Rejected By My Mate; Claimed By Lycan Quadruplets Chapter 129

Kael's POV

The morning air bit at my skin the moment I stepped out of my chamber. Cold, sharp, crisp—like the world was trying to wake me up by force. But I was already awake long before the first crack of dawn split the sky. Sleep had abandoned me, tugged away by the restless heaviness in my chest, so I did what I always do when thoughts refused to let me rest. I went to the training ground.

The gravel crunched under my boots as I walked across the open yard. Torches still flickered around the perimeter, their flames fighting against the dying night. I rolled my shoulders, stretched my neck, let the tension bleed from my body. There was something about the solitude of mornings like this—just me, the cold, and the possibility of bruises—that grounded me.

Except this time, I wasn’t alone.

Atlas was already there. His silhouette moved like a shadow against the faint glow of dawn, his fists slamming into the padded post with a rhythm too controlled to be casual. He’d been here for a while, I could tell by the way his shirt clung to his back, drenched with sweat.

“Couldn’t sleep?” I called out as I approached, rolling my wrist and testing the stiffness in my knuckles.

Atlas glanced at me briefly, his expression unreadable, then returned his focus to the dummy. “Sleep’s overrated,” he muttered, his strikes never slowing.

Typical Atlas. Always too proud to admit when something gnawed at him. Always beating the life out of a post instead of saying what weighed on his mind.

I cracked a smile and tossed my jacket aside. “Good. Means I won’t feel guilty about waking you up when I break your nose this morning.”

That finally earned me a smirk, the faintest curl at the edge of his mouth. He stepped back from the dummy, wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, and squared up to face me. “You’re welcome to try.”

And so, we began.

Our fists collided with the sound of flesh against flesh, sharp and heavy. Atlas was taller, broader, and he moved like a mountain—slow to shift, but impossible to stop once he did. I, on the other hand, had speed on my side. My strikes came quick, cutting like knives, forcing him to adapt. For a while, it was nothing more than the exchange of blows, the crash of bodies against the earth, the raw thrill of testing one another.

But I hadn’t come here just for the fight.

The words burned in my throat, waiting for the right opening. I circled him, ducked beneath a heavy swing, and sent a jab at his ribs. My breath came in sharp bursts, my chest tight—not just from the fight, but from what I needed to say.

“I saw something this morning,” I finally blurted out.

Atlas froze mid-strike. His fist hovered an inch from my jaw, his entire body tensing as if my words hit harder than any blow could. His eyes narrowed, sharp and dangerous, and he straightened slowly. “What did you see?”

I exhaled, shaking off the hesitation clawing at me. “Enzo. Sneaking out of Lisa’s room.”

The training ground fell silent. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath. Atlas’s fists clenched at his sides, his jaw tightening until I thought his teeth might crack.

“You’re sure?” His voice was low, strained, like he already knew the answer but didn’t want to hear it.

I nodded. “Saw it with my own eyes. He thought he was being careful, but he wasn’t careful enough. He spent the night there, Atlas. That’s not just some accident.”

The fury that flashed in Atlas’s eyes was almost blinding. His control slipped, just for a second, and he slammed his fist into the post beside him. The wood cracked under the force, splinters raining down.

“Damn him,” he growled, his voice raw. “He knows better. He knows we can’t afford this kind of secrecy.”

I ran a hand through my hair, still catching my breath. “I get it—Lisa belongs to all of us in one way or another. But Enzo doesn’t get to play hero behind our backs. He doesn’t get to act like he’s the only one who matters.”

Atlas turned to me sharply, his chest heaving. “You know as well as I do why he’s the only one who can claim her publicly. We all agreed. For her safety. For ours. Because of what we are.”

“I know,” I snapped back, heat rising in me. “I know the damn rules. We wear the masks, we hide what we are, we pretend we’re just men and not… monsters. I get it. But there’s supposed to be honesty between us, Atlas. If he’s keeping this from us, what else is he willing to keep?”

Atlas said nothing. His silence was heavier than his words could’ve been, and it ate at me. I could see the storm raging behind his eyes, the war between fury and restraint.

And then, as if summoned by the tension in the air, Ash appeared.

He strode across the yard, his presence calm but commanding as always. His hair was still damp, probably from a shower, and he had that sharp, observant look he always wore—like he saw through the skin and into the marrow of a man.

“What’s going on?” Ash asked, his eyes flicking between me and Atlas, then to the cracked training post.

I clenched my fists at my sides, trying to steady the frustration clawing at me. “I saw Enzo sneaking out of Lisa’s room this morning.”

Ash stopped in his tracks. His gaze sharpened, his mouth pulling into a thin line. “And you’re certain?”

I nodded firmly. “Certain.”

For a long moment, he said nothing, just let the weight of my words settle. Then he exhaled slowly, running a hand over his face. “So he finally crossed the line.”

Atlas barked a bitter laugh. “Crossed it? He didn’t just cross it—he obliterated it. We agreed on boundaries. We agreed on honesty. And he goes behind our backs like this?”

Ash’s calm demeanor didn’t falter, though his eyes darkened. “Anger won’t solve this. If we turn on each other now, we’re no better than the enemies outside these walls. The question isn’t whether Enzo’s wrong. The question is what we’re going to do about it.”

I stepped forward, the words rushing out before I could stop them. “We confront him. All of us. No more secrets, no more pretending. He owes us the truth.”

Atlas growled, pacing like a caged animal. “He owes us more than that. He owes us respect.”

Ash raised a hand, stopping Atlas mid-step. “We need to be smart about this. If Lisa gets caught in the middle of our anger, we risk losing her. That’s not something any of us can afford. So we deal with Enzo directly. Together. No shouting, no violence. Just truth.”

I scoffed under my breath, but I knew he was right. Still, the anger in me burned too hot to smother completely. “Fine. But he better not try to sweet-talk his way out of this. I won’t let him.”

Ash turned his gaze inward, his eyes unfocusing slightly. I recognized the look—he was mindlinking.

“Enzo,” Ash said aloud, though the words were meant for his brother’s mind. “Training ground. Now.”

The silence that followed was thick, heavy with anticipation. My chest rose and fell with sharp breaths, my fists still itching for a fight that hadn’t happened yet.

Atlas stood rigid, his body vibrating with barely contained fury, while Ash remained the picture of control, though I could see the tension in his jaw.

And me? I just waited. Waited for Enzo to show his face. Waited for him to look us in the eye and admit what he’d done.

Because this wasn’t just about Lisa anymore. This was about us. About trust. About the fragile balance we’d been clinging to since the beginning.

And Enzo had just shattered it.