All Chapters of Reborn After Rejection: I Chose the Alpha Everyone Feared: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

Grant gave Hallie room all afternoon. At first, she thought she was imagining it.He had never crowded her. That was one of the things she trusted most about him. He could stand close enough for his presence to fill a doorway and still leave the choice of distance in her hands.This was different.When she joined Caleb at the work board, Grant found a reason to check stores. When the visiting Alpha crossed the yard to ask Hallie whether one line in the agreement reflected what she meant, Grant stayed where he was instead of joining them.Nothing rude. Nothing dramatic. Just absence applied too carefully.By evening, Hallie was irritated. She found Grant outside his room, reading one of the copied pages from the agreement.“Are you avoiding me?”His eyes lifted.“No.”“Then you have developed very convenient timing.”Grant folded the page once. Hallie gave him the silence to answ

Austin had read the Cedar Draw report often enough that the fold had begun to soften. He should have put it away. Instead, it lay beside the correspondence tied to his formal betrothal, close enough that the two futures seemed to have been placed on the desk for comparison.Hallie, wanted as a Luna by another Alpha. The daughter of the Alpha whose alliance Austin had chosen, formally betrothed to him and waiting inside a future he had already set in motion. The marriage had not happened yet.That distinction mattered. So did the fact that the betrothal had. Austin picked up the alliance papers first.Nothing in them had become less useful because another man desired Hallie. The political support remained real. The security Bellamy Creek gained remained real. The agreement between packs had not dissolved because regret had finally become too sharp to ignore.This was the future he had chosen as Alpha, and a woman stood inside it as a person rather than a s

The agreement drew an audience the moment the visiting party carried it outside. Hallie had expected witnesses. She had not expected the speed with which people arranged everyone into a story.The final review was taking place at the long table near the common room, where Cedar Draw’s representatives and the visiting Alpha’s people could hear the same terms before the copies were separated. It was practical. Public enough to prevent confusion later. Small enough that no one could pretend it was a ceremony.Grant stood at one end of the table. Hallie stood beside him. The young Alpha took the opposite side.For the first few minutes, no one seemed to notice anything except the agreement. Then one of the visitors asked Hallie a question about the contact clause. She answered.Another question followed. The young Alpha added a clarification without interrupting her, and the exchange moved easily between them. Hallie saw the look before she understood it.Two members of the visiting party

Grant knew Hallie had spoken to him because the distance between them had changed. Not much. Just enough that when she crossed the yard after the young Alpha, she came toward Grant instead of stopping where politeness would have put her.Caleb had already gone inside with the final contact list. Grant held the work board notes in one hand. Hallie looked at them.“Done?”“For today.”“And tomorrow?”“One last review.”She nodded. Neither of them mentioned what he had seen from across the yard. The visiting Alpha standing with her.Hallie listening. The two of them speaking with the ease that had made half the people around the public table start building a future for them without permission. Grant had told Hallie before that he was jealous.He had meant it. He had not understood how much easier the word was to say in a quiet corridor than to carry in daylight while everyone else saw the same possibility. Hallie started toward the common room.Grant walked beside her.After several steps

The agreement was finished. That should have made the rest of the day easier. Instead, Hallie became aware of every sign that the visiting party was preparing to leave.Pages disappeared into travel folders. Two people crossed the yard carrying things back toward their quarters. Caleb confirmed one last practical detail with the young Alpha and then went inside.Nothing dramatic happened. The visit was simply ending. Hallie stood near the long table with Cedar Draw’s copy of the agreement tucked against her side when the young Alpha approached.“Do you have a minute?”She looked at him.“Yes.”His people were still within sight. Grant was across the yard speaking with one of Cedar Draw’s residents.The young Alpha did not lower his voice as if they were arranging a secret.“I want to ask you one thing before I leave.”Hallie already knew it would not be about the agreement.“All right.”He paused.“Not about now.”The distinction tightened something in her chest. He continued.“You are