Chapter 164\u00a0<\/p>\n
Third person POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
The drive to Moonstone was quiet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance had taken it more times than he could count, but never like this. The mountain road wound through mist and pine, sunlight flickering between the branches, and he couldn\u2019t stop thinking about Nolan\u2019s voice on the phone that night-the raw honesty, the grief woven through every word.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It had changed something in him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u2019d always thought of Nolan as untouchable, made of ice. But hearing the truth about their parents-how their father\u2019s ambition and their mother\u2019s pride had crushed the boy Nolan had been-left Lance with a weight he didn\u2019t know how to carry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He had wanted to hate his brother for so long. It was easier that way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But hate didn\u2019t fit anymore. Not when the truth left him staring at the wreckage of a family that had never really known love.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance had convinced himself that his parents had loved him, that they had been good and kind. But if there was truth in Nolan\u2019s words, then everything he thought he knew was a lie.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t know how to reconcile that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the time he reached the Moonstone packhouse, the clouds had broken, and sunlight spilled across the courtyard. The air smelled of moss and fresh rain. For a moment, he simply sat in his car, watching the way the light caught on the high windows.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then he got out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The guards at the entrance nodded respectfully. Moonstone was cautious about visitors, but his name carried weight now, especially since Silver Fang and Moonstone had entered a tentative alliance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Besides, they were used to him visiting. He had become close to Cassian and would often come here to check in when he visited Ellie in the early days of her time here.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a way, things were simpler then. Nolan was the boogieman they all feared, and keeping Ellie and the twins safe was all that mattered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was childish, now that he thought about it. Nolan had given signs right from the start that his emotions were heightened when it came to Ellie.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance thought of Nolan\u2019s tears in the hospital when he\u2019d been told that the babies were lost. His panic when it was discovered that Ellie was missing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the time, he\u2019d felt bad, but he\u2019d justified it by pointing to Nolan\u2019s past cruelty and coldness. Now, looking back, he felt like a monster for putting his brother through that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Inside, the hallways were quiet. He found Alaric in his office, seated behind a broad desk of carved ash wood, reading through reports. The elder Alpha looked up when the door opened, and a faint smile tugged at his mouth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLance Silver Fang,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t say I expected to see you here without Nolan.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNeither can I,\u201d Lance admitted, shutting the door behind him. \u201cDo you have a few minutes?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor you? Always.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 164\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alaric gestured for him to sit, and Lance did, perching on the edge of the chair like someone who wasn\u2019t sure if they meant to stay.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to ask you something,\u201d Lance said. \u201cAbout my parents.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alaric\u2019s brow furrowed slightly. \u201cYou\u2019ve come a long way to ask a very sensitive question. What do you want to know about them?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance hesitated. He wasn\u2019t used to being uncertain. He\u2019d spent most of his adult life wielding confidence like a weapon, but now it felt thin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI spoke with Nolan,\u201d he said finally. \u201cHe told me what really happened. About the ambush. About the way they- raised us.\u201d He swallowed hard. \u201cI guess I just need to know if it\u2019s true. If they were really the way he said.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alaric leaned back in his chair, the lines around his eyes deepening. For a long moment, he didn\u2019t speak.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was younger than your father,\u201d Alaric said slowly. \u201cBut I knew him well enough. Ambitious, proud, brilliant. And your mother-Elara-was his match in every way. Together, they were formidable. The Silver Fang pack was small back then; they weren\u2019t even on the radar of most of the other packs. Your borders were uncertain, movable. Your parents struggled to defend them, but they were ambitious and devout.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance nodded. \u201cThat\u2019s the version I remember. They strove for perfection.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alaric\u2019s gaze softened. \u201cPerfection comes at a cost, Lance. They believed that strength was the only thing that mattered. That discipline could forge greatness. And they demanded that same perfection from their son.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t need to say which son.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance looked down at his hands. \u201cNolan.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was too young to see it,\u201d Lance said quietly. \u201cThey never pushed me that way. I just thought he was distant. Cold. Isolated. I thought he wanted it that way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
A Cold Marriage That Turned Warm 164 Chapter 164\u00a0 Third person POV\u00a0 The drive to Moonstone was quiet.\u00a0 Lance had […]<\/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-23733","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\/23733","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=23733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23733\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}