Alle Kapitel von The Mate He Rejected: Kapitel 101 – Kapitel 110

CAOMH'S POV  I dragged my upper body out of the dark water, my fingers clawing desperately at the frozen roots of a large pine tree. My lungs burned with every ragged, shallow breath I took. The deep dagger wound on my ribs sent searing, blinding flares of pain through my chest, and my dislocated left shoulder hung uselessly at my side. I collapsed onto the muddy bank, shivering so violently my teeth rattled in my skull. I had survived the canyon pass. I had let the rapids carry me for miles in the dark, tumbling over rocks and swallowing freezing water, just to escape the rogue mercenaries sweeping the rubble. But as I lay in the dirt, entirely stripped of my pride, my strength, and my pack, survival felt like a very cruel joke. I forced myself to move. If I stayed on the riverbank, the cold would stop my heart before the sun finished setting. Using my good arm, I gripped t

I sat in the passenger seat, my fingers gripping the leather door handle so tightly my knuckles ached. The heater blasted dry, hot air onto my freezing legs, but a deep, lingering shiver continued to rattle my spine. It was not just the cold of the northern winter affecting me. It was the aftermath of the terrifying, explosive pain that had just ripped through my chest in the command center, followed immediately by the shocking, golden rush of energy I had felt when Cullen caught me. My skin still hummed with that strange, electric heat. Cullen sat behind the steering wheel, driving the massive vehicle himself. He pushed the engine to its limits, his large hands gripping the leather with white-knuckled force. He stared straight ahead at the snowy road, his jaw locked tight. He had not spoken a single word since Shawn delivered the news. The Alpha of the North was entirely focused, projecting a dark, lethal silence that f

CULLEN'S POV  The mattress shifted slightly as I carefully pulled myself away from the warmth of the thick down comforter. I stood in the dark penthouse suite, my bare feet completely silent against the woven rug. I looked down at the bed. Meghann was curled on her side, her chest rising and falling in a steady, quiet rhythm. The pale moonlight filtering through the heavy curtains caught the bright silver scar of the mating mark on her neck. Just looking at her made my chest tighten, but it was not enough to soothe the vicious, restless beast thrashing inside my skull. My blood felt like it was boiling, surging through my veins with a dark, toxic heat. Three floors beneath me, locked inside the secure holding cells of our medical wing, was Caomh Colson. The man who had humiliated my mate, the man who had caused her years of endless suffering, was sleeping under my roof. My w

CAOMH'S POV  Cullen Hayden Arden stepped into the small room. He wore a dark gray shirt and black trousers. His dark hair was slightly damp, and a faint, raw scratch marked the side of his strong jaw. He radiated a fierce, rolling heat, his dominant aura pushing into the cramped space and pressing down on my bruised shoulders. He did not look like a leader worried about a border conflict. He looked completely centered, entirely grounded by a power I could never hope to match. Maddox stepped in right behind him. The scarred enforcer carried a rugged, military-grade laptop under his arm. He didn't look at me. He walked directly to the small metal table bolted to the center of the floor and flipped the screen open. "Get up, Colson," Cullen commanded, his voice a low, freezing rumble. I didn't argue. I didn't have the energy or the pride left to defy him. I pushed myself up from

CAOMH'S POV  Every line I drew felt like a jagged knife twisting in my gut. I was mapping out the courtyards where I had learned to run as a pup. I was marking the exact locations of the sentry towers my father had built. I was detailing the hidden, underground cellars where the women and children were trained to hide during rogue attacks. I was turning my home into a tactical kill zone for a rival king. I stopped drawing for a moment, letting my chin drop toward my chest. The tight black stitches Meghann had sewn into my ribs pulled sharply, sending a searing flash of heat through my side. My left arm, strapped securely to my chest in a rigid sling, throbbed with a deep, endless ache. The physical pain was nothing compared to the crushing weight in my chest. I looked down at the map. It was flawless. I knew every stone, every blind spot, and every rusted iron grate of the s