Rejected by Her Mate Claimed by Four Alphas novel Chapter 266

CHAPTER 241

Clara’s POV

Dawn came too soon.

I woke to Darius’s hand on my shoulder, gentle but insistent. “Time to go.”

My body protested every movement. Three days of heat followed by barely any sleep left me feeling like

I’d been run over. But my leg had healed enough to walk on, the werewolf metabolism doing its job

overnight.

The others were already up, moving quietly around the room as they prepared. Ronan was checking

weapons. Killian stretched, loosening muscles. Lucien studied a map one last time.

We dressed in light clothing that would be easy to shift out of. Fighting leathers we could carry in packs. I

braided my hair back tight, keeping it out of my face for when we shifted back.

Derek met us at the pack house entrance. “The neutral grounds are two hours north if you run. Hendrik’s

party left their territory an hour ago. They’ll arrive around the same time you do.”

“Good,” I said. “Let them think we’re worried enough to rush.”

“You’re not worried?” Derek asked.

“Terrified,” I admitted. “But they don’t need to know that.”

We stripped down at the tree line and shifted. The change rippled through me, bones restructuring, fur

sprouting. My wolf shook herself out, finally free after being contained during the heat. She felt stronger now, more complete with all four mate bonds settled into place.

The four Alphas shifted around me.

We ran.

The forest blurred past as we ran. Running in wolf form feit right. No thoughts, just movement. Cool

morning air, scent of pine and earth, paws hitting ground in rhythm.

୮

I could feel them through the bonds even stronger in wolf form. Their wolves recognized mine, running

around me. Protective but not smothering. A real pack.

Morning mist clung to the ground. Birds scattered as we passed. Small animals dove for cover. We

ignored them, focused on where we were going.

The neutral grounds came into view just after dawn fully broke. We slowed as we approached, shifting back to human form in the cover of trees. We dressed quickly in the fighting leathers, weapons strapped

1. on.

It was an old stone circle, ancient markers placed by packs long dead. Tradition held that challenges fought here were binding, witnessed by the Goddess herself through the stones.

< CHAPTER 247

Claim

Other packs had already gathered in human form. Word had spread fast. I counted representatives from at least eight territories, all here to watch. Some faces showed curiosity. Others showed judgment. A few looked hungry, like they were hoping to see me fail so they could pick up the pieces.

Hendrik stood in the center of the circle with four massive warriors behind him. He was older, maybe sixty,

with gray streaking through his dark hair. Traditional tattoos marked his arms, old pack symbols that most

had stopped using decades ago. His eyes tracked us as we emerged from the tree line, cold and

assessing.

“Luna Clara,” he called out. “I’m surprised you actually came. I half expected you to hide behind your

mates and send them in your place.”

I walked forward, the four Alphas flanking me but letting me lead. “I don’t hide, Alpha Hendrik. You issued

a challenge. I’m here to answer it.”

“A challenge to your authority,” he clarified, louder now, playing to the crowd. “You’ve disgraced the sacred bond between mates. Four Alphas? It’s unnatural. An abomination. You mock the Goddess with your lust

and your pride.”

Murmurs rippled through the gathered witnesses. Some nodded in agreement. Others tooked uncomfortable but didn’t argue.

stepped into the stone circle, meeting his eyes directly. “You challenge me because you fear change.

Because a Luna powerful enough to be bonded to four Alphas threatens your outdated view of how things

should be. But the Goddess decides mate bonds, Alpha Hendrik. Not you. Not tradition. Her.”

“The Goddess would never sanction such perversion, Hendrik spat.

“Then why do the bonds exist?” I spread my hands/”I didn’t choose this. I didn’t perform some ritual or

dark magic. The bonds formed naturally, recognized by my wolf and theirs. If the Goddess truly found it wrong, she wouldn’t have allowed it to happen.”

“Perhaps the Goddess is testing us,” Hendrik said. “Testing whether we’ll allow corruption to spread or

whether we’ll stand firm against it.”

Lucien stepped forward. “There are records. Ancient texts documenting multiple mate bonds in our

history. Rare, but not unprecedented. They appear during times of great change, when the Goddess needs

to create something stronger than normal bonds allow. This isn’t corruption. It’s evolution.”

“Legends,” Hendrik dismissed. “Stories twisted over time.”

“Facts,” Lucien countered. “I can provide the texts if you doubt me.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Hendrik said flatly. “I didn’t come here to debate history. I came to issue formal challenge. Trial by combat. Your four Alphas against my four best warriors. When we win, you step down as Luna. You choose one mate like a proper wolf, or you leave pack lands entirely. No more spreading this

sickness.”

The gathered wolves went silent, waiting.

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