Lahat ng Kabanata ng THE MATE HE COULDN'T CLAIM : Kabanata 41 - Kabanata 46

Chapter 041–Alpha by RightThe stone chamber was cold against my bare feet, but I barely felt it. My skin burned with the echo of Mama Oya’s funeral pyre, the grief still raw, my heart a wound left open to the mountain winds. The rogues and outcasts who had followed me this far were gathered in a half circle, watching, their eyes sharp with expectation.Expectation and fear.I could hear it in the tremor of their breaths, smell it rolling off them like iron and frost. They had lost before. They had followed others before. Every Alpha who had risen against the established packs had eventually fallen. Some were crushed by the Council. Some were betrayed from within. Most were simply too weak to hold together wolves who had been broken by rejection, exile, and pain.And now all those shattered pieces had gathered here, staring at me.The Matron’s Crest sat on the pedestal before me—an ancient stone disc etched with curling runes and the faint shimmer of moonlight carved into its veins. I

##Chapter 043##Moon BloodThe air inside Mama Oya’s den was thick with herbs, smoke, and something older—something that seemed to hum beneath my skin. The Appalachian night pressed close outside, the forest alive with cicadas and the distant howl of wolves, but here in this place, I felt as though the earth itself was holding its breath.Mama Oya stood in front of me, her aged hands moving with careful precision as she set bowls of dried sage, rosemary, and powdered roots onto the low wooden table. Her hair—black streaked with silver—fell in waves past her shoulders, and her eyes… they pierced. Always, they pierced.“You’ve been restless,” she said, her voice carrying the weight of centuries though it was barely above a whisper. “Your blood sings different than it did before.”My fingers curled against my thighs. I had told myself I wasn’t going to break down here, not in front of this woman who seemed to see everything I fought to hide. But the truth clung to me like a shadow I coul

##Chapter 045##Marked by MoonlightThe night pressed heavy over the Hollow Den, a silence so absolute that every breath sounded like a betrayal. After the shadows we heard in the depths, Oya had set wards at every entrance and whispered prayers in a tongue that rasped like gravel. She told me to rest, but I couldn’t. My body was restless, my mind in constant churn, and my stomach—always twisting, always reminding me of the life growing inside.I sat near the entrance of the den, where the moonlight poured through a ragged split in the stone ceiling, painting the ground with pale silver. I thought it might calm me, but instead, the light seemed to hum against my skin, almost alive.And then I felt it.A warmth, deep in my core, blooming outward. At first I thought it was another wave of nausea. But this was different—tingling, sharp, pulsing in rhythm with my heartbeat. I looked down instinctively, pulling the hem of my shirt aside.And froze.Faint silver lines glowed just beneath my