A Rogue For The Quadruplet Alpha's.

Anabel.

Noah was actually getting on my absolute last nerve. He was such a massive, self-absorbed asshole.

I swallowed hard, the bitter taste of betrayal lingering on my tongue as I stormed away.

I really couldn’t fathom the sheer audacity of his actions.

How could he be perfectly comfortable pairing me up with another man?

He knew. He clearly and explicitly knew that I have—and will always have—eyes only for him.

It was a cruel, calculated move on his part, a deliberate slap in the face that made my blood boil with a mixture of intense rage and deep, aching hurt.

What broke my heart the most was that I hadn’t even found my destined mate yet.

In that moment of overwhelming frustration, a dark, desperate thought crossed my mind: I genuinely wished I never would.

If a fated mate never showed up, I wouldn’t be bound by the laws of the universe. I could continue to pursue Noah, moving toward him freely and loving him without any supernatural restrictions or guilt holding me back. But he was making it so damn hard to keep holding on.

The crushing weight of it all finally became too much to bear. A single, heavy tear escaped the corner of my eye, tracing a hot, wet path down the length of my face. The moment it reached my cheek, I aggressively wiped it away with the back of my hand. I refused to let anyone see my weakness.

Steeling myself, I forced my feet to keep moving, my boots hitting the ground in a steady rhythm as I continued walking down the dimly lit path.

I needed a distraction, and more than anything, I needed to meet up with my brothers. It felt like a desperate necessity just to ground myself.

As though the Moon Goddess was actually listening to my silent prayers and looking down on me with a rare moment of pity, luck swung in my direction. I caught sight of a familiar figure further down the trail. It was Adrein.

"Adrein!" I called out, my voice laced with a sudden burst of genuine excitement that cut through the heavy gloom of my thoughts.

For a brief second, the sheer relief of seeing him washed over me, though it couldn’t entirely erase the underlying resentment bubbling in my chest.

I was still incredibly pissed off at him and the rest of my brothers. I couldn’t forget the fact that they had actively hardened their hearts against me, shutting me out just so they could punish me for my mistakes. It was unfair, and it stung deeply.

Yet, despite my lingering anger, I desperately wanted his company right now.

But Adrein didn’t even flinch.

He didn’t seem to hear my shout at all. He just kept moving forward like a ghost, his expression entirely blank. It appeared as though he was completely trapped in the suffocating labyrinth of his own thoughts, totally detached from the world around him.

Frowning, I quickened my pace to close the distance between us. I took a decisive step further, closing the remaining gap until I was standing right beside him, and firmly tapped him on his rigid shoulder.

"Adrein, didn’t you hear me?" I asked, my voice a mix of frustration and genuine concern as I tried to force him back into reality.

Adrein turned around slowly, his brow furrowing as his eyes finally locked onto mine, looking completely and utterly puzzled.

For a long heartbeat, he simply stared, as though my presence was the last thing he had expected to see. His eyes searched my face, his expression frozen somewhere between confusion and disbelief, and it took him a few moments to finally pull himself free from whatever thoughts had trapped him.

He blinked several times before letting out a slow breath.

"Annabel? What are you doing here?" he asked, the words spilling from his lips the very moment he successfully shook himself out of his deep daze.

The surprise in his voice was impossible to miss.

A bright, knowing grin immediately spread across my face as I met his gaze. I deliberately kept my expression light, hoping to ease the strange tension hanging between us.

"Well," I began, drawing out the word with a playful smile, "I was officially invited over by the Lycan prince himself!"

A hint of pride crept into my voice as I spoke.

The smile on my lips widened ever so slightly as I patiently waited for the shocked reaction I was certain would follow. I expected his eyes to widen, his jaw to drop, or at the very least for him to bombard me with questions.

Instead, there was nothing.

Adrein merely gave a slow nod of acknowledgment.

His face remained unreadable, almost painfully blank, as though the revelation carried no weight whatsoever. There wasn’t the slightest flicker of surprise in his eyes, nor even a hint of curiosity. His distant expression never changed.

The unexpected reaction caused my smile to falter for the briefest moment.

Pushing the awkward silence aside, my gaze drifted past him, stretching down the dimly lit corridor behind him.

"Where are the rest?" I asked, my curiosity finally getting the better of me as my eyes instinctively wandered past him, searching the dimly lit corridor for any sign of the others.

"They’re in the room ahead of us," he replied bluntly.

The words left his mouth without the slightest hesitation, yet they carried no warmth, no emotion, and no invitation for further conversation. His tone was flat, almost mechanical, making it impossible to tell what was running through his mind.

I waited for him to say something else, anything. Perhaps an explanation for his strange behavior or even a simple question directed at me.

But nothing came.

The silence that settled between us felt unusually heavy, pressing down on the atmosphere in a way I couldn’t quite explain.

Without adding another word or sparing me another glance, Adrein simply turned on his heel and continued walking down the corridor.

His pace never faltered.

His broad shoulders remained stiff, and his posture was rigid as he moved forward with quiet determination, as though our conversation had already ended before it had truly begun.

For a brief second, I remained rooted to the spot, watching his retreating figure disappear farther down the hallway.

A faint crease formed between my brows.

Honestly...Adrein was acting incredibly weird.

This wasn’t like him.

There was something undeniably off about the way he carried himself, from the emptiness in his voice to the complete lack of expression on his face.

My mind immediately began racing with countless unanswered questions as I hurried after him, quickening my pace to keep up with his long, effortless strides.

Even then, the distance between us seemed difficult to close.

My gaze remained fixed on his back, silently studying every movement, hoping to find some clue that would explain the sudden change in his demeanor.

But the more I looked, the more confused I became.

What exactly was wrong with him?

He didn’t just look preoccupied; he looked entirely burdened. He had the distinct, haunted look of someone who had done something terribly wrong, was only just now realizing the full gravity of their actions, and was consequently being eaten alive from the inside out, filled with a suffocating sense of regret.

I took a deep, stabilizing breath, trying to push down the rising tide of my own anxiety, and followed closely after him.

Despite his chilling demeanor, I still wanted to see the rest of my brothers. I needed that familiarity. But deep down in the pit of my stomach, a cold dread settled in. I was so painfully sure that none of them would actually be happy to see me.

We finally arrived at the end of the hall and reached the heavy doors. We stepped inside the room, and behold, gathered right in front of us, were the rest of my brothers.

The atmosphere in the room instantly turned to ice.

"Am I seeing clearly?" Davain asked, his voice dripping with disbelief as he stepped forward to confront us. His eyes scanned me from head to toe before hardening. "Annabel, what on earth are you doing here?" he demanded.

Before I could even open my mouth to defend myself, Aidan cut in, his voice cutting through the room like a whip.

"I don’t even want to know," Aidan said coldly.

He didn’t even spare me a second glance, keeping his eyes pointedly averted as if the mere sight of me was an annoyance.

"Return back to the pack house immediately," he commanded, his tone leaving absolutely no room for negotiation.

’Woah.’ Internal alarms went off in my head.

Wasn’t that just a bit too much? The sheer hostility was staggering.

Refusing to be intimidated or cast out like an unwanted stray, I completely ignored his harsh directive. I took a deliberate, defiant step fully into the center of the room, holding my chin high.

"I am the Lycan prince’s personal guest," I added, my voice echoing firmly against the walls. "So, I’m terribly sorry, but I can’t go home."

The collective gasp was almost comical.

"What?" they echoed in perfect, stunned unison, their united facade completely shattering.

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