All Chapters of The Alpha's Rejected Mate : Chapter 111 - Chapter 120

Ava's PovThe archive was filled with the smells of paper, dust and old ink.The light of morning passed through high windows, lighting the floating motes. There was a great silence, but it was deceptive. The lower offices were in the hands of chaos, which is mainly centered around Petra. She walked around with her typical amount of energy and slight destruction. The paper was stacked in a dangerous manner. There were beep, beep, beep noises from the calculators. Notes were jotted down in the margins of random papers. An hour ago someone had said that "mercy," but it had been lost somewhere between shelving and floorboards.I walked quietly, careful not to disturb the stack of files that was wobbling, silently thanking the network that warned me of every close shave I made in being aware of the moment. Petra didn’t notice. She never did if she did not want to.Kael was sitting nearby, his legs folded against his chest, ear to notebook, making the corrections and extensions. I felt his

Ava PovThe night settled down in Valley Creek gradually. The sun had just set and was casting long, warm stripes across the wood floors through the long, tall archive windows. Most workers were home for hours already by now. There were only a few left, walking among the shelves like shadows, doing what they could to complete the day.I walked down the silent aisles quietly. The chatter of the network below the mountain had died down to a gentle pace. Now ninety-two threads, each settling around a tired and calm mountain, at long last given a chance to breathe.I spotted her in one of the upper wings, standing on her own in the midst of piles of newly published copies. The paper was still catching a slight whiff of press, and the last light was still on. Vessa stood up straight and steady, her hands gripping tightly as she turned the pages of one of the books with care. She did not raise her head when I came to her.“Evening,” I said. Quiet. There never has been a loud greeting here i

Ava's PovAs the weeks went on, autumn descended over Valley Creek more and more.Mornings were colder these days.Before dawn there was light frost on the mountain tracks.Below the ridges, the trees were beginning to turn color, with gold and red slowly creeping through the forest.Winter was still far away.Yet, all could sense it coming.Patrol activity went up as well.Inventories of supplies were checked.Routes to and from the boundary were monitored more often.The mountain went through the seasonal routine smoothly, as the last year had been.Which was probably why I started noticing other things.Small things.The kind of information that most people omitted.Perhaps they didn't.Perhaps they noticed them already, too.I was going over some of the correspondence in the main operations room one morning when Calla came in carrying a pile of patrol reports.She went straight to one side of the table and started to go through them.Some minutes later Davan came.He briefly looke

Ava's POVIt was the following morning, and Valley Creek rose early.I came out to the training grounds and they were already in action.The wolves went through the exercise of moving through drills.Patrol teams set up for rotation.Messengers went round the courtyard to bring reports.Now the mountain was a regular, everyday thing.Not survival.Not crisis.Routine.It was still a bit of a shock at times.The fall was now in full swing. The air was hard, piercing, with a bitter edge of winter. When the wind blew, the leaves swirled around on the stone paths.To most, it was a normal day.It wasn't for Calla.The issue is that she was making it look like it was.Very badly.I saw it before eating breakfast.It was noticed by the network shortly after.At lunch, half of the mountain caught sight of it.Nobody said anything.Survival was precious to us all.Calla was busy completing her tasks as usual in the morning.Patrol reports.Training reviews.Security schedules.Supply inspecti

Ava's PovThe autumn season had fallen gently in Valley Creek.The mountain was back on its feet.Not peace exactly.Life.There was a difference.Peace felt fragile. Temporary.Despite this, life went on as usual.New submissions came in almost daily to the archive. I did more council work than I wanted to. The research continued throughout the mountain, at various levels. As winter approached, patrol routes changed.Everything was busy.Everything was functioning.I had days that I wasn't responding to disaster for the first time in years.I was able to concentrate on days, at times.Probably this is why I noticed it.The first was not so big.It was very small, I nearly couldn't see it.My bond sensitivity changed a bit in a normal network audit.Nothing dramatic.Just different.I observed and went on.Two days later, I saw some changes to scent recognition.Again, minor.A little sharper.A bit more specific.It isn't enough to worry me.Just enough for record keeping.The follow