Bound To The Alpha I Rejected のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 21 - チャプター 30

As I stepped into the hall, the sheer number of eyes that turned to meet mine was staggering.I have been the center of attraction more than I can count, mainly as my father's sole heir. But to have the focused, assessing gaze of fourteen ruling Lunas upon me, as their host, was an entirely new kind of pressure.I raised my chin, squaring my shoulders as I walked to the empty chair at the center of the crescent table. I met the eyes of each woman I passed, refusing to blink. It was a strategic ploy I’d learned young: masking fear. Showing your inner thoughts was a fatal weakness.The Lunas offered bows of respect. I returned a slight, dignified nod of my own. A cold, assessing air radiated from their collective stare, but I ignored it, gingerly taking my seat.“You may be seated,” I said, offering a small, composed smile. “My apologies for keeping you waiting,” I added, though I was precisely on time.“Not at all, Your Majesty. It is an honor to see your face again since the marriage

KAELAN'S POVMy phone chimed with a report from the guard tasked with monitoring Seraphina's movements."The Grand Empress visited the Luna's chambers this afternoon."I arched a brow. The old viper had been coiled in silent resentment since I’d put her in her place. What poison was she trying to drip into Seraphina’s ear now?Seraphina was defiant, but would she be foolish enough to conspire with that hag? The thought sent an unfamiliar, cold ripple through my gut."May I come in, Your Majesty?"I rolled my eyes. Isolde. What did she want now?"Remain where you are.You have no business here," I called out, my voice cutting through the door."Please, I beg you. I need to speak with you." The plea in her tone was cloying."I didn’t summon you. Speak your piece from there or leave."A pause, then her voice, trembling with manufactured emotion. "I… I wish to apologize for my behavior. It was unforgivable. I miss you, Your Majesty. You haven't called for me, and it's… it's agony."I gritt

SERAPHINA'S POVI could feel her stir. A deep, resonant rumble in the core of my being, like distant thunder in a long-empty sky. Then a pregnant, silent pause.My breath hitched. I waited, heart pounding against my ribs.“Vesper?” I whispered into the quiet of my soul.Nothing.A cold thread of panic tightened in my chest. Had I damaged our bond too deeply? Was she… gone? I pressed a hand over my sternum, as if I could reach inside and pull her back.“My Queen.”The voice was a low, velvety growl, threaded with familiar, biting sarcasm. It wasn’t heard with my ears, but felt in my bones. My knees nearly buckled with the dizzying wave of relief and recognition.“Vesper,” I breathed, my voice cracking. The years of silence crashed over me. How had I survived it? “You’re… you’re mad at me, right?”A beat of silence, heavy with meaning.“Oh, deliriously happy,” she drawled, her tone dry as ancient parchment. “Locked away for years because my other half decided on a grand bout of self-pi

SERAPHINA'S POV “If you had all planned to pass a verdict without my opinion,” Kaelan’s voice cut through the murmurs, low and lethally calm, “why invite me to this meeting?”The silence that followed was absolute.“I remain the Alpha of this pack. My word is law. No one dictates to me before I’ve spoken. Is that understood?”A ragged chorus of “Yes, Your Majesty,” echoed around the table.“Then understand this: if Isolde cannot prove the pup she carries is mine, this discussion is meaningless.”A wave of uneasy grumbles rolled through the chamber.“A contrary opinion?” Kaelan’s gaze swept the room.The Gamma cleared his throat. “Yes, Your Majesty. Lady Isolde has sworn she’s been with no other man. And we are all… aware of the… relationship that existed between you before your marriage, and… has continued after.”“The relationship?” Kaelan’s lip curled. “You mean the fact that she is my whore? I don’t dispute it.” He said it without a flicker of emotion. I saw Isolde flinch as if st

I gulped as I stared at him, and until he smirked before I regained my composure."Cat got your tongue, little wife?"“It’s… bigger than I remember,” I muttered, the words slipping out before I could stop them, a stark, honest observation that made heat flood my cheeks.He didn’t laugh this time. A low, hungry sound rumbled in his chest instead. “Of course it is. It was still a little lad, the last time you saw it.”The last time. We had been teenagers, fumbling in the dark mere days before my eighteenth birthday. I had been so overwhelmed then, and I'm having that same feeling right now. I feel like a teenager again.He closed the distance between us, not with a pounce, but with a slow, deliberate advance that backed me toward the bed. His hands came up to frame my face, his thumbs brushing my cheekbones. The touch was startling in its specificity, not rough, but overwhelmingly present.He guided me down until my back hit the silk. He followed me down, caging me beneath him in one s