Chapter 14 Not very long when Mark appeared, red-faced and panicked, dragging Alpha Shawn back by the sleeve. His wolf bristled beneath his skin, eyes flickering gold. "Dad. Not here. We're here for the Vale Pack alliance, not for her circus." Vale Pack alliance? My wolf growled in my chest, almost laughing. Then Mark's gaze hit me. The same boyish face I remembered, now hardened into cruelty. He gave me that once-familiar look. The one man reserved for rotting fruit. Or women who dared to outgrow their cage. "You ran away to be a mistress," Mark said, his tone dripping with contempt. "That's all you'l ever be." He stepped forward, his aura swelling, his wolf pressing against mine like a challenge. "No wonder Dad hated you since I was six. You were always cheap." I said nothing. Damien moved like a shadow beside me. "She's not just anyone. She's-" I touched his arm. Gently. Silencing him. My smile cut sharper than any blade. I turned back to Alpha Shawn and Mark, calm as moonlight before a storm. "Believe what you want. Mistress. Whore. Ghost." My voice was low, steady. I raised my glass." don't care what name you give me." I leaned closer, wolf to wolf. My eyes glowed faintly gold, just enough for Mark to flinch. "You'll find out soon enough." The orchestra resumed, strings softening like perfume over blood. I turned, sat beside Damien again, unmoved. Ram caught my eye across the room; his subtle nod was loyalty incarnate. Edrick's smirk was pure wolfish hunger. We're ready. Let the auction begin. Let the games burn. "Tonight," the auctioneer crooned, his voice sharp as fangs, "you bid not only with wealth... but with legacy." His gaze cut straight to me. Not past me. Not through me. At me, like a challenge. I didn't blink. Damien sat still as a mountain, the steady weight of an Alpha's presence rolling off him. Ram's wolf prowled beneath his skin. Edrick's eyes gleamed, predatory. Even old Alpha Magnus Vale across the room bristled, nostrils flaring as if scenting blood in the air. All of them were watching. Waiting. Let them bid. Let them sweat. I wasn't here to play their game. I was here to flip the board and grind it into dust. I marked every twitch of a hand, every ripple of dominance, every exchanged glance between Happy Rejection My Alpha 1/4 25.0% 6:47 pm wolves and humans alike. They thought they spoke in money. I spoke in memory, in blood, in vengeance written into my bones. A new painting was unveiled. Venetian oil. Ancient. Dark. I felt her before I saw her, Marga. Her scent hit the air first, a cloying floral that curdled like rot. My wolf snarled low in my chest. She raised her paddle. I smiled and raised mine. Her composure faltered, eyes flashing wild. Veneer cracking like brittle glass. She went higher. I went higher. No words. No mercy. Just glances, sharp and cutting as claws in moonlight. The crowd whispered now. The she-wolf who once scrubbed floors in Morocco... bidding like blooded royalty, spine unbroken, aura untamed. Marga tried one last desperate lunge with her bid, her perfume thick as poison in the hall. I lifted one finger. Just one. The auctioneer's gavel came down with a sound like bone snapping. "Sold." Polite applause. Confusion. Danger. Then Marga opened her mouth. "Huh. The poor girl who scrubbed floors on that Ravenshade pack house has the thick face to bid here?" she shouted, voice brittle, eyes glassy. "No matter how much you bid, Stella, you're still the rat in silk. A cleaner. A wolf with no pack." The room stilled like prey scenting a predator. My wolf surged, claws itching beneath my skin. My hand twitched, aching to strike her so hard her teeth would spell regret across marble. Damien's whisper slithered like a dagger. "Control your rage. Not now. You kill her later. Not here." I swallowed the fire. My glass strained beneath my grip. Then, Alpha Shawn. He was staring. Not with anger. Not with disgust. With hunger. His wolf's eyes flashed, dragging over me like I was the last drop of water on a battlefield. His smugness had cracked, replaced with regret. Desire. Worship. Good. Let him choke on it. The lights shifted. Spotlights flared. The auctioneer stepped aside, and the name Magnus Vale thundered across the chamber like the moon commanding wolves. Applause erupted. Some wolves lowered their heads. Others crossed themselves like humans at a sermon. Magnus walked in not like a man, but like an Alpha whose shadow had ruled for generations. Ram took the mic, voice ringing with prophecy. "Tonight, we do not only auction legacy. We reclaim it. The true heir has returned. She is Chapter 14 214 25 50 6:47 pm forty-eight years old." Gasps. Murmurs. Wolves stiffened. Claws flexed beneath gloves. All eyes turned toward Marga. She straightened, chest out, eyes wide like prey mistaking itself for a predator. "Could it be her?" someone whispered. "She fits the age..." "She's always carried that aura." "She was mated to a Ravenshade once... One wolf even bowed slightly. Marga trembled, smile twitching into delusion. Then Magnus moved. Slow. Measured. His aura swept the hall like a tide, commanding silence. His eyes scanned the crowd, passed Marga. Passed the vultures. Landed on me. He strode forward. Time slowed as he extended his hand. I placed mine in his. His grip was firm. Blood recognizing blood. Wolf recognizing wolf. He pulled me to my feet. His voice boomed like thunder under a full moon. 'This," he declared, every syllable a decree of pack law, "is my daughter. My blood. My heir." The world fractured. Gasps like lightning strikes. Paparazzi flashes like stars exploding. Marga's glass shattered in her hand, red wine bleeding down her gown like the truth finally devoured her lies. Mark and Lydia turned pale as corpses. Alpha Shawn? Stone. Betrayal carved into his bones. His wolf is silent. Broken. stepped forward. Lifted my chin, voice ringing across the chamber. 'I am honored," I began, my voice carrying the weight of blood and moon, "to bear the Vale name again. To walk in the shadow of an Alpha who carved dynasties from fang and fire... and now, to build a legacy that even the moon itself will bow to." smiled gently. Cruelly. 'I was lost once. Forgotten. But blood-" I let my golden gaze slice across Marga, "-always knows where it belongs." The crowd inhaled as if I had slapped the moon itself. Across the room, Alpha Shawn stared still. His mouth parted, but no sound came. He knew. You stole everything from me. Tonight, I take it back. The auction resumed. But the game had changed. Now, they weren't bidding for paintings. They were bidding for me. Items skyrocketed. Prices soared to madness. Men who once ignored me now fought to impress me, to curry favor with the wolf-heir reborn. Damien leaned in, whisper sharp as a fang. "You've got them hooked. Now reel in their secrets." Chapter 14 25.08 6:47 pm I smiled. I didn't need to hunt. They'd tear out their own throats for me. 6:48 pm MARK'S POV