A Rejected Wolf and a Court of Ash (Eden and Azriel) novel Chapter 68

Chapter 68

Eden

There’s a strange silence after the fight. Not the kind that brings peace, but the kind that leaves everything suspended, like the air itself is waiting to see

what i do next.

Axel stands near me, still bare–chested and streaked with blood. Even in human form, his knuckles are torn from lighting with Logan. His chest rises and falls with ragged breaths. I should tell him to rest, but the truth is, I don’t think I could speak right now even if I tried.

The pack elders repeat the verdict. “The Alpha title has been won. The Valentine Pack now belongs to Alpha Eden.”

My name.

Not his

The weight of it settles on my shoulders like a crown or heavy mantle. I never wanted to be Alpha. Not really I just wanted justice. Safety. A place where ! could belong without fearing for my future…

The crowd is still watching me. All these wolves who once sneered, laughed, or looked away when I was suffering. They saw me as the weak little omega. Now, they stand quietly, waiting to see what kind of Alpha I’ll be

Paris breaks the silence with a laugh that sounds more like a scoff. “So that’s it? She waltzes in with her mutts, and suddenly she’s Alpha?”

Axel growls low in his throat. But I don’t let him step forward.

1 my hand to stop him and step forward instead.

“I didn’t waltz in,” I say, voice steady despite the tremor I feel in my chest. “I bled for this I was thrown into your dungeons. Beaten, Humiliated. And still I came back. Not for revenge, but to make sure no one else goes through what I did. You wanted to sacrifice me to Mara? Well, I’m here to order all of your lot to fight her and her army.”

The pack members are silent and I point at Logan, who is standing silently in the snow. His white wolf form has already shifted back to human. His eyes, still that stormy blue, won’t quite meet mine.

“Lock him up. Him and Paris for throwing me and Axel in the pack dungeons. And Marcus for murdering my mother without a good reason.”

Paris’s jaw drops. “You can’t”

“This will teach you,” I say with narrowed eyes. I want to bite her head off, but I won’t. “not to lock up innocent people in the dark just because they choose to speak their mind.”

The warrior wolves doesn’t hesitate.

Logan flinches when they grab him but he doesn’t fight. Paris screams, clawing at the guards. Marcus just stares at the ground as they drag him away. He

doesn’t say a word.

Joakim stays rooted in place. He watches his twin, Axel, with an unreadable expression.

“Dol get a punishment too?” he asks finally, arms crossed.

Axel glances at me. “Do I have)

e your permission?

I’m curious about what he will do and give him a brief smile that he answers.

“It will be quick,” he promises.

Avel walks forward, then without warning, punches Joakim square in the jaw. The smaller twin flies into a drift of snow with a loud “ool”

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13:12 Thu 26 Jun 0

Chapter 68

Avel shrugs. “Now we’re even.”

Laughter stirs through the crowd. Tension breaks like a wave rolling back out to sea.

But then silence returns, and I realize every eye is on me again. Not in judgment this time, but in expectation.

Elvira’s mother, Stina Fagerlof, steps forward and even though she sees me as family, she bows. “Alpha…we’re ready to complete the ritualTM

My pulse skips. I know what she means. The pack bond and the mind link needs to be switched on. The pack is going to need me to shift for this.

“I’ve never…” I whisper, but trail off when I see my fox snickering at me inside my mind.

We can do it, she says and then my body responds to the pressure. My fox stirs inside me, impatient, proud to show herself to the world.

And then I’m no longer standing on two legs, I’m low to the ground, fur warm and red as fine. I feel my tails, all nine of them rippling behind me. Soft, glowing. Alien.

The pack gasps. Even Axel stares, wide–eyed. Is it because I’m tiny? Does he think I’m….weak?

Concern takes over my mind, but then Axel smiles. His body shifts into his massive chocolate–furred wolf, and he moves toward me. Towering Dangerous. Gentle

But he bows his head and then rubs it against mine

He accepts me as Alpha.

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