Chapter 98\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nolan POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
The council chamber of Moonstone was heavy with tension, the kind that clung to the walls and made the air harder to breathe. I stood at the head of the long table, arms crossed, jaw set.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ellie sat beside Lance on one end of the table, and Alpha Alaric and Cassian sat at the other end. I had the full attention of everyone assembled. Not because of any respect or dominance, but because I was practically radiating\u00a0<\/p>\n
anger.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I thought that I had a handle on my rage about this situation, but I was wrong. The relief of having Ellie by my side had merely overridden the rage I felt at Cassian for his deception.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, with him in front of me, the anger was impossible to ignore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance was watching me warily, like he expected me to lash out at an second. His stance beside Ellie was protective, cautious. It was enough of a reminder of my past treatment of her that I knew I had to at least try to control myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I turned my full attention to Alaric.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou understand why I\u2019m here,\u201d I said flatly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alaric, his silver hair gleaming in the pale afternoon light, gave a slow, steady nod. \u201cYou believe Moonstone has violated our alliance.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBelieve?\u201d My temper spiked, though I kept my voice even. \u201cYour son concealed my wife\u2019s existence for nearly a year. He orchestrated her disappearance. He harbored her in your territory. That is not a belief, Alaric. That is fact.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cassian didn\u2019t flinch. He sat beside his father at the table, calm as ever, infuriatingly unruffled. My wolf bristled, pacing behind my ribs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alaric\u2019s frown deepened, though his words were quiet, deliberate. \u201cCassian?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cassian\u2019s expression didn\u2019t change. \u201cIt\u2019s true. From the moment she left the hospital, Ellie has been under my protection.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alaric\u2019s ever-steady eyes fixed on his son for a long moment before moving to Ellie. I saw the fraction of a second when his gaze softened, an unfamiliar gentleness crossing his features. It was gone the instant he looked back at\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand your anger at the situation, but it seems that the circumstances necessitated some action on Cassian\u2019s part,\u201d he said calmly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou expect me to believe that you had no idea?\u201d I asked Alaric.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBelieve what you will, the fact is my son concealed this from me. A matter that I assure you we will be discussing in private.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cassian\u2019s expression didn\u2019t change. His eyes were still fixed on me with that defiant confidence that made my\u00a0<\/p>\n
blood boil.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stepped toward Cassian, every muscle taut. \u201cYou chose to undermine an alliance between two packs? You chose to interfere with my mate bond?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 98\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ellie\u2019s voice cut through the air, firm, steady. \u201cHe chose to protect me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I turned to her, equal parts startled and enraged by her defense of Cassian. She stood tall, her chin lifted, her eyes bright with conviction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance sat on the edge of his seat beside her, looking at me cautiously, anticipating my reaction. He was ready to\u00a0<\/p>\n
pounce on me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I took a deep breath, attempting to reel in my anger. I couldn\u2019t lose control now. Not in the middle of a meeting like this.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t force me into anything,\u201d Ellie continued. \u201cI asked him for help. He gave it. If you\u2019re going to blame someone, blame me. Not him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her fierceness\u2026 it stopped me cold. She had never spoken to me like that before, not with fire in her words and her shoulders squared as if she were ready to go to war for him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ever since her car accident, she\u2019d had a confidence to her, but this was different. She wasn\u2019t calling me a jerk or pointing out my mistakes; she was standing firm in defense of her choices and her ally.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I hated that I respected her for it. It would be so much easier to just let my anger take the reins.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re defending him,\u201d I said, harsher than I meant to.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d She didn\u2019t falter. \u201cBecause he doesn\u2019t deserve your wrath. Without him, I wouldn\u2019t be standing here at all. Nolan, I was going to leave no matter what. Cassian only made sure that I did it safely.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Cold Marriage That Turned Warm 98 Chapter 98\u00a0 Nolan POV\u00a0 The council chamber of Moonstone was heavy with tension, […]<\/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":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-unremembered-mate-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23667","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=23667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23667\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}