Karla’s pov
My reply seemed to get Everyone around me shocked but I wasn’t surprised. Why were they? Did they expect that after all I had been through I would just fall in love with the first person I see? What was going through their heads anyway? Luna stephanie stepped up with a sad look on her face. “You can’t just toss everything we’re doing for you away,” she said. “What have you done for me?” I asked in rage. “I’m only used as a doll just to bring your children up to a certain standard. No one cares about me. I’m used wherever I go. I don’t need anyone to talk me into doing anything for anyone. I’m no one’s slave. I am my own person.” “My children rescued you!” I scoffed. “I didn’t ask to be rescued! I already know how this works. Your children will use me however they want and cause me irreversible pain and toss me away. I’m done with that. Let everyone let me be. I’m tired of this. What’s the difference between me staying here and being in Darwin’s hold? I’m still a slave. It’s not like I can still walk out of here and demand my freedom. Everyone wants a piece of me. It doesn’t matter what I have to give, so long as everyone is happy to get it. I’m tired of this.” The princes all looked at me in shock as I saw the alphas face with his luna’s face twisted in horror. “I was hurt. All through my life all I’ve known is pain. I’m tired of it. Maybe it’s time everyone left me alone. I’m done being a doll for everyone. I’m not accepting any mate proposal. That closed a long time ago.” “So what are you saying?” The Luna gasped as I closed the distance between us. “You know what I’m saying,” I said. Without thinking, I turned to the crowd and raised my hand up. “I, Karla Hope, reject the alphas as my mate!” Everyone gasped as I said that. They didn’t think I had the balls to do it but I did. They could all go to hell with their plans. I was done being someone else’s slave. This was my life and I would either die with pride or live with it. “I will accept anyone else but them. They are rejected. That is that.” It was supposed to end there, but then I started to feel drowsy as I nearly fell to the ground with one of the princes rushing to hold me. I tried to push him away but my strength was waning. I was feeling weak. Something was off. I could tell. Before I knew it, darkness fell upon me as I closed my eyes and fell into a black abyss. *** Axel’s pov Right now, my life felt like a twisted story I couldn’t escape. My mother always talked about duty, family, and mates. She said Karla was chosen for us—me and my three brothers. She was supposed to be our mate, to bond with us and complete our pack. But I didn’t love her. I didn’t care about her. Whether she lived or died, it didn’t matter to me. Tonight, though, everything turned upside down. Karla rejected us. She stood in front of everyone and said no. She rejected the bond. She rejected me. And she rejected Alaric, Lysander, and Kai, too. I saw my mother’s face fall, and for a moment, I thought she would explode. But instead, she just sighed and told me, “Axel, take her to her room.” Karla had passed out after she spoke those words. Maybe the rejection was too much for her body to handle. It wasn’t surprising—she’s just an omega. Weak. Fragile. Not fit to stand against us. And yet, she did. I didn’t want to be the one to deal with her, but I couldn’t argue with my mother. I carried Karla in my arms, her body limp and light like she didn’t weigh anything at all. My brothers followed me silently at first, but that didn’t last long. “How dare she reject us?” Alaric, my younger brother, growled. He’s the second-born, always serious, always taking everything to heart. “Does she even understand what she’s done? Rejecting the royal family?” “She’ll come around,” Lysander said. He’s the third, the calm one. Sometimes, I think he tries too hard to find the good in people. “Maybe it’s just too much for her. Give her time.” “Give her time?” Kai, the youngest, snapped. “Don’t tell me you’re already falling for her! She’s an omega, Lysander. An omega. Weak and ungrateful. How can you even think about loving someone like her?” I didn’t join their argument. I had nothing to say about Karla. Love? Hate? None of it mattered. She wasn’t important enough for me to feel anything. We reached her room, and I pushed the door open with my foot. The room was plain, like Karla herself. A small bed, a desk, a single window with thin curtains. No warmth, no personality. I dropped her onto the bed without care, and she didn’t even stir. She looked so small lying there, her dark hair spread out like a shadow against the pillow. I turned away and walked to the couch by the window. Sitting down, I looked outside at the night sky. The stars were clear, the moon bright. It was quiet, but not for long. My brothers started arguing again. “I’m telling you, she’s making a mistake,” Alaric said, pacing the room. “We are the princes of the pack. Rejecting us is rejecting the throne itself. She’s a fool.” “Maybe she’s scared,” Lysander said, leaning against the wall. “Think about it. She’s just one girl, and we’re four powerful wolves. Anyone would feel overwhelmed.” “Don’t defend her, Lysander,” Kai spat. “She’s nothing but a coward. Scared or not, she should be grateful we even considered her. Do you know how many would kill to be in her place?”Axel’s povI ignored them. Their words were noise, nothing more. I wasn’t interested in why Karla did what she did or how she felt about it. She wasn’t my choice. She was chosen for us. If she didn’t want to accept that, it was her problem.But even as I thought that, my eyes drifted to her. She was still unconscious, her breathing shallow. She looked peaceful, like she didn’t have a care in the world. It was strange to think that this quiet, fragile girl had stood before everyone and rejected us with such boldness.“Axel, say something,” Alaric said suddenly, turning to me. “You’re the eldest. What do we do about this?”“Nothing,” I said without looking at him.“Nothing?” he repeated, his voice rising. “She rejected us, Axel. Publicly! How can we just let that go?”“What do you want me to do, Alaric?” I asked, finally meeting his eyes. “Force her to accept us? Drag her in front of everyone and make her say yes? If she doesn’t want us, that’s her choice.”“She’ll regret it,” Alaric mu
