Rejected by Her Mate Claimed by Four Alphas novel Chapter 164

CHAPTER 148

Alpha Jaden’s POV

“And she gave up,” Liana satd. “A real woman would have fought for her Alpha. Would have made him see

what he was losing.”

I stared at her, seeing something in her eyes that I hadn’t noticed before. Fire. Determination. The kind of strength I’d thought she didn’t have.

“You brought her here to torment her,” I said.

“I brought her here to show her what happens when you try to steal what’s mine,” Liana replied. “I brought

her here to make her pay for thinking she could come back and take you from me.”

Something about the way she said it, the fierce possessiveness in her voice, sent a thrill through me. This

wasn’t the submissive, gentle woman I’d chosen. This was someone else entirely.

“You heard me with her,” I said. “You heard me telling her I wanted her back.”

“I heard you being weak,” Liana said, not backing down. “I heard you forgetting who your real mate is.”

“And what did you do about it?” I asked, genuinely curious now.

“I reminded you,” she said simply. “I showed you what you actually have instead of what you think you

want.”

I thought about what had happened in that building. The way Liana had taken control, the way she’d

claimed me in front of Clara. It hadn’t been gentle of submissive. It had been dominant, possessive, fierce.

“You weren’t trying to please me,” I realized. “You were marking your territory.”

“Damn right I was,” Liana said, her chin lifting defiantly. “Clara needed to see that you belong to me now,

She needed to understand that I’m not the weak little sister she remembers.”

I felt something shift inside me, like pieces of a puzzle clicking into place. This was what I’d been missing

This fire, this strength, this willingness to fight for what was hers.

ľ

“You’ve been hiding this from me,” I said.

“You never wanted to see it,” Liana replied. “You wanted someone soft and agreeable. Someone who wouldn’t challenge you or question you. But that’s not who I really am.”

I walked closer to her, studying her face. The tears and breakdown from the past few days were gone in their place was a woman I barely recognized but found myself drawn to

“So what changed?” I asked.

“i almost lost you,” she said simply “I almost lost everything because I was too afraid to show you who really was. But when I heard you with her, when I realized you were willing to throw away everything we have for a memory, I knew I had to fight back”

CHAPTERJA

“By kidnapping her.“”

“By whatever it took,” Liana said without hesitation. “I’m not Clara, Jaden. I don’t give up when things get hard. I don’t run away when my mate makes a mistake. I fight.”

I could feel my wolf stirring, responding to the strength in her voice, the determination in her eyes. This

was what had been missing from our relationship. This edge, this fire.

“You could have told me what you were planning,” I said.

“You would have stopped me,” she replied. “You would have tried to protect her, just like you tried to

protect her today.”

“I wasn’t protecting her.”

“Weren’t you?” Liana tilted her head, studying me. “You found her chained up and your first instinct was to

free her. You heard her manipulate you and you fell for it completely.”

She was right, and that realization stung.

“But it doesn’t matter now,” Liana continued. “Because she saw what happened between us. She saw who

you really belong to. She saw that I’m not going anywhere.”

I thought about Clara’s face as she watched us, the pain and anger and helplessness in her eyes. Liana

was right. Clara had seen exactly who had won.

“You’re not the woman I thought I married,” I said.

For just a moment, I saw uncertainty flash across Liana’s face. “Is that a bad thing?”

I considered the question seriously. The woman I’d married had been soft, agreeable, easy to control. But she’d also been weak, prone to breaking down when faced with real challenges.

This woman standing in front of me now was different. She was strong enough to kidnap her own sister

Ruthless enough to chain her up and torment her. Bold enough to claim her mate in front of her rival.

“No,” I said finally. “It’s not a bad thing.”

Liana’s expression shifted, relief mixing with something that looked like triumph.

C

“You were falling apart after we lost the baby,” I continued. “You were becoming someone I couldn’t

respect. Someone I couldn’t rely on.”

“I know,” she said quietly. “I was lost. I didn’t know how to handle the pain.”

“But this version of you,” I said, stepping closer, “this woman who fights for what she wants, who doesit back down from a challenge… this is someone I can respect.”

“Someone you can love?” she asked, vulnerability creeping into her voice

I thought about it. The Liana I’d married had been a trophy, something beautiful to display but not necessarily someone I’d connected with deeply But this new Liana, with her fire and determination and

CHAPTER LAR-

willingness to get her hands dirty…

“Someone I chose correctly,” I said instead.

The smile that spread across her face was radiant.

“I was starting to think I’d made a mistake,” I admitted. “Seeing Clara again, remembering what she was

like… it made me question my choice.”

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