His new stepsister His biggest threat (Claire and Elijah) novel Chapter 223

Chapter 223

Chapter 223

Claire’s POV

The first morning of our new reality arrived not with a roar, but with a heavy, golden silence.

For the first time in years, I didn’t wake up to the frantic, irregular thumping of my heart or the cold clinical beep of a

monitor.

I woke up to the heat of a predator.

Elijah was still asleep, his body a massive weight beside me. He was lying on his back, his bandaged chest rising and falling in a deep, steady rhythm.

Even in sleep, his hand was anchored firmly to my waist, his fingers curled into the fabric of my silk nightgown as if he were afraid I might dissolve into the morning mist.

I stayed perfectly still, watching him. The bruises on his face had already begun to fade into a yellowish-purple, the supernatural healing of a Hale Alpha working double-time.

The jagged gash across his shoulder was now just a thick, pink line.

He looked younger when he was asleep-the Captain’s burden and the Alpha’s fury smoothed away by exhaustion. My own wolf felt different this morning.

She was no longer a frantic, trapped thing clawing at the walls of my ribcage. She was settled, her essence twined so tightly with Elijah’s that I could almost taste his scent-pine and cooling embers-on the back of my tongue.

The door to the suite creaked open just an inch. I saw Felix’s face peer through the gap, his eyes widening when he saw me awake.

He gestured frantically for me to come to the door.

Gently, I tried to pry Elijah’s fingers from my waist. He let out a low, guttural warning in his sleep, his grip tightening.

“Elijah,” I whispered, leaning close to his ear. “It’s just Felix. I’m just going to the door. I’m right here.”

He let out a long, shuddering breath, his fingers slowly relaxing, though his eyes never opened.

I slipped out of bed, the cold air hitting my skin, and padded across the plush carpet to the door.

“What is it?” I whispered as I stepped into the hallway.

Felix looked like he hadn’t slept at all. His hair was a mess, and he was still wearing his blood-stained hoodie from the night before. “Ethan wants a meeting. Now. The Council is gone, but the fallout is just starting. Half the pack is celebrating, and the other half is terrified of what the Reeds are going to do next.”

“Where’s Mom?”

“She’s with Ethan. They’re in the study. Thomas Reed tried to file a secondary petition this morning claiming the ‘mate- bond’ was induced by a pack-illegal pheromone. He’s grasping at straws, but it’s making the elders nervous.”

I felt a surge of cold anger. “He just won’t stop, will he?”

“Not until he’s buried,” a voice rasped from behind me.

I spun around to see Elijah standing in the doorway.

He was leaning heavily against the frame, a pair of gray sweatpants hanging low on his hips, his bandages stark white against his tanned skin.

His eyes were hard, the blue depth replaced by a cold, calculating steel.

“Elijah, you should be in bed,” I said, moving toward him.

“I’m done lying down,” he said, his hand finding the back of my neck and pulling me into his side. He looked at Felix. “Tell my father we’ll be down in ten minutes. And Felix?”

“Yeah, El?”

“Tell the sentinels at the gate that if a single Reed vehicle crosses the perimeter, they don’t call it in. They end it.”

Felix nodded, a grim expression on his face, and vanished down the hall.

The study was thick with the scent of expensive tobacco and old parchment. Ethan was sitting behind his mahogany desk, a stack of legal documents spread out before Successfully unlocked!

Mom was standing by the window, her arms crosseu, stay uut at the training grounds where the pack was beginning to gather for the morning drills.

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Chapter 223

When we walked in, Ethan’s head snapped up. He looked at Elijah-at the wounds, at the stance, and then at the way he was holding me.

“The Council has formally rejected Thomas Reed’s secondary petition,” Ethan began, his voice devoid of emotion. “But they ve placed a ‘Watch Order’ on the territory for the next ninety days. We are under a microscope, Elijah. Any sign of instability, any hint that this bond is anything less than a life-debt, and they will move to dissolve the Hale title.”

“It’s not a hint,” Elijah said, his voice dropping into that Alpha resonance. He led me to the leather sofa and sat down, pulling me onto his lap. It was a public declaration of territory, even in front of his parents. “The bond is absolute. If they want to test it, they can send another champion.”

“They won’t send a champion next time,” Mom said, turning from the window. Her eyes were red-rimmed. “They’ll send lawyers. They’ll target the school, the hockey team, the sponsorships. They’re going to try to bleed the Hales dry financially and socially.”

“Let them,” Elijah shrugged. “I don’t care about the team anymore.”

“You should,” Ethan countered. “The team is part of our public face. If you quit now, it looks like you’re hiding. It looks like the ‘shame’ of the scandal is too much. You go back to school on Monday. Both of you.”

I felt a chill. “Go back? Ethan, Mason will be there.”

“Mason Reed has been suspended indefinitely pending a Council investigation into his father’s conduct,” Ethan said, a small, dark smile touching his

lips. “He won’t be on the ice. But his cronies will be. You go back, you hold your heads high, and you show them that the Hales don’t break.”

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