Alle Kapitel von The Mate He Rejected: Kapitel 141 – Kapitel 147

CAOMH'S POV The frozen gorge at the base of the Jagged Teeth stronghold was completely silent.Hundreds of Arden enforcers were camped across the deep, snow-covered valley, but they moved like ghosts. There were no large, roaring bonfires to provide warmth against the bitter northern chill. There was no shouting, no loud laughter, and no heavy machinery running. The entire military camp operated with a terrifying, flawless discipline, using only small, smokeless ember pits to keep their hands from freezing. They were a coiled spring, pulled tight and waiting for the sun to rise so they could snap forward and release their violence upon the mountain.I sat alone on a flat, frost-covered boulder at the very edge of the camp.I held the heavy hunting knife Cullen had given me in my right hand. In my left, I held a small, flat whetstone I had borrowed from an Arden scout.The rhythmic, scraping sound of the stone sliding over the steel edge was the only noise I made. I drew the blade acr

CULLEN'S POV  The first pale, freezing light of morning was just beginning to crack the eastern horizon, painting the heavy snow clouds in shades of bruised gray and dull pink. But the natural dawn was completely poisoned by the sickly, pulsing purple glow radiating from the peak of the Jagged Teeth stronghold. I marched at the very front of the Arden column, my massive boots crushing the thick ice beneath my feet. The steep, narrow mountain path was a treacherous, frozen incline leading directly up the sheer cliff face. The freezing northern wind howled down the gorge, carrying sharp shards of sleet that bit sharply into my exposed face. My lungs burned with the thin, freezing altitude, but I kept my pace relentless. I was the King of the North, and my army moved exactly to the rhythm of my boots. Beside me, Caomh Colson walked in total silence. The former ruler of the Silv

CAOMH'S POV  The shattered remnants of the dark-magic barrier rained down around me like falling, glowing ash. I stood inside the glowing ring of ancient runes, my heavy boots planted firmly on the freezing stone floor. My chest heaved violently, dragging the thin, bitter winter air into my burning lungs. The ruined gray sweater clinging to my torso was scorched and smoking, the rough wool melted directly into the blistered skin of my shoulders. Every single nerve ending in my body screamed in protest, overwhelmed by the searing, toxic heat of the energy field I had just forced my way through. But I didn't care about the pain. I didn't care about the burns. My golden eyes were completely locked onto the terrified little girl floating above the altar. The invisible tethers of purple magic holding Esme in the air began to flicker and fray. The protective dome had been the main

CULLEN'S POV  The entire mountain groaned. It was a deep, violently vibrating rumble that traveled straight up through the thick soles of my combat boots and rattled my teeth inside my skull. The toxic, dark earth magic that had anchored this ancient mining outpost for centuries was suddenly gone. Without the violent spell holding the fractured, rotting stone together, the Jagged Teeth stronghold immediately began to tear itself apart. I dropped Bronson’s lifeless corpse. He hit the freezing floor like a sack of wet dirt. Above me, the towering vaulted ceiling split wide open. A jagged, massive fissure raced across the gray stone, raining a thick, blinding curtain of plaster dust and crushed rock down on my broad shoulders. A boulder the size of a transport truck broke loose from the central archway. It plummeted downward, smashing into the stone floor ten feet to my left. The heavy strike threw me off balance