บททั้งหมดของ Reborn After Rejection: I Chose the Alpha Everyone Feared: บทที่ 131 - บทที่ 140

By the second day, Hallie had five versions of what Vael were supposed to do. None matched. That was the first useful thing she learned.Caleb had asked people to bring forward what they had actually heard before Cedar Draw, not what they thought the boundary message meant now. Hallie kept the accounts separate on the table.One resident remembered being told as a child never to stay close to a Vael when frightened. Another had heard that Vael could make fear worse simply by being near it.A third insisted the danger was the opposite—that they took fear away until a wolf no longer knew when to run.Someone from the neighboring pack had sent a shorter version. They feed on what wolves feel. No detail. No source. Only the sentence. Hallie read it again. The words had the shape of certainty without any of its weight. Caleb leaned against the table.“Which one do you believe?”“None as stated.”“That is not the same as none.”“No.”Hallie moved the pages apart. Grant had never hidden that

The exchange point was supposed to make contact easier. That was why Hallie understood the trap as soon as the first crate hit the ground.She had been checking the count with Caleb while two representatives from the neighboring pack waited beside the eastern route. Cedar Draw had brought ordinary supplies for a routine handoff.Then three unfamiliar wolves stepped out from the tree line. One kicked the nearest crate hard enough to split the lid. Another pulled a knife across the rope holding the remaining stack together. Boxes shifted. Caleb moved first.“Back.”Hallie grabbed the shoulder of the nearest Cedar Draw worker and hauled him clear as the stack tipped.Two crates hit the dirt. One broke open. The third wolf laughed while watching the neighboring representatives rather than the damaged supplies. Witnesses. Hallie’s pulse turned cold.“Don’t give them the scene,” she said.Caleb heard her. So did the men. One smiled.“There she is.”Hallie ignored him.“Get everyone behind t

The meeting did not begin with Grant. That lasted eleven minutes. Hallie knew because she had been watching the clock on the wall while representatives argued over crossing notices and shared patrol sightings. Routine work. Useful work.The kind Cedar Draw had refused to abandon just because someone wanted Grant’s blood to become the only subject in every room.Then a man near the far end of the table set his papers down.“We should address the obvious problem.”No one asked which problem. Hallie felt the room change. Grant sat beside her, not at the head of the table. The man looked directly at him.“A half-Vael should not be leading wolves.”Not a rumor passed outside a meeting. Not a cloth left where someone else could find it. Said in front of everyone. Hallie heard one person inhale sharply. Another looked down at the table. Grant held still. The man continued.“You can call Cedar Draw unusual if you want. You can call it independent. But every agreement here assumes the Alpha on

Austin heard the word corrupted before the meeting had properly started. He had been reading the latest reports from Cedar Draw when one of Bellamy Creek’s senior wolves set a copied message on the table.“It’s spreading.”Austin reread the wording. The report described Hallie’s defense of Grant at a regional contact meeting. It did not identify an agreement Grant had broken. Instead, it questioned Hallie. Her judgment. Her marriage. Her ability to know when she was being influenced. The word appeared twice. Corrupted. A second message used manipulated.A third suggested that Hallie’s public defense of a half-Vael Alpha might itself be evidence that she could no longer be treated as an independent source.Someone across the table said, “That changes things.” Austin looked up.“How?”“If Hallie is being affected, then her statements about Grant cannot be treated as neutral.”“They were never neutral.”The man frowned.“She is married to him. She lives at Cedar Draw. Everyone already kn

The first warning came from a witness outside Cedar Draw. A woman from the neighboring pack arrived at the eastern line with a folded paper in one hand and anger in her face. Caleb brought her straight to Hallie.“I was told to come watch,” she said.Hallie looked at the paper.“Watch what?”“Grant prove them right.”The words turned the air cold. Grant stood a few feet away. He did not move closer. The woman handed Hallie the page. No crest. No signature. Only a location, a time, and three lines written beneath them. THE HALF-VAEL CALLS HIMSELF AN ALPHA. ASK WHAT HAPPENS WHEN HIS PACK STOPS OBEYING.WATCH WHAT HE DOES WHEN SOMEONE SAYS IT TO HIS FACE. Hallie scanned it once. Then looked at Caleb.“How many people got this?”“We know of four.”“Outside Cedar Draw?”“Yes.”Grant’s expression stayed still. Hallie felt anger rise before fear had time to. The paper was too deliberate. Someone had invited an audience before the confrontation even happened. Caleb said, “There are already pe