บททั้งหมดของ Rejected by the Alpha Hockey Captain And Then Claimed By His: บทที่ 11 - บทที่ 20

That was where I'd been. Not caught in some accidental breach zone during a border skirmish, the way Elias had so carefully, gently implied. I'd been thrown there. Sentenced there. Left to die in a place no wolf had ever returned from, condemned by the same man whose son I'd loved for two years, over a miscarriage I hadn't even caused."You knew," I said finally, my voice hoarse and small in the quiet cabin. "You knew this whole time, didn't you. That I wasn't caught in some accident. That I was…" My throat closed around the word, and I had to force it out anyway. "That I was thrown there."Elias was quiet for a long moment, and I watched him decide, visibly, not to lie to me again."I found out yesterday," he said. "Not before. When we pulled you out, all I knew was that you were unconscious in the middle of a breach zone with no explanation for how you got there. I didn't learn the rest until a scout brought word from IronVale.""And you were going to tell me. Eventually." It wasn't

"I could have already done that," He said, steady now, meeting my accusation head-on instead of flinching from it. "Two days ago. The moment I realized who you were, and again yesterday, the moment the scout confirmed what happened. I chose to redirect my entire unit away from IronVale instead. I lied to my own men about why. I'm currently disobeying every reasonable expectation my father has of how quickly I report back from a border assignment, specifically so you'd have time to heal before anyone in that clan knew you were alive."I wanted to hold onto my fury. It felt safer than the alternative, safer than sitting with the possibility that this stranger, this brother of the man who'd destroyed me, might actually be telling the truth. Anger was simple.But some small, exhausted part of me couldn't quite ignore the math of it either. If he wanted to hurt me, or hand me over, he'd had days of opportunity already. He hadn't needed to sit with me through a screaming nightmare. He hadn'

People who heard the story afterward, and plenty did, eventually, once my absence stretched from weeks into months into years, mostly assumed I'd run from competition. That I couldn't stand losing the succession race to my older brother, so I'd simply removed myself from the board entirely rather than watch him win. I never bothered correcting that story. It was easier, in its way, than explaining the truth: that I hadn't left because I was losing a competition.I'd left because I finally understood there had never been a competition to begin with. Just a father who'd already decided, and a version of myself that kept bleeding effort into a contest that was rigged before either of us understood the rules.I built something else instead, out there beyond IronVale's borders. Not a kingdom, nothing that grand. Just a life that belonged entirely to me, border work, mercenary contracts, eventually command of my own small unit made up of men who judged me on competence rather than birth ord

The next thing I registered was warmth. Overwhelming, sudden warmth, arms wrapped tightly around me, and a voice — familiar now, rougher than I'd heard it before — saying my name like it hurt to say it."Rosalie. Rosalie, stay with me."I blinked my eyes open, slow and heavy, and found Elias's face hovering above mine, tight with something that looked less like anger and more like terror barely held in check. Behind him, the sky had lightened to pale gold, full morning arriving while I'd been lying unconscious in the frost."How..." My voice came out cracked, weak. "How did you find me?""I woke up and you were gone." His arms tightened slightly around me, lifting me properly off the frozen ground, cradling me against his chest with a careful strength that made something in my throat go tight. "It didn't take long to follow the tracks. You didn't get very far."Shame flooded through me, hot and immediate, cutting through the lingering fog of exhaustion. "I just needed...""You needed

Elias's POVShe went quiet after the fire burned low, staring into the coals with an expression I was starting to recognize, the one that meant she'd wandered somewhere I couldn't follow without an invitation."Can I ask you something," she said, not really a question, more of a warning that one was coming."Ask.""Do you ever hear yours? Your wolf. Talking to you, or, I don't even know the right word for it." She pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them, and the firelight caught the uncertainty on her face before she managed to smooth it away. "I've never asked anyone that directly. It felt too much like admitting something."Something in my chest went tight, it always did that whenever the conversation drifted anywhere near her wolf, or the absence of one. "Constantly," I said. "Mine's opinionated. Doesn't shut up half the time, honestly.""What's it like? The talking. Is it words, or…""More like pressure, sometimes. Instinct with a voice attached. He wants t