\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 201\u00a0<\/p>\n
For a few heartbeats, only the twins\u2019 small sounds filled the air.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t expect to see you today,\u201d I said finally.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t expect to see you,\u201d Nolan admitted, standing slowly. \u201cAlaric asked me to review the border security reports before the council meeting I was just leaving when\u201d His eyes flicked to the twins again. \u201cWhen I saw you,\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ladjusted August on my hip, trying to steady myself, \u201cThey ve changed a lot since you last saw them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI can see that.\u201d A faint, wistful smile ghosted across his mouth. \u201cThey look like you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you,\u201d I said before I could stop myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Our eyes met, and something flickered there recognition memory, the quiet thrum of the bond that had never truly broken.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I swallowed, forcing myself to focus on the moment, despite the tears still blurring my vision. \u201cIf you\u2019d like,\u201d I began carefully, \u201cwe could\u2026 set up a schedule. For visits. You could spend time with them when you\u2019re here for meetings.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nolan blinked, as if he hadn\u2019t dared to hope for that. \u201cYou mean it?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I nodded. \u201cThey should know their father.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
For a moment he didn\u2019t move, as though afraid I might take the words back. Then his face softened, and the tension in his shoulders visible eased..\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you,\u201d he said quietly. \u201cYou have no idea how much that means to me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I did, though. I could see it in the way his voice shook, in the way he reached out again take Ian\u2019s tiny hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n
slower this time\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2013\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2013 to\u00a0<\/p>\n
The boy squeezed his finger and giggled. Nolan laughed, startled by the sound, his expression breaking into something pure and unguarded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My chest tightened painfully.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d never seen this side of Nolan before. I never would have imagined that he\u2019d be capable of this.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I watched the way his large hands handled the boys with gentle care, the way his entire face transformed with joy as they reached for him. He looked younger than I\u2019d ever seen him, his normally stormy eyes clear and focused solely on the boys.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2013\u00a0<\/p>\n
This was what I\u2019d stolen from him not out of cruelty, but out of fear. And now, watching him like this, I realised how much it had cost us both.\u00a0<\/p>\n
How much it had cost the boys.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can come by tomorrow,\u201d I said softly. \u201cThey nap after lunch, but they\u2019re usually awake early in the mornings.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be here,\u201d he said immediately, and the certainty in his tone made me smile despite myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A door opened somewhere down the hall, filling the packhouse with voices and footsteps, the faint reminder that the world was still turning around us.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nolan straightened, glancing toward the sound, then back at me. \u201cI should go before someone starts gossiping.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chacker 201\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll gossip anyway,\u201d I said, my voice lighter now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTrue.\u201d His smile was crooked, almost shy. \u201cI\u2019ll see you tomorrow, then?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The sight of it made my heart do a strange little skip.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I nodded. \u201cTomorrow.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He lingered a heartbeat longer, eyes tracing the boys\u2019 faces one last time. \u201cGoodbye, little ones,\u201d he murmured. \u201d Be good for your mother.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then he turned and walked away down the hall, the sunlight catching in his dark hair.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I watched him until he was gone, my pulse still racing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
August bounced excitedly, making a small, contented noise against my shoulder. I pressed a kiss to his head, blinking back the tears that burned behind my eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The goddess had shown me Nolan\u2019s wolf saving me \u2013 not in violence, but in protection. Now, seeing him with our sons, I felt like I understood the meaning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whatever else had happened between us, the bond hadn\u2019t died. It had only been waiting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But it was different now. There was a new dimension to it that I had never expected. I could see it in the way Nolan reached for the boys, in the way they instinctively trusted him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The bond between us had spread to them. I felt it myself when I was with the boys. The bone deep peace that filled me when I held them and the overwhelming pride that I felt when I watched them play.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was beyond any bond that I ever could have imagined. And now I saw that Nolan felt it too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The guilt I felt for keeping them apart for so long reared up again, but this time it was overshadowed by my determination never to let my fear cause them pain again. I could face anything for my boys.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even my complicated feelings for their father.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Cold Marriage That Turned Warm 201 \u00a0 Chapter 201\u00a0 For a few heartbeats, only the twins\u2019 small sounds filled […]<\/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-23770","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\/23770","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=23770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23770\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}