Rejected Once, Now Claimed By The Lycan のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 51 - チャプター 60

Ava's POVEdwin brought them in five minutes after Sebastian gave the word.Sandra came first, head down, walking behind the guard with the careful steps of someone managing their own fear. She had dressed simply. No performance this morning.Fiona came after.She walked into the hall the way she walked into every room — like it belonged to her, like the circumstances of her arrival were entirely ordinary, like she had not spent the night locked in her room after being identified on a security recording mixing poison into another person's drink.There was not a single trace of remorse on her face.I looked at her and understood something clearly. Fiona was not here to apologise or to plead. She was here because she had already worked out her position and she intended to use it.I filed that away.Sebastian addressed the room briefly. He told them what everyone already knew, noted that I was well, touched my hand once, and then looked at me.I stood up.It was strange, standing in fron

Ava's POVMrs Garrett was already at her desk when Sebastian led me in — blonde hair in a tight bun, reading glasses, a posture that communicated professional competence without any effort at all. She looked up when we entered and stood immediately."King Sebastian. Good morning.""Mrs Garrett. This is Ava. She will be working with you on this floor going forward."Mrs Garrett looked at me.I extended my hand. "Ava Wellington. I am looking forward to working with you."Her handshake was firm and her smile was genuine. "Likewise."Sebastian left us to it.The moment the door closed behind him Mrs Garrett tilted her head and studied me with the focused assessment of someone who had worked for Sebastian long enough to know when something was out of the ordinary."You are the mate," she said. Not a question.I blinked. "I thought that had not been officially announced."She clapped her hands once, delighted. "I knew it. He has never brought a woman to this building. Not once in the years

Ava's POVI stopped trying to convince the driver after the first twenty minutes.He was not going to turn the car around. He had his orders and he believed in them and nothing I said was reaching him. I sat back and looked out the tinted window and watched the city give way to open road and told myself to think rather than panic.My phone was gone. He had taken it from my bag while helping me into the car — smoothly, the way someone does a thing they have practised. My hands were free. The doors were locked. There were six men in another car behind us, which I had seen before I got in.Running was not an option.Talking to Jackson directly was.One hour later the car slowed into an open field.Jackson was already there, standing in the centre of it with a handful of men around him, and even through the tinted glass I could see the particular tension in his posture — anticipation, relief, the physical expression of someone who has been waiting too long for something.He genuinely beli

Ava's POVSix hours on a yacht with motion sickness and no phone and a man who believed he was saving me.I sat by the window and watched the water and said nothing because every time I opened my mouth to explain myself Jackson looked at me with that patient, immovable expression that made me want to throw something into the sea.He tried conversation three times. I did not participate.He offered food. I declined, knowing what would happen to it within minutes given how my stomach was feeling. He made a note of something in his mind — I could see him doing it — and I knew he was planning to feed me the moment we arrived.I appreciated the consideration. I was still furious with him.The water was dark and the yacht was warm and I pressed my forehead against the glass and thought about Sebastian.I calculated the timeline in my head. He would have returned to the company around five. Vanessa would have told him. He would have pulled the camera footage within the hour. He was systemati

Ava's POVI watched from the window until I could not watch anymore.Sebastian had come. He was standing in the yard of the Night Howl pack house in the middle of the night, in Jackson's territory, with Edwin and Isabelle behind him, and he was not leaving without me.I knew that with the same certainty I knew my own name.I turned from the window and crossed the room and opened the door.The hallway was empty. Everyone was outside. The building had that particular hollow quality of a space that has been suddenly vacated, voices coming from outside through the walls and windows but nothing moving within.I went quickly toward the stairs.Elsie was at the top of them.She had not gone outside with the others. She was standing at the top of the staircase with her arms crossed and her eyes already on me as I came around the corner, like she had been waiting."So it's true," she said. "You are actually here.""Move," I said."You fell right into it, didn't you?" She tilted her head. "All