Rejected by the Alpha, Claimed by his Brother
Chapter 209: _ You Belong Where I Am

Chapter 209: _ You Belong Where I Am

I wasn’t prepared for Axel’s wrath.

Not even remotely.

One second, I was blinking up at him with parted lips in disbelief, and the next, he yanked off his top like some kind of seething god.

The maids gasped as those muscles flexed and rippled under the golden chandelier lights, and there was a faint thud from the far corner.

It was obvious that someone had clearly dropped a tray. I couldn’t even be embarrassed for the poor maid because I was too stunned to move.

Imagine her seeing Axel dragging me out of a room where I was dressed in a towel.

As if that wasn’t enough, he shoved his jacket over my head with a grunt that sounded more like a suppressed growl, and winked at me with those infuriatingly dark eyes.

"What are you doing?" I tried to protest through the thick cotton that smelled entirely like him like I wouldn’t cherish the fabric for the rest of my life.

Axel didn’t answer. He simply grabbed my hand in his calloused grip, spun around raging like someone who could murder a man with a spoon, and stormed forward like a bull in a silk hallway.

"Axel—Axel!" I hissed, trotting beside him, half blind and half choking on the scent of expensive fury. "Where are we going?!"

His grip tightened. "Home."

Home? That word stung in places I didn’t know still had nerve endings.

I didn’t have a home, and if Axel meant ’his home’, then that meant inside the packhouse’s mansion.

The main building of the mansion stood ahead like a forbidden temple. I dug my heels into the marbled pathway, tugging on his hand.

"Wait, is this okay?" I whispered, breath rising as though we were crossed into enemy territory. "I mean... am I even allowed to be in there?"

I was no longer a De la Vega. People like me don’t step into the Alpha’s mansion unless there was a special invite.

Maybe Axel’s was enough.

He didn’t stop walking. Not once or even to glance back at me. He just held my hand in hand and led me on.

"Wherever I am... you belong." He growled, voice cold enough to send goosebumps erupting all over me.

My heart skipped a beat so much that I didn’t even know a tear had fallen until I tasted it on my lips.

God. Axel meant it.

He meant it.

We finally made it to the grand staircase. I barely lifted my foot when someone turned the corner, and the universe, as always, refused to let me have a single peaceful moment.

"Axel!" came the elegant voice of a woman I recognized from the many whispers and terrified bows she commanded.

His mother.

Luna Ana.

She looked every inch the noble matriarch in her tailored cream blouse and embroidered skirt. Her silver-streaked hair was pulled into a loose bun that somehow screamed "I own you."

Her eyes sparkled when she saw him—and then they found me and my throat ran dry.

This was Axel’s mother. The mother of the man I loved, and even though I had seen her a couple of times before, I still felt self-conscious.

I dropped into a nervous half-curtsy, half-squat, and stammered, "Buenas noches, señora, disculpe, I didn’t mean to..."

Her gaze snapped to my face, and she gasped loud enough to echo.

"Dios mío, niñ... what happened to you?"

"I—uh..." My tongue tangled. "I got into a small accident, señora, it’s nothing, I..."

"It’s not nothing." Axel’s voice boomed like thunder, and I turned to see his jaw clenched so tightly it looked like it would snap.

His eyes were on his mother. Furious. Gleaming. Dangerous.

"Rosa did this to her," he spat.

Ana blinked. "Rosa?"

He stepped forward. "Yes. Rosa. The same one you people want me to marry. She laid hands on María José. Look at her. Look at her face."

The room went deathly still. A pin drop would’ve screamed.

Ana’s expression turned horrific, her eyes bouncing between us with her lips parting in horror. "Dios santo..."

Axel didn’t wait for her approval, or her outrage, or even her pity.

He simply grabbed my hand again and dragged me up the stairs like a vengeful beast on a mission, ignoring my attempts to speak, ignoring his mother’s protests, ignoring the maids gawking like they were watching a telenovela unfold in real time.

"Señora, I’m fine!" I cried behind me as she shouted something unintelligible in our wake.

But Axel didn’t stop once. Not even when we reached the double doors of his room. He kicked them open with such drama that would make one mistake him for an exiled prince reclaiming his castle.

He pulled me inside, slammed the doors behind us, and turned on me like I’d just insulted his grandmother’s tortilla recipe.

"Have you lost your mind?" he shouted.

I jumped, blinking as he paced the floor like a caged panther. "What the hell were you doing in a room with Álvaro? Álvaro, María José! Have you finally gone insane?!"

"I wasn’t with him like that!" I protested.

"Oh really?" he spun around. "If Teo hadn’t told me they spotted you up ahead, if I hadn’t run like crazy all the way here, traced your scent to that fucking room, tell me, what would have happened then, María José! TELL ME!"

He really did all of that for me? Despite how I’d sent him off rudely the last time, accused him of something he might not know anything of, Axel still did all that.

I stepped toward him, hands raised and my heart hammering. "I was there to see you, Axel. Only you."

He barked out a disbelieving laugh and started unbuttoning his cuffs with such rage I thought he might rip the sleeves off. "Well, congratulations. You made it look like you were running around like some lost—some clueless..."

Oh, my Axel! I didn’t let him finish.

I yanked myself forward and wrapped my arms around his waist, burying my face into his bare chest before he could throw another verbal bomb at me.

He froze. I could feel his pulse through his skin. His breath stuttered above me.

"I came to see you," I whispered. "I just... couldn’t wait anymore."

There was silence. The kind that carried tension like a violin string pulled taut. For a moment, I thought he would push me away, scold me again, throw more fire at me. But instead, he let out a shuddering breath—and held me back.

Tightly.

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