Semua Bab The Alpha’s Rejected Luna and Her Five Daughters: Bab 11 - Bab 20

The baby’s fever rose once more in the late morning. Bonita felt the heat against her skin and did not wait. She called the guards. The healer came, gave another dose of the tonic, and stayed long enough to watch the child’s breathing settle again.“It should break fully by tomorrow if she continues to feed and stays warm,” the healer said. “Any higher than this and you send for me at once.”Bonita nodded. She kept the baby against her chest after the woman left. Mira sat close, watching every small movement of her sister’s face. Lila and the twins stayed on the other bed, quieter than usual. Hunger was no longer the main problem, but the uncertainty sat on all of them.Around midday the door opened without warning. The man who had questioned her the day before stepped inside. He looked first at the baby, then at Bonita.“The fever?”“Lower than this morning,” she said. “Not gone.”He closed the door behind him and remained standing. The girls watched him in silence.“My name is Kael,

The next morning Kael came earlier than usual. He did not wait for the guards to announce him. He stepped inside, closed the door, and looked straight at Bonita.“There is a change,” he said. “You need to hear it now.”Bonita stood, the baby against her shoulder. Mira moved closer to her side without being told. Lila and the twins stopped what they were doing and watched.Kael’s voice was steady but tighter than before. “In two days this pack holds a ceremony. It is not optional. Every member will gather in the main clearing. The Moon Goddess is expected to mark my fated mate. The pack has waited for this for a long time. Once the mark appears, the bond will be recognized in front of everyone.”Bonita kept her expression controlled. “What does that have to do with us?”“Everything,” he said. “The entire territory will be focused on the clearing. Guards will be thinner near this cabin. People will move freely. If anyone sees you or the children, questions will spread faster than I can

Kael returned in the early hours, long after the ceremony should have ended. The knock was short and firm. Bonita opened the door herself. The girls were asleep behind her, the baby resting against Mira’s side on the bed.He stepped inside and closed the door quietly. The bond reacted at once—sharp, unwanted, impossible to ignore. Bonita felt it settle under her ribs like a second pulse. She hated how clearly she could sense the tension in him.“They’re talking,” he said without greeting. “More than I expected.”Bonita waited.“Half the pack saw me leave the clearing in the middle of the rite. The other half heard about it before the drums stopped. I gave them no explanation that satisfied anyone. Some think the Goddess refused to mark a mate. Others think I rejected the one she chose. A few are already asking if something—or someone—pulled me away.”He looked at her directly.“I cannot keep you in this cabin any longer. The longer you stay hidden out here, the more suspicious it beco

By the second day in the guest house the attention had grown sharper. Pack members no longer only glanced as they passed. Some slowed. A few stopped on the path and spoke quietly to one another while looking toward the windows. Bonita kept the curtains drawn on the front side and allowed the girls into the enclosed yard only when the immediate path was clear.Mira noticed everything. She reported the faces she saw more than once and the ones who lingered longest. Lila stayed close to Bonita. The twins played quietly near the back wall of the yard and stopped whenever unfamiliar voices rose nearby.In the afternoon the pressure reached Kael directly.He came to the house earlier than expected, his expression tighter than the day before. He closed the door and did not waste time.“The elders have formally requested an accounting,” he said. “They want to know why I left the ceremony. Two of them are already suggesting the rite was incomplete because I refused the Goddess’s choice. Anothe

Morning came gray and still. Bonita dressed the girls carefully — clean, plain, nothing that invited comment — and walked them out into the yard at the hour Kael had set.The open sky felt enormous after days behind shuttered windows. Mira held the baby. Lila kept close to Bonita's leg. The twins clung to each other but didn't cry, which was its own kind of victory these days.Word had traveled. More pack members found reasons to walk the path than usual — too many for coincidence. Some slowed. Some stopped outright. A cluster of younger wolves stood at the treeline, not troubling to hide their staring.Bonita made herself stand straight. She kept one hand resting on Elena's head and did not look away from anyone who looked at her."They're all looking," Lila whispered."Let them look," Bonita said. "We're not doing anything wrong by existing."Twenty minutes in, a woman broke from the path and came toward the low fence — not one of the curious ones, but someone moving with purpose. O