Abandoned While Pregnant, Claimed by the Alpha novel Chapter 96

Chapter 96

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Every fight, every tasty rumor circulating through the territory about me–Brian always took on the role of the detached judge.

I had to scramble to gather flawless evidence, act like some criminal defending herself in court.

I had to lay out every fact, every witness statement neatly on his desk, presenting an airtight case.

Only then, he’d begrudgingly nod, as though granting me a favor.

And if there were the slightest crack, the tiniest flaw in my proof, he wouldn’t hesitate to condemn me.

His cold, indifferent tone would cut me down, enforce punishments, push me to pay for crimes I didn’t commit.

In his eyes, I was always a cunning, manipulative woman.

Right now, I’m just an outsider in the Bloodmoon Pack.

I carry the Blackwood Pack’s mark, and worse, I’m the stand–in Luna accused of poisoning the orphanage desserts.

And I have nothing–no solid evidence to clear my name.

All I have is a ridiculous statement that sounds more like an excuse.

But Hebert? He just looks at me and says, without any hesitation, that he trusts me most.

That contrast–it hit me like a sledgehammer, smashing through the defenses I’ve spent years building.

My throat tightened, and a sharp, overwhelming ache welled up inside me again.

“Really?”

My own voice came out hoarse, echoing through the dark cellar.

It sounded fragile, uncertain–so different from the person I was earlier, standing tall and arguing with the elders in the Pack Council Hall.

“Of course.”

Hebert responded almost immediately.

He flipped my wrist, pressing my hand flat against his neck, right over the warm, steady pulse of his artery.

The strong, rhythmic beat felt so alive, so… real.

“I don’t need any evidence, Ashley. If you say it, I’ll believe it without question.”

The absolute certainty in his words, that unshakable trust, made my head spin as if I’d lost my footing.

I stared at his face, sharp and serious, marked with streaks of dirt from what he’d done to help me. His jawline was smudged with earth, and yet–there he was, unwavering.

The expectations buried deep in my heart, the ones even I was too scared to acknowledge, started to flare up uncontrollably.

“Why are you so good to me?”

The words slipped out before I could stop them.

The moment they left my lips, I stopped breathing entirely.

I stared at him, desperately trying to find some kind of special answer in his beautiful eyes.

Was there a specific reason?

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Was it because he felt something for me–something beyond the usual boundaries?

Was it because he thought I was unique?

In the depths of my heart, I couldn’t help but hope for that romantic, reckless answer.

Hebert froze for a second.

In his sharp, stormy eyes, I caught a flicker of something painfully complicated.

His tall frame stiffened slightly.

It took at least ten full seconds before he finally spoke again.

“Because you and your father once helped me.”

His voice was calm, carrying that same composed, rational tone befitting the leader of the Bloodmoon Pack.

“We’re good friends, aren’t we?”

Friends.

That single word hit me like a dagger to the chest, sharp and unrelenting.

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