Rejected by my Alpha claimed by the Lycan King

The marble floor of the packhouse ballroom was freezing against my bare feet.

I stood at the edge of the grand hall, clutching the cheap, frayed hem of my dress, trying to make myself as small as possible. The scent of expensive wine, roasted meat, and the intoxicating musk of wolves filled the air.

It was my eighteenth birthday. The day the Moon Goddess was supposed to bless me.

Instead, I was standing alone while the entire Blackwood Pack watched me with a mixture of pity and malicious amusement.

At the center of the room, standing on the raised dais, was Alpha Damien. He was a mountain of a man, his dark hair slicked back and his sharp jawline set in a hard line. Beside him, draped in a gown of silk that cost more than I made in a year, was my stepsister, Seraphina.

My heart hammered a frantic rhythm against my ribs as the mate bond pulsed in my chest. I felt the invisible tether pulling me toward Damien. It was a primal, magnetic force. The Moon Goddess had chosen us for each other.

"Damien," I whispered, stepping forward. My voice trembled, but I forced myself to speak. "The bond... I can feel it."

A ripple of cruel laughter went through the crowd.

Damien's cold, obsidian eyes finally landed on me. There was no warmth in them. Only absolute, chilling disgust.

"Selene," he said, his voice cutting through the room like a whip. "You are a pathetic, weak Omega. Did you truly believe the Goddess would tie me to a piece of trash like you?"

The air left my lungs in a sharp rush.

"I, Alpha Damien, reject you, Selene, as my mate," he announced, his voice booming with the authority of an Alpha. "My true mate is Seraphina. She is the rightful Luna of this pack."

The moment the word reject left his lips, the world collapsed.

It wasn't just a heartbreak. It was a physical mutilation of my soul. The golden tether that connected our wolves was grabbed, violently twisted, and ripped apart. A searing, white-hot agony exploded in my chest. It felt as though my ribs were being shattered from the inside out.

A shrill scream tore from my throat. I collapsed onto the cold marble, my nails scraping against the stone as I clawed at my chest, trying to rip the pain out. My wolf, a small, fragile part of my soul, let out a long, mourning howl before going completely silent.

Through the blinding haze of pain, I saw Seraphina step down from the dais.

She crouched in front of me, her perfectly glossed lips curving into a wicked smile. She reached out and gripped my chin, her nails digging into my skin.

"You really thought you could have him?" she whispered, her voice dripping with venom. "You're nothing but a servant. You don't even deserve to breathe the same air as us."

She released my chin and stood up, turning back to Damien. "What should we do with this filth, my love?"

Damien didn't even look at me. He wrapped an arm around Seraphina's waist, his expression bored. "Take her to the border. Strip her of the pack crest. She is a rogue now."

My stepmother, standing nearby, let out a sharp, triumphant laugh. "The Rogue Forest is hungry this time of year. Let her be a meal for the beasts."

Two of the Alpha's elite guards grabbed me by my arms, their grips bruising as they hauled me off the floor. I tried to fight, but the agony of the severed bond had left me weak, my limbs heavy as lead.

They dragged me out of the ballroom, through the grand foyer, and out into the freezing night. The rain was coming down in sheets, soaking my thin dress instantly.

They didn't bother with a car. They hauled me through the mud and the thorns, throwing me toward the massive iron gates that marked the edge of the pack's territory.

"Please," I gasped, the rain washing away the tears on my face. "I'll die out there."

"That's the point," one guard sneered. He shoved me hard. I stumbled through the gates, falling face-first into the freezing mud of the Rogue Forest.

The heavy iron doors slammed shut behind me with a final, echoing clang.

I was alone.

The forest was a gaping maw of darkness. Towering trees with thick, twisted branches blocked out the moonlight. The sounds of the territory vanished, replaced by the howling wind, the rustling leaves, and the distant, terrifying howls of wild, unbonded rogues.

I lay in the mud, shivering violently. The physical pain of the rejection was slowly fading, replaced by an agonizing, hollow emptiness. I was a void. I had no pack, no mate, no future. I was nothing.

I curled my knees to my chest, sobbing into the dirt.

But as I cried, a sudden, sharp heat flared against my collarbone.

I gasped, reaching up with trembling fingers. It was my mother's locket-a simple, tarnished silver piece she had given me just before she died, warning me to never take it off.

It was vibrating.

The silver metal was burning hot, so hot it should have blistered my skin, yet it didn't hurt. Instead, the heat spread through my chest, pushing back against the cold, hollow emptiness left by the rejection.

Thump.

A sound broke through the storm.

Thump. Thump.

It was heavy. Rhythmic. The sound of massive paws hitting the earth.

I froze. My wolf was silent, unable to warn me, but every instinct in my body screamed at me to run.

I pushed myself up onto my elbows, my eyes straining against the pitch-black tree line.

From the shadows of the ancient pines, a pair of eyes opened. They didn't glow the natural gold or amber of a normal wolf. They glowed a deep, blood red.

The creature stepped into the clearing.

It was a wolf, but it was a monster. It was massive, standing taller than a horse, with thick, midnight-black fur and muscles that rippled with every step. Its paws were the size of dinner plates, crushing the underbrush as it stalked toward me.

I tried to scramble backward, but my back hit the base of a large oak tree. I was trapped.

The massive beast stopped a few feet away. Its red eyes locked onto mine.

I braced myself, squeezing my eyes shut. I waited for the tearing of flesh, for the end. I was ready for it.

But the killing blow didn't come.

Instead, the air in the clearing shifted. The pressure dropped, so heavy it felt like I was drowning. I heard the sickening crack of bones breaking and reforming.

I opened my eyes.

The beast was gone. In its place stood a man.

He was impossibly tall, his body chiseled from pure muscle and crisscrossed with ancient scars. He was completely naked, unbothered by the freezing rain. His hair was as black as the wolf's fur, falling over eyes that still burned with that terrifying crimson light.

He looked at me, his gaze sweeping over my mud-soaked dress, the blood on my lip, and the tears on my face.

He inhaled deeply, his jaw clenching.

"You reek of a coward's blood," his voice was a low, guttural rumble that shook me to my core. "Who broke your bond?"

I couldn't speak. I could only stare at him.

He took a step closer, crouching down until we were eye-level. He reached out, his large, calloused hand wrapping around the silver locket at my throat.

The moment his skin touched the metal, a violent spark of purple electricity snapped between them, forcing him to jerk his hand back.

His red eyes widened. The terrifying aura around him vanished, replaced by something that looked almost like shock.

"The Seal of the Moon," he breathed, looking at me with an entirely new, terrifying intensity. "It's real."

Before I could ask what he meant, his hand shot out, wrapping around the back of my neck with an iron grip.

"Wait-" I choked out.

He didn't wait. He pulled me against his chest, tilted my head to the side, and sank his sharp fangs directly into the tender curve of my throat.

I expected pain. I expected blood.

Instead, a tidal wave of pure, ancient fire rushed through my veins. The moment his teeth pierced my skin, the silver locket shattered into dust. The fragile, broken Omega girl I had been was incinerated.

My back arched. A roar-not a scream-tore from my lungs. I could feel my eyes burning, glowing with a silver light that illuminated the dark forest.

The man pulled back, a drop of my blood on his lips. He looked down at me, a dark, violent smile playing on his mouth.

"Sleep, little mate," he murmured, his voice echoing with power. "Tomorrow, we make them pay."

My vision went black.