Lahat ng Kabanata ng Rejected by the Alpha Heir, Mated to His Rival Brother: Kabanata 51 - Kabanata 60

Draven's POVI needed to step back.I knew that. Every rational part of my mind was stating it clearly — step back, give her room, do not do what you are currently considering doing.I didn't step back.She was looking up at me with those eyes — that particular shade that sat somewhere between grey and blue depending on the light, and in the dim warmth of her chambers they were closer to silver — and my wolf was not being quiet about what he wanted. He had been pressing hard at the surface since the training yard and the distance between us right now was not helping him settle.I was close enough to feel the warmth coming off her skin. Close enough that her scent — wildflowers, rain, something underneath both of those that was simply and entirely her — was filling my lungs with every breath and doing significant damage to the composure I prided myself on.I moved closer.One small step. Then another. Her back was already against the door — she had closed it behind me when I'd entered,

Draven’s POVI made it to the end of the corridor before I stopped walking.Stood there for a moment with my hand against the wall and my jaw locked and the conversation with Ciara sitting in my chest doing something uncomfortable that I did not have time to examine properly.*He said he made a mistake. That he wants to take me back.*The words kept replaying. The casual arrogance of it. The way Kaden had stood there in front of my betrothed, and acted like he had any right to ask her to come back to him. Like the past months hadn't happened. Like she was just something he'd set aside and could pick back up whenever it suited him.The rage was building. heavy and patient, waiting.“Fuck this” I spat, turned and walked in the opposite direction.---Kaden's door was solid oak, reinforced. I hit it three times with the flat of my fist. Hard enough to rattle the frame.Nothing.I knocked again, harder. The sound echoed down the corridor."Get lost." Kaden's voice from inside, raw and st

Draven's POV Councilman Thorne settled into the chair across from my desk like he owned it. Like he had every right to be here at this hour, in my study, interrupting my work. I didn't sit. I stood behind my desk with my hands flat on the surface and waited. "Thank you for seeing me," he said. "I know it's late. But I thought it best we have this conversation sooner rather than later." "About what, exactly?" He smiled. That same warm, reasonable smile he wore at every council meeting. The one that had fooled everyone for eighteen years. "About the future," he said. "Yours. Mine. The pack's." He leaned back in the chair, completely at ease. "I've been watching you, Draven. You're ambitious. That's not a criticism—I respect ambition. I have it myself. The difference is, I've learned how to make it work for me." I said nothing. Let him talk. "You've built something here," he continued, gesturing vaguely at the room. "A position. Influence. The Alpha's ear. The marriage to the Beta

Draven's POVThe next morning, I was in my study before the sun fully rose.The evidence was spread across my desk in careful order. The financial ledger sat open to the page showing the first payment—small, barely noticeable, the kind of transaction that would slip past anyone who wasn't looking for it. Four years ago. Four years of carefully layered transfers, each one designed to be invisible on its own but forming a clear pattern when viewed together.Beside it, the communication records. Corvin's name appeared in seven different documents, each one tying him to Thorne's household through intermediaries. The pattern was unmistakable once you knew what to look for. Corvin was the conduit. Thorne was the source.And next to those, the timeline. Every council decision that had benefited Ironpeak's position over the past decade, cross-referenced with Thorne's voting record and his private financial movements. The pattern was damning. Eighteen years of betrayal, laid out in black and w

Draven's POVMy father was silent for a long moment. The weight of his gaze pressed down on me, and I could see the war happening behind his eyes. The part of him that wanted to believe his son. The part of him that had to trust the evidence."Draven," he said finally, and his voice was heavy with something I had rarely heard from him. Regret. "I have known you your entire life. I have watched you fight for every scrap of recognition, every small victory, every inch of ground. I know you are ambitious. I know you are capable. I know you have been building something for yourself." He paused. "But I did not think you would build it at the expense of this pack."My throat tightened. "Father, I have never—""Thorne has presented evidence," he continued, cutting me off. "Evidence that connects you to payments, to secret accounts, to a network of informants that has been operating inside this pack for years. He has a witness who has corroborated everything." He leaned forward, his eyes meet