The Rejected daughter chosen by the Alpha (Maya and Atila) novel Chapter 99

Chapter 99

– ÁTILA

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The sky was already dimming when I leaned against the window, a mug of hot tea warming my hands. Her apartment lights were on. Curtains wide open. I shouldn’t have looked.

I looked anyway.

Cassian sat on the living room floor, an open pizza box on the coffee table. He was saying something, barely moving his hands, always that quiet, controlled way he had. Beatrice laughed.

But it was Maya that hit me.

She tipped her head back, laughing freely, her throat exposed, her eyes closed a second too long.

My mouth almost mirrored the motion.

Almost.

Since when does she laugh like that?

With me, her smiles were softer. Contained. So why was she glowing over there like that?

I bit the inside of my cheek and turned away like I’d just been caught doing something I shouldn’t.

“What the hell is he even saying?”

I took another sip of tea. It was already lukewarm.

“What’s so funny? What’s the joke?”

Cassian leaned in closer to them, lowered his voice. Maya leaned in too. They shared something like it was private. She gave his shoulder a light slap.

My jaw locked.

I yanked the curtain shut before I did something stupid.

“They didn’t even invite me,” I muttered under my breath. “And I live one hallway away.”

I set the mug down harder than necessary.

“Unbelievable. All three of them.”

I looked around my apartment. Small. Cold. I had never stayed anywhere this small before.

Maybe that was why I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

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My phone buzzed on the table. I picked it

“We need to talk. Meet me this weekend at the Hotel Ritz.”

My mother.

I typed back a single word. “Okay.”

I dragged a hand through my hair, pushing it back.

Since I severed my ties to Moonville and became human, I wasn’t allowed to interfere with my people directly. That was part of the penance. But responsibility doesn’t just disappear. Sometimes I still found ways to reach out through those who crossed the portal. Asked how things were holding up.

Everything was still uncertain.

And that uncertainty gnawed at me.

I didn’t know if, at the end of this cycle, I’d return as Supreme Alpha… or if I’d simply regain my mmortality and exist on the edge of power.

Maybe that was the real reason I’d been in a foul mood for years.

I looked down at my hands. Ran my thumb over my knuckles. The skin was still firm, but not untouched by time.

I no longer looked like a man frozen at twenty-nine.

Now I looked like… a man.

Older.

More grounded.

That didn’t bother me.

In the pack, a mature face meant centuries lived, Battles survived. Loyalty earned. My father had worn that kind of face before he died. Time and respect carved into bone.

But I wasn’t aging for glory,

Or for war.

I was aging for penance.

Eight years left.

Eight years paying for the choice I made.

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Still… to see her alive again, I’d pay a hundred. Even if it killed me.

A knock at the door pulled me out of my thoughts.

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I tilted my head slightly. Once, I could identify someone by scent before they even turned the corner. Now I had to guess.

I sighed and walked to the door.

When I opened it, Maya stood there holding up a pizza box like a trophy.

“Surprise, handsome. You in for pizza tonight?”

Her smile was mischievous. I didn’t let her see how that smile wrecked me. I just smirked and stepped aside so she could come in.

“Thought you weren’t speaking to me today.”

I closed the door and watched her head for the kitchen. My gaze dropped on its own, landing on the perfectly rounded curve of her ass in those short denim shorts.

She spun

around suddenly.

“I saw that.”

I scratched my temple lazily. “Sorry.”

She grabbed a slice and walked toward me.

“Open.”

I lifted a brow but obeyed. She slid the slice between my lips.

“Tonight I’m feeding you.”

I bit down, chewing slowly. For a second, I remembered the days I brought her food when she was in heat, chained to her own bed.

“It’s really good,” I said, covering my mouth as I chewed. “Where’s it from?”

“Da Michele, Marylebone. Supposedly the best Italian pizza in London.”

I took another slice from her hand and devoured it in seconds.

“Good, right?”

