All Chapters of Reborn After Rejection: I Chose the Alpha Everyone Feared: Chapter 161 - Chapter 170

The comment came after the refuge argument finally settled.One of the older representatives looked at Hallie and said, “Bellamy Creek trained you well. You may be the best Luna Bellamy Creek ever lost.”The room quieted. A chair shifted near the wall. Attention moved toward Hallie with the weight of a statement everyone expected her to accept as praise. Austin sat several places down from her. Grant stood behind Cedar Draw’s side of the table. Neither spoke. Hallie set her pen down.“Bellamy Creek did train me.”The representative smiled slightly, as if she had confirmed his point. Hallie continued.“I learned how formal rooms work there. How people use seating, timing, procedure, and silence before they ever say what they want.”The smile held.“I learned how much damage can happen when nobody notices who is being left out of a decision until the decision is already made.”That part changed his expression. Hallie did not look away.“I’m grateful for what I learned.”Another represen

Grant watched Hallie keep talking after the room had decided neither of them was innocent enough to be comfortable.That should have made him proud. It did. It also made him want to stop her. The next question went to Caleb. The answer was about the refuge notice procedure. Nothing about Vael blood. Grant still saw the earlier exchange sitting behind every face. Some of them had looked at Hallie differently after she defended him.Reconsidering whether her judgment had become less useful because it included him. Grant knew that look. He had spent enough years watching people decide what contact with a Vael cost. Usually the first price was distance. The second was anyone who refused to take it. Hallie finished clarifying the notice language and marked the change on the page.Grant’s attention stayed on her. If he asked Caleb to take the next section, no one would object.If Grant handled every question about his blood himself, Hallie could return to the border terms and refuge rules.

Austin knew the question was not about the summit when the man asked him to step aside. The session had broken for water and copied pages. Nobody had left Cedar Draw. The delegation that had nearly walked out was still in the room, arguing quietly over wording instead of gathering coats.Hallie stood near Caleb with one hand on a stack of notes. Grant was beside the wall. Austin followed the representative only far enough that they were no longer blocking the doorway.“What is it?”The man glanced toward Hallie.“You know her better than anyone here.”The mate bond pulled beneath Austin’s ribs. Familiar. Unwanted. Still real.“That depends on what you are asking.”The man lowered his voice.“She keeps saying choice as if that settles everything.”Austin said nothing.“You are her mate.”“Yes.”The admission came easily now. It did not hurt less. The man watched him closely.“Then you can tell us whether she means what she says.”Austin’s jaw tightened. Not Bellamy Creek’s position. No

Hallie kept the pen in her hand.“What do you actually need?”The question landed harder than the accusations had.The Alpha on her left frowned.“We need them to stop crossing our boundary.”“That is a position.”“It is a boundary.”“Yes. I’m asking what has to be true for your people to believe you can hold it without escalating every uncertain movement.”Across the table, the other Alpha folded his arms.“They want permission to treat every wolf near the line as a threat.”“And you want permission to cross whenever it suits you,” the first Alpha shot back.Hallie raised one hand.“Those are accusations. Try again.”She looked at the first Alpha.“If someone appears near the disputed stretch tomorrow, what are you afraid happens next?”His jaw worked.“That we do nothing, and then three more come.”Hallie waited.“That a crossing becomes normal because nobody answers it.”“Good. That is something we can use.”He looked offended by the word good, but she moved on.“And you?”The seco

Hallie placed the proposal between the two Alphas.Neither touched it.That was better than either one pushing it back.They had returned from the smaller conversations with their expressions reset for an audience. Austin sat with Bellamy Creek farther down the room. Grant stayed where he had through most of the summit, close enough to hear and far enough that no one could pretend the proposal belonged to him because Cedar Draw did.Hallie kept her hand beside the paper.“This is the smallest agreement that stops the next uncertain event from becoming another armed confrontation.”The Alpha on her left looked at her.“Not peace?”“No.”That answer made both men listen.Hallie gave them the first point without dressing it up.“For now, both sides stop using the disputed stretch to prove ownership with armed patrols.”The second Alpha leaned forward.“And if something is already happening?”“Respond to immediate danger if you have to. Warn the other side as soon as the response begins.”