Approved for Her Rejected for Me novel Chapter 49

Chapter 8

At ten that night, I returned to the Pack House.

Lucian was waiting for me under the warm glow of the lamps. I could not help it. I walked straight to the sofa and wrapped my arms around his solid, broad back.

Only when I had hugged him enough did I finally let go.

“You came back so late. Are you tired? I made you a steak.”

The words I had planned to say died in my throat. He held my hand and guided me to the table, watching

closely as I ate every bite he had cooked.

Smiling, he murmured, “You are like a little kitten. When will you start leaning on me instead of exhausting

yourself.”

The Icefield lands were cold, but every time I stood beside Lucian, I felt a warmth that rose straight from my

heart.

Guilt washed over me. “Lucian… the three years are over. I should return.”

Lucian did not look surprised. But sadness briefly shadowed his eyes.

“Is your heart still tethered to that boy in the South? I heard he came looking for you several times, but you

refused to see him.”

I blinked, startled. He had known everything, yet never said a single word.

“Silas and I stopped walking the same path the day I left.”

Lucian tightened his hold on my fingers. “Then will you return to me?”

I froze. “You want me to come back?”

His gaze was filled with unmistakable affection. “Of course. I waited three years for you to choose me. I always thought you still had Silas Thorn in your heart.”

I could hardly believe it. He was exceptional. Why would a man like him love someone like me?

“I thought… you only needed a Luna. I never imagined you would like me. You never told me…”

Lucian reacted as if terrified I might slip away. His voice trembled with urgency.

“Everything was planned. When I was young, I once traveled south. I saw a little girl who was starving. I

bought her a meal. She told me that if I took her away, she would stay with me for life.”

A faint fragment of memory surfaced… and then crystallized all at once.

My eyes widened. “I always thought that boy was Silas Thorn.”

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And Silas had let me believe it. He had even confirmed it.

Lucian pulled me closer until the tips of our noses touched. “So tell me. The person you loved all these

years… was it me?”

Because I was half human, my wolf had awakened early. I had sensed it when I was young.

And I remembered clearly. The first time I met that older boy, the one who fed me, my wolf had opened her eyes for the first time.

But she went back into slumber soon after. She did not awaken again until I was eighteen, fighting those rogues to save Silas. So I had loved the wrong person for so many years.

Joy flooded my entire body. I barely noticed when Lucian’s lips touched mine. The heat between us grew quickly. A breath later we were tangled together, bare skin against bare skin.

Tears slipped from the corners of my eyes. Lucian stopped instantly, cupping my face. “Trust me, my mate. Lean on me from now on.”

The only response I could give was burying my burning face into his chest.

Lucian worked quickly in the days that followed. He summoned the major packs for an alliance meeting. The Silvermoon Pack and the Rosewood Pack both attended.

A Silvermoon beta approached me. “Your father requests your presence.”

I continued arranging the flowers in my hand. With Lucian behind me, I no longer felt the slightest fear. “I’m

not going.”

That beta had never treated me as part of the pack. He stepped forward as if to reprimand me.

“So the plaything climbed her way into the Icefield Luna’s seat and forgot her place. Do not forget who fed

you as a child.”

My wolf snarled inside me, hungry to tear him apart. But before I moved, Lucian’s cold voice cut through the hall. His hand slid around my waist, anchoring me possessively.

“You mistake my Luna’s mercy for weakness. I assure you, I possess neither.”

That same night, the beta who had tormented me since childhood was dragged away with a broken leg, dumped in front of the hotel where the Silvermoon delegation stayed.

Only then did my Alpha father understand that I was not here as a plaything. At the welcome banquet, he arrived with the Silvermoon wolves, furious.

“Freya, your parents are here. You do not even greet us. You never contact the family anymore.”

Lucian set his glass down hard. “Why? Do you wish to withdraw from these alliance negotiations?”

At that single sentence, my father fell silent. Lucian was the lead Alpha in this deal and controlled the profit

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distribution.

During a brief moment of rest from hosting duties, I finally walked away to catch my breath. That was when Silas appeared in front of me.

“You fell for him? But you said you would stay with me forever. Were all your promises lies?”

He looked darker than before, staring at the jewels on my neck with a dazed, bitter expression.

“Silas, I am grateful for your protection, but you were the one who refused to choose me. You do not get to speak to me like this.”

“The man I love is here. And you… you lied. The person who rescued me as a child was not you.”

His expression flickered with panic.

“Even so, what about our years together? I truly considered you as my Luna.”

“And Vivian? At the Bonding Gala you handed the Moonlily to her. All twenty southern packs saw it. Every media outlet assumed she was the future Luna of the Rosewood Pack.”

Silas flinched. He had acted impulsively to make Vivian shine for a night, never realizing the consequences. Vivian later used that flower to appear publicly as the assumed Luna.

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