Rejected by the Alpha, Claimed by his Brother
Chapter 171: _ Nowhere to Stay

Chapter 171: _ Nowhere to Stay

I shifted, wincing as my body protested, but I fought through the pain. My fingers brushed the damp towel Giulia had abandoned in her lap, and I gripped it, squeezing it between my fingers.

"They think I am nothing now," I murmured, my voice steadier than it had been since I woke. "But they will soon learn... there is nothing more dangerous than something they tried to kill but failed."

I would return. Not as the girl they knew. Not as the battered, pathetic Omega they had left for dead.

No.

I would return as the ghost that haunted them. As the shadow that slithered through their nightmares, the whisper in the dark that made their hearts seize with terror.

I would make Rosa suffer first. I would watch as everything she loved turned to ash in her hands. I would take her happiness piece by piece, rip it from her just as she ripped my life away from me.

And Axel...

Oh, Axel.

He had marked me, tied his soul to mine in an unbreakable bond... only to betray me in the cruelest way possible. He thought his rejection was final? That I would wither away in heartbreak?

No.

I would make him regret every moment he had chosen her over me.

I would not touch him. I would not need to. The world itself would turn against him at my will. And my Father? Oh, I’d have the greatest satisfaction when both of his two cherished daughters became his downfall and worst nightmares.

I exhaled, feeling my heart steady. Vengeance was no longer an option. It was my destiny.

Letizia and Giulia exchanged wary glances, sensing the shift in me.

Let them be afraid.

They should be.

Because I wasn’t weak anymore. Power... I’d do anything to acquire that. I would not stop until the weakest became the strongest.

Letizia fidgeted, wringing the damp cloth in her hands as if she were trying to strangle the guilt out of herself. Giulia, as the worrier that she was, had her arms folded tightly over her chest, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

Their hesitance was loud and almost suffocating. I could already tell where this conversation was going before Letizia even parted her lips.

"Señorita," she started, her voice careful, like she was tiptoeing over broken glass. "As much as we’d love to help you, you need to leave before sunrise."

I arched a brow despite the sting that came with the movement. "You’re kicking me out already? Not even a proper farewell dinner?"

Letizia sighed, shaking her head. "It’s not like that. If they find out we hid you, we’ll be fired."

"Or worse," Giulia muttered darkly, crossing herself. "Don Diego doesn’t take betrayal lightly."

That was an understatement. Don Diego had once thrown a man into a pit of rabid hounds for miscalculating his shipment logs. A miscalculation.

What he’d do to his disfigured, disowned daughter and the poor maids who tried to hide her was something I didn’t want to imagine.

I exhaled slowly, letting the realization settle in my bones. "It’s fine," I said finally. "I understand your point."

Giulia’s face softened. "We really are sorry, María José. If we could do more..."

"I know," I cut in, sparing them from more guilt. "And I appreciate this much already."

Letizia bit her lip before hesitantly asking, "Do you have anywhere to go?"

I let out a dry laugh. "Where do you think?"

Letizia and Giulia exchanged a glance, both clearly torn. Letizia inhaled, straightening up as if making a decision.

"I have a cousin in the pack’s military. He has an apartment, but he’s barely there since he’s always on duty. If you don’t mind squatting there until you figure things out, I can call him and ask."

This was something I had never done in my whole life. Never have I ever slept out, not to mention squatting with a stranger.

Giulia’s brows lifted. "You’d send her to live with a man?"

Letizia huffed. "It’s not like that! Mateo’s a good man. High morals. He wouldn’t dare lay a finger on her."

I snorted. "High morals? In this pack? That’s rare."

"That’s what I’m saying!" Giulia huffed, throwing her hands up. "What if he’s one of those secret perverts who act all honorable by day and..."

"Enough!" Letizia glared at her. "I trust Mateo. María José will be safe with him."

Safe.

That word rang in my head like a siren, rattling something in my chest that I hadn’t realized was there. An unease and a whisper of warning.

Oh, hold up...

Did she just say Mateo?!

As in the pigsty Mateo?!

I remembered the creak of my bedroom door opening as I let him in clueless. His whisper, this touch... how much he terrified me.

"You deserve better than Axel. He’s just like the others. But me... I could take care of you, love you the way you need."

Blood drained from my face.

Not him.

Not Mateo.

Letizia had already pulled out her phone, fingers tapping against the screen as she muttered, "I’ll call him right now."

No.

I sucked in a breath, my throat tightening. My hands clenched into the blanket, suddenly clammy. I tried to say something, anything, but my voice wouldn’t work.

Giulia turned to me, frowning. "Señorita? Are you alright? You look like you just saw a ghost."

I forced my expression to smooth over, swallowing the panic clawing at my throat. "Yeah. Just... still sore."

Letizia pressed the phone to her ear, waiting as it rang. My pulse pounded in my temples. I felt like I was trapped in a slow-moving nightmare, unable to stop what was coming.

Then she frowned. "That’s odd."

Giulia raised a brow. "What?"

"He’s not picking up." Letizia tried again. The phone rang and rang. Still no answer. She frowned deeper. "That’s not like him. He always picks up."

Yay!

He wasn’t picking. Maybe luck was on my side. I exhaled, but the relief was short-lived.

Just as I thought I had dodged the worst, Letizia’s phone buzzed. She put it on speaker.

"Mateo?"

His voice came through, low and cut back. "Can’t talk long. I’m in a situation."

Letizia’s brows knitted. "A situation? What’s going on?"

There was a moment of hesitation before he said...

"I’m detained. By Camilla De la Vega."

A cold chill shot through my veins. My sister detained him?! Camilla knew him?!

Giulia’s eyes widened. "Camilla? Why?"

Mateo let out a frustrated breath. "She’s questioning me. I don’t even know what for. Something about...disrespect for the De la Vega name and treason. She claims I spoke ill of her Father and the Alpha. I swear, I didn’t."

What in the bloody hell was going on? Now, I knew why Camilla wasn’t present to rub it in when Rosa was busy thrashing me two days ago. I had thought she had been busy with her endless shopping for her wedding items, but now I knew.

Oh, wait. Camilla and Álvaro’s wedding was coming up in eighteen days now. What if... what if they conjoined it with that of Axel and Rosa?