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Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Rejected Queen: Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

138 Kabanata

21.

Damon POV I didn’t look back. If I did, I wouldn’t leave.Her scent clung to my skin - heat, pine needles, rosemary, and something darker, like the forest after rain and bloodshed. Not just omega. Not just wolf. There was something older in her, something that didn’t belong in this world anymore.The air outside was cool, but it didn’t help. Her scent followed me like a ghost - stubborn, warm, and too damn familiar in a way that made my chest tighten.I should’ve ended training the moment my pulse started to shift, when every instinct screamed to close the distance between us, to touch her, to pin her down just to feel that she was real. But I needed to see her fight. Needed to know the girl I’d dragged into this camp wouldn’t shatter the moment things turned feral.Instead, she looked at me like she wanted to tear my throat out... or taste it.Fuck.I cut through camp with long strides, barely nodding at the wolves I passed. The southern patrol had returned early. Their reports were

22.

Damon POV“You brought her here?” Maela shot to her feet, chair scraping across stone. Her dark braid snapped over her shoulder like a whip. “A royal-blooded reject? That’s what you dragged into our camp like a stray?”“She’s not a stray,” I growled, stepping into the circle of firelight. “She’s the prophecy.”Gasps rippled around the table like a sudden wind. Even Riven blinked, his calm facade cracking.Kael just exhaled sharply and muttered, “Finally.”“She’s unstable,” Maela snapped, but her voice lacked the usual venom. It sounded like fear now - cold, creeping fear. “If what you’re saying is true, then she’s dangerous.”“She’s already been hunted, rejected, starved, and left for dead,” I said. “She’s still standing. Still fighting.”“Which makes her unpredictable.”I leaned over the table, planting my palms hard enough that the map beneath them shifted. “Unpredictable doesn’t mean uncontrollable.”“You think you can control her?” Riven’s voice was quiet. Too quiet. “Because I’ve

23.

Rayna POVThe heat from the council fire still burns in my cheeks as I shove through the ferns and trees beyond the camp border. The voices - Kael’s, Damon’s, all of them - echo in my head, tangled with too many memories and too much shame.I need out. Just for a moment. Just to breathe.But the night wraps around me like it remembers. The air is too still. The wind carries the scent of rosemary and pine - the same scent that clung to the borrowed cloak I wore that night. And suddenly, I’m not in this forest anymore.I’m back there.Back to the firelit circle. Back to the silence after the word “No” shattered my soul.“I, Alpha Aiden of the Moonclaw Pack, reject you as my mate.”The memory slices through me like fresh claws. I feel the bond unravel all over again, the scream that never made it past my throat. The way the earth cracked beneath my feet. How I ran - blind and wild - into the dark.And now? I’m still running.I stumble to a stop, breath ragged. My wolf paces behind my rib

24.

Rayna POVThe cold sinks into my bones.Frost still clings to the edges of the field, the last breath of night lingering in the trees. But Damon’s already there - shirtless, blade in hand, every inch of him carved from stone and stormclouds. The morning light gilds the scars on his back like old war stories.He doesn’t look at me right away. Just says, “You’re late.”“I didn’t realize I was on a schedule.”“You’re not,” he says, turning finally. “But I am.”His eyes rake down my body - quick, sharp, and too aware for someone who supposedly doesn’t want me. I cross my arms, biting back the flush that creeps up my neck.“You said we’d train.”“We will.” He tosses me a wooden blade without moving closer. “Let’s just get something clear first.”I catch it. “Of course. Rules. Your favorite.”“You’re not special,” he says, voice flat. “Whatever this… thing between us is, it doesn’t change anything. You’re here to survive. Learn. That’s it.”But his eyes burn when they land on me. His jaw ti

25.

Damon POVThe forest swallows me whole.Pine boughs scrape across my arms as I run, pushing faster, deeper, needing space between me and the scent that’s burned into my damn lungs.Rayna.I shift mid-leap, fur tearing through skin in a blur of rage and need. My wolf takes over, claws sinking into damp earth, teeth bared at nothing. I rip through underbrush, snap a branch clean off with my shoulder, and keep going.Faster. Farther.She’s not mine. She can’t be.I slam into a tree. Not because I misstep - because I let myself stop. My body heaves, paws trembling, heart thundering like it’s trying to break through my ribs.My claws gouge the bark. A growl tears from my throat. The bond pulls - tight, invisible, a rope strung between us, cutting deeper every time I try to fight it.I smell her even out here. - Pine. Rosemary. Rain on old stone. Gods, it’s in my bones.My wolf presses against the inside of my skin, snarling."She’s ours. Claim her.""No."I slam my paw into the ground. D

26.