I didn’t answer. I walked toward her instead, wrapped my arms around her waist, and lifted her effortlessly. She let out a startled laugh, her legs locking around my hips.

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“Yeah,” I murmured close to her face. “It’s good. But you know what’s better?”

“What?” she whispered, her lips almost brushing mine.

“Your mouth.”

It wasn’t an invitation. It was a claim.

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My lips took hers with an urgency I wasn’t pretending to hide anymore. When she opened for a soft sound, I was already there. My tongue met hers-basil, melted cheese, and something sweet that was only Maya. She kissed me back just as fiercely, catching my lower lip between her teeth with deliberate pressure that sent heat racing through my veins.

I turned and carried her toward the bedroom like she weighed nothing. Her mouth never left mine.

At the edge of the bed, I didn’t lay her down gently. I let gravity decide, and we fell together in a mess of breathless laughter. She ended up beneath me, lips swollen and damp from our kiss. I rolled us onto our sides, face to face, both of us breathing hard. I brushed her hair away from her

face.

“Can we stay like this for a minute?” she murmured. “Just… look at each other?”

“Whatever you want, beautiful.”

I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Your bed smells nice,” she said.

I tilted

my

head and kissed her collarbone, trailing down over her breast through the fabric.

“Not as good as you.”

She smiled, blushing.

“I love when you get like this.”

“Like what?”

“Flustered.”

“I am not flustered.”

She rolled her eyes. “You are,”

She pressed a soft kiss to my lips and then suddenly grew serious.

“I can’t remember the last time I felt this happy.”

I kept looking at her. Waited.

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“It might not seem like it,” she continued, her voice quieter, “but there was a time I thought happiness was a sin. Like I wasn’t allowed to have it.”

The silence thickened.

“Sorry. I killed the mood.”

“No,” I said immediately. “You didn’t kill anything. If you want to talk, I’m listening.”

She studied me like she needed to be sure.

I nodded.

“Sometimes I feel guilty being here,” she admitted. “For leaving my parents. For living my life… and sometimes not even thinking about them. It feels wrong. Like I don’t deserve this. Like I’m some kind of imposter in my own happiness.”

I ran my fingers slowly through her hair.

“Want some advice?”

“Mhm.”

“It’s okay to live your life without thinking about them.”

She started crying quietly. One tear slid down her cheek. I wiped it away with my thumb.

“If I had a daughter like you, I’d be the proudest man alive. And the only thing I’d want for her is this. Real happiness. Freedom. To live everything life has to offer without feeling guilty for being okay. Because real love doesn’t cage you. It doesn’t control you. It doesn’t compete. Love doesn’t shrink you. It wants you to grow. To take up space. To become whole… even if that means walking your own path.”

She curled into my chest and cried for real this time. No hiding it. I just held her and let the pain find its way out.

She didn’t remember the filth she’d uncovered about her own family. It was like she’d reset, like we’d never discovered the truth together. That was when I had to fight myself the hardest. I clenched my teeth, breathed deep, swallowed it all down. I couldn’t dump that truth on her again.

What we found wasn’t light.

And deep down, I knew those people deserved nothing from her. Not even hatred. If it were up to me, the only thing left would be indifference.

I kept stroking her hair until her breathing steadied.

Her index finger began tracing slow circles on my chest.

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“It’s weird,” she murmured. “I feel so safe with you. Like we’ve known each other in another life.”

“You think so?”

She nodded, looking into my eyes.

I got lost there for a few seconds.

“I think we need to do something,” I whispered.

“What?”

“A date.”

Her eyes widened slightly. “A date?”

“I have this feeling that in some past life, I promised you one. I know a place. Old, beautiful, warm. We could have dinner at Rules tomorrow.”

Her eyes

lit up.

“That sounds perfect.”

She pressed a soft kiss to my lips. I rested my forehead against hers.

“It’ll be an incredible night,” I promised. “I’ll take care of everything.”

She smiled in that way that dismantles a man.

We stayed wrapped around each other, breathing in sync, until sleep came slowly.

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