Rejected by Her Mate Claimed by Four Alphas novel Chapter 203

CHAPTER 191

Clara’s POV

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the crowd. I could feel the tension building, see the anger in some

faces.

Darius stepped forward slightly, his presence immediately commanding attention. The murmurs died

away.

“Your Alpha invaded my territory,” he said, his voice cold and deadly quiet. “He attacked my people. He

tried to murder my mate. Everything that happened was his choice.”

Thomas’s face went pale, but he didn’t back down. “Jaden was our rightful leader. You had no right-”

*Jaden was a coward and a fool,” I cut him off. “He rejected me, cast me out, framed me for treason, and tried to have me killed. When that failed, he brought an army to finish the job. He made his choices. Now

you have to make yours.”

I looked around the room, meeting as many eyes as I could.

“You can keep living in the past, blaming me for what happened to a leader who led you into disaster. Or you can accept that this is your reality now and work with me to build something better.”

“And if we refuse?” another voice called out.

Darius’s hand moved to rest on the hilt of his sword. The gesture was subtle, but everyone noticed it.

“Then you’ll find out what happens to people who threaten my mate,” he said simply.

The room went very quiet. I could see people shrinking back, the reality of their situation settling in. They were outnumbered, outmatched, and completely at our mercy.

“I don’t want your fear,” I said, my voice gentler now. “I want your cooperation. Help me make this work, and I’ll make sure you have everything you need to rebuild.”

Thomas sat down heavily, the fight going out of him. Around the room, I could see people beginning to nod, resignation replacing anger.

The rest of the day was spent organizing. We sorted through supplies, assessed damage, and assigned temporary living arrangements for families who had lost their homes in the battle.

It was hard work, made harder by the undercurrent of resentment from some pack members. But slowly gradually, people began to respond to my leadership. They started bringing me problems to solve, asking for my input on decisions.

By evening, we had the basic structure of a functioning pack. Temporary, fragile, but workable. Darius and I were shown to what had been Jaden’s private quarters. I hesitated at the threshold, memories flooding back. This room had been where my dreams of being Luna had lived and died.

CHAPTER 10

“We can stay somewhere else,” Darius said, reading my expression.

1 shook my head. “No. This is where the pack leaders stay. That’s what we are now.”

The room had been cleaned and aired out, but I could still feel the ghosts of the past pressing down on me. I walked to the window and looked out at the courtyard where I’d played as a child, where I’d trained as a young woman, where I’d fought for my life just yesterday.

“It’s strange being back here,” I said.

Darius came up behind me, his arms sliding around my waist. “You’re different than you were when you left this place.”

“I am.” I leaned back against his chest. “I’m not sure I recognize the woman I used to be.”

“She was stronger than she knew,” he said, pressing a kiss to my temple. “She just needed the right

circumstances to show it.”

I turned in his arms to face him. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For seeing something in me that I couldn’t see in myself.”

He cupped my face in his hands, thumbs brushing across my cheeks. “I saw what was already there.”

The look in his eyes was doing things to my pulse. Heat was building between us, the same electric tension that always seemed to exist when we were alone together.

“We should probably get some rest,” I said, though my voice came out breathier than I intended.

“Should we?” His hands moved to my waist, pulling me closer.

“It’s been a long day,” I said weakly.

“It has,” he agreed, but he was looking at my mouth like he was thinking about much more interesting ways

to end the day.

“Darius-”

“We never did finish what we started last night,” he said, his voice dropping lower.

My breath caught. “I thought we finished pretty thoroughly.”

“That was just the beginning,” he murmured, leaning down to brush his lips against my neck.

The touch sent heat racing through me. I tilted my head to give him better access, my hands coming up to grip his shoulders.

“I seem to remember you being too tired,” he said against my skin.

“That was last night,” I said, my voice already getting unsteady.

He pulled back to look at me, his eyes dark with want. “And tonight?”

* CHAPTER 1**

Instead of answering, I reached up and pulled his mouth down to mine.

The kiss was immediately hungry, desperate, full of all the tension and want that had been building between us all day. His hands tangled in my hair, and I pressed closer, needing to feel every inch of him against me.

He walked me backward until my legs hit the edge of the bed. His mouth never left mine as his hands worked at the laces of my top, his fingers quick and sure.

When the garment fell away, he pulled back just long enough to look at me. The heat in his gaze made my knees weak.

“Beautiful,” he said simply.

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