Rejected by Her Mate Claimed by Four Alphas novel Chapter 118

CHAPTER 101-2

“Understood,” I said through gritted teeth. “What time should we arrive?”

“The gathering will begin at the same time as originally planned. Two o’clock on the scheduled day. You’ll need to arrive the day before for preliminary meetings.”

“And what about the arrangements we’ve already made? The catering, security, accommodations?”

“All unnecessary now,” Morrison said dismissively. “The Neutral Grounds facility is fully equipped to handle events of this magnitude. Your only responsibility now is to ensure your delegation arrives on time.”

The casual way he dismissed months of work made my anger spike, but I forced my voice to

remain level.

“Fine. We’ll be there.”

“Thank you for your cooperation, Alpha Darius. The Council appreciates your flexibility during these challenging times.”

The line went dead, leaving me staring at the phone in frustration.

Months of preparation. Hundreds of hours of planning. Thousands of dollars spent on catering, decorations, and security arrangements. All wasted because of some mysterious security threat that had conveniently appeared at the last minute.

I slammed my fist down on the desk, making several papers scatter to the floor. A coffee mug fell and shattered, sending dark liquid splashing across important documents.

This was exactly the kind of political maneuvering I hated about dealing with the Council. They made decisions that affected everyone without explanation or consultation, then expected immediate compliance.

The worst part was that I suspected this wasn’t really about security at all. The Council preferred to hold major gatherings at their own facilities, where they could control every aspect of the proceedings. This was probably just an excuse to move the event to a location where they held more influence.

But there was nothing I could do about it now except adapt and minimize the damage to our pack’s reputation.

I spent several minutes cleaning up the spilled coffee and broken mug, using the mundane task to help control my temper. Getting angry wouldn’t solve anything, and I needed to think clearly about how to handle this setback.

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I called Marcus back to my office and broke the news to him. His face went through the same progression of shock, anger, and resignation that mine probably had.

“All that work for nothing,” he said, shaking his head.

“Not for nothing,” I corrected. “We proved we could organize something of this scale. That will serve us well in the future.”

“What do you want me to do about the arrangements here?”

“Cancel everything. Send the catering staff home, dismiss the extra security, and make sure all our guests know about the venue change. We need to get word out immediately so everyone has time to adjust their travel plans.”

Marcus pulled out his phone and started making notes. “What about the deposits we’ve already paid?”

“We’ll deal with the financial losses later. Right now, the priority is making sure this transition happens smoothly. We can’t afford to look incompetent because of the Council’s last–minute changes.”

“Should I contact the other packs directly, or let the Council handle notifications?”

“Contact them ourselves,” I said immediately. “I want our allies to hear about this from us, not from Council bureaucrats. It shows we’re still in control of our relationships, even if we’re not in control of the venue.”

“What should I tell them about the reason for the change?”

I considered this carefully. How much of my suspicions should I share with other pack leaders?

“Stick to the official story about security concerns, but make it clear that this was the Council’s decision, not ours. I want them to understand that we’re as frustrated by this as they probably are.”

“And Marcus? I want you to quietly investigate these so–called security threats. Find out if they’re real or if this is just Council politics.”

“Yes, Alpha. I’ll reach out to our intelligence contacts in other packs.”

“Be discreet about it. If the Council finds out we’re questioning their story, they could make things much worse for us.”

As Marcus left to handle the logistics nightmare, I tried to refocus on preparing for the gathering itself. Even though the venue had changed, the political importance of the event remained the same.

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I spent the next hour reviewing my notes for the various meetings and negotiations that would take place. Alliance discussions with the Northern Ridge Pack, trade agreements with the Mountain Territory wolves, and territorial boundary clarifications with several smaller

packs.

The change of venue would actually affect some of these negotiations. At the Neutral Grounds, we would be on equal footing with all the other packs, but we would lose the home field advantage I had been counting on.

But part of my mind was still occupied with thoughts of Clara and the conversation we needed to have.

The timing of this Council interference was terrible. I had been planning to resolve things with Clara before the gathering, but now I would be spending the next few days dealing with venue changes and political preparations. I would need to leave for the Neutral Grounds in two days for the preliminary meetings.

After about an hour of trying to concentrate on briefing documents, I decided I needed to speak with her before diving back into event preparations. I didn’t want this tension between us affecting my ability to focus on important pack business.

The stakes were too high for me to be distracted by personal issues, but I also couldn’t afford to let things with Clara fester until after the gathering.

“Xander,” I called to my beta, who was coordinating with the transport arrangements. “Have someone find Clara and ask her to come to my office.”

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CHAPTER 102-1

Alpha Darius’s POV

“Yes, Alpha.”

I continued working while I waited for her to arrive, reviewing the guest list and making notes about which conversations would be most critical for our pack’s interests.

The loss of hosting duties would actually change some of my strategic priorities. Instead of playing host and managing the overall event, I would need to focus more on individual relationships and specific negotiations.

But after twenty minutes, Xander returned alone.

“She’s not in her room,” he reported. “Or anywhere else in the packhouse that we could find.”

I looked up from my papers, frowning. “What do you mean, not anywhere?”

“We checked her room, the training areas, the dining hall, the library, even the medical wing. No one has seen her since early this morning.”

A cold feeling started to settle in my stomach. “How early this morning?”

“Tyler said he saw her jogging around dawn, but that was hours ago.”

Tyler. The pack member I had assigned to keep a discrete eye on Clara’s activities.

“Where is Tyler now?” I asked.

“I’ll find him,” Xander said, noting the edge in my voice.

Within minutes, Tyler was standing in my office looking nervous and slightly disheveled. There was something sheepish about his posture that immediately put me on alert.

“You saw Clara this morning?” I asked without preamble.

“Yes, Alpha. She was out for a run around dawn.”

