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Home / Werewolf / Rejected, Not Broken / Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

All Chapters of Rejected, Not Broken : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

45 Chapters

TWENTY ONE

ROWANEmberfall exhaled.Not in sound, but in shift. In the way wolves returned to their paths without hesitation. In the way the land itself settled, no longer braced for intrusion.Cade was gone.Not absent. Not displaced.Finished.The pack moved with quiet efficiency in the hours that followed. No one lingered where it had happened. No one spoke his name. Patrols resumed without instruction. Fires were tended. Food was prepared. Life continued not out of indifference, but because security had been restored.That was how Emberfall functioned. Danger was answered, not dramatized.Avery stayed with me as the last of the pack dispersed from the inner grounds. Her hand rested over her stomach, protective without fragility. She stood straight, shoulders squared, eyes clear.She had not turned away.‘She understands what this meant,’ Ash said quietly. ‘Not just for her.’“Yes,” I replied. “For all of us.”We walked back toward the packhouse together. Wolves we passed inclined their heads

Last Updated : 2026-01-29

TWENTY TWO

AVERYTwo weeks.The number lived in my body more than my thoughts now. In the way my balance shifted without warning. In the way my hand found my stomach even when I wasn’t thinking about it. In the way Rowan watched me with quiet vigilance that never felt suffocating, only certain.I found him near the training grounds, standing just beyond the ring where the younger wolves were sparring. He looked composed, authoritative, every inch the alpha Emberfall needed.The moment his eyes found me, that composure softened.“You’re supposed to be resting,” he said.“I am resting,” I replied. “Just not lying down.”His mouth curved slightly. “Stubborn.”“Still loved,” I said.“Yes,” he answered immediately.The certainty of it sent warmth through me that had nothing to do with proximity. I stepped closer, and his hand came to my lower back without hesitation. Protective. Familiar. The contact grounded me and ignited me all at once.Two weeks or not, my body still responded to him with startli

Last Updated : 2026-01-29

TWENTY THREE

ROWANOne week.The number carried a different weight now. Not anticipation alone. Readiness.Emberfall had shifted as the days narrowed toward her arrival. Patrols remained steady. Voices softened. Every wolf moved with the quiet awareness that something important was approaching, even if no one named it aloud.I felt Avery before I saw her, pacing near the front path, one hand braced at her lower back. She stopped when she noticed me watching.“She’s close,” she said.“I know,” I replied.The escort arrived shortly after. Respectful. Unhurried. And when the woman at their center stepped into view, I understood immediately.Avery’s mother.They shared the same eyes. The same steadiness. Strength built from endurance rather than ease.Avery froze.Then she moved.I stayed where I was as they reached each other. This was not my place to intervene. Only to witness.Her mother gathered her into her arms with a sound that was half laugh, half sob. Avery clutched her just as tightly, foreh

Last Updated : 2026-01-29

TWENTY FOUR

AVERYLess than a week.The number felt like a held breath.Everything in me was preparing, whether I asked it to or not. My body knew before my mind did. In the constant pressure settling low. In the way sleep came in fragments instead of stretches. In the way Ember shifted more insistently now, testing the edges of the space she occupied.Not yet.But soon.Rowan noticed everything without comment. He always had. He watched the way I moved, the way I paused before standing, the way my hand stayed anchored to my stomach like it was the only fixed point in a world that had begun to tilt.“You’re pacing,” he said gently.“I’m waiting.”“For what.”“For her to decide,” I replied, rubbing slow circles over my belly. “She’s clearly in charge.”His mouth curved. “That tracks.”We were in the main room, the fire burning low despite the warmth of the day. I had folded the same blanket twice already, not because it needed it, but because my hands did.Rowan crossed the room and took it from m

Last Updated : 2026-01-30

TWENTY FIVE

ROWANIt began in the dark.Not with a cry, but with a sound pulled from somewhere deeper than Avery’s throat. A low, broken exhale that turned into a growl as her body seized without warning. She arched sharply, hands clutching the bedding as instinct surged ahead of thought.Ash snapped fully awake inside me.‘Now,’ he said. ‘This is not a false alarm. This is the beginning.’I was already at her side.Avery’s scent changed instantly. Heat bloomed sharp and metallic, threaded with something feral and ancient. The air itself felt heavier, like Emberfall was leaning in to listen.“Avery,” I said, anchoring her name between my hands.She gasped as another wave tore through her, teeth bared, body folding forward as her wolf surged ahead of her mind.“She’s coming,” Avery rasped. “Rowan, she’s coming.”‘Ilyra,’ Ash urged. ‘And space. Now.’The pack responded before I spoke. Doors opened. Footsteps retreated. Wolves shifted with silent precision. Birth was not hidden among us, but it was

