Semua Bab The Rejected Queen: Bab 51 - Bab 57

Damon’s POVThe rogues armed themselves in silence. The clearing that had once held fear now thrummed with something else - rage, purpose, the brittle edge of wolves with nothing left to lose. Metal clinked, leather tightened, claws flexed against dirt.I strapped my own blades to my thighs, but my wolf was already pacing, restless, hungry. The bond burned hot between me and Rayna, silver fire threading through every nerve. She stood at my side, hair still damp, clothes clinging, her silver eyes unblinking as she fastened a dagger at her hip.She was exhausted. Garrick approached, his face drawn. “They’re waiting. The whole pack is lined along the barrier like a wall of teeth.”A growl scraped low in my chest. “Then let’s give them something to choke on.”We walked through the rogue city, wolves parting before us. Not one eye turned away. They followed - some limping, some scarred, all dangerous. And for the first time, they weren’t scattered fragments. They were a pack. Ours.The tr

Damon’s POVThe sound of the barrier breaking was like the world itself tearing open.Silver shards of magic scattered into the night, raining down like sparks. The protective shield that had kept the rogues safe, that had held back Moonclaw’s teeth, collapsed in a single, deafening scream of energy.And then everything moved at once.Maric howled, his voice raw with triumph and fury, and his wolves surged forward like a tidal wave of fur and fangs. The ground shook beneath their charge, a wall of death rushing straight for us.“Hold the line!” I roared, my wolf bursting at the surface, claws ripping from my hands. Garrick and the rogues braced, weapons raised, a snarl ripping through the clearing as we prepared to be swallowed whole.Not all of them came for us.Half the Moonclaw wolves barreled forward, jaws snapping, eyes glazed with Maric’s command. But the others - the ones who had already bowed under Rayna’s pull - froze. Trembling, confused, their gazes flicking between their A

Rayna POVFor a moment, all I could hear was my own breathing - ragged, shallow, scraping through my chest like broken glass. My knees buckled, and I only just kept myself upright, claws digging into the blood-soaked earth.Damon staggered beside me, blood running in thick lines down his ribs where the wolf had torn into him. He was pale, his teeth bared, but his eyes never left me.My wolf pressed forward, growling low - not at him, but at the ache clawing through my body. The barrier was gone. My power was burning me hollow. And still the forest carried new howls, closer now, echoing from every direction.We were bleeding. We were tired. And we weren’t done."Rayna."His voice filled my head, low and rough, carried through the bond. His lips didn’t move, but his wolf pressed against mine, steadying me when my legs threatened to give out."You can’t hold much longer."I swallowed hard, my throat raw. "Neither can you."His mouth twitched into something that wasn’t quite a smile, bloo

Damon’s POVThe howls had only just begun to fade when reality hit like a blade to the gut.Hundreds of wolves knelt before her. Not just rogues. Not just Moonclaw. Others too, Alphas who had thought to measure her and ended up bleeding for it. Now they were hers - bound, sworn, but still wolves with teeth and hunger and pride.And there was no way in hell we could fit them all behind the walls of the rogue city.Already I could hear the mutter of voices, the scrape of claws, the restless shifting of packs sizing each other up. This was a victory, yes. But it was also tinder waiting for a spark.Rayna stood tall, the crown still gleaming faintly on her head, her silver eyes catching the last of the firelight. She looked every inch the Queen they’d just sworn to - but exhaustion bled at her edges. Her wolf still burned, but her body trembled in ways only I could feel through the bond.And yet her voice carried, steady.“Garrick.”The Beta stepped forward instantly, jaw tight. "My Queen