All Chapters of Rejected by the Prince, Claimed by the Alpha: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

The next morning, Darius was gone before sunrise. Elara discovered this when she wandered downstairs expecting coffee and found only an empty kitchen.For a moment, she frowned, then immediately frowned harder because she had expected him to be there. That seemed concerning.The realization followed her all morning.She made coffee.No Darius.She spent an hour sketching in the library.No Darius.She wandered into the greenhouse.Still no Darius.The greenhouse remained warm and peaceful beneath the winter sunlight. She spent most of the morning drawing there.She was trying to. Instead, she found herself looking toward the door every few minutes. This was ridiculous.He was busy. People were allowed to be busy. Normal adults did not require constant visual confirmation of other adults.Elara kept reminding herself of this, but it did absolutely nothing.By lunch, she gave up pretending.One of the patrol wolves noticed immediately. "Looking for Darius?"Elara nearly dropped her fork

Elara was halfway through a sketch when the library door opened. She didn't look up immediately. Charcoal moved across the page in slow, steady strokes while late afternoon sunlight filtered through the tall windows overlooking the mountains. For the first time in years, drawing didn't feel like work. It felt like breathing.The door closed. A familiar voice sighed, not irritated. Resigned. That got Elara's attention. She glanced up.Darius stood near the entrance. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't alone. The woman beside him paused the moment she spotted Elara.Silver hair.Sharp eyes.The kind of smile that immediately made people nervous.Darius closed his eyes briefly. "Mara.""What?""You have that look.""I don't know what you're talking about.""That's a lie."The woman ignored him completely and crossed the room.Elara barely had time to stand before a hand appeared in front of her."Mara Thorne."Her grip was firm, confident."Territorial advisor. Occasional problem solver. Fu

Three days later, Elara found herself thinking about the photograph again. Not intentionally. That was the annoying part. She'd be reading and suddenly remember the lake. She'd be walking through the lodge and think about the expression on Darius's face.Not the smile itself. The ease of it. The complete absence of responsibility. The version of Darius that had existed before territory politics, council disputes, and endless reports became permanent fixtures in his life.By the third day, she was beginning to suspect the photograph wasn't actually the problem. Curiosity was.The greenhouse was quiet that afternoon. Snow drifted steadily beyond the glass, softening the mountains into pale shapes beneath a gray winter sky. The warmth inside fogged portions of the windows while the scent of damp earth lingered comfortably in the air. Elara sat at one of the worktables with a sketchbook open in front of her. The page remained mostly blank. Every time she started drawing, her thoughts wan

Darius came back from the western patrol just after dusk, and for once, Elara noticed him before he noticed her.That rarely happened.He entered through the side corridor near the mudroom rather than the main hall, speaking quietly with one of the patrol captains as snow melted from the shoulders of his coat. His hair was wind-tousled, his boots wet, his expression composed as it always was when other wolves were watching.Controlled.Functional.Alpha.Elara had been sitting at the long table near the kitchen with Mara, half-listening to a story about a disastrous council dinner from ten years ago while pretending not to sketch the curve of the windows in the margin of an old receipt.She looked up when the door opened.At first, nothing seemed wrong.Darius nodded to the captain. The captain answered. Someone laughed in the kitchen behind her. A kettle hissed on the stove.Then Darius shifted his weight.Barely.A small adjustment, gone almost as soon as it happened.Elara’s pencil

Elara woke to the sound of snow sliding off the roof.For several seconds, she had no idea where she was.The room was dim, washed in the pale gray light of early morning. The fire had burned low in the hearth, leaving a faint orange glow beneath ash. Somewhere outside, wind moved through the trees with a soft, steady hush.She blinked.Then remembered.Darius’s room.The couch beneath her.The blanket was pulled up to her chin.Her neck ached faintly, but not as badly as it would have if she had fallen asleep in the chair. That, she decided, counted as a victory.Across the room, Darius was still asleep.That held her still more than anything else.She had seen him tired before. Exhausted, even. She had seen him with one hand braced against a table, eyes shadowed from too many hours spent carrying problems other people handed him.But this was different.Asleep, he looked younger.Not harmless. Never that. Even half-buried beneath blankets with one shoulder bandaged, there was still