Lahat ng Kabanata ng Rejected While Pregnant: Claimed by the Direwolf Alpha: Kabanata 101 - Kabanata 110

POV: ArayaNight falls. The burning sigil fades from the horizon but its message remains. Araya can't unsee it. Can't unknow what it means.The vampires are coming. For her son.Ronan stays with Araya in the private study. They've sent guards to watch Lucian's chambers. Doubled security throughout the den. Sent messengers to border packs with warnings.But preparation feels inadequate against what's approaching."Tell me about the pact," Ronan says. Sitting across from Araya. Firelight casting shadows across his scarred face. "The real history. Not just what the scrolls say."Araya pours wine. Drinks deeply. The alcohol burns but doesn't calm."I learned it from my father," Araya begins. "Before he grew weak. Before Marisol's influence consumed him. He told me the truth about our bloodline. About the choices that cursed us."Ronan listens silently. Patient despite the urgency."Centuries ago, wolves and vampires weren't enemies," Araya continues. "They were neighbors. Separate races s

POV: LucianThe voice in Lucian's head fades gradually but doesn't completely disappear. It just retreats deeper, settling into some dark corner of consciousness and waiting there like a predator watching its prey. The presence feels patient, as if it has all the time in the world to claim what it believes belongs to it.Araya and Jasper help Lucian back to the bed, their hands steadying the incomplete form as tremors run through muscles and bones that can't seem to settle into any comfortable position. Lucian's heart continues its irregular rhythm, stuttering and racing in patterns that feel wrong but somehow inevitable."What was that?" Araya demands, and fear bleeds through her carefully maintained Alpha composure in a way Lucian has rarely witnessed. "What just happened to you?""I don't know," Lucian lies, though the answer sits heavy and certain in the back of the mind. Someone reached through the bloodline, through centuries of shadow and corruption, and marked Lucian as territ

POV: LucianThree nights after the border battle, scouts report more vampire movement in the neutral territories. Ronan calls for volunteers to ride out with the Direguard and investigate before raiders strike Drevalon lands again.Lucian volunteers immediately despite Araya's protests. The incomplete form hasn't stopped thinking about Lior since their powers intertwined on the battlefield, hasn't stopped feeling the bond pulse like a second heartbeat beneath the skin."You're not going anywhere near that vampire again," Araya states with absolute finality during the private argument in her chambers. "Whatever happened between you two was dangerous and unnatural, and I won't risk you falling into Thornhaven's trap.""It wasn't a trap," Lucian argues, though explaining the bond feels impossible when even thinking about it makes no logical sense. "Lior didn't force anything or try to capture me. The connection formed on its own.""Which makes it even more dangerous," Araya counters, her

POV: LucianLucian wakes slowly, consciousness returning in fragments that don't quite piece together into coherent awareness. The first sensation is pain radiating from the shoulder where Lior's fangs pierced flesh, though it's dulled to a manageable ache rather than the white-hot agony from the battlefield.The second sensation is the mate bond humming steadily in the background of awareness, a constant presence that connects to something distant but definitely still alive. Lior survived whatever happened after they separated, which brings relief Lucian doesn't want to examine too closely.Opening gold eyes reveals unfamiliar surroundings. Canvas walls stretch overhead, supported by wooden poles that creak slightly in the wind. A war-tent, then, set up somewhere near the battlefield for treating wounded and coordinating ongoing defense.Lucian tries to sit up and immediately regrets the decision as dizziness crashes over the incomplete form in nauseating waves. A hand presses gently

POV: LucianThree days after waking in the war-tent, Araya finally allows Lucian to join a small scouting party moving through the neutral territories between Drevalon and Thornhaven. The permission comes with conditions: stay with the group, take no unnecessary risks, and report back anything unusual without engaging vampire scouts directly.Lucian agrees to all three conditions fully intending to honor them, but the mate bond has other ideas entirely.The scouting party moves quietly through forest that exists in permanent twilight, where ancient trees grow so tall and thick together that sunlight barely filters through even at midday. This is the buffer zone between wolf and vampire territories, unclaimed by either side and therefore dangerous to both.Lucian moves with the other scouts but keeps drifting to the group's edges, drawn by something that operates below conscious awareness. The mate bond pulses with increasing urgency the deeper they travel into the neutral zone, respon