All Chapters of Initiated by my Alpha Stepbrother's Mark: Chapter 121 - Chapter 130

Ronan's Pov Everything was falling apart and I was supposed to be the one holding it together.Three council meetings in one day, all of them running longer than they needed to because everyone wanted to talk in circles about territory expansion and alliance protocols and reconstruction budgets, and I sat there at the head of that long oak table in the main hall listening to men twice my age debate the exact wording of treaty clauses while my father's body was barely cold in the ground and the west wing of the pack house still smelled like smoke.I should have been focused.I should have been the alpha they needed me to be, sharp and decisive and completely present, but instead I was thinking about her, about the way she had looked at me in that surgical room with blood on her scrubs and exhaustion in her eyes, about the way she had told me to fuck off through the bond like she meant it, and my wolf was pacing restless and furious inside my chest because our mate was ignoring us and

Kaireen's Pov I grabbed the front of his robe and dragged him backward out of the ward, my hand still clamped over his mouth because if he said one more word, one more inappropriate thing in front of a patient who was barely twenty-four hours post-surgery, I was going to lose whatever small grip I still had on my composure. He came with me, not resisting, just letting me pull him out into the corridor, and the moment we were through the door and out of sight of the ward I released him and shoved him hard against the wall. "Are you insane?" I hissed, keeping my voice low because the clinic had thin walls and the last thing I needed was the night staff hearing this conversation. "What the hell is wrong with you?" "You ignored me," he said, and he had the audacity to sound offended about it, like I was the one being unreasonable. "I'm busy," I snapped. "I have a patient in there who almost died on my table yesterday and I'm monitoring his recovery because that's my job, that's what

Kaireen's Pov I stared at him properly for the first time since we had gotten him back into bed and my brain was still trying to catch up with everything that had just happened. He was handsome in a way that was almost unfair, the kind of face that belonged in royal portraits hanging in ancient castle halls, all sharp elegant lines and perfect symmetry. There was a small dark mole on the rim of his nose, just to the left side, and it was the only imperfection on an otherwise flawless face, and somehow that tiny detail made him look more real, more human. But it was the way he carried himself, even lying injured in a hospital bed, that caught my attention the most. The arrogance was built into his bones, in the casual way he looked at me like he was already certain I would do whatever he wanted, in the slight tilt of his chin that said he was used to being obeyed without question, in the authority that radiated off him like heat even when he was weak and recovering from surgery.

Kaireen's PovI hated her before I even saw her face and now that she was standing in front of me in the main entrance hall of the pack house, all delicate features and perfect smile and expensive clothes, I was confirming every single fear I had been carrying since yesterday.She was beautiful.Not just pretty, but actually beautiful in that effortless way that came from good genetics and a lifetime of being pampered, her long blonde hair falling in soft waves down her back, her skin flawless and glowing like she had never worked a day in her life, her body wrapped in a pale pink dress that probably cost more than my entire medical school tuition. The dress was designer, silk or something close to it, fitted at the waist and flowing at the skirt, and she wore it with the casual confidence of someone who had always had money, who had never had to think twice about what things cost.She looked exactly like what a Luna was supposed to look like.And I looked like I had just rolled out

Ronan's Pov I hated what she said to me in that storage room and I hated even more that she was right about all of it. Every single word had landed like a knife between my ribs and the worst part was that I could not argue with any of it because she was speaking the truth and we both knew it. I was trapped in this position, trapped in this role, trapped in the expectations of what an alpha was supposed to be, and there was no way out that did not end with everything I had built collapsing around me. The pack needed stability right now. We had just come through a brutal war, we had lost my father, we had lost pack members, we had territory that needed rebuilding and alliances that needed solidifying, and any messy scandal involving the alpha and his forbidden stepsister would destroy everything. The council would lose confidence, the pack members would question my judgment, the neighboring territories would see weakness, and we would be vulnerable again, open to attack, and I could