All Chapters of Not yours to reject : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

"I reject you, fatass."Dean says it laughing, like it's the punchline to a joke only he finds funny. The sound bounces off the rafters of the pack hall and lands right in my chest.I stand there in the dress I picked out three weeks ago, the one that took me two hours to zip up alone in my room, and I wait for the ground to open up and swallow me whole. It doesn't. It just sits there under my feet, solid and unforgiving, while two hundred people I've known my whole life watch the boy I was promised to reject me in front of all of them.Somebody laughs. Then somebody else. It spreads through the hall like a fever.My mate bond, the one the Moon Goddess herself stitched into my chest before I was even born, snaps clean in half. It doesn't feel like heartbreak. It feels like someone reached into my ribs and yanked something out by the root.I don't cry. I refuse to give them that.Dean's already turning away, already laughing with his friends like he didn't just gut me in front of the w

"You're really doing this."Cole's voice carries across the clearing as I sling my bag higher on my shoulder. He came to walk me the rest of the way himself, meeting me at the property line like he promised, three of his fighters trailing a respectful distance behind him."I said I would.""Didn't think you'd actually show up alone." He glances past me toward Jaxton, who's kept pace the whole way without saying a word since our conversation by the fence. "Didn't think you'd show up with company either.""He's not company. He's a problem I haven't solved yet."Jaxton's jaw ticks but he doesn't argue the point.We're maybe a hundred yards from the property line, close enough that I can already feel something loosening in my chest at the thought of finally leaving this place behind, when a shout cuts across the clearing."Delaney."I know that voice before I turn around. Dean.He's coming across the field at a dead run, shirt half untucked, hair a mess like he threw himself out of bed th

"Absolutely not."My Alpha's voice carries through the council room door before I even step inside, sharp enough that I hesitate on the threshold. I wasn't summoned here to be part of this conversation. I was summoned to bring water and leave, the way I've done for every treaty meeting since I turned eighteen."Hear me out before you refuse," Jaxton says, calm as ever, like Alpha Reeves hasn't just shut him down flat.I set the pitcher down on the side table as quietly as I can and try to make myself small in the corner. Nobody's noticed me yet."You want my clinic's lead healer working liaison between our packs," Alpha Reeves says. "That's not a small request. That's asking me to hand over one of my most valuable people to another territory.""I'm not asking for her permanently. I'm asking for regular exchange visits, treaty terms, medical knowledge shared between packs the way it should have been years ago." Jaxton's voice doesn't waver. "Half the reason our border skirmishes turn d

"Is it true you're working for the Ashford Ridge Alpha now?"The question comes from a girl I barely know, maybe sixteen, hovering near the market stalls with two of her friends. She asks it like she's asking about the weather, but her eyes are bright with the kind of curiosity that means she already heard three different versions of the story before finding me."I'm doing liaison work between the packs," I say. "It's a medical arrangement.""That's not what I heard." One of her friends leans in, lowering her voice like she's sharing a secret instead of gossip she picked up an hour ago. "I heard he asked for you specifically. After what happened with Dean.""It's medical," I repeat, and I can already feel myself reaching for more words to explain it, to smooth over whatever version they've built in their heads. "The border skirmish. I helped a fighter. That's why he asked.""Sure," the first girl says, in a tone that means she doesn't believe a word of it, but isn't going to argue wit

"You need to walk away from this."Marcus says it flatly, no preamble, dropping into the chair across from Jaxton's desk without waiting to be invited. Jaxton doesn't look up from the border reports spread in front of him."Walk away from what.""Don't do that. Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about." Marcus leans forward, elbows on his knees. "The healer, Delaney Reeves. I've watched you find reasons to be near that clinic four times this week.""She's the medical liaison. Being near the clinic is the job.""You requested her specifically as liaison. That wasn't the job creating the reason. That was you creating the job." Marcus's voice sharpens, and there's something underneath the frustration that sounds close to fear. "I've known you since we were pups, Jaxton. I know what it looks like when you've decided something. And I know exactly where this leads if you keep going."Jaxton finally sets down the report, meeting Marcus's eyes directly. "Say what you actually came