Rejected At The Altar, Claimed By The Lycan King

04

Thorne's POV

She looked so small sitting in that enormous bed, her dark hair spilling over her shoulders, her amber eyes wide with confusion and fear.

I had waited three hundred years for this moment. Three hundred years of searching, of hoping, of nearly losing myself to despair and now she was here in my palace wearing my mother's necklace looking at me like I was a stranger.

In a way I was.

She didn't remember.

How could she? She'd been reborn her soul placed into a new vessel with her memories locked away behind walls even I couldn't breach but her blood…I could feel it. That ancient powerful pulse that sang to something deep inside me.

The healers had confirmed it while she slept. The tests they'd run the readings they'd taken.It was undeniable.

Zara Ashthorne carried the royal Moon Bloodline.

The blood of the first Lycans. The blood of queens and kings who had ruled before the werewolf packs even existed. The blood of the woman I had loved and lost three centuries ago.

My Athena.

No. No not Athena she was Zara now. A different woman, with different experiences, different wounds but with the same soul and heart.

I had to remind myself of that. She wasn't Athena she’s Zara and she didn't remember anything.

"You're staring," she said pulling me from my thoughts.

I blinked. "Apologies."

She was sitting cross-legged on the bed, the breakfast tray pushed aside, her chin lifted in a defiant gesture that reminded me so painfully of her past life that it took my breath away.

"Please" she said. “I beg you, tell me why I'm here. Tell me why you called me Queen."

I moved to the window staring out at the gardens below.

"How much do you know about the history of our kind?" I asked.

She shrugged. "The basics. Werewolves descended from Lycans. Lycans are stronger, faster, immortal. They were the first to walk this earth. The Moon Goddess created them to protect humanity."

"Close." I turned to face her. "But not quite accurate."

Her brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Lycans weren't created to protect humanity." I paused, choosing my words carefully. "They were created to protect something else, someone else."

"Who?"

"The Moon Bloodline."

She frowned. "I've never heard of that."

"Few have…The knowledge was lost centuries ago buried by those who wanted to erase the truth." I moved closer. "The Moon Bloodline is the oldest, most powerful bloodline in existence. It carries the essence of the Moon Goddess herself. Those born with it are the rightful rulers of all supernatural kind."

"That's..." She shook her head. "That's just a legend, a myth. Everyone knows the Moon Bloodline doesn't exist anymore It died out."

"It didn't die out." I locked my eyes on hers. "It was hidden, protected and then three hundred years ago it was almost destroyed."

"Destroyed?"

"My mate." The words came out rougher than I intended. "The woman I loved, she carried the Moon Bloodline she was the last of her line the last true Queen and when she was killed, I thought... I thought everything died with her."

Her expression shifted something flickered in those amber eyes. "What happened to her?"

"She was betrayed." The memory surfaced sharp and painful. "By someone she trusted and loved. They wanted her power, her bloodline, her crown and they killed her to get it."

The silence stretched between us.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "That must have been... terrible."

"It was." I forced myself to continue. "I spent centuries searching for her for any trace of the bloodline and then three years ago, I felt something. A whisper in the darkness and pulse of power I thought I'd never feel again."

"Three years ago..."

"The day you were born."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

"Zara." I moved to the edge of the bed, kneeling in front of her so we were eye level. "You carry the Moon Bloodline I had made sure that the healers confirmed it while you slept”

"No" She shook her head scooting backward. "No that's impossible… it can’t be, you’re mistaking me for someone… I'm an orphan my mother died giving birth to me and—“

"You're the most powerful being in existence," I said firmly. "Your wolf is dormant because your power is too great for your body to contain. It's protecting you at least keeping you safe until you're ready."

She stared at me like I'd grown a second head.

"You're insane," she whispered. "You must be insane."

"Im not”

"Then prove it." She snapped

I got up moving to the dresser where I'd placed the scrolls the healers had left. I unrolled one, revealing the ancient symbols and markings that told the history of her bloodline.

"Read this," I said handing it to her.

She took it reluctantly her eyes scanning the text and then slowly her face went pale.

"What..." She looked up at me her hands trembling. "What is this?"

"The ancestry of the Moon Bloodline It traces back to the first Queen the one who walked beside the Moon Goddess herself and it traces forward to the present day."

To her.

"No." She dropped the scroll like it burned her. "This isn't real It can't be real."

"Zara—"

"I'm telling you I'm nobody!" She was shaking now her voice rising. "I grew up in a pack that treated me like garbage. I was rejected by my mate in front of everyone I knew. I was beaten and banished and left for dead. I am NOT a queen!"

She was crying now tears streaming down her cheeks and I felt my heart shatter.

I moved to the bed sitting beside her. I didn't touch hernot yet.

I just sat there letting her cry, her tears burning my soul.

"Zara," I said softly.

She looked up at me her amber eyes red and swollen.

"I told you, I’m not her..." She swallowed hard. “Why won’t you believe me "

She wiped away the tears running down her cheeks. “Don’t give me hope that’s only going to disappear.”

“Hope didn’t bring you here.”

“The truth did.”

She looked away.

“I don’t believe you.”

“I know.”

“But that doesn’t change what you are.”

She grappled the necklace on her neck the moment she did she gasped.

Fragments of memories must have flashed before her eyes.

She pulled out the pendant throwing it to me

“No…”

She clutched her head.

“No… make it stop…”

“What…”

She whispered struggling to catch her breath.

“…what was that?”

My face darkened with concern. “The beginning.”