Reborn, I Rejected My Alpha First Chapter 03

“Make her take it back!” Ravenna clawed at Damon’s sleeve. “Damon, stop this!”

“You can’t take back the Crown’s Right,” I said, settling into the Elder’s chair as if it had always been mine. “That’s rather the point.”

Damon’s voice came out strangled. “Sera. Do you understand what you’ve done? Once the King’s Hand is involved, it’s on the royal record. Every pack on this continent will know by morning. There’s no undoing it.”

“Why would I want to undo it?” I looked at Celeste. “While we wait, let’s talk. You say I cornered you in the west alcove. What time?”

Her lips trembled. “Six. Just after six.”

“What was I wearing?”

“Blue. The blue gown with the silver belt.” Word-perfect. Someone had studied my fittings.

“Was anyone else there?”

“No,” she whispered. “Nobody uses the west alcove. And the camera there has been dead for weeks, so you knew nobody would ever—”

She stopped.

Her hand flew to her mouth.

I let the silence stretch until it screamed.

“Interesting,” I said softly. “You’ve lived in this house fourteen years and never once cared about our security. And yet you know the exact status of one specific camera in one specific alcove.”

“I… people talk. Everyone knows.”

“Do they?” I turned. “Morwen. Did you know that camera was dead?”

Morwen’s mouth opened. Nothing came out.

Then the chamber doors swung open, and every wolf inside dropped their eyes to the floor without meaning to.

He was enormous. Broad as the doorway, dark hair wet with rain, a scar cutting through one eyebrow. His eyes were storm grey, and the power rolling off him made my wolf sit up and go very, very still.

“Kael Draven,” he said. “Hand of the Lycan King.” His gaze swept the room and landed on me. “Who called the Crown?”

“I did,” I said. “I’m the one they say did it.”

Something flickered across his face. Interest. Then he looked at Celeste, the blood, the healer, and finally at Damon. He inhaled once, slowly, the way a predator reads a forest.

“Go on,” he said.

Before I could answer, a girl shoved through the crowd at the door. Briar Thorne. Celeste’s closest friend, guest of our pack for the summer, only daughter of Alpha Corvin Thorne of Ironfang, the most powerful pack on our southern border. Her chin was high, her voice ringing, a heroine stepping into her spotlight.

“I saw it!”

The room hushed.

“I saw everything!” Briar’s finger pointed straight at me, trembling with righteous fury. “At six I was walking past the west alcove. I heard Celeste crying. And I saw Seraphina holding a flask to her mouth, forcing her to drink!”

Celeste dissolved into fresh sobs. “Briar. Thank you. Thank you for being brave.”

The chamber erupted. Ravenna shrieked about murder. Morwen was already drafting my exile in her head. I could see it behind her eyes.

Damon took my elbow. His grip was iron beneath the gentleness. He leaned close, and his whisper brushed my ear like a promise.

“Last chance, Sera. A witness changes everything. Sign, or I swear to the Moon, I’ll reject you right here in front of the King’s Hand. You’ll walk out packless, mateless, and Lily stays with me.”

My wolf flinched. In my last life, those words broke something in me that never healed.

Not this time.

I pulled my arm free and turned to Kael Draven.

“Your Grace. The west alcove camera wasn’t dead. I had it replaced at noon today. Quietly.” I glanced at Celeste. “It’s been recording for eight hours.”

The blood left her face so fast I thought she’d faint for real.

“That’s impossible,” she breathed. “Nobody said. Nobody told us.”

“Told you?” I tilted my head. “Should I have cleared my own father’s house with you first, Celeste?”

Kael’s grey eyes didn’t leave my face.

“Play it,” he said.

And across the room, my mate went very, very still.