Pustaka
Cari
Beranda / Werewolf / Rejected, Not Broken / THIRTEEN

Share

THIRTEEN

Penulis: Sarah Blake
last update Tanggal publikasi: 2026-01-28 04:00:00

AVERY

My lips still burned.

Not with pain, but with the echo of Rowan. The weight of his mouth, the way his restraint had felt more dangerous than surrender. Every step away from him had felt wrong, like my body had already decided something my mind was still scrambling to deny.

I pressed my fingers to my mouth, breath uneven.

‘This is what a mate feels like,’ Lila said quietly.

‘I don’t know what that feels like,’ I answered, even as my body betrayed me. My pulse raced. Heat coiled low in my b
Lanjutkan membaca buku ini secara gratis
Pindai kode untuk mengunduh Aplikasi
Bab sebelumnya Bab selanjutnya
Bab Terkunci

Bab terbaru

  • Rejected, Not Broken    SIXTY

    AVERY The next morning felt slower. Not because anything had changed. Because I let it. Ember woke before the sun fully broke over the ridge, soft noises turning into determined ones as she decided the world was, in fact, worth demanding from. I smiled before I even opened my eyes, already reaching for her before she could escalate. Rowan didn’t move. That was new. Usually he woke the second I shifted. I glanced over my shoulder, careful not to jostle Ember as I lifted her. He was still on his back, one arm thrown over his head, breathing deep in a way that told me he’d finally, finally gotten real sleep. Good. He needed it. I carried Ember to the chair by the window, settling in with her as the sky lightened slowly, pale gold filtering through the trees. She latched quickly, focused and serious like always, tiny hand pr

  • Rejected, Not Broken    FIFTY NINE

    ROWAN The decision didn’t leave me. It settled. Not heavy. Not uncertain. Just… present. Another child. Avery’s voice had carried no hesitation when she said it. No fear buried beneath it, no shadow of the past trying to claw its way forward. Just clarity. That was what stayed with me. I found her later near the overlook, Ember asleep back in the nursery, the packhouse quiet behind us. The night air carried the same steady calm it had since the wedding, but I felt sharper inside it now. Watching. Waiting. And something else. Want. Avery turned when she heard me, already smiling faintly like she knew exactly what I was thinking. “You’re doing that thing again,” she said. “What thing.” “Looking at me like you’ve already decided something.” I stepped

  • Rejected, Not Broken    FIFTY EIGHT

    AVERY The night settled heavier than usual. Not tense. Just full. By the time Ember was asleep, the packhouse had gone quiet again, the kind of quiet that only came after long days of movement and thinking and holding things together without letting them show. I found Rowan in our room, leaning over the table, still half in his work even with the reports closed. “You’re still thinking,” I said softly. He looked up immediately, something in his expression shifting the second he saw me. “Always.” “About Hollowcrest.” “Yes.” I crossed the room slowly, stopping just in front of him. Close enough that I could feel the heat of him, the steadiness that had become something I relied on without noticing anymore. “Then stop,” I said quietly. His brow lifted slightly. “That’s not—” I kissed him.

  • Rejected, Not Broken    FIFTY SEVEN

    ROWAN The shift in strategy was invisible to anyone not looking for it. That was the point. By the next morning, Hollowcrest wolves were no longer moving through Emberfall alone. Not restricted, not confined, but… accompanied. Every training session had a counterpart. Every patrol observation had a guide. Every shared space had presence. No confrontation. No accusation. Just structure tightening quietly around them. Ash approved. ‘She moves like you do,’ he said. ‘Better,’ I replied. Because Avery had done something I might not have. She hadn’t pushed. She had absorbed. And in doing so, she had removed every clean angle Alaric might have used against us. I stood at the eastern ridge, watching a Hollowcrest pair work through a sparring drill with two of ours. The technique was

  • Rejected, Not Broken    FIFTY SIX

    AVERY I did not sleep well after that. Not because I was afraid. Because anger had a way of sharpening everything. Ember slept in her nursery down the hall, steady and warm and unbothered, four months old and blissfully unaware that a man she would never know had decided to build a grudge out of Kade’s ruin. Rowan slept beside me in fragments, not deeply, but enough that I could feel the difference each time his breathing shifted and settled again. Even in sleep, he stayed alert now, as if some part of him had already turned toward Hollowcrest and refused to look away. I lay still and listened to Emberfall breathe. The packhouse creaked softly around us. A patrol changed outside. Somewhere farther off, a wolf laughed under his breath before the sound disappeared into night. Nothing had gone wrong. Not yet. Lila stirred slowly, her presence warm but watchful. ‘He is not grieving Kade,’ she said. I stared up at the dark ceiling. ‘No.’ ‘He is using him.’ That felt right in a

  • Rejected, Not Broken    FIFTY FIVE

    ROWAN The first sign was not violence. It was absence. A Hollowcrest patrol failed to report at the agreed interval. Not late enough to justify alarm, just late enough to register. When the message finally arrived, it was polished and apologetic. A miscommunication. A route adjustment. An oversight corrected. On paper, it was nothing. Ash did not agree. ‘Patterns shift before borders do,’ he said quietly. I did not summon council. I did not confront Alaric. I watched. Two days later, Stoneveil’s eastern trade caravan was rerouted without direct authorization. A Hollowcrest liaison had suggested a safer path along the ridge, citing instability in the original route. The ridge was stable. It had been reinforced three weeks ago. The suggestion had been framed as courtesy. It was interference. I requested Hollowcrest’s internal patrol logs under standard agreement transparency. They arrived quickly. Too quickly. Complete. Clean. Ordered. Flawless. Ash moved closer to the s

  • Rejected, Not Broken    NINETEEN

    ROWANNames were not something you rushed, even when everything else felt like it was moving too fast. Still, it only took us a few days. Not because the choice was easy, but because the right one kept returning no matter how far we tried to wander from it.We talked about names in quiet moments. O

  • Rejected, Not Broken    EIGHTEEN

    AVERY I was three months pregnant, and somehow it still did not feel real until I was standing in the pack clinic waiting room with my hands folded over my stomach. This time mattered. Ilyra looked up when I arrived and offered a small, reassuring smile. “You’re right on schedule.” I nodded, ne

  • Rejected, Not Broken    SEVENTEEN

    AVERYI knew he was there before Rowan said anything.I had known while I was still standing in the packhouse, while the air felt wrong and my wolf lifted her head, alert and offended. Cade had always been loud in my senses. He never entered a space quietly. Even when he stayed outside, even when h

  • Rejected, Not Broken    SIXTEEN

    ROWANThe guards stiffened before I saw him.Two at the eastern line. Both experienced. Both still enough to mean something was wrong.Ash rose quietly.‘Outsider. Male. Confident.’I moved forward, boots crunching against the frozen ground. The trees thinned near the boundary, opening into a narro

Bab Lainnya

Anda juga akan menyukai

Jelajahi dan baca novel bagus secara gratis
Akses gratis ke berbagai novel bagus di aplikasi GoodNovel. Unduh buku yang kamu suka dan baca di mana saja & kapan saja.
Baca buku gratis di Aplikasi
Pindai kode untuk membaca di Aplikasi
DMCA.com Protection Status