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Lahat ng Kabanata ng Rejected by the Alpha Heir, Mated to His Rival Brother: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

13 Kabanata

CHAPTER 1

CIARA'S POV"Our engagement is over."Kaden said it casually, as though he were declining a second glass of wine.Cold. Sharp.The words did not make sense at first. They were just sounds, syllables that could not possibly mean what they seemed to mean.And yet, they were real.I never imagined that everything I had worked for over the past decade would collapse just because of a single sentence like this.For as long as I can remember, it felt as if the meaning of my existence was simply to become his Luna.The crystal chandeliers blazed overhead in the great hall, their light illuminating the shocked faces around us—wolves from across the territory who had gathered for this momentous occasion. The vibrant music and laughter felt like a cruel backdrop to my crumbling world."What?! Kaden, you can't be serious!" I gasped, my hands clenching so tightly behind my back that my knuckles ached.He stood there in formal black, the silver embroidery on his collar marking him as the Alpha's h

CHAPTER 2

Ciara's POVI tried my best. What did I do to deserve this?That was the thought that circled through my mind as the cold seeped deeper into my bones.I had studied pack law until my eyes burned. Practiced healing until I could set a bone and stitch a wound without flinching. Learned six different languages, the history of every major pack in the territory, the proper protocols for everything from treaty negotiations to funeral rites.I did all of this for a man who had never even spared me a glance.Maybe he was right. Maybe all those years of training had not made me special. Maybe they had just made me good at pretending to be something I was not.The cold stopped hurting after a while. My body just went numb, heavy, like I was sinking into the snow rather than kneeling on top of it. My thoughts grew fuzzy, distant.This was not so bad, really. Going numb. Feeling nothing.Laughter spilled from the house.My stepmother and my father were talking, laughing over something that didn't

CHAPTER 3

Ciara's POVI woke to unfamiliar softness.For a moment, I lay still, disoriented, staring at a ceiling that was not mine. Dark wooden beams crossed overhead, and between them, painted constellations gleamed in silver leaf. The bed beneath me was too large, too warm, the sheets too fine. Nothing about this room belonged to my father's house.Then memory returned in a rush. The rejection. The snow. Draven's black eyes looking down at me.I sat up too quickly. Pain lanced through my temples and my body screamed in protest. Every muscle ached like I had been beaten, and my fingers and toes burned with a terrible pins-and-needles sensation that made me gasp."Careful, miss." A young woman appeared at my bedside, her hands gentle as she eased me back against the pillows. She wore a simple gray dress with a white apron, her dark hair pulled back in a neat braid. A maid."Where..." My voice came out hoarse, raw. "Where am I?""Lord Draven's residence, miss." She poured water from a crystal

CHAPTER 4

Ciara's POV"Just like that?""Just like that." I held his gaze, refusing to let him see how my hands trembled beneath the sheets. "You need me to be your weapon. I need protection. It seems a fair exchange.""Fair." He tasted the word like wine. "How... pragmatic of you."His voice was even. I couldn't tell what he was thinking."I am not a child," I said, though part of me felt exactly like one—lost and frightened and desperately out of my depth. "I know this is not about love. You have your reasons for wanting this marriage, and I have mine for accepting. That is enough.""Is it?" He leaned closer, bracing one hand on the headboard above me. This close, I could see the flecks of silver in his black eyes, like stars in a night sky. "You do realize what you are agreeing to, do you not? Marriage to the bastard son. The one your precious pack considers beneath them. Your reputation, already in tatters, will be completely destroyed.""My reputation is already gone," I said quietly. "Kad

CHAPTER 5

Ciara's POV"How dare you speak to me this way!" My father's hand rose again. "Your punishment is not complete! You knelt for barely three hours before you disappeared—""Three hours?" I laughed. "In weather cold enough to limit shifting. You know what happens when a wolf cannot shift to generate heat. You know exactly what you were sentencing me to."Something flickered across his face. Guilt, perhaps. Or simply annoyance at being called out.It lasted less than a heartbeat before anger consumed it again."I did what was necessary to teach you humility!" He took another step toward me. "You needed to understand the severity of your failure! Instead, you run away, you bring more shame upon us by letting people question how I raised you—""Ciara, darling."My stepmother's voice dripped like honey as she descended the stairs. Elara moved with grace, one hand trailing along the railing, the other reaching out to touch my father's shoulder in a soothing gesture."My love, please." She gav

