Rejected For My Curves. Desired By The War Alpha 의 모든 챕터: 챕터 11 - 챕터 20

"I want a harder partner."The training master raised an eyebrow at me across the yard. "Harder than yesterday's rotation?""Faster. Someone who won't hold back.""You sure about that.""Positive.""You look like you've had a rough night.""I look fine.""You look like someone who wants to get hit until she stops thinking about something.""Maybe. Are you going to find me a partner or analyze me all morning.""Fine, fine. No judgment. We've all been there.""Wonderful. The partner, please."He shrugged and waved over a lean, quick wolf named Dax, easily the fastest fighter in the Kade pack."You picked the wrong morning to ask for this," Dax said, rolling his shoulders."I picked exactly the right morning.""Your call. Don't say I didn't warn you.""Noted."I needed to feel something today. Anything other than the silence that had followed me since Asher walked away yesterday."Ready when you are," I said.He came at me fast, faster than the Beta I'd fought weeks ago, faster than anyt

"How large."The patrol captain shifted under my stare, clearly unhappy to be the one delivering this particular report."Larger than we initially estimated, my Prince.""Give me a number.""We don't have an exact number.""Give me your best guess.""Hundreds, at minimum. Possibly more, spread across several territories.""Hundreds. And nobody thought to inform me until now.""That wasn't my decision to make.""Then whose decision was it?"He hesitated, eyes flicking toward the corridor like he was hoping someone might rescue him from answering."The Queen's, my Prince."Something cold settled in my chest that had nothing to do with the bond backlash."My mother knew about this.""She's known for months. I only found out about myself two weeks ago, when I was assigned to track their movements.""Two weeks. And you didn't think to tell me.""I was ordered not to.""By whom.""By her.""And you just followed that order without question.""You don't question the Queen's direct instructio

"Attack!"The captain's own soldiers moved on the word before the diplomatic pretence had even finished dying in the air."Fall back," Asher shouted, already pulling me by the arm. "Behind the line, now."I had half a second to decide."No.""Briar.""I'm not falling back. Not on this.""This isn't the moment to prove a point.""I'm not proving anything. I'm standing.""Then stand behind me, at least.""No time. They're already here."He didn't have time to argue further. The first wave hit our line hard, Ashguard soldiers surging forward with the kind of coordinated speed that meant they'd planned this from the start, diplomatic banner, or not."Hold the line!" Asher roared behind me."Watch your flank," someone shouted."Form up, form up, they're pushing the left side!""On it!"I planted my feet on the ground that technically still belonged to nobody, the disputed strip between territories, land that wasn't mine yet and might never be. I didn't care whose land it was. I only cared

Ysolde surveyed the wreckage of her own patrol without a flicker of remorse, stepping over a fallen soldier like he was nothing more than uneven ground. "Mother," Ronan said, voice tight. "Don't." "Don't what. Look at what your little rescue mission cost me?" "It cost you nothing you didn't order into existence yourself." "You attacked your own soldiers, Ronan. Whatever comes next, you brought on yourself." "I brought on myself the consequence of refusing to let you kill her. I'll live with that." Before she could answer, Asher arrived at a run, Kade wolves fanning out behind him, placing his own body between Ysolde and me without hesitation. "That's close enough," Asher said. Ysolde's eyes moved over him, unbothered. "Alpha Kade. I wondered when you'd show yourself." "You're standing on contested ground with what's left of an armed patrol. I'd say I'm exactly where I need to be." "I'd say you're interfering in a family matter." "She's not your family. Not anymore." "That's

"State it plainly," I said. "The exact terms. What the oath required of him."Ysolde folded her hands in front of her, composed, visibly certain she had nothing left to fear from a simple recitation."You understand once this is spoken, it cannot be taken back.""I understand. Speak it anyway.""Very well. Before Ronan presented, I bound him to an oath tying any future marriage to the preservation of the Ashguard Voss alliance. The oath carried a silence clause, preventing him from disclosing its terms to anyone outside direct family, enforced under standard binding ritual.""That's the summary. I want the actual terms. Say the ritual. Word for word.""Is that necessary?""You said it plainly. I'm holding you too plainly.""You're enjoying this.""I'm not enjoying anything tonight. I'm just done accepting half answers.""Fine. The oath was sealed through blood exchange between binder and bound, witnessed by myself alone, given the sensitive nature of the arrangement."Something shifte