All Chapters of Rejected, Not Broken : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

AVERYEight weeks.It still didn’t feel real. There was no curve to my stomach, no outward proof of what was happening inside me. Just exhaustion that clung to my bones, nausea that arrived without warning, and a constant awareness of my own body, like it no longer belonged solely to me.And then there was Rowan.I tried not to think about him when I woke. Tried not to notice how my pulse quickened whenever his scent drifted across the pack grounds. Tried not to catalog the way his presence steadied me, how my wolf lifted instead of shrinking when he was near.I failed.‘You are circling the truth,’ Lila said quietly.‘I’m being careful,’ I replied.‘You’re afraid,’ she corrected.Careful felt necessary. Cade’s rejection had taught me what happened when you trusted the wrong bond, when you mistook obligation for fate.Rowan was nothing like that.He never touched me longer than necessary. Never crowded my space. Never looked at me like I was fragile or something to be managed. He look

AVERYMy lips still burned.Not with pain, but with the echo of Rowan. The weight of his mouth, the way his restraint had felt more dangerous than surrender. Every step away from him had felt wrong, like my body had already decided something my mind was still scrambling to deny.I pressed my fingers to my mouth, breath uneven.‘This is what a mate feels like,’ Lila said quietly.‘I don’t know what that feels like,’ I answered, even as my body betrayed me. My pulse raced. Heat coiled low in my belly, sharp and insistent, my wolf pacing beneath my skin like she was ready to tear something apart.Or someone.I barely made it to my room before the need spiked again, sudden and overwhelming. My knees weakened, breath catching hard in my chest as the bond flared, not complete but demanding attention.Rowan.The thought alone sent another wave crashing through me. I could still feel his hands at my waist, the way he had held me like he was anchoring himself just as much as me, like stopping

AVERYI woke up warm.That alone was disorienting.Not just the physical warmth, though Rowan’s body curved around mine like he had decided I was not allowed to drift anywhere unsafe. It was the deeper kind, the kind that settled in your chest instead of your skin, the kind that made breathing feel easier before you even realized it had been hard.For a terrifying second, I waited for the panic.It never came.The bond hummed softly. Not loud or invasive the way Cade used to force it. Just a low, steady presence, like a heartbeat I hadn’t known I was missing. When I shifted, the sensation shifted with me. Responsive, but never demanding.Safe.I swallowed against the sudden burn behind my eyes.Rowan was awake. I could tell without looking. His stillness had weight to it, the kind that came from awareness, not sleep. Ash lingered close to the surface too, not prowling or snarling, just watching.Protective.I turned my head and found Rowan already watching me.“You stayed,” I said qui

AVERYI knew he was there before Rowan said anything.I had known while I was still standing in the packhouse, while the air felt wrong and my wolf lifted her head, alert and offended. Cade had always been loud in my senses. He never entered a space quietly. Even when he stayed outside, even when he pretended restraint, he made sure his presence was felt.He wanted me to know.And I had.Rowan came to me the moment it was over. Not rushed. Not panicked. Grounded in that infuriatingly steady way of his that made it impossible to spiral.“He came to the border,” Rowan said.“I know,” I replied.Something in his eyes shifted. Not surprise. Recognition. He understood immediately that this was not fear he was seeing in me.It was anger.“He did not cross,” Rowan said. “The guards held the line.”“Of course he didn’t,” I said. “He never risks anything he can’t control.”My hands were clenched at my sides. I forced them open, refusing to let my body default to old habits. Folding. Softening.

ROWANNames were not something you rushed, even when everything else felt like it was moving too fast. Still, it only took us a few days. Not because the choice was easy, but because the right one kept returning no matter how far we tried to wander from it.We talked about names in quiet moments. Over meals. Along the paths through Emberfall. Sometimes aloud, sometimes only through the shared awareness that had settled between us so naturally it felt like it had always existed. We tested each name carefully, listening to how it sounded when spoken, how it felt when held in silence.Ash understood the weight of it instinctively.‘She will carry it before she carries memory,’ he said. ‘Choose carefully.’“I am,” I replied.I stood at the edge of the packhouse balcony, watching Emberfall move through its morning rhythms. Guards traded quiet words as they shifted positions. Wolves passed one another with nods of familiarity. No posturing. No urgency. Just a pack that knew itself.This lan