Chapter 99\u00a0<\/p>\n
Something sharp twisted in my chest. My wolf snarled, low and restless, the feeling unbearable. She trusted him at her lowest, when she chose to abandon me. It stung like a slap to the face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knew Cassian had feelings for her-I\u2019d seen the way his eyes lingered, the way his hand brushed her shoulder as though it was the most natural thing in the world. And now, hearing her defend him so fiercely, it confirmed every suspicion I\u2019d had.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d The word tore out of me before I could stop it. \u201cWhy do you care so much for him?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her eyes locked on mine. Moonlit. Steady. \u201cBecause he treated me like a person when no one else would. Because he respected me when I was at my lowest. Because he didn\u2019t try to stop me from doing what I felt was necessary, he offered his support. \u201c}\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cassian\u2019s gaze flicked toward her then, just briefly, and my stomach turned at the look in his eyes-protective, steady, something deeper that I couldn\u2019t name.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My hands curled into fists. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t explain why you\u2019re hiding behind him like-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEnough.\u201d Alaric\u2019s voice cut in, harder now, his authority filling the room. But I noticed the way his eyes softened when they fell on Ellie once again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Something flickered there-something I didn\u2019t understand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cassian\u2019s calm wasn\u2019t arrogance. It wasn\u2019t defiance. It was\u2026 something else. Something protective in a way that went beyond friendship or lust. His loyalty to her was absolute, unshakable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There was a similar look on Alaric\u2019s face now. I had suspected when they first came to Silver Fang that something was going on with them; now it was certain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And I still had no idea what.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And for the first time, I wondered if I had misunderstood what tied them together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t ask the question burning on my tongue. Not yet. I couldn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But my eyes met Alaric\u2019s, and I could see the conflict there. We both knew that there was something happening that we would need to address if there was any hope of our newly forged alliance surviving.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I looked at Ellie, my wolf still pacing anxiously, and my heart beating too hard. She didn\u2019t look guilty right now, only angry. If she were having an affair with Cassian, then surely she wouldn\u2019t look so righteously angry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNolan,\u201d Lance spoke for the first time. \u201cThis isn\u2019t why we\u2019re here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I looked at him for a long, tense moment before nodding once. He was right. On some level, this confrontation needed to happen, but it wasn\u2019t the main point of our meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, why don\u2019t I take Ellie to get some air, and you can get down to business?\u201d Lance offered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I nodded, reluctantly agreeing to his suggestion. Lance put his hand on Ellie\u2019s shoulder and steered her toward the exit. As they passed behind Cassian, I saw a look pass between him and Lance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For a moment, I could see that there was a bond between the three of them. I remembered hearing their laughter back in the courtyard in Silver Fang.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knew that the three of them had grown close, but now I couldn\u2019t help but wonder if pushing them toward each other had created an alliance that was going to destroy me. I had wronged Lance and Ellie so much that if Cassian\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 99\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
had offered to help them take me down\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
It occurred to me that I could ask. Ask if Lance had any knowledge of this plan. Ask if there was something more between Ellie and Cassian. But I didn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because if I was wrong-if I had let jealousy blind me-it would change everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, watching Ellie stand so fiercely between us, defending Cassian as if her very life depended on it\u2026 I wasn\u2019t sure which possibility was worse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
A Cold Marriage That Turned Warm 99 Chapter 99\u00a0 Something sharp twisted in my chest. My wolf snarled, low and […]<\/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-23668","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\/23668","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=23668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23668\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}