Reborn To Defy The Alpha-Chapter 76: Sitting Too Close To My Mate

Lena and Lyra exchanged a worried glance. Lena muttered, "Mother wasn’t feeling well."

Nikki frowned, disbelief tightening her features. Werewolves did not simply get sick, so what exactly were they talking about? She studied both girls with open suspicion but chose not to press further. "Tell her to make sure she gets better by tomorrow. I need her present."

Lena and Lyra nodded quickly. They truly had no idea what was wrong with their mother, and unease flickered between them. The possibility that Sir Eberhard might have punished her crept through their minds, chilling them. They shivered as they continued down the hallway behind Nikki.

Rhea stepped into the dining hall with Tavian and Jason flanking her. Just like that morning, every conversation died at once. Heads lifted. Spoons hovered midair. The silence pressed down so heavily it felt physical. She doubted she would ever get used to this strange, charged attention, but fine, if they insisted on staring, she could at least enjoy it. That was Rhea’s effect, she smirked as her gaze lifted toward the dais.

Ares and Ellie were already seated, already eating. Her jaw clenched instantly. Ellie noticed her first. He offered a calm smile and a slow nod. Ares glanced her way for half a second, unreadable, before returning to his food as if she was no more interesting than a passing shadow.

"Come on," Rhea murmured, straightening as she headed toward the dais. "Let’s go."

Tavian’s hand wrapped around her wrist, halting her. "Wait. You are going to eat with the Alpha?"

"Yes," she answered simply. "We are sitting with the Beta and Alpha."

Tavian looked genuinely pained as he tilted his chin toward the far table. "Can’t we just sit with the Omegas? I barely survived breakfast sitting with him. I am not putting myself through that again."

Jason kept sneaking glances at Ellie, cheeks slightly pink. "You know the Alpha, and basically everyone here, can hear you whispering, right? Wolf hearing. Remember?"

Tavian winced but still refused to let go. "Please. Let us just sit where we belong." His eyes were wide and pleading. "Jason, back me up. You do not want to sit up there either, right?"

Jason shrugged helplessly. "I do not mind wherever we sit."

Tavian stared at him in betrayal. "Seriously?"

Jason only scratched his cheek and avoided Ellie’s direction again, though he couldn’t stop himself from glancing. Ellie had paused mid-bite, looking straight at them. The moment their eyes met, Jason spun away so fast his ears turned red.

Rhea looked from Tavian to the dais, then back to Tavian. Truthfully, she had zero desire to sit next to Ares either. She would rather swallow gravel. But she had a job to do for Ellie’s plan, and that meant tolerating the Alpha for a while.

Up on the dais, Ellie frowned as he watched the three Omegas frozen at the entrance. What were they doing? Was Rhea second-guessing the plan?

Ares looked up at him. "Why do you keep staring over there? You are ruining my appetite."

Ellie tilted his head innocently. "Or you are just nervous because she arrived?"

Ares gave him a flat stare. "If you do not watch your mouth, I will stab you with this fork."

Ellie snickered. "Relax. I am just messing with you." He glanced at Rhea again before returning to his food, though he kept stealing tiny looks in her direction.

Rhea gently removed her wrist from Tavian’s grip. "If you do not feel comfortable sitting with the Alpha, then sit with the Omegas. I am going up there."

Tavian’s worry deepened. "Rhea..."

"It is fine," she said softly. "We will meet after dinner, alright?"

Jason straightened, ready to follow her. His face fell when she added, "Jason, you and Tavian can sit with the Omegas. We will catch up later."

Who said I want to sit with the Omegas, Jason grumbled in his head, but outwardly he nodded with a polite smile. He glanced once more in Ellie’s direction before reluctantly turning with Tavian toward the Omega table.

Rhea took one step toward the dais.

Nikki brushed past her deliberately, shoulder hitting her with unnecessary force as she passed. The impact jolted Rhea a little, heat sparking low in her chest. Her head snapped toward Nikki, eyes narrowing in a slow, venomous burn.

