Rejected by the Alpha, Claimed by his Brother Chapter 175: New Beginning

Before I could even think about taking my bag, Ruben grabbed it. "We’re taking you there."

Luis Miguel, who was still eerily quiet, took my second bag without a word.

Pedro clapped his hands together. "Alright, let’s move! La reina needs an escort!"

I huffed a laugh, following them down the street.

As we walked, they kept throwing glances, their old teasing nature creeping back in.

"You know," Gonzalo mused, "the scar actually makes you look kinda..."

"Careful," I warned.

"...mysterious," he finished still.

Pedro nodded. "Like a tragic beauty."

Ruben smirked. "A fem fatale."

I rolled my eyes, but the warmth in my chest was undeniable.

Then Luis Miguel spoke, and take it from when I say I had never seen him this way before... This soft. "You’re still the most beautiful girl in the pack."

Silence fell over the group. I turned to him, startled. But he wasn’t looking at . His gaze was fixed ahead, his grip tight around my bag.

And for the first ti since I got my scar... since everything fell apart—I felt sothing shift.

A strange, bittersweet comfort. I smiled, just a little. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. Maybe I hadn’t lived before. Maybe I was just beginning to thread the path to what living truly was.

.

The boys kept glancing at , and I knew it was only a matter of ti before they started running their mouths.

Gonzalo, predictably, was the first to crack. "You know," he mused, stroking his chin like he was contemplating the mysteries of the universe. "If I squint, I can still see traces of the María José we once knew."

Pedro let out a dramatic sigh. "Yeah. If I ignore the scar and the whole... tragic aura thing, you still look kinda decent."

Ruben chid in, completely serious. "It’s giving haunted beauty."

I stopped walking. "What?"

Luis Miguel muttered, "I hate that I agree."

I shot him a glare, but the warmth in my chest was undeniable. Idiots.

They were still the sa... infuriating, ridiculous, and sohow, exactly what I needed.

We kept walking, the uneven cobblestone streets turning into packed dirt as we made our way deeper into Santa Leticia. The scent of grilled at and freshly baked tortillas wafted in the air, mixing with the faint tang of rust from the old rooftops. A stray dog trotted by, its ribs visible beneath its matted fur, before flopping down in the shade of a fruit cart.

I clutched my bag tighter as the boys started making more jokes.

"If you’re going for a mysterious woman with a past aesthetic, you nailed it," Pedro teased.

Gonzalo nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I an, if this were a movie, you’d be the fem fatale with a hidden dagger and a tragic backstory."

I snorted. "I do have a tragic backstory. Just no dagger."

Luis Miguel, who was still unnervingly quiet, finally spoke. "We could get you one."

The others perked up instantly.

Pedro grinned. "Ooooh, now that’s an idea."

"I know a guy," Ruben added, completely serious.

I rolled my eyes. "No one is getting a dagger."

"Just say the word. And I’ll personally hand you Rosa’s head on a silver platter." Luis Miguel muttered.

I turned to him, raising an eyebrow. "Dramatic much?"

"She ruined your face," he said flatly, gripping my bag a little too tightly.

I sighed, shaking my head. "She did a lot more than that, Luis Miguel."

Silence settled over us. It wasn’t just my face. It was my life.

For a mont, the humor faded. The weight of everything pressed down on again; the humiliation, the loss, the shift from the most admired girl in the pack to the lowest-ranked Oga. The house I could never go back to. The father who didn’t care.

But then, Ruben threw an arm around my shoulder and said, "But hey, look at it this way... at least you don’t have to deal with the pressure of being too pretty anymore. Must be liberating."

I snorted. "Wow. Thanks."

Pedro smirked. "See? That’s the spirit. Look at her! Already finding the silver lining in her misery."

I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped . They were idiots, but they were my idiots.

For the next few minutes, they kept at it; throwing joke after joke until I was laughing so hard my sides hurt. At one point, Gonzalo tripped over a rock and nearly took Pedro down with him, which sent Ruben into a fit of laughter so violent that he had to sit on the curb to recover.

By the ti we reached the house, my worries had shortly faded.

"This is it," Pedro said, pointing to a small, worn-down building with peeling paint and an iron gate that looked like it had been kicked one too many tis.

The windows had thin curtains, and the plants on the porch were either dead or barely hanging on.

I stared at it for a mont, adjusting my grip on my bag. Welco to a new Chapter, María José.

The boys’ attention was still fixated on the buildings I followed their gazes and stared.

Well, I had been expecting sothing... rough, sure. I knew I wasn’t walking into another grand estate like the one I had grown up in.

I swallowed.

Pedro turned to , rubbing the back of his neck. "You’re, uh... you’re staying here?"

I kept my expression even. "Yeah."

Gonzalo frowned. "But why? You don’t have to, do you?"

I shifted on my feet. "It’s complicated."

Luis Miguel chid in. "Trouble at ho?"

Bingo!

"Sothing like that."

The boys exchanged glances.

Pedro sighed. "Damn, María José. This is gonna be rough for you."

"Living here after spending your whole life in luxury?" Ruben whistled, shaking his head. "That’s gonna suck."

I stiffened. Luxury? It was funny how people still thought I lived in so fairytale.

I turned to them and spoke dryly. "You think my life has been luxurious since I beca an Oga?"

They didn’t have an answer for that and were silent. Yeah, that’s what I thought.

They had known since when I was still Don Diego’s perfect daughter, the shining jewel of the pack. But after my fall? They must know that I had gone from being feared and admired to being nothing.

Nothing at all.

I inhaled and exhaled slowly. "Listen, you guys can go now. I appreciate you bringing here."

Pedro frowned. "Are you sure? We can stick around a little longer if..."

"She said she’s fine," Luis Miguel interrupted.

Pedro shrugged. "Alright, if you say so. We’ll head out."

But then Luis Miguel did sothing unexpected.

He turned to his friends and said, "You guys can go. I’ll stay."

I blinked. The others turned to him and were as equally confused.

"What?" Ruben furrowed his brows. "Why?"

Luis Miguel crossed his arms. "I want to make sure she gets inside safely."

Pedro gave him a suspicious look. "Since when do you care about safety?"

Gonzalo grinned. "Wait, wait, wait... does our fearless leader have a soft spot for María José?"

Luis Miguel rolled his eyes. "No, idiota. I just think it’d be rude to leave her struggling with all these bags while we walk off."

"Uh-huh," Ruben smirked. "So it has nothing to do with the fact that you’ve had a crush on her since high school?"

Luis Miguel shot him a death stare. "I’ll kill you."

The boys burst into laughter.

I shook my head, exasperated. "Dios mío, you’re all impossible."

But... I wasn’t mad. Not really.

I turned to Luis Miguel, my arms crossed. "Fine. If you want to play the noble gentleman, be my guest."

His lips twitched. "I always knew you’d recognize my greatness one day."

I snorted. "Yeah, yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night."

The others made their farewells, leaving with a series of dramatic salutes and exaggerated goodbyes. Pedro even yelled sothing about not letting Luis Miguel steal a kiss again, and I threw a rock at him.

Then, it was just the two of us. and Luis Miguel.