Rejected by the Alpha, Claimed by his Brother
Chapter 87: _ A Room Full of Fools

Chapter 87: _ A Room Full of Fools

I felt a quiet kind of pain, the kind that didn’t demand attention but it settled into the bones after seeing the pain in her eyes.

My father kept talking, oblivious to the way my heartbeat roared in my ears.

"And as much as I hate to discipline my own blood, I must," he continued, shaking his head as if I had gravely disappointed him. "Axel needs to understand that respect for his superiors is not optional. I have no issue with him apologizing if that is what it takes to set an example."

I exhaled slowly through my nose. Then I looked at María José again.

She had lowered her head with her fingers tightening slightly against the hem of her dress. She wasn’t going to say anything.

Of course, she wasn’t. She was used to this. Used to being nothing in their eyes.

Used to keeping her head down while the rest of them spoke over her, about her, as if she wasn’t even worth acknowledging.

I could feel it then—anger raging in my blood, curling hot and restless beneath my skin.

I didn’t even realize I had started speaking until my own voice cut the room short.

"Well, since we’re all noble people here, there’s really no need to drag anyone down just to prove a point."

The room went dead silent.

I ignored the way my father’s head snapped toward me, the way Diego’s expression changed, the way Álvaro muttered something under his breath like I had just done something incredibly stupid.

Because I wasn’t looking at them. I was looking at her.

María José.

Her posture went motionless, as if she couldn’t believe I had just spoken.

Neither could I, to be honest. I had agreed to behave today. I had told myself to stay out of her business after last night.

Oh, wait... I hadn’t told myself that. But now, I was.

However, for now, I wasn’t done. I’d finish what I started.

"If you want me to apologize, then fine. I’ll do it. But don’t disregard María José like that." I plucked at the cuff of my shirt like speaking was ruining the arrangement.

The silence that followed made my skin itch and my jaw tighten. I felt my father’s stare at me like an anvil waiting to drop.

"Axel." His voice was calm—too calm. It was a warning disguised as a single word. "Is this what I asked you to come here and do?"

I rolled my eyes, forcing my face into some sort of neutrality. "I’m just saying, we don’t have to treat María José like..."

"Ah-ah." He held up a hand, cutting me off effortlessly. "That wasn’t my question."

I clenched my teeth. This was the moment I was supposed to backtrack, lower my head, say no, Father, and behave like a proper Beta son.

But I could still feel María José’s pain, like a splinter wedged beneath my skin.

Before I could decide whether to dig my grave deeper or salvage what was left of my dignity, Camilla sighed dramatically from across the room, drawing everyone’s attention.

"Well," she said, tossing her golden hair over her shoulder, "if I didn’t know any better, I’d say Axel likes María José."

The words dropped like a bomb.

I could almost hear the clank of everyone’s jaw slackened. Not in their wildest dreams could anyone here have imagined such.

Not even me.

Camilla has got to be kidding me. In the entirety of my life, no woman had caught my fancy to that level.

Camilla, oh, you little...

"Which is very strange," she continued, tilting her head, "considering Axel and Rosa are secretly dating."

Just when I thought she had just dropped the most ludicrous thing ever, she topped it with something even more absurd.

For a second, I thought I’d misheard. That my brain had finally checked out from the sheer stupidity of this gathering and decided to invent its own nightmare.

But no. Camilla’s cynical grin said it all.

The silence broke into chaos. Gasps. Muttered exclamations. Someone actually choked on their drink. Maybe Rosa herself?

I swerved my head toward María José, intuition kicking in before logic could catch up.

She was frozen. Completely still, like a rabbit caught in a predator’s gaze. But her eyes... her damn eyes—were the worst part. They shone with a helpless pain, the kind that dug under my ribs and clawed at my lungs.

After all, I had just kissed her last night. I had just marked her even if it wasn’t a mate mark. I had just sucked her blood. All of this happened just some hours ago.

And now, she was hearing that I was secretly dating her sister? After I hadn’t given her an explanation of what happened?

That completely makes me a jerk. I might be stubborn, but being an ass to women? Hell nah.

"Axel," my mother’s voice rang out. "Is this true?"

I opened my mouth, fully prepared to shut this disaster down...

"Oh, but that’s wonderful!" Her tone turned from questioning to delight in an instant without even giving me a chance to explain.

I blinked. Excuse me?

She clapped her hands together, looking positively thrilled. "Axel, why didn’t you tell me sooner? This is a fantastic idea!"

I had never known fear like the fear of a mother getting ahead of herself.

Rosa, meanwhile, remained calm. A smile curved her lips, but her dark eyes were completely expressionless.

It was the kind of look that said ’Of course, he has always been mine to begin with’.

Bloody hell, who was hers? Definitely not me.

My father, who was still seated at the head of the table, finally sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Luna, what idea are you talking about?"

"Oh, it’s simple, really," my mother said, all but beaming. "We’re here to discuss something similar anyway."

Don Diego raised a brow, skeptical now. "And what exactly do you mean by that?"

Before she could answer, Álvaro stood abruptly, pushing back his chair. The motion commanded instant attention.

I didn’t like where this was going.

"I," he declared, straightening his shoulders, "the Alpha heir of the SilverMoon Pack, have finally decided to ask for Camilla’s hand in marriage."

Oh, dear brother, you have no idea who you are about to engage; I thought internally.

The idea of living in the same house with Camilla was already making me sick.

If the first bomb had been shocking, this was nuclear. The entire De la Vega family looked as if someone had just dumped ice water over them.

Camilla, however...

Camilla screamed.

Not a normal scream. Oh, no. A dramatic, high-pitched, noblewoman’s fantasy finally coming true kind of scream.

And then she fainted.

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