All Chapters of HIS FORBIDDEN REJECTION : Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Ray’s POV“Maya, listen—don’t move.”Those were the first words that left my mouth the moment she picked up the call. My voice scraped out of my throat, tight and dry, because the thing I feared most was already happening. I could feel it—Zane shifting, his energy spreading like smoke across the pack borders.“Ray?” Maya whispered. “Why… Why does your voice sound like that? What happened?”The tremble in her voice hit me like a fist. She always tried to sound brave, even when she was breaking apart. I closed my eyes for half a second, pressing my free hand against the dashboard of my truck. My wolf paced inside me, restless, snarling at the walls of my mind.“Where are you right now?” I asked.“In the bathroom,” she whispered again. “Zane just came back inside. I heard the door slam.”My heart pulled tight. I could hear her breathing—shaky, thin, like she was trying to swallow her fear to keep it from spilling out.Good girl, I thought. But the moment the thought came, guilt stabbed m

Ray's POV“Where the hell is she?” I hissed into my phone, the static of the line doing little to soothe the growing panic in my chest. The GPS blip was still there — a small, blinking dot on the map — but it flickered once… and then vanished. My hands trembled as I slammed the phone onto the dashboard of my truck, the metal echoing like a gunshot in the quiet of the night.I wasn’t supposed to feel powerless. Not me. Not Ray Maddox, the one who always had control, the one who made the rules bend to his will. And yet, as the GPS blinked out, leaving nothing but empty darkness where Maya’s location had been, I realized just how much I had taken for granted.“Damn it!” I growled, the word ripping from my throat like a blade. My chest heaved, my heart hammering against my ribs as if it were trying to escape the cage of my body. Fear, that sharp, gnawing fear, clawed at me. It wasn’t just fear for her — it was the realization that I could lose her. Maya. My anchor. My reckoning. The thoug

Maya’s POV “Zane… can you stay with me?”Those were the first words that slipped out as he leaned in, still holding my chin from the end of the last chapter. My voice came out broken, thin, shaky—exactly the way he needed to hear it.His eyes softened.Barely.But I saw it.“You don’t want me to leave?” he asked.I shook my head slowly. My fingers clutched the blanket like it was the only anchor in a spinning world. The room smelled like metal and warm broth and the faint trace of his cologne—pine, smoke, a hint of cold air.“No,” I whispered. “You said you’d show me… I’m trying.”His breath brushed my cheek. Heat rushed over my skin, followed by a cold wave of fear. He lifted his hand, the pad of his thumb wiping a tear I didn’t even realize was there.“You’re doing well,” he murmured.“That’s why I’m still here.”Still here.Still watching me.Still reading me.Still waiting for me to break in the way he wanted.I kept my eyes lowered. “I don’t want to fight anymore. I’m tired.”Hi

Maya POV “Don’t cry,” I whispered to myself as I pressed my forehead to the cold metal door. “Someone will hear you. Someone will—”The lights snapped off.Everything dropped into darkness.Not dim.Not low.Pitch black.I froze. My breath hitched. The air felt like it sucked itself out of the room. My fingers trembled as they searched the wall for something—anything—but found only cold paint and fear.A blackout.Inside Zane’s hidden house.My heart slammed once, hard. Then again.This was my chance.A thin line of courage pushed its way into my chest, shaking but real. I crouched down, feeling the ground, searching for something familiar. My hand brushed the tray from earlier. The fork clattered softly.A fork.My pulse jumped.Ray once taught me something small—something random—about locks and thin metal. I remembered him laughing, telling me, “Everything opens if you push it the right way.”Tears stung my eyes. I missed him so much it ached like a wound.I grabbed the fork.Metal

Maya POVMy breath was shaking while he carried me away from the street where he found me. His heartbeat had been loud—like a drum trying to keep me alive. The last thing I remembered was him whispering, “I’ve got you. I’ll keep you safe.” Then darkness swallowed me.Now the darkness opened again.“Stay awake,” Ray said. His voice was rough, strained. “Maya, look at me.”My eyelids fought him, but I forced them open. Yellow streetlight spilled over his face. His jaw was clenched, the muscle ticking like something inside him was about to break.I swallowed. My throat felt like scraped wood. “Where… are you taking me?”“To somewhere no one will think to look.” He shifted me higher in his arms. His leather jacket brushed my cheek, cold from the night air, smelling of rain and pine. “You’re safe with me.”Safe.The word pressed against the inside of my ribs until it hurt.A small groan escaped me. Pain rushed up my body—my shoulder, my knees, the bruises along my sides. My skin felt like