Lahat ng Kabanata ng Rejected and Pregnant I Fled The Pack: Kabanata 41 - Kabanata 50

I spent the rest of that day and long into the night building exactly that case, going through every incident systematically, cross-referencing dates, pulling testimony from Marcus and the other enforcer who'd refused my father's order at the hospital, documenting my mother's calls describing the pr

I saw a few council members shift uncomfortably, and pressed forward, feeling something solidify in my chest. "My father calls Evelyn's decision to leave unstable. I'd ask this council to consider what actually drove that decision. I marked her, made promises to her, and within twenty-four hours b

The chamber doors opened, and I stepped back inside. The room felt different than it had an hour earlier—quieter, more solemn, the twelve council members seated in their formal positions along the curved table, expressions carefully composed in a way that revealed nothing about which direction the

"We were," I said honestly. "For a while. I did exactly what you taught me to do—treated Evelyn's feelings as an inconvenience, told myself tradition justified betraying her, doubled down instead of taking responsibility the moment I was caught. I learned all of that from watching you, whether eithe

Not because anyone forced me to. The council had made that much clear, and Damon had made it clearer still—nobody would force my hand again, not while he had any say in it. But practically, strategically, I understood that staying entirely removed from pack politics didn't actually guarantee safety,