All Chapters of His Rejected Mate: Chapter 121 - Chapter 130

She toddled toward me with uneven steps, her little hands stretched out for balance, curls bouncing with each wobble. Her mouth was open in a toothy grin, and in her chubby fist, she clutched the half-chewed ear of her favorite stuffed fox.“Aah!” she exclaimed, pointing up at me.It wasn’t a word exactly, but I knew what she meant. I knelt and opened my arms, and she crashed into me with all the grace of a rolling peach.“Hey, there’s my sunshine,” I whispered, pulling her close. She smelled like milk and whatever Ariana had cooked earlier—maybe cinnamon and apples. Her tiny fingers latched around my collar as she nuzzled into my neck with a sleepy hum.She didn’t speak in full sentences yet—just fragments, babbles,

Flying into San Francisco wasn’t as daunting as I thought it would be. I’d been so wrapped in rebuilding the pack, in finding pieces of myself that weren’t tied to grief, that I hadn’t given much thought to how it would feel to see Xavier and Ariana again — not as packmates, not as warriors — but simply as a family. A happy, whole family.Kane sat beside me on the plane, half-asleep with his arms crossed, while Jake tapped away on his phone, probably finalizing some business deal even midair. Shane sat across the aisle, flipping through a magazine she clearly wasn’t reading. Her eyes kept drifting toward the clouds outside, her face unreadable, but I knew that look. It was the one we all wore when we were too proud to admit we were feeling everything at once.We landed just before noon. The air was warmer here, saltier. The city buzzed differently — a little more alive, a little less guarded.And then I saw her.Aurora.Five now. All legs and hair, with the same fierce eyes as Ariana

Three weeks had passed since the first night I found her collapsed just outside her chamber. Three weeks of silence, routine, and a growing ache in my chest that I could not name.My post outside the Queen’s quarters had not changed — but I had. I watched the days shift around her, the palace moving like a well-oiled mechanism while she remained still, like a broken cog no one knew how to fix. She hadn't cried, not once in the past weeks. And that, I realized, was the most tragic thing about her.I wasn’t supposed to look. A soldier’s eyes are meant to face forward, blank and impersonal. But I did. Every time her door creaked open. Every time she passed in quiet grace, her gaze fixed ahead but her soul clearly trailing behind. I noticed.She had lost weight, that much was obvious. Her gowns hung loose against her frame, her cheeks were hollow, and her once vivid eyes now seemed too big for her face — haunted and sunken, as if they had seen something the rest of us weren’t ready to know

It wasn’t until she shifted slightly — just an inch, enough to step away from the hearth — that I saw it.Blood.A small, dark stain blooming near the hem of her pale robe. Crimson against ivory silk, nearly missed by anyone who didn’t know where to look.But I had been watching her too long. I noticed everything now.My eyes dropped instantly. The faintest trail traced down from beneath her gown to her bare foot, curling along her heel, thin as a whisper. Fresh.“Your Majesty,” I said, trying to keep my voice even. “You’re bleeding.”She froze.Her posture stiffened as if I had yan

 A week had passed, but there was no sign of her.All I knew was that she was inside. Alone. Miserable.For eight long days and nights, I had stood my post outside her chamber, steadfast and silent, watching over a ghost more than a Queen. No one came in or went out. No footsteps disturbed the cold corridors but mine. The palace felt emptier than ever, as if the very walls were holding their breath in mourning.Every shift, I waited patiently, hoping for the smallest glimpse of her — a shadow passing by, the faintest sound of her voice, a sign that she was still fighting against the darkness that threatened to consume her. But there was nothing. It was as if she had simply faded away from the world.The silence was suffocating.