《The Alpha's Rejected Mate 》全部章節：第 31 章 - 第 40 章

Ava’s povGrandmother’s laugh followed us up the stairs like smoke you couldn’t clear from a room. We kept walking. Milrac’s hand stayed locked with mine, grip firm, but I felt the tremor in it through the bond. Not fear. Fatigue. The same bone-deep weariness that was settling into my own limbs.We stepped into the war room without stopping. The lamps were still burning low. My mother looked up from the maps, eyes narrowing the moment she saw the bandage on my arm. She didn’t ask questions. She simply poured two cups of water and pushed them toward us.“Eleven packs confirmed,” she said. “Scouts just reported movement at the river fork. They’re not hiding anymore. They want us to know they’re coming.”Milrac released my hand only long enough to pick up the cup. He drank it in one go, then set it down harder than necessary. Through the bond I felt the headache pounding behind his eyes, the same one I was trying to ignore. The silver cut on my forearm throbbed in time with it, a dull re

Ava’s povSunset bled across the sky in streaks of crimson and gold as we left the mansion gates. The small escort of six guards rode silently behind us, their horses’ hooves muffled by the forest floor. Milrac and I rode side by side, the bond stretched thin between us like a wire pulled too tight. The silver rings on our fingers hummed faintly, cool against our skin, but they could not hide the strain that had settled deep in the connection.No one spoke. The only sound was the wind moving through the trees and the occasional creak of leather. I could feel Milrac’s exhaustion echoing in my own bones, the dull throb behind his eyes matching the ache in my bandaged arm. The bond no longer felt like power. It felt like something alive that was slowly tiring.We reached the neutral ground just as the last light faded. The Moon Council had chosen an ancient clearing ringed by white stones, each one carved with runes that glowed faintly silver under the rising moon. Three figures waited a

Ava’s povThe guard’s words hung in the war room like smoke that refused to clear. The entire eastern patrol was connected now, not just hearing voices but sharing thoughts, feelings, even fragments of will. One man had refused a direct order because it felt wrong in his chest, as if the bond itself had whispered against it.Milrac’s hand remained locked with mine, but I felt the shift in him through the link, a cold, calculating tension that matched my own. The spreading was no longer a distant threat. It was here, inside our walls, moving through our people like blood in veins.“Bring the affected patrol to the inner courtyard,” Milrac ordered, voice low but carrying the weight of command. “Keep them separated from the rest of the pack. No one speaks to them until we arrive.”The guard saluted and left at a run.My mother stepped closer to the table, her face drawn. “This is accelerating faster than I feared. The bond is not just reaching them. It is rewriting how they think. If it

Ava's povBy the time the last of the departing wolves disappeared through the gates, the courtyard felt like a mouth that had lost half its teeth.Forty-three wolves remained.I counted them without meaning to, the bond doing it automatically, cataloguing each pulse of loyalty like a heartbeat I had not asked to learn. Forty-three out of what had been nearly a hundred. Warriors, two healers, a handful of servants who had nowhere else to go, and a small cluster of young wolves who had never known any alpha but Milrac.He stood perfectly still beside me, watching the gates close. From the outside he looked carved from stone. Through the bond I felt what he was actually carrying, the specific weight of each name that had walked away. Not anger. Not surprise. Something quieter and harder to bear.Grief, dressed up as composure.I laced my fingers with his. He did not look at me, but his grip tightened immediately.My mother broke the silence first. "We need to move. The full moon is six

Milrac's povThe gathering took less than an hour.We told them everything. Soren and Mira. The Council's game. What the full moon would demand. When we finished, nobody left.Calla spoke first. "We hold our own minds. Feel you both, but stay ourselves.""Exactly," Ava said.A young wolf near the back raised his hand. "What if it gets too loud? What if I can't separate my thoughts from yours?""You come to us immediately," I said. "We can quiet it without severing anything."He nodded. That settled it.The forty-three dispersed. Watches set, doors latched, fires banked.---Ava's povMy mother caught me on the stairs.She pressed her palm briefly to my cheek. "You did well today."It hit somewhere I hadn't armored."Rest," I told her. "We need you sharp."She looked past me toward Milrac, then back. "He's a good man. I didn't expect that."Gone before I could answer.I stood there a moment, feeling the bond hum. Feeling Milrac's awareness brush mine from across the hall. Not a thought