Axel’s povI thanked the healer but told him that he could leave while I conferred with my siblings.He nodded and left us alone in the garden as I turned to my siblings.My siblings were still arguing as we sat in the garden. Alaric paced back and forth, muttering angrily under his breath about how disrespectful and bold Karla had been to reject us. Kai, ever the hothead, kept tossing sharp words at Lysander, who was trying to defend her. None of them noticed when I leaned back against the wall, deep in thought.The prophecy was clear: our mate couldn’t reject us unless she hated us so much that she couldn’t stand to be in the same room with us. That thought gnawed at me. Did Karla truly hate us to such an extent? Or was she just overwhelmed? She was an omega, after all—weak and unused to standing up to power. And yet, she’d stood before everyone and rejected not one, but all four of us.As the oldest, I had to think logically. If we were honest with her—if we told her that rejecti
Karla’s povWas he being serious? Who did he think he was to tell me what I could and couldn’t do?I growled at him in anger and looked at his brothers. They were so much alike yet I still hated them.When I woke up, the first thing I saw was them. The quadruplets. Axel, Alaric, Lysander, and Kai were all in my room, just sitting there like they owned the place. To be fair they did own the place but still, I didn’t like the way they paraded themselves about like some kind of gods or something. It disgusted me.These men had caused me enough pain and I hated them. They were just as bad as the people themselves.They looked at me as if they’d been waiting for me to wake up for hours. Their presence immediately put me on edge, and the memories of the earlier ceremony came flooding back. I had rejected them—publicly, in front of everyone.Thinking of it made me cringe and I could see why they could be mad at me for doing what I did. But at the same time I didn’t care.I was putting my gu
Karla’s povAs soon as he was gone, the tears I’d been holding back spilled over. I buried my face in my hands, sobbing quietly. How had my life come to this? Just days ago, I was living a simple, peaceful life as an omega. Now, I was trapped in a bond with four brothers who represented everything I hated—arrogance, control, and power used to intimidate others.I didn’t know how long I cried, but the ache in my chest didn’t go away. The bond felt like chains wrapped around my heart, tightening with every passing second. I hated it. I hated them. But most of all, I hated how powerless I felt.There had to be a way out. I didn’t know what it was yet, but I refused to believe Axel’s words. The bond might be strong, but I was stronger.At least, that’s what I told myself as I cried alone in my room.I suddenly thought about axel and how he had acted so smug before me.I hated him. I hated them all. How dare they decide my fate for me? How dare they claim that I belonged to them, like I w
Axel’s povI sat in my room, sifting through some old pictures on my desk. Most of them were old memories, so simple and carefree. I frowned but try as I might, couldn’t shake the anger that had consumed me since the day that woman had entered my life.Karla. That woman. She had rejected me and my brothers in front of people in the pack. She was supposed to be our destined mate, not that it mattered to me in any way. I would never tolerate her; certainly not after this grand display she had turned it into! If she wanted to be stubborn and hate us then fine! I wasn’t going to waste my time anymore trying to keep her under control because she didn’t deserve our efforts.I was going through another photo when my mother, Luna Stephanie, entered my room without bothering to knock. She never did and always assumed she had the right to enter our space.“Axel,” she said steadily. “You have to go and talk to her.”I didn’t even look up from the picture I was holding. “No, I don’t.”“Yes, you
Axel’s povThe moment I saw Karla lying so still on the bed, something in me snapped. She wasn’t moving. But her pale face and shallow, almost nonexistent breaths hit me harder than I’d expected. I tried my best to try to revive her but it failed. All I did was cause a scene as the maids stood by the door doing nothing but watching me act in that manner.I was supposed to not care. What was I even doing acting out like this?“Call the healers,” I said to the maids who still stood there like idiots and it pissed me off even more.I decided to take matters into my own hands as I didn’t waste another second. I leaned down, scooping her up into my arms, gently and decided to take her out of the palace. I doubted the healer would get here as fast as I would take her to the healers hospital.She felt so fragile in my arms and it scared me that she could break. I couldn’t believe she had let herself get like this.Why was she so stubborn? She could have eaten something and gotten better b
