All Chapters of The Alpha King's One-Time Rejected Mate: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Amaria proved to be a formidable opponent, having learned from their first encounter at the ridge."You've been practicing," Lucian stated wryly."A little bit," Amaria responded with glee.Suddenly, the marsh lit up like daylight. The swamp came alive, grasping at limbs and pulling soldiers into its depths. Talia and Amalia continued to read Amaria’s aura to find her heart, but she adjusted quickly, remaining a moving target.The marsh stank of blood and rot, but in the heart of the chaos, Kaela’s voice cut through the mind-link like a blade of light. SAVAGE! Her plea wrapped around Lucian’s wolf, dragging him from the edge of fury. Please don’t shut me out again. We can’t win alone. If we fight divided, more of our people will die. Talia's wolf pleaded.Savage’s growl rumbled, low and reluctant. But then his golden eyes burned through Lucian’s, fixed on Kaela’s wolf spirit. He bent his head.Together.A current surged through both of them—heat and strength, doubling the pack bond.

The convoy slid under the North Gate, and everything changed.Outside the walls, there were mud, reeds, and running. Inside, the streets were lined with old stone—cobbled lanes, black iron lamps, and carved doorways—but nothing felt antique. Clear glass street signs glowed softly at the corners. The lamps hummed on as the cars passed. Small lenses blinked from the brackets. What looked like decoration was doing a job.Talia stared. So did Alina.Amalia laughed. “Close your mouths, children, or the flies will move in.”From the front seat, Casius glanced back. “Yeah,” he said, amused. “We’re more high-tech than we look.”They rolled through the first square. Discs set into the paving clicked under the tires—sensors counting cars and checking plates. Slim poles on the rooftops turned like they were listening. Thin metal plates sat on doorframes where house numbers should be. It hit Talia at once: the city wasn’t just pretty; it was wired. Lights, lenses, plates—stitched together into a s

Lucian & TaliaLucian’s back was ramrod straight, muscles trembling with control. Fresh blood slid down the line of his ribs, disappearing into the waistband of his trousers. The linen binding was already soaked.“Sit back,” Amalia ordered.“I’m sitting.” He wasn’t. He was a statue refusing gravity.Talia moved behind him, bracing his shoulders. “He’s about to fall,” she muttered.“I heard that,” Lucian growled.“You were meant to,” she shot back. “Lean.”He did, only because the room tilted.Amalia packed the wound harder.Lucian hissed. Talia felt the pain rip through the bond—electric, white-hot. Her knees nearly buckled. He tried to shield her, to close the door between them. She shoved it open.“I told you to leave our bond alone,” he rasped.“Too bad,” she murmured, fingers tightening. “We’re a matched set.”His jaw flexed, some mixture of pride and fury.Amalia didn’t look up. “The Council will smell weakness.”“I’m not weak,” Talia said.“No,” Amalia agreed. “But you are youn

The scream started as a laugh.Not human. Not sane.It came from the smallest figure in the room—one of the pages who fetched water and ink. Forgettable. Brown hair. Thin wrists. Her presence was so unremarkable that most people never looked twice.But now she laughed.Her body convulsed. Her spine arched. An oily shimmer rippled across her skin as though something underneath was pushing out.“Talia,” Lucian said under his breath. “Behind me.”He didn’t have to pull her. She had already moved, Kaela snarling in her head. Protect the pups!The page’s skin split.Black slickness poured out like oil forced through seams. Bones thinned and lengthened. Her face went slack, eyes melting into black pools. The voice that came from her mouth was wet and delighted.“I kill Varin,” she crooned. “We needed access to his seat for voting. For information. Your precious security opened doors for us.”Her body dripped darkness, but her smile was bright as a knife.“That chair gave us everything,” sh

Stone Doesn’t LieDawn came like a slow, silver bleed over the walls.The chapel wasn’t grand.It wasn’t holy.It was functional.Old stone. Reinforced windows.Discrete cameras in the corners.A medical cart parked near the altar, loaded with gauze, saline, epinephrine — in case loyalty tried to kill someone who had been tested before Talia.Well, that's unsettling, Kael murmured. Talia didn't respond, but agreed.Talia walked beside Lucian with her shoulders set, chin high, every breath cold in her chest.People watched.Not the pack.Not the public.Only the ones who could damage her. The ones who meant her harm and wanted to see her fail. Elders.Security.Neris, with her rolled sleeves and a box of sterile swabs.Mira and Thomas sat in the back row, guarded.Looking like they were bored to death by the spectacle.Talia wanted to claw both their eyes out.Lucian must have felt her pulse spiking, and he brushed her knuckles with his fingers in passing.“Focus forward.”She did.Sh