All Chapters of The Rejected Mate Returns: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

**Tharion**I pretended that all my attention was focused on the battlefield, but I had to ask Krimson as soon as possible.I thought I saw a spark of recognition in his eyes. Had I been mistaken? I doubted it.“Did you recognize any of them?” I asked, hoping he wouldn’t lie to me to protect that bastard.I saw him swallow hard. He didn’t want to say it; surely he didn’t want to believe Mikail was behind this.But the evidence…“One of them… was from Silverbane. I’m sure of it,” I watched him swallow with difficulty. “I don’t know why he was here…”Damn it. It was just as I thought; Mikail would have to give me a good explanation, or I was going to go to Silverbane and raze the damn place to the ground.“I’m not surprised, after what happened to her,” I hissed, holding back my anger. “That damn coward didn’t know how to protect her.”“There’s something else behind this attack,” Krimson said in a low voice. “It doesn’t smell like personal revenge to me. It’s… dirtier. More calculated.”

**Krimson**Lyra seemed to be breaking inside as she made that confession, as if saying it out loud were tearing her apart a little more.“Mikail wants to kill me,” she had said, her eyes glazed over.I felt a fist clenching my stomach. Because no matter how much that bastard had hurt her, something inside me refused to believe he was capable of something so vile.“Mikail may be heartless,” I told her calmly, though my own thoughts were racing, “but I don’t think he’s a killer of innocents, Lyra. Not even he would dare send men to kill a defenseless woman.”She didn’t answer. She just stared at the ground, still trembling, like a leaf buffeted by the wind.I wanted to say something else, but she suddenly looked at me and her expression changed.“Krimson…” she whispered. “You’re wounded.”I looked down at my side. Just a dark stain that was already beginning to close thanks to the regenerative ability we Lycans possessed.I hadn’t noticed it, but the burning sensation confirmed it.“It

**Lyra**“Your grandmother was no ordinary wolf,” said the old man as we walked together along the cobblestone path that ran along the temple’s inner garden. His voice was deep, heavy with nostalgia. “Her name was foretold decades before her birth… Iridia.”I stopped when I heard it again. That name, that ancient echo that had lain dormant in my memory for years, was now a clear cry in my chest.“Foretold?” I asked, frowning and my heart racing.“The oracles knew that a woman of light would be born in the eastern lands. They didn’t know when, but they knew how they would recognize her…” The old man looked at me tenderly. “Iridia was that light.”His words sent shivers down my spine. I listened intently, as if every sentence were a relic my soul was destined to receive.“She was wise even as a child. She listened, she understood… and she never used her gift to boast. She had a pure heart, willing to help her people. Everyone loved her…” He paused. “And like everything that shines… she

**Lyra**The crunching under my shoes was barely audible, but to me, it sounded like a thunderclap.I had been traveling for two days with Tharion’s secret escort, along a route known only to him and a select few.King Lycan had been meticulous. He planned two routes, one to the north and another to the east, to throw off anyone trying to follow us.In the eyes of our enemies, we were still on the move, confusing them with false trails and erased footprints. But I… I was already close to my destination: the lands of my heritage.“We’re a few hours away, my lady,” said one of the soldiers, bowing respectfully. “The pass is clear.”I nodded silently, one hand resting on my belly. Two moons had already passed since I learned I was expecting.For a wolf, that was nearly halfway through the gestation period. My belly was beginning to show, soft and round beneath the light fabrics.The first time one of the women of Tharion’s clan pointed it out to me with an excited smile, I felt a shiver.

**Lyra**I didn’t know how that light had come out of my body.I didn’t know what had caused it. I only remembered the fear… and the incessant movement of my children in my womb.They were restless, as if they felt the same chaos that was overwhelming me inside.Tharion’s scream had torn through the air. And then, the blow. The wet sound of his body hitting the ground.I saw the enemies upon him, like a soulless pack, and something inside me snapped.It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair! Why did he have to pay for my cause?I didn’t think or reason. I just felt that immense force coursing through my veins, making me tremble, burning my skin.I closed my eyes… and let myself go.When I opened them, the chaos had subsided. Tharion was still there, bloodied but alive.I ran toward him with my heart in my throat, feeling neither the weight in my belly nor the pain in my legs.Only him. Only his ragged breathing and his strong, weary face.“You’re alive,” I whispered, touching his face.I hugged