Axel’s povMinutes ticked by like hours. I walked around because I couldn’t stand still. Every time the healer murmured something to her assistants or fiddled with one of the machines, my heart leapt.But soon, the healer moved away from the stretcher and came over to us. She looked calm enough but she was weary-eyed.“She’s stable for now,” the healer said. “But she’s severely dehydrated and malnourished. Her body is weak, and she’s under a lot of stress. It’s going to take time for her to recover.”I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. “She’s going to be okay?”The healer nodded. “If she gets the care she needs, yes. But she’s in a fragile state. She needs rest, proper nutrition, and someone to make sure she doesn’t push herself too hard.”My mother looked at me and nodded slightly. “We’ll make sure she gets everything she needs,” my mother replied determinedly.The healer turned toward me. “Her body is weak, but she’s also mentally and emotionally compromised. And i
Axel’s povOur fathers eyes narrowed, and for a moment, I thought he might explode with the same fury we were feeling. But then he calmed himself and remained quiet."That's a really serious allegation," he said. "You got any proof?""No," I said. "Not yet. But we're going to know who it was."My father sighed, and folded his hands on the desk. “I would be angry too,” he said. “But you have to calm down first. You can’t think clearly when you’re that angry.”“Calm? They tortured her!” Alaric’s voice rose.“I never said to do nothing,” my dad began, calm and measured. “I said think. If you go punishing someone without first knowing the truth of what happened, you might end up making things worse.”Lysander shook his head. “How could it get any worse than this?”My dad looked at him. “What if you’re wrong? What if you accuse someone innocent? What if Karla wakes up and realizes you went behind her back and did this without her agreeing to it? You think she’ll thank you for that?”We had
Axel’s povI looked at the text on my phone, my brows tightening as I read it. Rogues were scouting near our pack’s territory. The generals had alerted me of their arrival and had already moved to the border, awaiting my command.I glanced at Alaric and spoke briskly. “I have to go deal with something. I’ll be back.”Alaric shot me a look but didn’t say anything, just nodded as I stepped away. I dialed my generals on my way to the hospital reception and what they told me only fueled my rage. They were still holding back, waiting for their additional forces to arrive, but rogues on the border could only mean one thing.Silence was the only answer I gave before hanging up and taking off down the stairwell. Within seconds I hit the ground floor and blew through the glass doors with my super speed, heading straight for my car. Dropping into it, slamming the door shut, I brought it to life and headed toward the pack border at breakneck speed.The drive was excruciatingly slow, but I’d neve
Alaric’s povI sat beside Karla's bed, my mind in a whirl. She seemed so peaceful. So vulnerable, dreaming her dreams. But I knew as soon as she opened her eyes, reality would crash back down on top of her. And I couldn't help but feel that we teetered on the edge everyday because of this. For one wrong move, one word out of place and it could all come crashing down around us. I turned to see axel tapping away at his phone and looked away from him.Leaning back in my chair so that my words wouldn't disturb the woman from her slumbering fantasies I murmured softly, "Axel... when are we going to tell her the real truth?Axel stiffened and put a finger to his mouth to hush me from saying anything else. I saw something in the man’s eyes that made me roll my own. He then pointed at Karla who still sleeping and then he pointed at the balcony and stepped out onto it without another word.“Fuck it,” I muttered. “I’m up.” I walked outside with him, shutting the door behind me.He leaned again
Alaric’s pov“She’ll need her rest.” she said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “She’s been in surgery to make sure her systems are not compromised and it’s going to take time for her to get better. If anything changes or she wakes up let us know.”“I will.” I promised quietly.The healer nodded and dropped her hand, leaving us alone in the room. I took a seat on the bed nearest to me, the bag of food still clutched to my knee. I could hardly look away from her.“I’m sorry,” I managed to get out through gritted teeth as if she could hear me, “I’m so sorry for not being here when you needed me…but I’ll be here now. Right here.”As the hours ticked by, I dragged the chair to the side of the bed and sat down next to her and took her hand, not looking away, but up at her face the whole time. I then decided to eat as I took my meal and started to eat while I watched the television there on mute.The only sound being the sound of her breathing and the machines beeping.While I ate, I looked
