Lahat ng Kabanata ng Rejected While Pregnant: Claimed by the Direwolf Alpha: Kabanata 111 - Kabanata 120

POV: LiorThe elder council's summons arrives three days after Lior returns from the neutral territory ruins, where the moon turned gold and the mate bond nearly consumed all remaining common sense. Three days of pretending that encounter didn't happen while Kaelen watches from every corner of Thornhaven with those cold crimson eyes and that perpetually satisfied smirk.The summons takes Lior to a chamber deeper in the citadel than the usual throne room, a war room carved from black stone where strategies are made that never get written down because writing creates accountability. Maps cover every surface, and the five elders stand rather than sit because what they discuss requires the alert posture of active planning rather than the comfortable authority of settled judgment.Elder Morrath wastes no time on ceremony. "Thornhaven moves to decisive action. We have massed sufficient forces on the western border to take Direwolf territory within two weeks, and the scouts confirm that Drev

POV: ArayaThe cease-fire holds through sheer force of Araya's will and the shock rippling through both armies at what's been revealed. Vampires and wolves stand separated on opposite sides of the wall, weapons still drawn but no one actively engaging while they process what just happened.Araya's mind races through tactical implications faster than conscious thought can track them all. Her son is mated to a vampire. The heir prophesied to unite bloodlines has bonded with exactly the wrong person from a political perspective, creating a situation that could tear Drevalon apart from the inside."Get him inside," Araya orders Ronan, gesturing toward Lucian. "War room. Now. Before this turns into something even worse."Ronan looks like someone who wants to argue, wants to execute the vampire on the spot and deal with consequences later, but decades of trusting Araya's judgment in crisis situations wins out over fury. The massive Direwolf grabs Lucian's arm and begins dragging the incompl

POV: LucianMidnight finds Lucian slipping through the den's corridors with the practiced stealth of someone who has spent the past week learning which guards rotate when and which passages connect to exits that aren't constantly monitored. The blood-sealed note burns metaphorically in the pocket where it's been kept since the council session, its request for meeting pulling with nearly the same insistence as the mate bond itself.The eastern gardens wait beyond the den's main defensive walls, technically still within Drevalon territory but far enough from the central structures that conversations can happen without immediate oversight. Lucian reaches them through a maintenance passage that emerges behind the old greenhouse, a structure that's been allowed to fall into gentle decay since the gardener who maintained it died three winters ago.The gardens stretch in carefully planned wilderness, paths winding between overgrown beds where herbs and flowers have gone feral without regular

POV: LiorThe chamber feels impossibly empty after Lucian flees, the mate bond stretching like a rubber band pulled to breaking point but not quite snapping despite the growing distance. Lior sits against the wall where they touched and tries to process what just happened, what that single possessive growl meant for both their futures.Mine. The word echoes in Lior's mind with the weight of absolute claim, and the vampire's own nature responds with terrifying agreement. Yes. Lucian's. The bond settled into place with that acknowledgment in ways it hadn't before, as if waiting for conscious acceptance rather than just forced connection.But Lucian fled, horrified by the admission, and now Lior sits alone in an ancient temple foundation bleeding from wounds that won't properly heal without medical intervention that isn't available.The vampire's blood continues to burn with the alien heat from Lucian's essence mixed through the mate bond, and Lior recognizes dimly that something fundame

POV: KaelenThe Council of Fangs convenes in Thornhaven's deepest chamber, a space carved from living rock centuries before the vampire wars and sealed with blood-magic that prevents anyone from entering or leaving once the session begins. Five elders sit in their obsidian thrones while twenty-three lesser council members occupy the tiered benches carved into the chamber walls.Kaelen stands in the designated speaker's position, presenting evidence that has been meticulously gathered over the past weeks. The golden-eyed hybrid represents an existential threat that most vampires don't yet understand, and Kaelen intends to make that threat impossible to ignore."The Lycan-Vampyr union that Commander Lior has formed with the wolf heir isn't just political inconvenience or tactical compromise," Kaelen begins, his voice carrying clearly through the blood-sealed chamber. "It's the repetition of a catastrophe that nearly ended our entire race three hundred years ago."Elder Morrath leans for