Rejected By My Mate; Claimed By Lycan Quadruplets Chapter 34

Lisa's POV

The night air was a little colder than I expected. I had wrapped my shawl tightly around me when I slipped out of the room, unsure what I was looking for. Sleep had long abandoned me. I tried closing my eyes. I tried breathing exercises. I even counted the vines across the ceiling for the fiftieth time. Nothing worked.

So I wandered.

I found myself in the garden.

It had become somewhat of a habit now—sneaking out to this quiet place when the weight in my chest refused to let me rest. It was peaceful. The moonlight pooled in soft silver lines across the stone path. The flowers danced gently with the wind, unaware of how broken some of us walking past them were.

I sat on one of the old wooden benches beneath a large overhanging tree. Its leaves made this comforting rustling sound, like whispers I couldn't quite hear. I leaned back, tilting my head to the sky, trying to empty my thoughts.

But of course, that never worked.

Kael's name kept popping into my head. I had been trying to ignore the tension that had been building in the air since morning. The guards moved more tightly than usual. Ash barely spoke a word when I passed him in the hallway. Even Atlas looked unusually serious, and that was saying something for someone who carried sarcasm like a badge.

I didn't know why it tugged at me so hard, but it did.

When I finally returned to my room, hoping that perhaps tiredness had finally caught up with me, I slowed just outside the hallway.

Voices.

Whispers.

"...Kael got injured..."

"...tried to fight off rogues..."

"...Alpha Enzo's furious..."

The words hit me like a slap. My heart dropped so fast I thought I'd stopped breathing.

Injured? Kael?

Before I knew what I was doing, my legs were already taking me down the hallway again. This time, faster.

I didn't even care if I got in trouble. I didn't knock on anyone's door. I didn't ask questions. I just went straight for the one place I had been avoiding for the past day—the infirmary.

It was mostly quiet as I approached, the path lit dimly by scattered wall lamps. The air smelled faintly of herbs and antiseptic. My fingers trembled around the edge of my shawl as I rounded the corner.

And stopped dead.

Because there he was.

Not Kael.

Enzo.

Alpha Enzo.

He was walking at a firm pace, his coat brushing against the floor, his jaw tight, and his eyes darker than I had ever seen. He didn't look like the man I saw in the garden that day. He didn't look calm or noble or restrained.

He looked dangerous.

Every instinct in my body screamed for me to turn around. To go back to my room. To pretend I had heard nothing, seen nothing. But I didn't move.

I did the worst possible thing instead.

I followed him.

Staying far back, I ducked behind walls and moved when his shadow disappeared around corners. I had no idea what I was doing or why I was even doing it. Maybe it was the same impulse that made children open forbidden doors.

Curiosity. Or stupidity.

Either way, I trailed him past the training ground, past the courtyard, all the way to the far south side of the estate—where only warriors were allowed.

I crouched behind a large stone pillar as he entered a caged zone I hadn't noticed before. There were two large guards standing on either side, and they let him pass without saying a word. I waited until he disappeared deeper in before sneaking around the side wall, peeking through a tiny crack.

And what I saw...

My stomach turned.

There were three men inside the cell. Two of them were bound by silver shackles, bleeding from multiple wounds. One looked half-dead. The third, the one Enzo stood in front of, was trembling.

Begging.

I couldn't hear his words, but I didn't need to. His eyes were wide with fear, his mouth moving fast, and his voice high-pitched.

Enzo just stared at him. Silent. Dead-eyed.

Then he moved.

Fast.

One clawed hand gripped the man's throat, and before the man could even plead again, Enzo yanked him upward—off the ground—and slammed him into the wall.

Bones cracked. The rogue choked and screamed.

I slapped my hand to my mouth.

Oh gods. Oh gods.

Enzo didn't stop.

He muttered something dark and low, and then, in one fluid movement, he twisted the man's head so hard, the sound of his neck snapping echoed out like a gunshot.

My knees buckled.

I tried to crawl away from the wall, but my arms were shaking too much.

Enzo turned.

He looked down at the second man—the one bleeding out near the edge of the cell. Without a word, he lifted his boot and stomped on his neck.

I gasped.

Loudly.

Too loudly.

He froze.

The guards tensed.

I tried to move back from the crack but ended up stumbling into a stack of wooden crates nearby. They crashed to the ground with a loud bang.

No. No, no, no, no.

Before I could run, my vision spun. My heart was racing so fast it felt like it would burst from my chest.

My legs gave out.

The last thing I saw was Enzo's shadow stepping toward me.

Then nothing.

Just black.

My body felt like it was buried under rocks. Heavy. Cold. Almost... paralyzed.

I couldn't open my eyes yet, but flashes came anyway. Disconnected. Loud. Sharp. Blinding.

A hand gripping a throat.

The sound of bones cracking.

Blood.

Everywhere.

I jolted up with a scream stuck in my throat, gasping like someone had shoved my head underwater and only now let me up for air.

Where the hell was I?

The ceiling above me was smooth and cream-colored. The faint scent of herbs and sterile alcohol hung in the air, and when I shifted, I felt crisp sheets underneath me.

Infirmary.

I blinked rapidly. My vision was hazy, and my limbs were still weak. My throat burned like I'd been screaming for hours, and my head was pounding hard enough to knock bricks loose.

What just happened?

My fingers curled around the blanket as flashes returned.

The rogue.

The cell.

Alpha Enzo.

Snapping that man's neck like he was breaking a twig.

I clutched my chest. The memory hit like a train, and for a moment, I couldn't breathe. My eyes stung. My lips trembled.

It was just a dream, right?

It had to be a dream.

But then my mind, ever so traitorous, reminded me how my body gave up before I could even escape. How I collapsed right after that noise, that bone-snapping horror.

A dream doesn't leave your palms shaking this hard.

I wasn't imagining it.

I sat there in silence, trying to convince myself it would be smarter to forget. To pretend I never saw anything. My instincts screamed at me to stay out of it. Keep my head down. Survive quietly like I always had.

But I knew better.

You don't unsee something like that.

And you definitely don't forget the way Alpha Enzo looked after he did it.

Powerful. Ruthless. Beautiful in the most terrifying way.

The click of a door snapped me out of my spiral.

My eyes darted toward the entrance.

Calla walked in with a tray in her hands, wearing that same soft smile she always wore, but when she saw me sitting up, her expression shifted into full-blown relief.

"Oh, moon above," she whispered, rushing over. "You scared the hell out of everyone!"

I swallowed. "I... fainted?"

"You think?" she said with a half-scolding, half-laughing tone. "You were ice cold when they brought you in. Mira said your heart was racing so hard it nearly gave out."

I winced, rubbing my temples. "I had a nightmare," I muttered. It wasn't a complete lie. The problem was... the nightmare was real.

Calla gently placed the tray on the bedside table and helped me sit up properly, fluffing the pillows behind me. She even tucked the blanket around my legs. Warmth, both physical and emotional, spread through my chest. She was probably the first person who didn't treat me like a burden in months.

"I brought you warm tea and some fruits. Nothing heavy since you've been out cold for a while."

"How long?"

"Half the night," she replied softly, handing me a cup. "Mira said to let you rest. Your body went through a lot of stress. Whatever scared you that much must've been awful."

It was. But I wasn't about to say that out loud.

Instead, I forced a shaky laugh. "Probably the side effect of too much daydreaming."

She tilted her head, unconvinced, but didn't push. Thank the goddess.

I took slow sips of the tea, letting the warmth calm my trembling hands. My stomach still felt unsettled, but the sweetness of the fruit and the comforting spice in the drink helped dull the edge.