Axel’s povHe smirked, shaking his head. “I don’t need your backup, Axel. I’m not afraid to do what’s right, even if it means standing alone.”With that he turned on his heel and stormed out of the room, the door swinging shut behind him.The silence was thick and tense. “He’ll be sorry he said that,” Lysander eventually sighed.Kai reclined back in his seat, lacing his fingers behind his head. “Let him be sorry,” he waved off. “I’m not going to waste my breath on someone who doesn’t want to hear the truth.”I sat back down, my mind spinning. Alaric’s words had cut through me but I wouldn’t let him see that. Maybe he was right, maybe Karla did need someone to lean on, but there was too much risk in asking too much of her right now. I couldn’t afford to act on my anger or frustration.But all the same, I couldn’t help wishing Alaric the best of luck with his own decisions.***Alaric’s povI stormed out of the study, my heart thumping with rage and a kind of adrenaline I had never felt
Axel’s povOur fathers eyes narrowed, and for a moment, I thought he might explode with the same fury we were feeling. But then he calmed himself and remained quiet."That's a really serious allegation," he said. "You got any proof?""No," I said. "Not yet. But we're going to know who it was."My father sighed, and folded his hands on the desk. “I would be angry too,” he said. “But you have to calm down first. You can’t think clearly when you’re that angry.”“Calm? They tortured her!” Alaric’s voice rose.“I never said to do nothing,” my dad began, calm and measured. “I said think. If you go punishing someone without first knowing the truth of what happened, you might end up making things worse.”Lysander shook his head. “How could it get any worse than this?”My dad looked at him. “What if you’re wrong? What if you accuse someone innocent? What if Karla wakes up and realizes you went behind her back and did this without her agreeing to it? You think she’ll thank you for that?”We had
Axel’s povMinutes ticked by like hours. I walked around because I couldn’t stand still. Every time the healer murmured something to her assistants or fiddled with one of the machines, my heart leapt.But soon, the healer moved away from the stretcher and came over to us. She looked calm enough but she was weary-eyed.“She’s stable for now,” the healer said. “But she’s severely dehydrated and malnourished. Her body is weak, and she’s under a lot of stress. It’s going to take time for her to recover.”I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. “She’s going to be okay?”The healer nodded. “If she gets the care she needs, yes. But she’s in a fragile state. She needs rest, proper nutrition, and someone to make sure she doesn’t push herself too hard.”My mother looked at me and nodded slightly. “We’ll make sure she gets everything she needs,” my mother replied determinedly.The healer turned toward me. “Her body is weak, but she’s also mentally and emotionally compromised. And i
Axel’s povThe moment I saw Karla lying so still on the bed, something in me snapped. She wasn’t moving. But her pale face and shallow, almost nonexistent breaths hit me harder than I’d expected. I tried my best to try to revive her but it failed. All I did was cause a scene as the maids stood by the door doing nothing but watching me act in that manner.I was supposed to not care. What was I even doing acting out like this?“Call the healers,” I said to the maids who still stood there like idiots and it pissed me off even more.I decided to take matters into my own hands as I didn’t waste another second. I leaned down, scooping her up into my arms, gently and decided to take her out of the palace. I doubted the healer would get here as fast as I would take her to the healers hospital.She felt so fragile in my arms and it scared me that she could break. I couldn’t believe she had let herself get like this.Why was she so stubborn? She could have eaten something and gotten better b
Axel’s povI sat in my room, sifting through some old pictures on my desk. Most of them were old memories, so simple and carefree. I frowned but try as I might, couldn’t shake the anger that had consumed me since the day that woman had entered my life.Karla. That woman. She had rejected me and my brothers in front of people in the pack. She was supposed to be our destined mate, not that it mattered to me in any way. I would never tolerate her; certainly not after this grand display she had turned it into! If she wanted to be stubborn and hate us then fine! I wasn’t going to waste my time anymore trying to keep her under control because she didn’t deserve our efforts.I was going through another photo when my mother, Luna Stephanie, entered my room without bothering to knock. She never did and always assumed she had the right to enter our space.“Axel,” she said steadily. “You have to go and talk to her.”I didn’t even look up from the picture I was holding. “No, I don’t.”“Yes, you
Karla’s povAs soon as he was gone, the tears I’d been holding back spilled over. I buried my face in my hands, sobbing quietly. How had my life come to this? Just days ago, I was living a simple, peaceful life as an omega. Now, I was trapped in a bond with four brothers who represented everything I hated—arrogance, control, and power used to intimidate others.I didn’t know how long I cried, but the ache in my chest didn’t go away. The bond felt like chains wrapped around my heart, tightening with every passing second. I hated it. I hated them. But most of all, I hated how powerless I felt.There had to be a way out. I didn’t know what it was yet, but I refused to believe Axel’s words. The bond might be strong, but I was stronger.At least, that’s what I told myself as I cried alone in my room.I suddenly thought about axel and how he had acted so smug before me.I hated him. I hated them all. How dare they decide my fate for me? How dare they claim that I belonged to them, like I w