<b>Chapter </b><b>745 </b>


    Judy’s POV


    Gavin was in the bathroom getting dressed when I entered. I folded my arms across <b>my </b>chest and stared at him. He was wearing a designer suit, and his hair was styled neatly. He looked at me in the mirror as he adjusted his tie.


    He knew what I was thinking before I even said anything, but he still sighed and shook his head.


    “Judy-<b>” </b>


    <b>“</b>I’ming with you,” I said with such finality that it shocked me.


    “This dinner isn’t a courtesy, it’s a summons,” he said, turning to look at me. He was calm<b>, </b>but the


    muscles in his cheek betrayed him. “If anything smells wrong, I need you nowhere near it.”


    “It already smells wrong,” I shot back, folding my arms across my chest. “Which is exactly why I’m not


    letting you walk into ckwell territory alone.”


    He raised his brows as he stared back at me, and I swear I saw the corner of his lips twitching. Was he


    finding it amusing? I was losing my mind about having my mate go to the dark regions, and he was finding this funny? He was lucky I loved him, or I would have killed him by now.


    I was hurt; he’s been keeping things from me because he doesn’t want to stress me out. But he was lying


    to me and not telling me the entire truth, stressing me out more than he knew. His blocking his feelings


    from me was stressing me out. He didn’t understand what that kind of thing did to a mate because it’s


    been so long since he’s had one.


    He wouldn’t have even told me about the dinner with the ckwells if I hadn’t found the letter in his


    pocket this morning. Apparently, Beta Taylor arrivedst night with a letter that was sent to the


    packhouse.


    He wasn’t even going to tell me about <b>it</b><b>, </b>which hurt both me and my wolf.


    Seeing the expression on my face, softened his features.


    “Babe….” He said softly as I stepped closer to him.


    “NO more half–truths,” I said before he could say anything else. “No more ‘I’ll be at the office.‘ We do this together, or we don’t do it at all.”


    “And if <b>it </b>goes bad?” He asked.


    “The ckwells aren’t stupid enough to attack either of us during a simple dinner,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him. “Unless they want a war. You are Alpha Gavin Landry, the strongest Lycan chairman in the world, and you own thergest franchise <b>in </b>the world… even bigger than their empire. Yes, they are


    +15 <b>BONUS </b>


    powerful and y by their own rules, but hurting either of us would be suicide.” <fn2321> Find the newest release on fι?dnοvel</fn2321>


    He knew I was right, and I could see the fight in him wavering. I reached out andced my fingers with his, trying to get him to see reason. His eyes dropped to our joined hands and then climbed back to my face with something like surrender warming the storm there.


    He kissed my knuckles and sighed.


    “You’re impossible.”


    A smile tipped the corner of my lips.


    “But you love me,” I remind him.


    His expression softened even more as he wrapped me in his arms, holding me close to him.


    “And I always will,” he murmured as he pressed his lips against mine. When the kiss ended, he let out a breath and pressed his forehead against mine as if he needed to breathe my air in order to anchor himself. “Fine. You cane with me. But if I say we leave… we leave. No arguments.”


    “No arguments,” I repeated, even though we both knew I’d argue if it meant protecting my mate.


    I spent the next hour getting dressed. I decided on a casual ck dress; the only one that didn’t make me


    feel fat, despite Gavin telling me that I don’t look fat, I’m just pregnant. I braided my hair and applied a


    little makeup. I was never much of a makeup wearer, but something told me I needed to look my absolute best when going to the ckwell Manor.


    I still couldn’t believe we were actually going to the manor this evening. The ckwells were kind of like


    an urban legend in the werewolf world. They were heard but never seen. I couldn’t help but feel like we were walking right into their den.


    The road to the ckwell Manor crawled through pines that whispered like gossip, needle tipsbing the wind. The closer we drew, the colder the air became, and old cold, the kind that remembers things.


    Stone walls loomed from the dark atst, not built so much as exhumed, wet with sheen that caught the


    moon in broken pieces.


    The manor rose beyond the gates like a cathedral someone had frightened. Spires stitched the sky. Windows stared too long. Ivy clung like bruise–dark veins. I shivered, and Gavin’s hand found mine, entwining his fingers and giving me a reassuring squeeze.


    <b>“</b>Maybe we should have brought security,” I said for not the first time. “Or at least Beta Taylor. He’ll be pissed if he finds out we came here and didn’t tell him.”


    The natural territory that the ckwell Manor was in was about an hour North of our borders. It was a territory outsiders would never dare to wander into.


    “The less we bring, the better,” Gavin told me as he put the car in park. “We don’t want <b>to </b>escte any


    issues. If they feel trapped, it could cause problems.”


    “What about us?” I asked. “What if we feel trapped?”