Lahat ng Kabanata ng Not yours to reject : Kabanata 51 - Kabanata 60

"We can't act on assumption alone. I want confirmation before anyone accuses Priya of anything."Jaxton says it firmly the next morning, gathered again in the archive with Rosalind and Marcus, careful caution replacing last night's raw anger. "Six years of loyal service doesn't erase itself over one circumstantial pattern. I want to be certain before we destroy someone's standing in this pack.""The dates align too precisely to ignore," Marcus says, though I hear the reluctance in his voice too, clearly uncomfortable naming a longtime colleague as a suspect. "But you're right that we need more than a schedule overlap before anyone says anything to her directly.""There's someone else worth examining," Rosalind says slowly, pulling a separate folder from the shelf. "I almost didn't mention it, given how thin the connection is. But Garrett, one of the betas assigned to border rotation, has shown up in a few of these logs too. Different pa

"You were chased. Alone. On the border path. And you're only telling me now?"Jaxton's voice cracks across the medical tent, sharper than I've heard from him in weeks, and I brace myself against the exam table, still favoring my throbbing ankle from the fall into the creek bed."I'm telling you now because I just got back," I say, though even as I say it I know that's not the full defense he's actually asking for. "I needed a moment before I could explain everything clearly.""You've had a note warning you to leave before the full moon since yesterday morning. You said nothing." His jaw is tight, fury and fear tangled visibly together in his expression. "You went to the border camp alone today, knowing that note existed, knowing someone dangerous enough to breach your own den had already gotten close enough to leave it there. And you still said nothing.""I wanted to investigate it myself first.""Why?" The word comes out raw, genuine confusion beneath the anger. "Why would you choose

 "You've barely touched your food."Mara says it across the kitchen table, watching me push the same few bites around my plate without much enthusiasm. It's been three days since the training yard experiment with Rosalind, three days of carefully hiding the lingering exhaustion that hasn't fully faded the way it usually does after a healing session."Not very hungry," I say, forcing a small bite anyway to ease her concern. "Long week."It isn't a lie exactly, though it isn't the full truth either. I've been sleeping poorly, waking with faint tremors in my hands that take longer each morning to settle into something manageable. The bloody nose from the training session stopped within the hour, but something underneath it hasn't fully recovered, a persistent, low grade weariness sitting deep in my bones that no amount of rest seems to touch.I haven't told Jaxton. I haven't told Rosalind the full extent of how

"You're slipping again. I can see it."Silas says it without looking up from his desk, and Dean stands there fighting to keep his hands steady, fighting to keep the tremor building beneath his skin from breaking through where his father can see it clearly."I'm managing it.""Are you." Silas finally looks up, and the coldness in his gaze lands harder than any shout could. "You lost the girl publicly, in front of three territories. You confirmed your instability in that same hall, however unintentionally. And now, weeks later, you're standing in front of me barely holding your own wolf together without her intervention to stabilize you.""I'll find another way to manage it.""There isn't another way, Dean. That's precisely the problem." Silas's voice carries none of the warmth a father's should, only calculation, cold and clear. "I've begun discussing contingencies with the council. Alternative heirs, in the event your instability continues worsening past the point where you can safely

"I want a full examination today, before you leave this clinic."Jaxton's voice carries no room for argument, and I sit on the exam table, still weak from yesterday's collapse and too exhausted to fully resist even if I wanted to. Rosalind stands nearby, alongside my own father, who arrived within the hour once word reached him about my collapse."I already told you I'm recovering," I say, though even I can hear how thin the protest sounds."You've been recovering slower each time," Rosalind says gently, already pulling out careful instruments, tools I don't fully recognize. "Six hours unconscious yesterday, compared to a few minutes of dizziness weeks ago. That trajectory concerns me enough that I want real answers, not assumptions."I don't argue further, too tired to summon the energy, and let her proceed with an examination unlike any I've experienced before. She checks my pulse, my breathing, presses careful fingers a