CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED & THIRTY THREE
Nolan’s POV
Back in our room, Talia refused to rest.
The moment we entered, she removed her coat and sat on the edge of the bed without lying down. Her eyes stayed fixed on the door as if she expected someone to walk through it at any moment.
“You should try to get some sleep,” I said.
“I will after we hear from Walden,” she replied.
“You’ve been on your feet since this morning.”
“Two supply depots burned down, Nolan. I’m not going to sleep while we’re still waiting to find out what happened.”
There was no reasonable argument to make against that. I sat beside her and waited with her instead.
We sat in silence for a long time. The exhaustion showed in her posture. Her shoulders were tense, her jaw set, and her eyes had lost some of their usual sharpness. She was pushing through it rather than admitting to it.
‘Don’t try to get her to lie down again,’ my wolf warned. “That will only make her angry.’
‘I wasn’t going to. She had already made her position clear, and pressing the point would only create an argument neither of us needed,’ I responded.
Eventually a knock came at the door.
I stood and opened it. A guard handed over Walden’s report and stepped back without a word. I brought it back to the bed and read through it carefully.
According to the report, every villager who had been working construction that day was fully accounted for. Names, assignments, and movements had all been confirmed. No one had left the site unaccounted for during the window when the fires started, and nothing in the behavioral records flagged anyone as suspicious.
I read through it a second time before handing it to Talia to read.
“All the villagers are accounted for,” Talia said as she finished looking through the report. She exhaled and the tension in her shoulders finally gave way. “How could someone slip past us like this?”
“We will figure out what happened,” I reassured her as I helped her out of her clothes. “But you need to sleep.”
Talia nodded slowly and finally lay back. She pulled the blanket up without another word. Within a few minutes her breathing had slowed and steadied.
I kissed her forehead, then moved to the chair by the window. The pack house was quiet now as no one was moving around 1 looked out the window and up at the night sky.
“Why is she so obsessed with this?” I asked my wolf. “She’s even more of a workaholic than I used to be.”
‘It is an opportunity to prove to the pack she can protect them. She needs to see it through to the end,’ my woll replied
“She doesn’t need to do that. The pack already knows,” I replied.
‘It is more about how she feels,’ my wolf responded.
Eventually I left the room and spent several hours in my office working through reports. When I returned to the room later that night, Talia hadn’t moved. I went to sleep without disturbing her.
She was still asleep when I woke up the next morning. I dressed quietly, checked that she hadn’t stirred, and left without making noise.
+25 Bonus
Breakfast was already set out when I reached the dining room. Maggie walked in shortly after I sat down.
“Alpha,” she said, setting a cup down in front of me. “Della and Marco are here. They’re waiting in the hall.”
I looked up in alarm. We didn’t need another disaster. “Did something happen overnight?” I asked quickly.
“I don’t believe so,” she said.
“Send them in,” I ordered.
Della and Marco entered a moment later. Their expressions were relaxed, which told me this wasn’t urgent. Della glanced around the dining room as if expecting to find Talia already at the table.
“We came for breakfast,” she said. “And to check on Talia. Where is she?”
“Still sleeping,” I replied.
That stopped both of them.
“Still?” Della said with a frown.
“She was up most of the night waiting for Walden’s report,” I said. “She refused to go to bed until she had read it herself. She’s exhausted.”
Della crossed her arm and rolled her eyes. “Of course, she wouldn’t and it’s partly your fault.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, confused.
“You see, Talia has not had a moment to relax since she got here. First it was Viki’s kidnapping, and now this. She has been on high alert since she left Silverfang. At some point, that catches up with a person.”
Marco said nothing, but he didn’t look like he disagreed.
“I know,” I said. “I’m not going to push her this morning. She can sleep as long as she needs to.”
Della nodded, but the concern didn’t fully leave her face. “What about after she wakes up? She’s going to want to go straight back to the wall. You know she will.”
“Then I’ll need something ready for her before she has the chance. At least today, I want her to rest well,” I said.
Marco thought for a moment. “We could take her into town to go shopping.”
Della shook her head. “She would spend the whole time thinking about what the pack needs and what still has to be done. She wouldn’t be able to separate it from work.”
Maggie, who had been refilling cups, looked up carefully. “If I may say something, Alpha.”
“Go ahead,” I said.
“The roses in the central garden came into bloom,” she said. “If you wanted to arrange a lunch date out there today, I could have it set up within the hour. It would give Luna somewhere comfortable to sit outside.”
Della glared at Maggie for a brief moment and then nodded. “Actually… that’s perfect.”
“Careful, Della. You’re actually agreeing with Maggie,” Marco teased with a chuckle.
Della cut her eyes at him and hissed, “And what is that supposed to mean?!”
Ignoring the love birds’ bickering, I turned back to Maggie and ordered with a smile, “Set it up.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
+25 Bonus
