All Chapters of Reborn Before the Mark: I Married His Wolfless Uncle: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The door opened before Lorelai could answer Garrick. Karl Ashborne stepped into the council room. In her first life, Lorelai had seen him only from a distance.A silent figure at formal gatherings. The brother everyone believed had surrendered his place in the succession.The wolfless Ashborne who governed outcasts because no true pack would accept him. The man who had died at Blackwater Ford.Memory tried to replace the living Karl with the severed head delivered to Greyhaven. Lorelai forced herself to look at him as he was now. Forty-nine, if the household records were correct.More than twice her age. He carried that difference without apology. Not frail. Not diminished.His body filled the doorway beneath a plain dark coat, broad enough that the guards behind him disappeared from view.He did not hurry. There was no need. The room changed around his silence. Karl closed the door behind him.“Garrick.” His voice was low and controlled, roughened by disuse rather than weakness.Garr

By noon, Ashborne Keep had decided Lorelai was a traitor. No formal accusation had been made. No council had judged her. Garrick had not withdrawn his protection. It did not matter.Two maids stopped speaking when she entered her room. A servant carrying fresh linens lowered his eyes and turned down another corridor.Someone had removed the Moonridge flowers from the vase beside her bed, leaving a ring of dirty water on the table. Lorelai shut the door.The room had never truly belonged to her, but she had spent most of her life inside it. Now it felt like evidence of a woman who no longer existed.She packed plain dresses, warm cloaks, her mother’s ledger, and Miriam’s narrow knife.She left the jewels. She left the ceremonial dresses. The rejection remained a wound beneath Lorelai’s ribs.It tightened without warning, an injured instinct reaching for what she had deliberately severed. She folded another shirt. A knock sounded.One of the maids stood outside with her eyes fixed on th

Greyhaven did not look like a place waiting to be saved. The wagon crossed the last ridge after midnight, wheels grinding over frozen ruts.Lorelai had expected broken fences, drunken sentries, and the disorder Moonridge associated with rogues. Instead, two guards stepped from the trees before the settlement came into view.Neither wore a pack crest. Both carried matched lanterns hooded against the dark. One checked Karl’s face, the other the wagon bed, and neither relaxed because their leader had returned.“Road report?” Karl asked. “Clear behind you. Movement north of the abandoned station before dusk.”“How many?”“Three riders. No approach.”Karl nodded. “Double the eastern watch until morning. No fires above the wall.”The guards moved before he finished speaking. No Alpha command rolled through the air. No wolf bent them. They obeyed because the instruction fit a system they trusted.Lorelai leaned toward the window. The village had scars. One roof sagged beneath new braces. Pat

Caelan’s growl filled the storehouse. Workers shifted away from the doorway, not fleeing, but clearing space. Several hands moved closer to knives and work axes.Karl did not turn immediately. He remained beside Lorelai, broad body occupying the narrow distance between her and the entrance.His hand hovered near her waist, close enough to move her behind him if Caelan lunged. He did not touch her.Lorelai’s wolf surged toward Karl’s scent even as an old, injured instinct recoiled toward Caelan’s familiar presence. Two impulses pulled in opposite directions. She refused both.“Why are you here?” she asked. “To take you home.”“This is my home now.”“You arrived yesterday.”“And married him before that.”Caelan’s mouth tightened. “You smell like him.” Of course his scent had transferred. Caelan spoke as if it were evidence of betrayal.“You came to Greyhaven without permission,” Karl said. “I do not need permission to see my mate.”“Rejected mate,” Lorelai corrected. The words tightened

Karl’s question remained between them.“How can you know that route is preparing an attack against me?”Lorelai could not tell him the truth. Not yet. If she spoke of death, rebirth, and a future that no longer existed, he might believe the mate rejection had broken her mind.Worse, he might begin changing his decisions around a future only she could remember and create dangers she had never seen. She needed proof before confession.“I know the shipment was sabotaged,” she said. “I know someone forced the driver to stop where strangers could reach the cargo. I know the hidden Noctis seal led through Blackwater Road.” Karl stayed where he was.“That explains suspicion,” he said. “Not certainty.”“Then take me with you and let me prove it.”“No.”Lorelai folded her arms. “You intended to inspect the route alone.”“With guards.”“Guards who followed the same patrol pattern when the shipment came through.” Karl’s mouth flattened. She pressed before he could dismiss her.“If there is an ob