Lahat ng Kabanata ng THE ALPHA’S PUBLIC REJECTION : Kabanata 201 - Kabanata 210

LILLIAN POVWork was my only escape from the pain and hurt weighing me down. At the hospital, I was just Dr. Lillian. The beeping monitors and the patient chart dd not care about my heart ache or pack politics. For a few hours, my mind was quiet.I was finishing notes at the nurse’s station in my ward when I felt someone standing close to me, and I looked up. Dr. Wanni stood there, leaning against the counter. She smiled softly with a serious look in his eyes.“Lillian. Got a moment.”I put my pen down. “Ofcourse. Is something wrong?”“Not with a patient,” she said and came closer, then she whispered. “With you. And me. I think.”I stayed quiet. Waiting for her to continue.“I have noticed you have been….avoiding me,” Wanni said gently. I accusation, just fact. “Since the boutique. If I have done something to upset you, or if you and your friends need space from me. I will oblige. I just wanted to hear it from you.”Her directness was shocking, and I looked at her, elegant, sharp an

DRAKE POVThe dawn air at Snow Ridge was sharp and clean, which smelt like pine and cold stone. I stood outside the stronghold, my small pack slug over my shoulder. I was ready.The heavy wooden door creaked open, and Alpha Jon stepped out, joining me on the wide stone steps. He crossed his arms, and breathed out heavily. “So. The wandering Alpha returns to his throne,” he said with a faint smile on his weathered face. “Do you want the ceremonial send-off? I can have your travel travel team ready in an hour. Horse, carriage, the whole show. It is what is expected.”I looked past him, past the courtyard walls, to the endless, wild forest that stretched all the way back to Luxembourg. The treetops were painted gold by the rising sun. The call of the wild was a physical pull in my chest.“No,” I said, turning my gaze back to him. “No entourage. I will run back.”Jon’s smile widened into a grin. “Good. That is the Geo I hunted with talking. The forest will clear your head betrer than any

LILLIAN POVThe evening in the mansion sitting room was quiet and warm. A fire crackled in the fire place, which pushed back the cold air, making every where warm. Salome, Lydia, Willow, and I were curled on the sofas with mugs of herbal tea in our hands. For a moment, the world outside felt very far away.Salome was telling us about her clash with Sharon in the pack house dining hall for the third time. Her cheeks were flushed, not with anger now, but with a kind of bewildered pride.“….and the words just came out,” she said and gestured around with her hands. “I did not plan them. I did not even think. I saw her smirking at Lucas, saw how tired he was and something in me just….snapped. I called her a bottom-feeder. A scavenger.” She covered her face in her hands briefly. “By the Moon, I sounded so harsh.”Lydia set her teacup down with a loud clink. “Harsh? Salome, you were nice. If it had been me, I would not have stopped at words. I would have beaten her until her own mother would

ANDRE POVI closed Drake’s chamber doors gently and turned towards Elara who was being led out through the corridors, even though she was walking steadily, her body was shook with shock and anger.“Take her downstairs. Straight to the car.”We had only gone a few steps when she suddenly pulled against the guards holding her, and turned her head towards me in anger. The hurt and shame of earlier had been burned away, leaving behind a cold glare.“You are a fool, Andre,” she spat out in a low venomous hiss.I stopped walking. The guards paused and looked at me for instructions.“Oh am I?” I asked flatly.“You do not see it,” she said with a nasty smile on her lips. “I was the only wall standing between Drake and that…that slimy little Doctor. The only thing keeping him from falling right back onto her pathetic arms. Now that I am gone, what do you think will happen? He will lean on her again. He will look for her. And where will that leave you, Beta? Pushed aside once more, watching you

DRAKE POVThe morning sun was bright on the training grounds. For the first time in weeks, I was holding a bow, felling the familiar pull of the string, with Andre and Lucas standing nearby, checking over some new training swords.The air felt clean. With Elara gone, a heavy, sour pressure had lifted from the pack. “Remember,” Lucas was saying to Andre with a huge grin on his face, “that summer when we were sixteen? You tried to impress that she wolf from the River Pack by showing off your archery skills?”Andre groaned and rubbed his face. “Do not remind me. I missed the target completely. The arrow flew over the fence and almost hit the Alpha’s favorite horse.”“And Drake,” Lucas continued, his eyes sparkling, “covered for you. Told the Alpha it was a stray arrow from target practice miles away.”I shook my head, and smiled genuinely. “You were both hopeless. But you were my hopeless Betas.” It felt good to remember easier times.We were all laughing, which was a rare, occurrence w