Nikki didn’t spare her a single glance. She strutted straight up to the dais, reached Ares, and dragged a chair closer to him with a scrape that made several wolves glance up. Then she sat, smoothing her dress over her thighs and leaning in just a little, posture soft and inviting, her voice dipped into a sugar-soaked sweetness.

"Good evening, Alpha."

Ares barely flicked his eyes up. A single glance. A single curt nod. Not even a pause in his eating.

The cold hit Nikki like a slap. Her smile faltered, then froze in place. She straightened with a stiff little movement, pretending she had expected that reaction, even though irritation prickled across her face.

Rhea clenched her fist. So this was how Nikki wanted to play it. Honestly, Rhea had no interest in causing drama tonight. She wanted to follow Ellie’s plan and keep things quiet. But clearly pink Nikki here, had signed up for chaos, which meant Rhea had to improvise. If Nikki wanted rough, Rhea would show her the professional version.

She moved toward the dais with slow, measured steps. The hall noticed immediately. Heads followed her.

She stopped right beside Nikki’s chair.

Nikki looked up with a frown, irritation sharp in her eyes. "What do you want?"

"My seat," Rhea said calmly.

Nikki blinked. "Your seat?"

"Yes." Rhea held her gaze steady. "You are sitting on my seat."

From the other side of the table, Ellie leaned back, a smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. Rhea is so unpredictable. What in the world was she trying to do now?

Ares looked up at Rhea with a slight frown, confusion flickering in his gaze for the briefest moment before he schooled his expression again.

Nikki scoffed. "How exactly is this your seat? You do not even have a seat at this table. You were allowed to join us this morning and now you think you have the right to claim chairs?"

Around the dining hall, movement stopped. Every eye focused on the dais. Rhea Ulric was at it again. What now?

Rhea leaned forward slightly. Her voice was quiet, yet it carried across the room. "Stand up. You are sitting too close to my mate."

Ares’s spoon slipped from his fingers and clattered against his plate. Hard shock rippled across his features before he caught himself. He inhaled once, slow and steady, then calmly reached for another utensil like nothing had happened.

Ellie’s smirk widened. His gaze bounced between Rhea and Ares, amusement dancing in his eyes. So the mighty Alpha could still be rattled. Interesting. Very interesting.

Nikki gaped at Rhea, face draining of color. Around them, pack members began murmuring, voices rising in disbelief.

"Your mate?" Nikki screeched.

"Yes," Rhea answered without so much as a blink.

A wave of murmurs rolled through the hall like a gust of wind. Confusion. Disbelief.

"Didn’t the Alpha reject her?"

"What is she talking about?"

"I heard he rejected her to be with Nikki."

"Why would she claim him now?"

"Maybe she hit her head."

The noise swelled until Nikki pushed herself halfway out of the chair, voice sharp enough to slice through the air.

"Can you hear yourself?" she demanded. "Didn’t you two reject each other?"

Gasps shot across the hall like sparks. Wolves leaned closer, hungry for more.

"She rejected the Alpha too," someone whispered near the front tables.

"Wait, she did?"

"I thought he was the only one who rejected her?"

"Seems like it was mutual."

"When did that even happen?"

Ares did not even look up, but the metal spoon in his hand bent slightly between his fingers. He never paused eating, jaw working with mechanical calm, but the tension running down his arm was impossible to miss.

Rhea inhaled slowly, keeping her expression neutral. "That does not change the fact that he is still my mate," she said, voice clear and unwavering. "Human couples can get a divorce after a huge misunderstanding and make up again. Why would rejected mates not be able to reconcile and accept each other again?"

Ares closed his eyes for a brief moment, jaw tightening as his hand stilled over his plate. The hall felt like it held its breath with him. When he opened his eyes again, he went back to eating with forced calm.

Ellie pressed his lips together, shoulders shaking as he tried to swallow a laugh. She is absolutely out of her mind, he thought. The straight face, the cool tone, the utter audacity of it all nearly sent him under the table

Nikki’s laugh sliced through the hall. "You cannot be serious," she crackled, looking Rhea up and down as if checking for signs of delusion.