold-hesitant, nervous, layered with a desperation she tried to hide behind motherly guilt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She was quiet at first, maybe hoping I\u2019d soften. I didn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before she could sit beside me, I pointed at the chair across the room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSit over there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She froze. For a heartbeat, I thought she might argue. But she didn\u2019t. She obeyed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Good.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She needed to understand: whatever thread once connected us had already frayed to nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She hadn\u2019t even opened her mouth when I said, \u201cI know why you\u2019re here. You want me to forgive you. Maybe that\u2019s not impossible. But if you want redemption, you\u2019ll have to earn it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her eyes lit up with hope, as if I\u2019d thrown her a lifeline. \u201cRiley, anything. Just tell me what you need me to do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI smell the alpha pheromones in you, Riley, you have a wolf.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her voice was trembling with emotion, her wolf\u2019s scent shifting from guilt to something almost hopeful.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I almost pitied her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Almost.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIs that so?\u201d I said, flat and calm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She nodded eagerly. \u201cPlease, Riley. Just trust me this once. I promise, I won\u2019t fail you again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stared straight into her eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then I said it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGet Scarlett out of the Vale estate. Cut all ties. Formally, permanently. No daughter of yours, no Luna training, no inheritance.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She flinched like I\u2019d slapped her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her fingers twisted into the hem of her coat, her eyes darting toward me with uncertainty, then fear. \u201cRiley\u2026 she\u2019s lived with us for years. Your father and I raised her like our own. To just cast her out-what will the pack think? What will the Elders say?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I laughed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cold. Empty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
Joseph King is an editor and storyteller who ensures every chapter is clear, polished, and engaging for readers.<\/p>\n
Midnight Letters by Daniel Crowe 346 Chapter 346\u00a0 Author\u2019s POV\u00a0 Back at the Vale estate, Scarlett\u2019s excitement only grew the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pack-princess"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20619\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}