claimd and

Betrothed.

Rygan was betrothed. Elise could barely make out any words as those words came out of Kaide’s lips.

Elise waited for Rygan to say it was a joke, a lie, or at least pull away from Alvira, but he didn’t. And then she felt a wave of embarrassment wash over her.

In Rygan’s defense, he did look like he was about to throw up from that information about his betrothal coming to light, and Elise prayed and wished the ground could open up and swallow her right that instant.

“El? EI.” Kaide called again, his voice finally reaching and breaking her clouding thoughts, and Elise forced herself to give a short, reserved smile and bow to Alvira, whose cold stare never left Elise.

“We all need to talk to the moonhouse now,” he tells Tazmin, Alvira, and Kaide, who give a nod of agreement. “Her too,” he says, addressing Elise, who still hasn’t said a word.

The meeting point was in the white–stoned chateau; its name was called the Moon House because of the intricate design of the mansion made of limestone.

They all filed into Rygan’s study. There was a tense silence as Elise entered. She looked up, and her eyes immediately caught Ryan’s gray ones. It felt like torture and a mistake to look at him.

She hated how good and regal he looked after getting dressed, with his long hair combed back, his face freshly shaved, and his eyes held so tightly that she had to look

away.

Especially after what she had learned, then what about the mark on her neck? Was she going to be rejected for the second time? Elise picked the skin between her thumb and index fingers to keep herself sane and at least feel something other than this numbing sensation that wanted to eat her whole.

“I’m so glad you’re back, Rygan. I know you told us not to follow or attack when you took it because it could cause an all–out war, but you almost died. That monster chief Jon, who killed your mother, and now his son Kyren tried to kill you too,” Tazmin says it with a growl.

Elise watched their conversation

quietly but missed the grilling stares from Alvira, who made it known that Rygan was hers, placing a hand or quiet touches on his face and

skin. It made Elise’s blood boil.

“Alpha, 1 know that this meeting is supposed to be held amongst your sworn circle close to you, but I do not understand why you bring a stranger into our midst.”

“That is because she isn’t just a stranger,” Rygan says as Elise looks up at him, surprised

at his words.

“Then what is she? A witch, because I feel a strange aura surrounding her, an aura that brings in nothing but danger, the white streak on her hair feels like a cursed mark,” Alvira says with an insulting undertone.

“I am not a witch.” Elise voiced out. “I am Elise Alderman,” her last name spread around the table, with Tazmin giving Rygan a look of surprise, and something else shimmered in their gaze.

“At least I was.” Elise continued, “But until my mating ceremony and not what after Kyren, and what my father had done to me, done to my mother, I am not an ally of that monster: he had locked me up after rejecting me, and I was…” She stopped talking.

She wondered if it was appropriate to talk about the intimate details of her and Rygan’s time back in the Darknight Pack dungeons and how they’d slept together and bonded.

But Rygan hadn’t made their bond known yet, so she didn’t see it as the time to add that detail.

“So he rejected you; that does not change the fact that you might be a witch or cursed if he rejected you!” Alvira spat.

“Do not call her cursed!” Rygan snarled, causing Alvira to flinch. She looked to Elise to see that her gaze was on Rygan, and an unspoken aura weaved around them.

“What is with both of you? I’ve been sensing a weird energy around you both, and I know I’m not imagining it,” Alvira hissed.

Elise gulped, wondering if the dress and hair covered enough of her nape to hide the evidence of Rygan’s mark on her or if there was a shared scent that people nearby could smell.

“This is not the time for that,” Kaide finally said after minutes of leaning quietly on the wall. “We are here because our alpha wants to talk with us.”

“But she is an Alderman!, a sworn enemy of this pack; remember, it was the Darknight and Silvernight packs that both colluded in the betrayal and uprising 20 years ago.”

“I know, but she is not his daughter; he rejected her and left her to Kyren and his beasts

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with no care or choice for her. She needs a refuge, and she will stay here. Her identity will be a secret to the pack for now, especially since my arrival will be announced today. We don’t want enemies who want the bounty to be where it is, so she stays here,” he tells

them.

Alvira crossed her arms and pursed her lips in a frown, but she couldn’t go against the words of her alpha; none of them could. “And what about the bounty on her head?” Tazmin adds.

And Rygan looks at him, shocked. “What do you mean bounty?”

“When we reached the Trax territory, words about the silver night chief’s daughter killing her mother in a fit of rage and madness spread through; what they believe is that Elise was taken there to be punished for her sins.”

“She didn’t kill her mother; Dexton did.” Kaide argued and Elise felt sick hearing about her mother; the image of her screams and death still haunted her.

“I want to leave; I feel lightheaded. Please,” she begged in the room quietly. Her body quivered as she stood up.

“I’ll come with them,” Kaide adds as they leave the study.

“Arc you alright? You seem out of it,” he says to Elise as they walk through the corridor. “Don’t mind Alvira or Taz; the study always brings the worst out of them,” he assures.

“I know he was just trying to protect his home and friend, and Alvira was trying to protect her.” The last words left a bad taste on her tongue.

“You need rest; you and Rygan have barely slept since your arrival,” Kaide says as they reach the familiar doors of the assigned room that she was given. “I guess I’ll see you later then.”

“Yeah, you will. Thank you, Kaide,” she tells him. He was as striking as the beauty that

Boon males have; his bronze skin was identical to Rygan’s tanned one, but his

hair was a dark undercut, while Taz was a buzz cut.

Elise curled against the wall with her head buried on her knees the minute she shut the door. She tried to shut off her cries as anger and frustration grew.

How was she so stupid–so stupid to think that Rygan could be hers–when he wasn’t hers but Alvira’s? He wasn’t hers, and she needed to find a way to avoid him.

She could not run away, even if she wanted to, but when there was a heated target on her back for her father’s false accusations, what could she do? How could she

herself from feeling this way about Rygan?

She couldn’t believe that she was going to be rejected twice. She couldn’t help but wonder, Why her?