Rejected and Pregnant I Fled The Pack (Evelyn and Damon) novel Chapter 221

Ethan pov

I was heading toward the guest quarters, still turning over everything my mother had told me, when raised voices near the courtyard pulled my attention sharply away from my own thoughts.

I rounded the corner and found Priya standing far too close to Nadia, her posture tense and her voice carrying a sharp, wounded edge that immediately set me on alert.

"You don't even want him," Priya was saying, her hands gesturing with obvious agitation. "You've made that abundantly clear to everyone within earshot. So why does it matter to you if I still do?"

"I never said I didn't want him," Nadia said, her voice maintaining careful, measured calm despite Priya's obvious escalating distress. "I said I'm not interested in becoming another temporary conquest. That's a considerably different statement."

"Mate bond or not," Priya snapped, "you're clearly not even genuinely invested. Meanwhile I've spent weeks actually building something real with him, only to have you show up and simply claim him because some mystical connection apparently overrides everything I've already invested."

Nadia's expression carried something between exhaustion and genuine disbelief. "I didn't ask for this bond, Priya. I understand you're hurt, but directing that anger toward me isn't going to actually resolve anything."

"You think you're simply entitled to him," Priya continued, her voice rising further, "just because some ancient, mystical process decided you're apparently compatible. Meanwhile the rest of us who've actually invested genuine effort, genuine emotion, we're just supposed to step aside?"

I moved forward quickly, understanding the situation was escalating toward something genuinely dangerous, but I wasn't fast enough.

Priya lunged.

It happened almost too quickly to fully process—her hand swinging toward Nadia's face, driven by raw, wounded fury rather than any calculated intention, and I watched Nadia react with sharp, practiced reflexes, sidestepping the blow and catching Priya's wrist mid-motion before the contact could actually land.

"Enough," I said, my voice carrying sharp, immediate authority as I finally closed the distance, positioning myself between them despite Nadia clearly having already handled the situation herself.

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