“And you

followed her as instructed?”

Tyler shifted uncomfortably. “I tried to, Alpha. But she… she caught me.”

My blood pressure spiked. “She caught you? How the hell did she catch you?”

“She’s really smart, Alpha,” Tyler said, his voice getting smaller. “At first, she just jogged normally around the training area. I kept my distance like you said, stayed about fifty yards back.”

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“But then she started changing her route. Taking unexpected turns, heading into areas that didn’t make sense for a normal workout. I thought maybe she was just mixing up her routine,

so I followed.”

I leaned back in my chair, already seeing where this was going. “And?”

“She led me into the woods behind the packhouse. I lost sight of her for maybe two minutes, and then suddenly she was behind me. She had circled around and gotten the drop on me completely.”

Tyler looked genuinely embarrassed, and I found myself both impressed and infuriated by Clara’s tactical skills.

“What exactly did she do?” I asked.

“She stepped out from behind a tree, right in my path. Asked if I was looking for someone. When I tried to deny following her, she didn’t buy it for a second.”

“What did she say?”

Tyler swallowed hard, clearly dreading this part. “She said she had a message for you. She told me to tell you to stop having her followed, and that if she caught anyone else tracking her movements, she wouldn’t be nearly as polite about it next time.”

I felt my hands clench into fists. Clara had not only spotted my surveillance but had outmaneuvered my spy and sent me a direct challenge through my own pack member.

“She threatened you?”

“Not exactly threatened, Alpha. But there was something in her voice… she was calm, but dangerous. Like she meant every word.”

“Did she seem surprised that you were following her?”

Tyler shook his head. “No, Alpha. She acted like she’d known all along. Like she’d been testing to see if her suspicions were right.”

That detail hit me harder than the rest. Clara hadn’t just accidentally spotted Tyler. She had deliberately set a trap to confirm that she was being watched.

“Where did she go after giving you this message?” I demanded.

“I don’t know, Alpha. She told me to get out of her sight, and I came straight back to report to you. But you were in the Council meeting, and then there were all the venue change emergencies…”

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“How long ago was this?”

“About three hours ago, Alpha.”

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Three hours. Clara had been missing for three hours, and I was just now hearing about it

because of the Council’s timing.

I dismissed Tyler with a curt nod, my mind racing. Clara’s behavior was becoming more and more suspicious, and now she was actively evading surveillance.

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CHAPTER 102-2

I immediately called for a search of the territory.

“I want every available patrol member looking for Clara,” I told Xander. “Check the borders, the training areas, anywhere she might have gone.”

“Should I contact the neighboring packs?” Xander asked.

“Not yet. Let’s see what our own search turns up first.”

It took another hour, but finally one of the patrol teams reported back with information I didn’t want to hear.

“Alpha, we found Clara’s scent trail leading toward the eastern border,” the team leader reported through mindlink. “It crosses into the neighboring pack’s territory.”

The neighboring pack. Where Killian was staying.

An ominous feeling settled over me like a dark cloud. My property was slipping out of my hands, and there wasn’t anything I could do about it right now.

I had too much to handle with the venue change and event preparations. Three hundred pack leaders would be expecting a flawless gathering in just three days, and missing details could have serious political consequences for our pack.

But the thought of Clara being with Killian while I was stuck dealing with Council politics made my wolf pace restlessly in my mind.

I tried to focus on the immediate tasks at hand. There were phone calls to make, arrangements to cancel, new logistics to coordinate. The next few hours were a blur of damage control and rapid reorganization.

By evening, we had managed to notify all the attending packs about the venue change and cancel most of our local arrangements. The financial losses would be significant, but not

devastating.

Many of the pack leaders I spoke with were understanding about the situation, though. several expressed frustration about the last–minute change. A few even hinted that they suspected Council politics were behind the venue change, which made me feel somewhat vindicated in my own suspicions.

But throughout all of this crisis management, part of my mind remained focused on Clara’s

absence.

I kept checking the time, calculating how long she had been gone, wondering what she was

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doing. The longer she stayed away, the more convinced I became that my suspicions were

correct.

By the time the sun set, she still hadn’t returned.

The next morning brought new crises related to the venue change, and I threw myself into handling them. But the anxiety about Clara’s whereabouts continued to gnaw at me.

There were transportation logistics to coordinate, since our original plans had assumed guests would be staying in our territory. Now everyone would need to adjust their travel arrangements to reach the Neutral Grounds.

The Council had provided minimal assistance with these changes, leaving individual packs to figure out the new logistics on their own. It was another sign that this venue change was more about politics than genuine security concerns.

But still, Clara had not returned.

As evening approached and I still had no word about her whereabouts, I made a decision. I couldn’t concentrate on anything else until I knew she was safe.

I made my way downstairs to the main floor of the packhouse, finding a corner in the common area where I could see the main entrance. If Clara was going to return tonight, she

would come through those doors.

I settled into a chair with a clear view of the entrance and waited.

Minutes ticked by slowly. Pack members moved through the common area, going about their evening routines, but none of them were Clara.

With each passing moment that she didn’t return, my expression grew more sullen. The longer I sat there, the darker my thoughts became about what she might be doing and who she might be with.

An hour passed. Then two.

Other pack members occasionally glanced my way, probably wondering why their Alpha was sitting alone in the common area instead of in his office or his room. But no one dared to approach me when they saw the look on my face.

It was nearly midnight when I finally heard the main doors open.

Clara stepped through the entrance, moving slowly and quietly like she was trying not to wake anyone. She didn’t notice me sitting in the shadows of the corner, her attention focused on making her way to the stairs without being seen.

At first, I felt only relief at seeing her safe and unharmed. But then, as she moved closer to

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me, I caught a whiff of her scent.

And I froze.