Rayna POVHe walked away. Again.Not because he didn’t want me. Because he did - and hated it.I stood there, barefoot on the porch, his scent still clinging to the air like smoke and sin. The space where his hand had hovered near my cheek still burned, even though he never touched me.Not really.I should go inside. I should lock the door. I should stop shaking. But gods, I couldn’t.My body buzzed with something wild and electric, something that didn’t belong to logic or reason or dignity. I hated it - this fire under my skin, this bond twisting tighter every time he looked at me like I was both a curse and a craving.“You’re not mine,” he said.Liar. His wolf disagreed. So did mine. And now I had proof. Because for a single breath, just one, his shield cracked - and I saw it.The hunger. The fear. The truth. He wanted me. He just didn’t know how to survive it. The real question was why. Am I that kind of threat? Or is it something in him?I turned and went inside, slamming the do

27.

Damon POVI shouldn’t have watched.But I did.From the edge of the treeline, half-shadowed by moss-draped branches, I saw every damn second of it.The way Rayna moved - sharp, fast, reckless. How her lip curled when Kael pushed her too hard. How she bled and didn’t flinch. How she laughed - laughed - when she landed a hit.I gritted my teeth so hard I tasted blood.Kael smirked at her like she was something wild and beautiful, and maybe she was. But that wasn’t the problem.The problem was how my wolf clawed at my ribs, how my pulse had synced to hers before I even realized it. I felt every move she made. Every breath. Every damn heartbeat like it was rattling in my chest.She wasn’t mine.Couldn’t be.I tore away from the tree, fists clenched, storming deeper into the woods. The burn behind my ribs only grew. I could still feel her - the scent of her sweat, her fury, the electric thrum of her power awakening."Mine.""No."I slammed my fist into a pine trunk, and the bark exploded u

28.

Damon POVThe longhouse reeked of smoke, old pine, and politics.I shoved the door open hard enough to rattle the hinges and stalked inside, pretending the pulse in my throat wasn’t still synced to hers.The council was already gathered - a mix of rogues, warriors, and former pack wolves too stubborn to die and too loyal to leave. Kael leaned back in her chair, boots on the table, spinning a knife between her fingers. Riven sat stiffly, arms crossed, eyes calculating. Maela didn’t even bother to hide her frown when she saw me. And Maddox -Maddox was drunk.Again.He slouched in his chair with a grin too wide, a tankard in one hand and a fresh gash across his cheek that hadn’t been there yesterday. His eyes gleamed with something feral - not madness, exactly. Just too much of everything, too loud, too bright, too close to unraveling.“Well, look who decided to grace us,” he drawled, slamming the tankard down. “Back from brooding in the trees, Alpha?”“Not your Alpha,” I snapped.“Sure.

29.

Rayna POV I shouldn’t have gotten up. I told myself I wouldn’t.But the moment I sensed him - that frayed tension in the air, that storm-just-outside-the-window pressure that could only be Damon - I rose like something pulled by a string. My wolf stirred, ears perked, pacing just under my skin.He was here. Not knocking. Just... standing there.I reached the door. My fingers hovered over the handle for a breath too long. Then I opened it.Damon stood on the other side, jaw tight, eyes shadowed, scent wild and storm-swept. Like pine, blood, and something darker. His knuckles were raw, a smear of dried crimson trailing down one wrist. His chest rose and fell like he’d been running.But it was his eyes that caught me. Not glowing. Not furious.Just raw.“Are you going to stand there all night,” I said quietly, “or-”“I shouldn’t be here,” he cut in, voice low and hoarse.“Then go.”My words should’ve hit hard. They didn’t. I was tired. Sore. My shoulders ached from training, and Kael’s

30.

Rayna POVThe fire had burned low. Damon was gone.I sat curled in the itchy wool blanket, breath shallow, chest tight. The bond still hummed like a blade under my skin. It hadn’t faded, no matter how hard I tried to smother it.Why did he leave like that? Why touch me like I mattered - then walk away like I didn’t?Oh. I got enough of this. He just messes with my mind. Again.The silence in the cabin wasn’t peace. It was suffocating.I needed air. Maybe I couldn't shift yet until my wolf will be fully okay, but walk should do the thing.I grabbed the cloak from the peg and wrapped it around my shoulders. The night air hit my skin like a slap - cold, sharp, real. Good. I welcomed it.The forest was quiet, too quiet.I only got a few steps past the porch before I heard it.“Out for a walk, little wolf?”I froze.The voice slurred slightly. Familiar. Maddox.He stepped out from the shadows, leaning against the cabin’s side like he belonged there. The moon caught the edge of a grin that

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