Todos los capítulos de MY MATE REJECTED ME ON OUR WEDDING NIGHT. NINE MONTHS...: Capítulo 41 - Capítulo 50

Vantage's seat of power looked nothing like I expected, no menacing fortress, no display of dominance, just a sprawling stone hall built into the side of a mountain, old and weathered and strangely dignified in its plainness.Draven himself met us at the border, formal in a way that felt different from the wary tension of our first meeting at the crossing."You brought company," he said, taking in Roman, Kane, and the small procession of guards and witnesses trailing behind us."Testimony," I said. "Not company. I was told I'd stand before the council alone, but nothing said the evidence had to arrive that way."Something that might have been respect flickered across his face. "Fair enough. The council convenes at midday. I'd suggest you use the hours before that to prepare yourself, not the arguments, those are already decided by whatever you've brought. Prepare yourself.""For what.""For being looked at by forty people who have spent their entire lives being taught to fear what you

We returned to Cade territory two days after the verdict, exhausted but lighter than we'd been in months, and I thought, foolishly, that the hardest part was finally behind us.Kane found me alone on the terrace that evening, the twins asleep, Roman still in council catching up on the pack business the accounting had delayed, and I could tell before he said a word that whatever this was, he'd been holding it in for longer than was good for him."I need to say something," he said, "and I need you to let me finish before you respond, because if I don't get this out now, I don't know when I will.""Alright.""I've watched you with him for weeks now." His voice was tight, controlled in the way that told me the control itself was costing him something. "I've stood in rooms and watched the way you look at him, the way he looks at you, and I've said nothing, because I told myself I didn't have the right to say anything, given everything I did to lose that right in the first place.""Kane—""

Life found a rhythm in the weeks that followed, one I hadn't realized I'd been missing until I felt it settle over the pack house like something solid finally taking shape.Elara and Corwin grew fast, the way Ivy promised they would, their small faces changing week to week until I found myself studying them each morning just to catch what was new. Elara had Kane's eyes, sharp and watchful even at this age. Corwin had my own stubborn set to his jaw, already fussing his way into getting exactly what he wanted from anyone who held him.Kane visited three times a week now, steady and consistent in a way that had slowly, carefully, started to feel less like an intrusion and more like simply part of how things were. He never stayed long, never overstepped the boundaries we'd drawn that night on the terrace, and I found myself, against my own expectations, grateful for the quiet, patient version of him that had emerged from everything we'd survived.Roman and I settled into something neither

Kane's fever broke by morning, though the healer warned us the wound itself would take weeks to fully close, and I sat beside him through most of the night, unwilling to leave until I'd seen him breathing steadily with my own eyes.Roman spent those same hours organizing search parties, tracking the attackers' retreat as far as the trail allowed before it vanished into terrain too rocky to hold a scent."They knew what they were doing," he said, when he finally returned near dawn, exhaustion carved into every line of his face. "Professional. Not a raiding party looking for opportunity. Someone planned this carefully, and planned the borrowed colors just as carefully.""Tarrow," I said again, the name sitting bitterly on my tongue."Possibly. We don't have proof yet, only Kane's account of colors that didn't sit right on the men wearing them." Roman sat heavily across from me, watching Kane's slow, steady breathing with something like grim relief. "If it is him, he's smarter than I gav

Bertrand moved the instant the first wolf stepped into the lamplight, faster than a man his age had any right to move, kicking the crate of documents into the nearest guard and bolting for the far wall where loose boards gave way to open dark beyond."He's got a way out—" Roman's shout cut off as he lunged, too late, Bertrand already through the gap and into the trees.Chaos broke loose inside the grain store, guards scrambling, Selene shrinking back against the wall with her hands raised, and I felt my wolf surge forward, sharp and furious, the command building behind my ribs before I'd fully decided to reach for it."Don't," Kane said, gripping my arm, his voice tight with pain from the sudden movement. "Not here. Not in a room full of our own people. You don't know what that kind of force does in close quarters."I forced the power back down, breathing hard, watching two of Roman's guards tear off after Bertrand into the dark, their howls already fading into the distance."He'll ou