All Chapters of The Rejected Prisoner Who Became the Alpha King's Mate : Chapter 91 - Chapter 100

LyraThe scream tore out of me before I could stop it.It did not sound like my voice. It was higher, rawer, the kind of sound a body made when it understood danger a second too late. Strong hands closed around my upper arms in the dark and yanked so hard my feet left the ground. The world tilted sideways. Something hard connected with the base of my skull. Pain bloomed white behind my eyes. Then the dark swallowed everything.When my eyes opened again, the first thing I felt was cold.Stone pressed against my cheek, damp and gritty, the kind of cold that worked its way into the bones and stayed there. The air smelled of wet iron and old dust. My breath fogged in front of my face in thin, uneven clouds. A strip of fabric was pulled away from my eyes, and the sudden light made me flinch hard enough that my shoulders jerked. Footsteps approached, slow and deliberate. A black boot stopped inches from my nose. The leather was scuffed. The sole left a dark print on the dirty floor.I shove

Zaren's POVThe first crack of bone nearly brought me to my knees.I was sitting across from my father in the royal council chamber, listening to him discuss the marriage alliance he had been determined to revive, when a sharp pain ripped through my body. My fingers clenched around the armrests, and before I could understand what was happening, a second wave hit me so violently that blood filled my mouth.I coughed, choking on the metallic taste."Alpha!" Cade shouted, jumping to his feet. His chair scraped backward across the polished floor as he hurried toward me. "Zaren, what happened? Can you hear me?"I couldn't answer him.Something was tearing through me from the inside, something far more vicious than the curse I had spent years learning to endure. My curse usually announced itself through a familiar, grinding ache beneath my ribs, followed by a weakness that could leave me struggling to remain upright. This pain was different. It seized my spine, crushed my chest, and sent a

Kael's POVI had paced the length of my office so many times that morning that the soles of my shoes had begun to irritate me, yet sitting still felt impossible. Every time I stopped, I remembered Zaren's face in the council chamber, the cold authority in his voice, and the way he had humiliated me in front of the elders as though I were some worthless Alpha begging for scraps.The bastard had dismantled my marriage alliance, questioned my authority, and allowed his father to treat me like a criminal in front of the entire council. Worse, he had done it while protecting Lyra, the very girl I had spent years trying to convince everyone was a traitor.I had swallowed the humiliation because I had no choice. Silver Crest was too powerful, and Zaren had too much influence over the council for me to challenge him openly without risking my pack's survival. But I wasn't going to accept what had happened as the end of the story.Selena should have been home

Selena's POVThe slap Mom gave Kael was the last thing I expected to witness when I stepped into Ashbourne Mansion.For a moment, I forgot how to breathe. My brother stood there with his head turned to the side, one hand hovering near his cheek, while Mom glared at him as though he had personally dragged me into that dungeon and thrown away the key. Dad's expression was no better. His jaw was clenched, and the anger rolling off him was strong enough to stir my wolf.I should have felt sorry for Kael.Perhaps a small part of me did, but I couldn't bring myself to care very much. I had spent seven miserable days locked away from everything I knew, surrounded by criminals and rogues who looked at me as though I were their next meal. I had been forced to scrub floors, carry filthy buckets, and endure the guards' insults while prisoners laughed at me for being an Alpha's daughter.Seven days of hell.I had cried until my throat hurt,

Selena's POV"What the hell has gotten into your head, Selena?"My mother's voice struck the room before I could even process what she had just done. She stood near the closed bedroom door, her chest rising and falling beneath her blouse, while I remained beside the bed with one hand pressed against my burning cheek. The place where she had slapped me throbbed, but the humiliation hurt far worse than the physical pain.Nobody had ever dared to treat me this way in my own home.Not the servants. Not the warriors. Not even Kael, who could be infuriatingly stubborn whenever he believed he knew better than me.Yet my own mother had just struck me, and she was looking at me as though I were the greatest disappointment of her life."How dare you speak to me like that?" she demanded, advancing toward me. "Have you forgotten why you're here? Have you forgotten the reason we came to Ashbourne in the first place? You had one job, Selena. One! You were supposed to become part of this family, sec