Chapter 456: Dark Road

In the end, she had chosen the darkest road available to her. She engineered the death of Jeffrey’s mate during the birth of their pup, then planted lies so twisted they drove him to abandon his own children. She had been certain that grief and time would crack him open, that he would break his vow and take another woman to his side.

But Jeffrey surprised her. He never did. Years passed and he kept no woman close, honoring the bond he’d shared with his late mate as though she were still breathing. His loyalty was absolute, unbending, the kind that made even hardened wolves lower their eyes in respect. She had miscalculated him entirely, mistaking his gentleness for weakness when it had always been something far more difficult to break.

Then, as if the moon itself had intervened, someone appeared. A woman who looked so much like Jeffrey’s lost mate that it stole the breath from anyone who looked twice. She carried the same quiet strength, the same gentle way of moving through a room. Under the old hag’s careful influence, she fell in love with Jeffrey without ever knowing she was being guided there like a piece on a board.

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