All Chapters of THE ALPHA’S UNWANTED PLUS-SIZE MATE: Chapter 51 - Chapter 54

Clara’s pov“He broke it.”Theo set a coffee in front of me hard enough that it sloshed. “Broke what?”“The Silvercrest engagement.” I kept my voice low. The diner was half full, morning regulars only. “Traveler came through an hour ago. Said Kael stood up in front of his council and the Silvercrest envoys and called the whole alliance off. No mating. No shared borders under those terms. Done.”Theo stared at me. “You’re sure the source is good?”“Ronan already confirmed it from two different channels. Message hit the cabin while I was walking in.” I wrapped my hands around the mug. The ceramic was hot. My pulse wasn’t. Not exactly. Something tighter sat under my ribs where the old bond used to live, not a pull, just the echo of a door slamming somewhere I used to care about. “He chose the political hit over the engagement that was supposed to stabilize everything.”Marnie slid a plate onto the pass and leaned on the counter. “The same engagement he reje

Clara’s pov“Talk. Your five minutes started when you sat down.”Kael’s hands rested on his knees, open, no sudden moves. Up close the exhaustion was clearer, shadows under his eyes, the set of his shoulders like he’d been carrying weight for weeks without putting it down. I stayed standing. The power sat quiet and sharp under my ribs. The cold was easy. Cold was the only temperature that made sense.“I rejected you because the alliance looked necessary and you looked like a complication the council would never accept,” he said. The words came out stripped of polish. “I told myself it was leadership. That a clean match with Silvercrest would protect the pack and the borders and give us the patrols we needed. I stood in that clearing and cut the bond in front of everyone because I thought if I did it fast and publicly, it would stay done. No drawn-out questions. No room for anyone to argue.”“It stayed done on my end,” I said. “I made sure of that. I cut what was left and I walked.”