All Chapters of Rejected by my Alpha, claimed by his mate: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

The room fell strangely quiet after Darius spoke.Not completely silent,injured warriors still groaned nearby, healers still moved quickly between beds, but the tension around us shifted instantly.Every eye seemed to flicker toward me.Toward the girl standing in the middle of a medical wing she didn’t belong in.Selene released my wrist slowly.“She felt the bond,” she explained carefully.Darius’s expression hardened slightly.Of course he already understood what that meant.I folded my arms tightly, trying to ignore the uncomfortable weight settling in my chest.“I didn’t ask to come here.”One of the healers passed beside him, attempting to clean the blood running down his shoulder, but Darius barely reacted.Like pain simply didn’t affect him the way it affected everyone else.“You should be resting,” Selene added.“I’m fine.”That was clearly a lie.The deep cut across his shoulder still bled steadily, staining the dark fabric beneath it.Even injured, he somehow looked more da

Sleep didn’t come easily. Every time I closed my eyes, my thoughts dragged me back into the same mess. Kael’s rejection. Darius’s warnings. The rogues searching for me. And that bond constantly lingering beneath my skin like something alive. I turned restlessly beneath the blankets, staring at the dark ceiling. The fortress was quieter now. Most of the activity from earlier had faded into silence. But something still felt… wrong. A sudden pulse from the bond jolted through me. Sharp and alert. I sat up instantly. The room was dark except for the faint moonlight spilling through the windows. For a second, nothing moved. Nothing happened. Then, a sound very soft. Metal scraping lightly against stone. My heartbeat quickened. Slowly, I pushed the blankets aside and stood. Maybe it was just a guard outside. Maybe I was imagining things. After everything that happened today, paranoia would make sense. Another sound echoed. Closer this time.

I should have been angry. Honestly, I was angry. But as Darius led me toward the upper floor of the fortress, another feeling kept interfering with it. Relief. And that was the problem. The halls were quieter now, most of the chaos from the rogue attack finally settling into tense silence. Guards still stood at every entrance, more alert than before. Every few seconds, I caught them glancing at me. Not casually. Carefully. Like I had suddenly become something important. Or dangerous. Maybe both. “This is unnecessary,” I muttered as we reached the upper level. Darius didn’t slow his pace. “So was allowing you to sleep alone after a direct attack.” “I can protect myself.” That finally earned me a look. Not mocking, worse but patient. “You nearly got dragged out a window an hour ago.” I frowned immediately. “You don’t have to repeat it.” “You clearly need reminding.” Annoyingly unfair. We stopped outside a large set of dark wooden doors.

The room went completely still.For a second, nobody spoke.Then Darius asked calmly:“How many?”“Six warriors with him this time,” the guard answered quickly. “They’re waiting outside the gates.”My stomach tightened instantly.Kael came back, again.Darius’s expression remained unreadable, but the atmosphere around him shifted immediately.Colder and sharper.“What does he want now?” I muttered quietly.Darius looked toward the guard.“Did he say?”The guard hesitated.“He requested a meeting.”Requested.Not demanded.Interesting.Darius dismissed the guard with a small motion of his hand.“I’ll handle it.”The moment the door shut again, silence settled heavily between us.The calmness from earlier disappeared completely.I pushed back slightly from the table.“You don’t have to go.”His eyes moved toward me immediately.“He entered my territory.”“That doesn’t mean you need to entertain him.”Darius studied me for a moment.“You’re worried.”I frowned instantly.“I’m realistic.”

Sleep became impossible after that.I tried.I really did.But every time I closed my eyes, I saw those words again.No survivors.Blood Crescent.The warning sat on the small table near the fireplace like it carried its own darkness. I should have stopped staring at it an hour ago.Instead, I kept rereading it like the words might somehow change.They didn’t.Outside my room, the fortress had transformed completely overnight.The quiet atmosphere from before was gone.Now everything felt tense and focused.Guards moved constantly through the halls. Orders echoed faintly from lower floors. Somewhere in the distance, weapons clashed repeatedly during late-night drills.Preparation.Darius wasn’t taking chances.Neither was the council apparently.I stood near the window again, arms folded tightly across my chest as rain began pouring heavily over the fortress grounds.Cold lightning flashed across the sky.For some reason, it made everything worse.The bond pulsed faintly.Not enough t