Page 63 of Claiming His Rejected Mate

“Not enough,” I counter, meeting his gaze. “You’re thinking like an Alpha, but I’m thinking like an outsider. Eldon won’t come at you head-on. He’ll find the cracks. Just like he did with Damon.”

His expression darkens, but there’s no anger in it—only consideration. “And how would you fix it?”

I blink, momentarily thrown by his willingness to listen. He sounds kind of like he’d actually do what I say. “You need rotating patrol schedules. Make them unpredictable. Set up false encampments to throw them off. If you control their information, you control the battlefield.”

His lips part slightly, and for a moment, he looks almost...impressed. But my wolf can’t think of any other thing to do than bite that bottom lip of his. It’s getting harder to keep her thoughts away from mine. But it’s also getting trickier to differentiate them. I know I can’t indulge her as often, but the restlessness is clouding my thoughts and the constant flashes of warmth, the way my entire soul keeps craving his touch, is making it harder to focus.

“That’s just the beginning,” I say, forcing my thoughts back and making sure my voice stays even. “If you want to win, you have to stop thinking like an Alpha protecting his land. You need to think like a warrior preparing for war.”

Silence stretches between us, thick with unspoken things. Then, Kieran exhales, rubbing a hand over his jaw.

“I see why they feared you,” he murmurs.

I glance at him. “Who?”

“Your pack. Your father. They knew what you were capable of.” His gaze meets mine, unreadable. “And they knew they couldn’t control you.”

The words hit somewhere deep, somewhere raw. I don’t want to acknowledge how much they mean to me.

How does he know to say the right thing? It’s making staying mad at him harder. I feel my wolf’s playfulness rise to the surface again. And even under the seal, it seems her need for the Mate bond is getting past the seal somehow. She is one determined wolf. I want to resist her.

Instead, I push away from the table, putting on a smirk. “Finally catching on, Alpha?”

His mouth twitches, but there’s something dark that descends on his face. That familiar aura surrounds him. My throat goes dry and my heart skips able beat. I feel my wetness coating me and my wolf whimpers in anticipation.

“Maybe.” He smirks, but he doesn’t move to touch me. He keeps a good distance, focused on the map and thumbing through recent report files to make sure we got everything.

As the night stretches on, the tension in the room skyrockets. His pheromones are hard to ignore when we are this close together, occasionally interrupted by a guard, Ian, or someone else.

We work together, sketching out plans, refining strategies. And somewhere between moving pieces on the map and exchanging witty remarks, my wolf slips in a thought of how good he’d feel sliding through my lips, warming up my tongue and stretching my throat. I almost get carried away and moan at the thought.

I shake my head, but I catch Kieran watching me, a rare softness in his eyes. My heart stumbles, my wolf stirring at the quiet intensity of his gaze.

I swallow hard, tearing my focus back to the map. “What are you doing?”

“I meant what I said before, Hazel. I won’t stop trying until I can have you in my arms again as mine.”

The bond hums faintly, steady and unrelenting, and for the first time in a long while, I don’t push it away.

Maybe I’ll never trust him fully. Maybe I’ll never let go of the past.

But for tonight, in the quiet glow of candlelight, I let myself go. I grant myself permission to indulge a fantasy. Also, staying away is negatively affecting my wolf. And soon, it will no longer be a need I canfight. The Goddess might punish me in a way that will cost me my wolf.

So why push him away when he crashes his lips against mine and pulls me into himself by my waist? I can feel every contour of his muscles, and his warmth makes me moan into his mouth. He sucks on my lip, making me wetter than ever, before sliding his tongue in to taste me.

It sends a shudder through me, and I am getting hotter and wetter.

Before we can go on, there’s a knock and he pulls back, regret filling his desire-darkened eyes.

There’s a look on Ian’s face when he pokes his head in, but my head is too in the clouds to do this right now. I can’t make sense of what he’s saying, but I know Kieran has to handle it.

“It’s fine. I was just heading back to my room.” I lick my lips as I walk away, his taste still blooming on my tongue.

My heart aches knowing that even at this point, I can’t insist on his time.

As if it can’t get any worse about sharing it.

The air in the estate is different now. Heavier. Tighter. The weight of the pack’s scrutiny presses against my skin like an invisible force, suffocating and inescapable. Every corridor I walk down, every courtyard I pass through, eyes follow me. Some are filled with curiosity. Others with suspicion. And too many with open hostility.

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