Rejected By My Mate; Claimed By Lycan Quadruplets Chapter 118

Irene's POV

I stood by the coffin, my fingers brushing the polished wood as if my touch could seep through and reach him, my father, my Alpha, the only constant pillar I had ever known. The candles flickered faintly, shadows dancing across the carved markings on the wood, and I couldn’t breathe. Not properly. It felt like my lungs were collapsing inside my chest, forcing me to draw in shallow, ragged breaths as I stared at the stillness that no one could reverse.

He was gone. Truly gone.

I had cried until there was no strength left in my body, until my throat was hoarse and dry, until my eyes burned from the endless flood of tears. People whispered behind me, offering condolences, offering sympathy, offering questions I didn’t care to answer. I didn’t want their pity. I didn’t want their words. I wanted my father back.

Every touch on my shoulder felt like a burden. Every murmured, “He was a great man,” cut into me like a blade. They didn’t know him the way I did. They didn’t know how he stayed up nights to protect us, how he sacrificed parts of himself to keep the pack strong. They didn’t know how heavy his crown was, how much it weighed him down.

And now they came, lining up one after another, asking me, asking us when the proper funeral would be held. Asking how long until the rites were done. Asking when the final howl would echo across the lands. As though the timing of a ceremony mattered more than the gaping wound that split my chest in two.

“Irene…” Bryan’s voice came softly from behind me, his hand resting on my arm. He had been at my side since the news came, holding me through the storms of grief, letting me collapse into him when my legs refused to hold me upright.

I turned to him, my lips trembling, my throat tight. “Bryan… he’s really gone.”

He nodded, his jaw clenched tightly as though he could hold back his own grief. He had loved my father too, respected him more than words could say. “I know,” he whispered, his thumb brushing against my sleeve. “But you’re not alone in this. I’ll stand with you, always.”

I nodded weakly, leaning into him for a moment, because if I didn’t I would crumble onto the floor. I could feel the curious eyes of the other Alphas, of the pack members, of the people who had come from near and far. Some were genuine in their grief. Others? They only came to whisper, to pry, to see the cracks in Rowland’s legacy.

Then I heard it. A shift in the air. A ripple in the crowd. A murmur that spread like wildfire through the mourners. My head snapped up, my eyes narrowing instantly as I followed the pull of their gazes.

Enzo.

He walked in, his shoulders squared, his presence heavy, his eyes fixed on the coffin as though he had any right to look at my father’s body, as though he had any right to stand here, among us.

Rage—hot, burning, consuming—shot through me so quickly I thought I would choke on it. My hands trembled violently, and before Bryan could stop me, before I could second-guess myself, I moved.

My steps were quick, purposeful, cutting through the crowd. Gasps filled the room as I reached him. He barely had a chance to look at me before my hand flew across his face, the sharp crack of the slap echoing loudly through the solemn hall.

He didn’t move. He didn’t raise a hand. He just stood there, his jaw tightening, his eyes darkening with something unreadable.

“You don’t belong here!” I screamed, my voice breaking with the force of my fury. “You have no right to stand here. You killed him. You—” My chest heaved as sobs clawed their way up, but I forced them down, replacing them with venom. “You murdered my father as surely as if you had driven a blade into his heart.”

Murmurs rippled around us. Some tried to quiet me, to pull me back, but I shoved their hands off. I wanted every word to slice him apart the way his actions had destroyed my family.

“If you hadn’t dragged him into your nonsense deal, if you hadn’t forcefully let out his pack from the alliance deal, he would still be alive! Do you hear me, Enzo?” My voice was hoarse, raw, cracking under the weight of everything I felt. “He would still be alive!”

His lips parted, as though he wanted to speak, to explain, to defend himself, but I didn’t let him. I pushed against his chest, shoving him back with all the strength I could muster.

“You walk in here like you’re one of us, like you’re mourning with us,” I spat, my tears blinding me. “But you are the reason I have to bury my father. You are the reason I’ll never hear his voice again. You are the reason my world is broken.”

“Irene…” Bryan’s voice came from behind me, trying to soothe, to calm, but I shook my head fiercely, refusing to let the fire burn out.

“No! He needs to hear this. He needs to know the blood on his hands. My father’s blood is on you, Enzo!” I jabbed a finger into his chest, trembling from head to toe. “Don’t you dare stand here pretending otherwise.”

Gasps echoed. Some of the Alphas shifted uncomfortably, some murmured agreement, some whispered accusations. I didn’t care. I wanted him to feel what I felt. I wanted him to drown in the weight of my grief, my fury, my hate.

Enzo’s eyes flickered, something passing through them—pain, maybe guilt, maybe anger. But he said nothing. He just stood there, absorbing my rage like a wall, and that only fueled me more.

“You should have stayed away,” I hissed, my voice lowering into something dangerous, something venomous. “You should have never come here. If you had even a shred of decency, you wouldn’t show your face at his funeral. You wouldn’t dare look at his coffin.”

The silence that followed was suffocating. My breaths came sharp, uneven, each inhale rattling inside me like glass. My cheeks burned from the tears streaming down them, my palm stung from the force of the slap, and my heart screamed in agony.

Bryan’s arms slipped around me from behind, pulling me back against his chest as I shook violently. He whispered against my ear, “Enough, Irene. Please. Don’t let him take more from you than he already has.”

But even as Bryan’s words tried to soothe me, my eyes stayed locked on Enzo. On the man I would never forgive. The man who had taken everything from me without lifting a blade.

And for as long as I lived, I swore I would never let him forget it.