Semua Bab Not yours to reject : Bab 21 - Bab 30

"No."The word comes out of me before I've fully decided to say it, steady and clear enough that it cuts straight through the noise still crackling through the tent.My father blinks. "Delaney—""No." I say it again, louder this time, and something inside me settles as I do, some old, familiar instinct to shrink and apologize finally giving way to something harder. "I'm not going with them. I'm not a piece of property to be handed off because it's the politically convenient option.""Delaney, I explained the situation. This isn't about convenience, this is about—""I heard what you said. I understand the treaty, I understand the council threat, I understand every careful, reasonable justification you've laid out." My voice shakes slightly but doesn't break, and I hold my father's gaze without looking away. "I still don't consent to this. This is my body, my gift, my life. Nobody in this tent gets to decide what happens to it without asking me first, including you."Silence follows, th

I don't move for a long time after Silas drags Dean into the trees. The rain keeps falling, steady and cold, and I stand there letting it soak through my clothes because moving feels like more effort than I have left in me right now."Delaney."Jaxton's voice comes from behind me, careful, not pushing. I hear his footsteps stop a few feet back, giving me space without abandoning the distance entirely."He didn't reject me because of how I look," I say, mostly to myself, testing the words out loud like I need to hear them again to believe them. "That whole week. Everyone telling me I should let it go, move on, stop taking it so personally. And the whole time it was never actually about me at all.""It doesn't make what he did acceptable.""No. It doesn't." My voice comes out flat, stripped of the anger I expect to be feeling and don't quite find yet. "But it changes what I've been carrying around this week. I thought I understood what happened to me. Turns out I didn't understand any o

 "Are you ready?"Mara sits across from me on the floor of my tent, the small wooden box between us, the tarnished key resting in my palm like it weighs far more than it should. I've stared at this box for two days now, and every time I reach for the key, something in my chest tightens enough to stop me."No," I say honestly. "Let's do it anyway."The key slides into the lock with a small, resistant click, and the lid gives way easier than I expect, hinges stiff from years of disuse. Inside, nestled on a bed of faded cloth, sits a journal, its cover scorched black along one entire edge, pages curled and darkened where fire once licked close enough to nearly consume it entirely."Someone tried to burn this," Mara says quietly, reaching out to touch the charred edge without quite making contact."Or she tried to burn it herself and stopped partway through." I lift it carefully, cradling the damaged spine, aware

"What do you mean, by why you really came here?"Delaney's voice is careful, watchful, and Jaxton feels the weight of the question settle heavy in his chest. He almost tells her right then. The words sit ready behind his teeth, close enough to say out loud."I mean there's more to unpack about my father's history than I've had time to explain," he says instead, the honesty narrowing at the last second into something smaller, safer. "I want to look through what's left of his old effects before I say anything else. I don't want to hand you half a theory when there might be actual answers waiting in his study back home."She studies him a moment longer, clearly sensing the deflection but not pushing past it. "Alright. Let me know what you find."He leaves before she can ask anything further, the guilt of the unfinished conversation trailing him the entire ride back to Ashford Ridge territory.His father's study has sat mostly untouched since his death, preserved more out of habit than se

"Sit still. I don't know what this is going to feel like for you."Dean lowers himself onto the exam table, and I press both palms flat against his chest, over the place where his wolf's instability seems to live closest to the surface. I've never tried this before, healing something that isn't a wound, isn't blood and torn muscle I can visibly track and repair."How does it work when there's nothing broken to fix?" he asks, voice tight with nerves."I don't know. I'm going to have to feel my way through it." I close my eyes, reaching for that same warm pull in my chest, guiding it toward him slowly, carefully, searching for whatever's fractured beneath the surface that I can't see with my eyes.It takes longer to find than a physical wound does. I have to dig deeper, push further than I ever have before, chasing something unstable and slippery that keeps sliding away from my grasp every time I get close. Dean gasps beneath my hands, back arching slightly, and I don't let go, don't pu