Semua Bab Not yours to reject : Bab 11 - Bab 20

"Funny seeing you at one of these," Dean says, dropping into the seat directly across from Jaxton like he owns the space. "Didn't realize liaison work extended to council meetings.""Alpha Reeves invited me." Jaxton doesn't look up from the border map spread across the table. "Seemed relevant, given the skirmish reports.""Sure it did." Dean leans back, arms crossed, a lazy smile stretched across his face that doesn't reach his eyes. "Or maybe you just like an excuse to be wherever Delaney happens to be these days."The room goes quiet enough that I can hear my own pulse in my ears. I'm seated near the back, technically here to report on injury numbers from the border patrols, and I feel every eye in the room shift toward me and then back to Jaxton, waiting."I go where my responsibilities take me," Jaxton says, calm and even. "Same as you, I'd assume.""My responsibilities don't usually involve walking another Alpha's medical liaison home after midnight." Dean's smile widens, sharp a

"Father wants to see you."Mara says it the second I walk through the door, no greeting, her face tight with a worry I haven't seen from her in years. "He's been pacing the study since sunrise.""About what happened at the border.""You mean the part where you glowed like something out of an old story in front of thirty witnesses?" She crosses her arms, and underneath the worry there's something else, something closer to hurt. "Yeah, Delaney about that."I don't answer right away. I barely slept, kept replaying the clearing over and over, Reyes' throat knitting closed beneath my hands, Silas Ashcroft's face frozen in that unreadable stare that followed me all the way home. By the time I finally drifted off, the sun was already threatening the horizon."I'll go talk to him," I say, and head for the study before she can ask anything else I don't have answers for yet.Alpha Reeves is standing at his window when I walk in, hands clasped behind his back, and he doesn't turn around right aw

"I need more time before you say anything."Dean says it the moment he's inside his father's study, before Silas can even fully turn from his desk. His voice comes out sharper than he intends, edged with something close to panic he hasn't let anyone see since he was a child."Time for what, exactly." Silas sets down the papers in his hand, giving his son his full attention. "You've had six days since the rejection. Six days since you humiliated yourself and this pack in front of two hundred witnesses.""I know how it looked.""Do you." Silas's voice stays level, but there's a coldness underneath it that makes Dean's jaw tighten. "Because from where I'm standing, it looked like my heir threw away a bond tied to a bloodline this family has spent generations searching for, out of nothing but panic and poor timing.""I didn't know what she was. Not for certain, I only suspected." Dean crosses the room, close enough now that he can see the exact moment his father's expression hardens furth

"You need to tell me everything you heard. All of it."Mara shakes her head, already backing toward the kitchen doorway like she can physically escape the conversation she started. "I shouldn't have said anything. I was a kid, Delaney. I might have misheard, I might have gotten the whole thing wrong.""You said murder. That's not a word you misremember by accident." I plant myself between her and the door, refusing to let this drop the way she clearly wants it to. "Please. I need to know what you actually heard that night.""It was years ago, I was maybe ten. I woke up thirsty and came downstairs, and Dad was in the study with Elder Whitfield, and their voices were low but I could still make out pieces of it." She wraps her arms around herself, looking smaller than I've seen her look in a long time. "They were talking about Mom. Dad sounded angry, not sad the way he usually sounded when people brought her up. And I heard him say someone did this to her. That it wasn't natural.""Did t

"You're staying at the border camp for the week."Alpha Reeves says it flat, no room for argument, and I look up from the supply inventory I'm counting. "What?""Silas wants continuous medical coverage while the treaty negotiations finish. Jaxton requested you specifically, given your history with the fighters out there." He doesn't quite meet my eyes when he says it, and I wonder how much of this decision is actually about medical coverage. "Pack the essentials. You leave within the hour."I don't argue. Some part of me suspects arguing wouldn't change anything anyway.The border camp is smaller than I expected, a cluster of tents and a single reinforced medical shelter set up along the disputed ridge line. Jaxton meets me at the perimeter, and something in his expression when he sees me looks like relief mixed with worry, an odd combination I don't have time to examine before he's already walking me toward the medical te