All Chapters of Rejected then Claimed by the Alpha: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

Serena’s POV Kael shut the door behind us hard enough that the frame rattled. The echo of the meeting room still clung to my skin. The smell of polished wood, Mirah’s perfume, the sound of that boy’s laugh. It all followed me into our room like a ghost. I moved first. My heels hit the floor fast, loud. I didn’t stop at the couch; I went straight to the window, yanked the curtains apart like I needed more air. The night outside was still, but my chest wasn’t. It was tight, burning. My hands trembled as I held the fabric. “She’s back,” I said, my voice small at first, then sharper. “She actually came back here like she owns the place.” Kael didn’t answer immediately. He stood near the door, shoulders wide, jaw tight. He looked like he’d been punched but couldn’t show it. When he finally moved, it was slow, his fingers rubbing the back of his neck. “Serena” “No.” I spun on him, my hair flying over my shoulder. “Don’t Serena me. You saw her. You saw the way she looked at me.

Serena I couldn’t stop the hiss that left my lips the moment I saw the notice pinned to the board outside the council hall. My pulse went straight to fire. My stomach churned. My fists itched to hit something. Mirah. Of course. That woman always found a way to crawl back into places she didn’t belong. And now she wanted a council meeting, with every elder ready to nod along to her schemes. All to name her son heir, to fix what she said Kael had “ruined.” I stepped into the hall, and the smell hit me first burnt incense, polished floors, the faint iron tang of old authority. The room was packed with the pack elders. A few of the younger warriors peeked from the back. And there she was. Mirah. Standing in the center like she owned it all. Emerald green dress, perfect hair, cold eyes scanning the room. Every elder behind her looked poised to obey. I swallowed the bile that rose in my throat and didn’t flinch. I had no intention of backing down. The room quieted when she began t

Kael’s POV “What did you say happened again?” I wasn’t calm when I asked it. I had just walked into my house after being gone for two days, and Serena met me with words that didn’t sound real. She stood close, her fingers pressed together so tightly they shook a little. “Since you left, Mirah hasn’t stopped. First, She brought her husband here, like this place belongs to them, and she’s been sitting with people, talking, twisting things. They are beginning to listen to her. Today, I heard her telling Elder Alric that she is going to push for her son to be named heir. That’s why she came back, Kael. She came to push Ari out and put her own boy in his place.” I stared at her, not sure if I was hearing it right. “She said that?” “Yes. I heard her with my own ears. They are planning to move on it.” Serena’s hands trembled, though her voice tried to stay steady. “It isn’t only Mirah, Kael. Since she came back, the maids treat me like I don’t exist. They answer her before me,

Serena Kael was standing by the window when I found him. His shoulders were tense, his hands locked behind his back. He didn’t turn right away when I walked in, only asked quietly, “You look pale. What happened?” My throat was dry, and the words felt too heavy to push out. “I heard them.” That made him look at me. His eyes sharpened. “Who?” “Mirah and her Father I said. “Elder Alric. They were in the study.” He frowned, waiting. I could hear my heartbeat, loud and fast. “They were talking about you,” I went on. “About replacing you. Mirah said the pack needs a stronger Alpha. She said Vaughn should take your place until her son is old enough to lead.” Kael didn’t move. His eyes stayed on mine, but I could tell he wasn’t blinking. He looked like he was holding his breath. “What?” he asked, low. “I heard them,” I said again. “She was serious. They were planning it, Kael. And her father he didn’t even argue. He agreed it might be best for the pack. He said breaking trad

Serena Kael was lying there, completely still, and I couldn’t tell if he was sleeping or if he had gone beyond that, if he had slipped into something worse, something that no one could fix with a hand on a shoulder or a whispered word, because every tiny sound he made, every uneven, shallow, broken breath, reminded me of how close he had come to being gone, how fragile he had been when he had emerged from that fire, carrying our son in his arms as if the flames themselves could not touch him, and yet the heat, the smoke, the blistering, burning walls had left their mark in ways that I could not undo, and I realized with a sharp, twisting panic that even though he was still breathing, even though he was still here, he was no longer the same untouchable, invincible man I had relied on for everything. My heart pounded so hard I thought it would shatter my ribs. Every beat echoed in my head, thudding and hammering, a constant reminder of how little control I had in that moment, how he