All Chapters of Rejected by the alpha, claimed by his brother : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

37 Chapters

021: the door that opened

Selene’s POVThe palace walls had never felt so suffocating.When Damon left my chambers that night, the silence he left behind felt heavier than his presence had been. Diana tried to coax me into eating, hovering beside the bed with trays of warm food and gentle pleading.I refused every time.I barely touched the glass of water on the nightstand.My body grew weaker with every passing hour, but my mind refused to slow. The news repeated endlessly on every channel, the same words echoing like a curse. Treason. Scandal. Betrayal. Each one struck harder than the last.Sleep refused to come. When it did, it shattered into fragments.My mother’s fierce eyes as the guards dragged her away. My father’s hollow face. Damon’s desperate plea. Ivana’s cold smile.And Aric’s steady gaze.Every time I closed my eyes, one of them followed me into the dark.By morning, exhaustion had carved deep shadows beneath my eyes. When I caught my reflection in the mirror, I hardly recognized the woman starin

022: the villa in the shadows

Selene’s POVThe sound of the door closing behind Aric echoed through the chamber like freedom itself.For hours, I had resigned myself to silence. To despair. To the suffocating certainty that no one was coming.Then he appeared.Calm. Unhurried.As though the palace corridors belonged to him.And when his eyes met mine, something inside me broke.My throat was too dry to speak. My chest too tight to breathe.But when he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me, the fragile wall I had been holding together finally shattered.Tears spilled down my face, hot and unstoppable, and I clung to him like I might vanish if I let go.I hadn’t realized how badly I needed this. To be held. To feel safe. To feel seen.Being trapped inside that room had been its own form of torture, slowly wearing down my mind and spirit. But in Aric’s arms, for the first time in days, the air felt breathable again.“I’m here,” he murmured quietly.His voice was deep, steady, grounding.His hand moved slowly

023: Under the Stars

Selene’s POVThe pack house was silent, wrapped in the velvet hush of night. I had just begun to settle into the guest chamber when a knock at the door startled me. My heart stilled, then thumped again.Diana peeked at me from the bed, but it was the maid’s soft voice that carried through the heavy wood.“Luna,” she said, bowing when I opened the door, “the Alpha Prince invites you to the garden for stargazing.”For a moment, I only blinked. The Alpha Prince. Aric.Heat spread through me, absurd and irrational. Why should my heart flutter at the thought of joining him? It was stargazing, nothing more. Yet the very idea left me breathless.I nodded, unable to find words, and closed the door to steady myself. My gaze flicked to the mirror, and what I saw made my pulse spike higher.I wore my silk nightgown, the one I had packed without thought, soft ivory that clung to every curve. My robe hung loosely over it, doing little to mask the subtle shimmer of the fabric beneath. My bare skin

024: The Edge of No Return

Selene’s POVThe night was heavy with silence, broken only by the chorus of cicadas and the faint hum of the lanterns that lined the garden path. But in my chest, there was nothing but chaos.Aric’s kiss had turned my world inside out, and I was no longer Selene, the Luna, or Selene, the rejected mate. I was just a woman—a woman starving for something I had been denied for too long.His mouth claimed mine again, fiercer this time, hungrier, and I surrendered without thought. My silk robe slipped off my shoulders, falling in a whisper of fabric to the ground.His arms circled me, pulling me into him as though he hadn’t tasted water in years and I was the only thing that could quench his thirst.And I let him.I let him dictate the pace, the rhythm, the hunger. His lips moved from mine to my jaw, down to the curve of my neck, leaving behind fire that burned hotter than the night itself.Each press of his mouth seared me, mapped me, branded me with a desire I didn’t want to erase.My tho

025: Claiming What Was Mine

Aric’s POVThe phone rang before dawn, dragging me from the silence of the pack house. The King’s voice was curt, clipped, and utterly predictable.Report to the palace immediately.I didn’t need to ask why. Of course, it was about Selene. About my “defiance.” About taking her out of the pack house without so much as a word or permission.I didn’t care.For her, I would burn the entire kingdom to ash.I stood at the balcony as the first blush of morning painted the horizon. The air was cool, heavy with the scent of dew and the distant wilderness beyond the territory.My chest ached with everything I had kept buried for years—wanting Selene but convincing myself she wanted something else.Five years ago, I could have reached for her. I could have ignored Ivana’s manipulations, ignored the politics of the packs, ignored a throne that never tempted me. But she hadn’t fought. She hadn’t resisted. And when she didn’t, I told myself she wanted Damon. That she wanted to be Luna.So I stayed

