Rejected by the Alpha, Claimed by his Brother
Chapter 219: _ Her Wolf

Chapter 219: _ Her Wolf

Axel’s hand moved to my ribs, slowly dragging up and up until his thumb grazed just under my breast. He didn’t rush and he didn’t push.

He just explored with the patience of a man who knew he had all the time in the world. Every part of me buzzed like I’d swallowed a swarm of bees.

We kissed again. Slower and softer this time. But it burned. Like fire tucked under velvet.

I was lost in the kiss, lost in our own little world when something thrilled me suddenly.

It was tiny at first. It was like a flicker. A shiver that didn’t belong to the room or the warmth or even Axel’s ridiculously sinful mouth.

A voice. A faint and feminine whisper.

Mate.

I froze. It had come from inside of me. My head. My chest. Somewhere I didn’t know I had a door.

Mate, it said again. But this time it was like it was underwater, slipping away as quickly as it arrived.

I blinked.

Was that...?

Axel raised his head so fast I nearly fell off the bed. His eyes were wide and focused like a man hearing the song of sirens. "Did you feel that?"

I swallowed, my throat dry. "Fell what?"

He stared at me like I’d just turned into stardust. "My wolf," he whispered, almost reverent. "He’s crying for you."

A chill danced down my spine, made worse by the heat still lingering in every nerve ending he’d just touched.

"What do you mean?" I asked while battling my own uncertainty.

Axel cupped my face, thumbs brushing just under my eyes. "He said, mate. Loud. Clear and Desperate. You’re my mate, María José."

"I... I don’t have a wolf," I stuttered, shaking my head.

I began to daze into a trance, suddenly aware that my whole existence was beginning to crack open like an egg in a frying pan.

His brows furrowed. "Maybe you didn’t. But you should know, María, that there’s a wolf inside of you. Hugo doesn’t make mistakes twice. You’re my mate, María José. Allow yourself to feel and believe it."

Hugo? Who the hell was Hugo?

I sat up, slowly, pulling his shirt tighter around me like it could hold all the confusion trying to leak out of my bones. "Axel, this can’t be real."

He followed, sitting up beside me, his hands never leaving my body. "Then why are you shaking?"

I looked down. Damn it. My hands were trembling like I was on the edge of tethering toward the realm of insanity.

"Maybe I’m just overwhelmed," I said quickly. Too quickly.

But the truth was deeper than that. The voice I’d heard... it hadn’t sounded like fear or anxiety or hallucination. It had sounded... right. Familiar in the way a mother’s voice is, even if you’ve never heard it before.

"Say something else," Axel whispered, as if speaking louder would scare the moment away.

"What?"

"Talk to her. That voice. Your wolf. Maybe she’ll answer."

I shook my head. "This is insane. I’ve lived the past few months of my life thinking I didn’t have one. That I was broken or missing or..."

He grabbed my hand and pressed it over his heart. "Does this feel like something broken?"

"No," I whispered.

"Exactly. So let’s not ruin it with doubt."

We sat like that for a moment, me with my hand over his heart and him looking at me like I was the moon on his darkest night.

I closed my eyes.

Tentatively. "Hello?" I thought... no, more like reaching out in a way I didn’t understand.

There was silence.

Then, faintly, Finally, the voice whispered.

I opened my eyes. "She answered."

Axel’s face broke into the softest smile I’d ever seen. Like I’d just told him the war was over and we’d both survived it.

"You found her," he murmured. "Or she found you."

"But how?" I asked. "Why now? Why you?"

He shrugged. "Some souls take longer to speak. Maybe she needed to feel safe first. Or maybe she was waiting for me."

The weight of those words sat heavily on my chest. I wanted to believe them. Desperately. But fear is a loud thing, even when love is louder.

I leaned into him, resting my head on his shoulder. "What now?"

He kissed the top of my head. "Now we take it one moment at a time."

"But what if..."

He silenced me with a kiss. Not one of hunger or lust this time, but one of calm.

When he pulled away, he smiled. "You’re mine, María José. With or without a wolf. With or without the voice. And I’ll wait for her whenever she chooses to fully awaken. You’ll become my Luna. I’ll wait For you. As long as it takes."

A traitorous tear slipped down my cheek. "That was so cheesy."

He laughed and wiped it away. "You love it."

"I hate it."

"You want me to say it again?"

"No."

He leaned closer. "Forever."

"Oh, Dios mío—shut up!"

And just like that, he tackled me back onto the bed, laughter spilling between us like a broken dam, both of us tangled in a storm of kisses and limbs and unexpected joy.

And somewhere, deep in the back of my mind, my wolf whispered again...

Mate.

And this time, I didn’t flinch.

I smiled.

Axel was my wolf. He belonged to me, not Rosa. The Moon Goddess just made sure of that. I wondered if that was why my wolf didn’t respond to Álvaro’s call.

But the kicker was that every wolf awakened at the call of the Alpha wolf. Which left me wondering what kind of wolf I had.

A wolf that disregarded the call of an Alpha. What sort of wolf was that?

"Axel?" I called, voice suddenly melancholic.

I was pressed on his chest, so he rubbed my back in response. "My mate."

"Stop that already. I suggest we keep it a secret until my wolf is fully awakened." I implied.

Two confused lines appeared on Axel’s forehead. "Can I ask why?"

"Come on, Axel. There are a lot of circumstances against our union. There’s also the fact that you’re engaged to Rosa and will marry her in a few days." I pointed out even though the words were like piercing a blade through my own heart.