Semua Bab The Alpha's Rejected Omega: Bab 161 - Bab 170

LorienI couldn’t sit still. My foot kept tapping against the floor, my fingers curling against the edge of the dining chair as if that would anchor me. It didn’t. The food in front of me had long gone cold, untouched, and all I could hear was the echo of Cassius’s voice from earlier—the way he’d looked at me like I’d pulled the ground out from under him.He thought I didn’t love him anymore.I hated that. I hated that after everything, after the heat and closeness at my cousin’s place, after the way we’d been all over each other like gravity itself had shifted to pull us together—he still believed I didn’t want him.The clatter of little feet broke my spiraling thoughts. Caius appeared first, his face lit with that usual mischievous energy, Lucian right behind him, calm but watchful. Without hesitation, they each climbed onto my thighs like it was the most natural thing in the world.Lucian tilted his head at me. “Pops… it’s kind of hard to reach you these days.”I groaned, rubbing m

LorienI wasn’t blaming myself—at least, not in the way Cassius thought. I was blaming the situation. The moment sat heavy on my chest like damp, unrelenting fog, pressing until I could barely breathe.My voice came out in a whisper, thin but sharp.“I’m not blaming me… I’m blaming this. Because I should have done better, Cassius. I should have seen it coming. But I didn’t. And now… now I’m going to pay for it for the rest of my life.”He tensed beside me, but I couldn’t stop. The words had been festering for too long.“I don’t know how to change what happened. I’m trying—Gods know I’m trying—to stay positive, but it’s hard when I was the one who let Alpha Mathias into our lives.” My voice cracked on his name. “I opened the door for him, and he walked right in with his poison.”Cassius growled, the sound deep enough to vibrate in my bones.“No, Lorien. I’m the one to blame. Every damn thing—every piece of this—is on me. I listened to others instead of you. I ruined us. But I swear to

CassiusI didn’t give a damn about the whispers trailing behind me as I carried Lorien’s bags myself. Let them stare. Let them think whatever the hell they wanted. All that mattered was the weight in my hands—not the physical weight of the luggage, but the meaning behind it. Lorien had let me do this for him. For us. He’d allowed me this small, simple act of care, and that made it more precious than any victory I’d ever won on the battlefield.I wanted him to know—without doubt, without question—that I could take care of him, that I would take care of him.We walked the corridor together, and I took him straight to the room beside mine. I’d been preparing it for weeks—renovating it, choosing every detail myself. The bed, the lighting, the curtains, even the damned scent that lingered faintly in the air—it was all picked with him in mind. I’d imagined him here so many times, but now I was going to see it with his eyes.The moment we stepped inside, I kept his bags in one corner and wav

CassiusThe bar was quiet at midnight, the kind of silence that made every sound feel heavier than it should. Only the faint hum of the refrigerator and the occasional creak of the old wooden beams broke through the stillness. Even the shadows seemed to lean in closer, clinging to the corners as though they, too, were listening.Lorien sat hunched at the counter, the soft amber glow of the hanging lamp throwing sharp lines across his face. His glass was already half-drained, his fingers curled around it like it was the only thing holding him together. His back was rigid, shoulders squared in that stubborn way of his that screamed he wasn’t going to let me in—not tonight, maybe not ever.And yet, here I was.Because sleep was impossible without him.I dragged the stool beside him out, the legs scraping against the wood floor with a groan that echoed too loud in the stillness. I lowered myself into it, folding my arms on the bar. “You planning to drink yourself into oblivion tonight?” I

LorienI woke up with a kind of restless energy thrumming through my veins. Excitement. That was the only word for it. My chest felt lighter than it had in years, like maybe—just maybe—the air wasn’t so hard to breathe anymore. Cassius had found me worthy enough to stand beside him, to be part of his team. His words from last night still echoed in my mind, almost surreal. After everything we’d been through—his rejection, my running, the wars between us—he had chosen me. Me.I pressed my face into the pillow and exhaled a shaky laugh. It was stupid how much it meant, but my heart swelled with pride I couldn’t contain. For the first time in so long, I wasn’t just a burden, or the boy everyone wanted to break. I was something more.But the bubble burst as soon as my gaze fell on the table across the room.A single folded letter lay there, sharp and deliberate against the wood. I froze, every ounce of joy draining from me as if my veins had turned to ice. The handwriting on the front was