026: Defiance

Aric’s POVThe King’s private chamber was drenched in silence after my declaration.Selene is mine. She has always been mine.My father’s eyes stayed fixed on me, his face pale, almost stunned, before hardening into a mask of outrage and calculation.“There are many beautiful women in this world,” he said finally, his voice low but sharp.“Women far more suitable than Selene. Do not ruin your relationship with your brother over her. Do not stain your standing over her. Her family is finished. General Aldric has them in his grip, and he is crushing them without mercy. She is not worth any of this.”I leaned forward, my gaze unwavering. “She is worth everything to me, Father. Everything.”His jaw tightened, but I continued. “And if she is worth nothing to you, then let her go. Let her sever the bond. Let me have her. I don’t care about the crown or the title. I only care about her.”The King rose to his feet, pacing across the chamber, his robe sweeping the marble like a slow tide. His

027: The Smear

Selene’s POVI didn’t wake until late morning.For the first time in weeks, I had slept—truly slept—without nightmares dragging me under. Soft sunlight filtered through the silk curtains, warm and gentle, and for a brief, fragile moment, I allowed myself to believe something had changed.Maybe the world had shifted overnight.Maybe that kiss beneath the stars had somehow stitched together the broken pieces of me.A soft knock came, and Diana stepped in, carrying a tray of breakfast—and that knowing smile she never tried to hide.“His Highness asked me to tell you he’ll be back soon,” she said, setting the tray down.Aric.Just hearing his name sent a quiet rush through my chest. The memory came back all at once—his lips on mine, the slow burn that turned into something deeper, something I hadn’t been able to stop even if I tried.I lowered my gaze quickly, as if that alone could steady me.I sat at the small table, staring at the steaming tea, the untouched pastries.I wasn’t hungry.

028:No ESCAPE

Selene’s POVI thought the tears would dry before evening. I thought if I stayed still long enough, if I pressed the pillow hard enough against my face, the storm inside me would eventually quiet.But evening came, and the ache in my chest only deepened.By nightfall, I couldn’t sit still anymore. The walls of the villa seemed to close in around me, suffocating, as Ivana’s poisonous words replayed in my mind like a cruel, unrelenting echo.She fled… she seduced him… he does her bidding…They were destroying him because of me.My gaze drifted slowly to the wardrobe, to the dresses neatly arranged, the silk robe draped carelessly across the chair. Everything Aric had given me, every quiet act of defiance to keep me safe, now felt like a weight pressing down on his name.A burden he didn’t deserve.So I began to pack.My hands trembled as I folded each gown, as I gathered my things and placed them into the travel case. Every movement felt heavier than the last, like I was carving somethi

029: HIS

Selene POVThe room was no longer just a room. It was a furnace, a bartlefield, a stage foe a moment t had both dreaded and craved. Every second stretched thin, trembling with the knowledge of what was about to happen. My body thrummed with anticipation, every nerve drawn fauf, every breath short and shallow as if I had run miles yet stood perfectly still.Aric’s gaze pinned me in place. There was hunger in his eyes, yes, but also something fiercer, something that claimed me before he even touched me. It terrified me, because I wanted it. Because it meant stepping over a line I could never uncross.I should have thought of Damon. I should have thought of vows, of crowns, of duty. But Damon's memory felt cold and distant, while Aric's presence was fire licking at my skin, demanding to be felt.When his lips crashed onto mine, I was already yielding. The kiss was not tentative; it was raw possession, a claim written into every brush of his mouth. My gasp opened me further to him, and I

030: Vows in the Dark

Aric’s POVThe room was still.The air carried the lingering warmth of everything that had passed between us, heavy with the quiet aftermath of something that could not be undone. Nothing would ever be the same again, and I felt it in the way she lay against me, in the steady rhythm of her breathing, in the fragile peace that had finally found her.Selene rested her cheek against my chest, her body curled into mine as though she had always belonged there.My hand moved slowly over her shoulder, tracing absent patterns against her skin, committing every detail to memory. The weight of her, the softness of her hair spilling across my arm, the way she trusted me enough to fall asleep like this… it settled something deep inside me, even as it ignited something darker.I should have felt satisfaction.I should have felt victory.She had chosen me. Not out of duty. Not out of pressure. But because she wanted me.And yet, all I felt was rage.It burned quietly beneath my ribs, sharp and unre

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