Last Updated : 2026-01-30

TWENTY SIX

AVERYThere was a moment when thinking stopped.Not fear.Not panic.Instinct took the reins and refused to give them back.The next contraction didn’t crash into me like the others had. It rose slowly, heavy and consuming, pulling everything downward until my body locked around it. My breath shattered, the sound tearing out of me low and raw and unmistakably wolf.I pushed.Not because anyone told me to.Because my body demanded it.Rowan’s arms were around me, solid and unmovable, his presence the only fixed point in a world narrowed to heat and pressure and the relentless pull inside me. His breath brushed my neck, his heartbeat steady against my back.It grounded me.“I can’t,” I gasped as the wave crested, legs shaking violently beneath me.“Yes,” he said, voice rough and unwavering. “You can.”The truth of it landed deeper than doubt. I bore down again, muscles screaming as something shifted, descended, became unavoidable.The pressure was overwhelming.Too much.Then it changed

Last Updated : 2026-01-30

TWENTY SEVEN

ROWANRowan Sleep became a rumor. Something other people talked about in past tense. The days blurred together in fragments of motion and sound. Ember’s small, furious cries. Avery’s soft groans as she shifted, sore and spent but uncomplaining. The quiet shuffle of wolves passing the doorway with supplies they did not announce, help they did not ask permission to give. I had never been so tired. I had never been so alive. Ember was three days old and already ruled the packhouse with an authority no alpha could rival. She ate. She slept in short, unpredictable bursts. She woke furious and hungry and utterly unconcerned with anything resembling order. Ash watched her with something close to reverence. ‘She does not bend,’ he said quietly. ‘Good.’ I sat on the edge of the bed, elbows braced on my knees, Ember bundled against my chest while Avery slept behind me, one arm flung across the pillows like she had simply fallen where she landed. She deserved every minute of rest she g

Last Updated : 2026-01-30

TWENTY EIGHT

AVERYBy the time the light outside softened toward evening, I felt hollowed out in the best and worst ways.Ember had been fed and changed and fed again. Rowan had slipped in and out between pack responsibilities, always returning like gravity pulled him back whether he meant to or not. I was bone-tired, but sleep still felt distant—like my body didn’t trust the world enough yet to fully let go.Then the air shifted.Not sharp. Not alarming.Familiar.Lila stirred immediately, warm and attentive.‘Your mother,’ she said. ‘She’s close.’“I know,” I whispered.The door opened quietly. Rowan stepped in first, already smiling, already knowing, and moved aside without comment.My mom stood in the doorway like she was afraid the moment might vanish if she breathed too hard. Her eyes went straight to my arms. To the small bundle tucked against my chest.Her hand flew to her mouth.“Oh,” she breathed.I laughed weakly, tears already spilling. “You can come closer.”That was all it took.She

Last Updated : 2026-01-30

TWENTY NINE

ROWANThe days stopped feeling endless sometime around the fifth sunrise.Not easier. Just survivable.Ember had begun to settle into something resembling a rhythm. Short stretches of sleep. Predictable hunger. Avery had learned to nap wherever her body landed. I had learned to function on fragments and instinct.We were not graceful.But we were figuring it out.That morning, I found Avery sitting on the edge of the bed, hair loose and tangled, staring at the floor like she was negotiating with it.“You okay?” I asked quietly.She blinked up at me, eyes tired but steady. “I think I forgot how showers work.”I smiled. “It’s been a few days.”She exhaled, rubbing her temples. “I just want to feel like myself for five minutes.”“You can,” I said.She hesitated. “Ember—”“I’ve got her,” I said immediately. “She’s fed. She’s clean. She’s asleep. Go.”Avery studied my face for a moment, then nodded. “Okay.”I waited until the water was running before settling into the chair with Ember agai

Last Updated : 2026-01-30

THIRTY

AVERYThe first time I walked back into the center of Emberfall, I did not announce myself.I did not need to.The pack felt me before they saw me. Not because of rank alone, but because I belonged here now in a way I never had anywhere else. The ground felt steady beneath my feet. Familiar. Mine.Ember was tucked against my chest, wrapped securely, her small weight anchoring me as surely as Rowan ever had. She slept through it all, blissfully unaware that the world was rearranging itself around her.Wolves paused as I passed.Not staring.Acknowledging.It was subtle. A shift of posture. A lowering of voices. Heads inclined not in submission, but in recognition. I felt no fear in them. No skepticism.Only acceptance.Lila stirred, calm and satisfied.‘This is right,’ she said. ‘We are seen.’Yes, I answered quietly. We are.Rowan walked a step behind me, not leading, not hovering. Present without overshadowing. The pack noticed that too.Inside the common hall, the elders had gathere

Last Updated : 2026-01-30

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