CHAPTER 6

DRAVEN'S POVAn hour prior.The Alpha's study smelled of old leather and older pride. I stood before my father's desk with my hands clasped behind my back, the picture of filial respect. It was a role I played well when necessary—the dutiful bastard son, grateful for whatever scraps of acknowledgment fell from the legitimate heir's table."Father," I said, inclining my head. "Thank you for seeing me on such short notice."Alpha Gareth Stormclaw looked up from the documents scattered across his desk. Even at his age, he cut an imposing figure—broad-shouldered, silver-haired, with the same black eyes that had marked both his sons. Those eyes studied me now with the wary calculation of a man who had learned long ago that nothing I did was without purpose."Draven." He leaned back in his chair. "It has been some time since you requested a private audience. What brings you here?""Curiosity, mostly." I moved to the window. "I heard whispers that something is troubling you. I thought perhap

CHAPTER 7

Ciara's POVMy face burned where his hand had connected. The skin felt hot, swollen, throbbing with each heartbeat. "You will learn—" my father snarled above me.Something inside me snapped.All the frustration I had been holding in for days—for years—rushed through me like wildfire. The rejection. The snow. The way he spoke about my mother today, using her memory as a weapon while defending the woman who had tried to erase her.It felt as if fire was rushing through my veins, hot and wild and unstoppable.My wolf surged forward.I had always kept her contained, controlled, obedient. A proper lady did not let her wolf take over. A future Luna maintained composure at all times.But I was not a future Luna anymore.And I was done being obedient.The shift tore through me. Bones cracked and reformed. Fur erupted across my skin. My vision sharpened, colors bleeding away into shades of gray as my wolf's senses took over.I lunged.My father froze, his fist still raised in the air. He had

CHAPTER 8

Draven’s POVThe door crashed open with enough force to rattle the hinges.I strode through the entrance, my guards falling into formation behind me—two perfect lines of silent authority. The Beta's household staff scattered like startled birds, their whispers dying the moment they caught sight of my face.Halfway down the grand staircase, supported by his simpering wife, stood Beta Aldric. His face was already mottled with displeasure, no doubt from his earlier discussion with Ciara.The red mark on Ciara's cheek flashed through my mind, and my hands curled into fists.When Aldric's eyes found mine, he froze mid-step. Genuine fear flickered across his features before years of political training smoothed it away. He descended the remaining stairs with forced dignity, his wife clinging to his arm like a decorative parasite."Lord Draven." He inclined his head. "To what do we owe the honor of this visit?"I let the silence stretch, watching him squirm. Elara's painted smile grew brittle

CHAPTER 9

Ciara’s POVI brushed my fingers over the bone badge, tracing the intricate carvings that marked Draven's personal seal. The cool surface seemed to hum with authority, with power I had never possessed.My emotions were tangled, unclear. A knot I could not seem to unravel.I was nothing more than a tool in this engagement. A pawn in whatever game Draven was playing with his brother. A convenient scandal to wield against those who looked down on him.Yet his protection far exceeded anything I had expected. The badge. The guards. The authority to command his household, to use his resources as if they were my own.For the first time in years, I did not have to endure the pain alone. Did not have to lick my wounds in silence and pretend everything was fine while the world crumbled around me.I did not know what his actions truly meant. Perhaps he was as dangerous as everyone whispered. Perhaps I was still just a piece on his board, moved according to strategies I could not see.But he was

CHAPTER 10

Ciara's POVLydia stood a few feet away, arms crossed over her chest, a smirk playing at her lips. My longtime rival—the girl who had shadowed my every step during training, who had competed with me for every scrap of recognition, who had made it her personal mission to undermine me at every opportunity.Behind her stood her usual collection of followers, lesser she-wolves who fed off Lydia's cruelty like scavengers picking at bones."I had always known you were shameless, Ciara," Lydia continued, her voice dripping with false sweetness. "But showing your face here after what happened at the mating ball?" She shook her head in mock disbelief. "Being rejected is hardly surprising for someone like you."Her lackeys tittered obediently."If I were humiliated like that," one of them said, "I would hide at home and never dare show my face again."I looked at them—really looked at them. At their sneering faces and their eyes bright with malicious glee. They thought themselves so superior, s

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