Page 145 of Smoke and Lure

Morlie gritted her teeth, hoping her friends wouldn’t hug her aching body.

“Well done,” Lovel commended her with a steadying touch to Morlie’s elbow.

“Thank you.”Morlie sighed.“I’m ready to go home.”

The shifters began to disperse and get back to their day.

Right before Morlie and her small group left the field, their path was cut off.Rieka stepped before them.

Morlie winced, expecting the extraordinary fighter she-wolf to chide her on all the bruises, cuts, and swelling Morlie had obtained even though Morlie would heal as soon as she had a moment of privacy and shifted into her wolf form.She was still as battered and busted as her opponent.

Conan, being Conan, offered Morlie a kind smile, warmth glowing in his eyes.

Then the firm touch on Morlie’s shoulder drew her gaze from Chanin’s father to his mother.

“Well done, daughter.”Rieka’s gaze glowed with a fierce-amber hue shining with pride.

Daughter?Not son’s mate or Alpha’s mate, but ‘daughter.’Rieka considered her a daughter.Understanding that bit of knowledge didn’t make Morlie believe she was forgetting her mother or father, but it made her feel as if her family ties had just become stronger.

Morlie had stood there, struck silent for so long that Rieka had already strolled away with Conan's steady, quiet strength at the she-wolf’s side.

Morlie’s body may have felt as if she’d been repeatedly struck by a tree, but her heart felt light.

Then the heat surrounding her core flooded in through the bond, responding to the awestruck joy in her, and made Morlie smile.

Even at this moment, Chanin was with her.

Chapter Twenty-Two

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The meeting dispersedaround them, but he stood unmoving before her in the center of it all.

The big beast of a man before her made her heart pound painfully in her chest, and she had to glance away to get her bearings and control the uncontrollable, her reaction to him.

No matter how hard she tried, the ebony-haired giant occupied most of her mind, but she still found herself fascinated by the changes around her.When the council members arrived, they had all seemed to strut in, fighting to dominate the open-air, stone-columned structure with their presence.

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