Entangled with the Lycan King

Arias POV

I stood before Kael, my heart racing. This was it-the moment I'd dreamed of since I was a pup. Our mating rite.

The grand hall was packed with pack members; their eyes fixed on us. I tried to ignore them, focusing instead on the man in front of me. Kael. The Lycan King's half-brother. My supposed mate.

He was everything a she-wolf could want-strong, handsome, confident. And he was about to be mine. Or so I thought. I grew up with everyone telling me I was born to be powerful and mated to the Royal blood, even though I wasn't a Royal. Five years ago, my parents were killed on their way to meet the Lycan King, and till date, no one knows the cause of their death. Then my aunt took me in, along with her daughter who despised me.

Kael's eyes met mine, and for a moment, I saw something flicker in them. Doubt? Before I could realize what it was, he spoke aloud.

"I refuse to be mated with a non-royal, someone as ugly as she is. She is not fit to come close to me, let alone be my mate," he said, his voice loud and echoing in the silent room.

Kael rejects the mate offered to me.

The words hit me like a physical blow. My legs went weak, and I struggled to stay upright.

"What?" I whispered, unable to believe what I was hearing. Kael shook his head, his expression hardening.

"You're not my true mate. I won't bind myself to you; you're below my standards."

The room erupted in shocked whispers. I stood there, numb, as my world crumbled around me. Rejected. Unwanted. In front of the entire pack.

From the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of my aunt and her daughter, who were smiling sheepishly, and also Ethan, the Lycan King himself, watching from his throne. His face was unreadable, but for a moment, our eyes met. I quickly looked away, unable to bear the weight of anyone's gaze.

As the reality of what just happened sank in, I did the only thing I could think of. I ran.

Away from the grand hall, away from the pitying looks, away from the life I thought I was going to have. I ran until my lungs burned and my legs gave out, collapsing in the palace gardens.

As I kept on running, my step-sister caught up to me and dragged me back, hugging me and pretending to care. But she whispered harshly in my ear,

"Where are you going, you idiot? Trying to run away from the shame?"

I struggled against her grip, my vision blurred with tears. Some of the pack members who had followed us out of curiosity began to laugh, their cruel amusement cutting through me like knives.

"Look at her," one of them sneered. "Not even good enough for Kael. What did she expect?"

Another chimed in, "Always thought she was above her station. Guess this puts her in her place."

My step-sister's grip on me tightened, her nails digging into my skin as she plastered a fake smile on her face.

"Come on, Aria," she said loudly, for the benefit of our audience. "Let's get you inside. You need to rest."

But her eyes told a different story. They gleamed with a mixture of triumph and disdain. She had always been jealous of the attention I received, of the possibility that I might mate into the royal family. Now, she was reveling in my humiliation.

As she led me back towards the palace, I caught sight of my aunt. She stood there, arms crossed, a small smirk playing on her lips. No comfort. No sympathy. Just satisfaction at seeing me brought low.

I wanted to scream. To shift and run far away from this place, these people. But the shock of rejection had left me numb, barely able to put one foot in front of the other.

As we passed by a group of whispering pack members, I overheard one of them say, "I wonder what the Lycan King thinks of all this. His stepbrother rejecting a mate like that..."

"I wonder too," another voice chimed in.

At the mention of Darius, I involuntarily glanced towards the palace entrance. There he stood, his face an unreadable mask, his eyes following my stumbling progress across the grounds. For a moment, our gazes locked, and I felt a jolt of... something. Pity? Curiosity? Before I could decipher it, my step-sister yanked me forward, breaking the connection.

"Don't even think about it," she hissed and dragged me away.

That night, I stayed up while everyone else was asleep, tears pouring down my chin. I had always thought that by now, I would be mated to the Royal and living a better life-away from my family that hated me so much.

After a while, I thought about what to do. I needed to escape and leave this pack. Finally, I decided to leave the pack early in the morning, even though I had no idea where to go.

Very early in the morning, I packed a few of my important belongings and took the shortest route outside of the pack. While I was on my way, I felt someone trailing behind me. I started moving fast, but the figure kept following me. Before I realized what was happening, a strong hand grabbed me, but I was too weak to protest.

He held my hand on the floor and threw me to the ground. My life crashed at that moment. If this stranger would give me a painless death, there was no need to fight back.

The strong hands held my shoulder so tightly that I felt nails digging into my skin. I took a deep breath, awaiting death when I felt lips on mine. I wanted to push this strange person away, but the cologne that filled my nostrils made my hand weak. Before I realized what was going on, I felt myself being pinned to a wall, a body on mine, while hands like claws ripped my clothes to pieces.

Fear filled my eyes. I was about to be raped on the road, on the same day I was rejected. What more pain can anyone go through?