The Wolfless Healer-Claimed by the Alpha King

Chapter 3

"I didn't touch her."

I said it three times.

No one was listening.

Selena had been guided to a plush velvet chair by the altar. She pressed one hand delicately against her stomach, her slender shoulders trembling with perfectly timed sobs.

"Dion, please," Selena wept softly, gazing up at him with tear-filled eyes. "Don't blame Jenna. She just hates me too much. It's understandable."

Dion squeezed her hand. When he looked at me, his gaze could have stripped the flesh from my bones. "Of course she hates you. Females like her can never stand to see someone else truly loved."

I stared at the two of them. The tension in the room thickened, thick enough to choke on.

"She's pregnant?" I asked.

Selena bit her lower lip, looking away.

Dion’s jaw tightened. "That is none of your business."

I dipped my chin slowly, piecing it together. "So... before you even rejected me at the Mating Ball, you already knew she was carrying your child."

Dion’s face froze.

A collective gasp rippled through the gathered pack members. Even the Elders leaning over the gallery railing stiffened.

An Alpha getting another female pregnant before formally severing the bond with his fated mate wasn't just a betrayal—it was a severe violation of pack law. A scandal massive enough to warrant a full Elder Council inquiry.

Selena’s sobbing grew frantic. "I—I didn't mean for it to happen! That night, Dion was so drunk... I tried to push him away, I really did, but he kept calling my name! He was so broken, Jenna. I truly thought the two of you had lost your feelings for each other long ago."

She looked at me, her eyes like soft, velvet-wrapped blades. "Jenna, surely you wouldn't harbor malice toward an unborn child?"

Dion stepped squarely in front of her, shielding her from my view. "Don't try to twist this into some grand betrayal. You've already been rejected. Stop playing the victim with a bond you couldn't even fulfill."

I looked at his face. The sharp jaw. The dark eyes I had stared into for three years.

There was a time when I honestly believed that if I worked hard enough, if I sacrificed enough, he would eventually see my worth. He would look at me.

But standing here now, the cold realization settled in my bones. I was a side character in their twisted, melodramatic play. Everyone else knew the script. I was the only one who had taken it seriously.

"Priest," Rowan’s gravelly voice cut through the heavy atmosphere like an executioner’s axe. "Examine Selena."

Selena’s sobbing hitched violently in her throat.

Dion whipped his head around, glaring at the Alpha King. "Examine her for what?"

"She claimed she was experiencing abdominal pain," Rowan stated, his storm-gray eyes completely devoid of warmth. "She requires an examination."

"She is my Luna. She doesn't need to be subjected to—"

Rowan stepped forward. The sheer weight of his presence made the air in the room unbreathable. "She is a marked lover you paraded in front of a crowd. She is not a Luna recognized by the Moon Goddess's laws."

The color drained entirely from Dion’s face.

Selena shrank back into the plush chair, her voice barely a whisper. "I don't want an examination. I'm... I'm too scared."

Rowan tilted his head. "Scared of what? Scared that the child doesn't exist? Or scared that the pain is entirely fabricated?"

Selena’s perfectly manicured nails dug into the armrests.

Dion’s chest heaved. Fury rolled off him in waves. "Enough! Your Majesty, this is an internal matter of the Dark Moon Pack. You are overstepping."

"You weren't singing that tune a few minutes ago," Rowan replied smoothly, "when you were trying to pin the crime of k********g a Royal pup on Jenna."

Dion’s mouth opened, but no words came out.

Seeing Dion falter, Selena suddenly turned her teary gaze onto me. "Jenna... I know you hate me. But why would you force the Alpha King to humiliate me like this? You know how important a female's reputation is in our world."

I met her gaze dead-on.

"You weren't thinking much about reputation when you threw all my clothes out into the snow," I said flatly.

Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. "I was only trying to help! I thought leaving your things in the Alpha's estate would just make you sad. I wanted to help you move on."

"Did you take my mother’s heirloom cloak to help me move on, too?"

Dion snapped. "For f**k’s sake, Jenna! Why are you always obsessing over a pile of useless junk?"

I didn't break eye contact with Dion.

"And the Luna's necklace?" I asked softly. "Is that useless junk, too?"

Selena’s hand flew defensively to her collarbone.

Resting against her pale skin was the Silver Crescent—a heavy, ancient necklace passed down through generations of Dark Moon Lunas.

My chest tightened. The phantom weight of that silver chain still lingered on my skin. Three years ago, during the preliminary mating ceremony, the High Priest had clasped it around my neck himself.

"You don't deserve to wear it," Dion growled. "Selena is far more fitting."

Rowan’s voice dropped an octave, the Alpha command lacing his words vibrating in our teeth. "Take it off."

Selena went stark white. "No."

Dion pulled her tightly against his side, his own Alpha aura flaring in challenge. "Who dares touch her?"

The High Priest hesitated at the bottom of the altar steps, clutching his robes.

Whispers erupted frantically from the gallery.

"Even the Alpha King shouldn't interfere with another pack's Luna necklace..."

"But Jenna's bond was never formally severed by the Council."

"Yeah, but she doesn't have an inner wolf anyway..."

The suffocating pressure in the room built to a breaking point.

Suddenly, the tiny grip on my dress vanished.

Ash broke away from my legs. The little boy darted straight toward Selena, his small face contorted in anger.

"Give it back to my sister!" Ash yelled, reaching up toward the silver chain.

Selena looked down at him. For one fraction of a second, raw, venomous hatred flashed in her eyes.

Then, she threw herself backward with a dramatic shriek. "Dion!"

Dion lunged to catch her. In the same motion, his heavy combat boot lashed out, kicking the tiny boy square in the chest.

CRACK.

A ringing numbness exploded in my brain. "Ash!"

The little boy flew backward, slamming hard against the stone steps of the altar. He curled into a tiny, agonizing ball, completely silent.

Rowan moved so fast he was a blur.

In a heartbeat, he was standing between Dion and the boy. The King's eyes had completely shifted to glowing, feral wolf-gold. His claws elongated, ripping through the sleeves of his shirt.

Dion froze, the realization of what he had just kicked dawning on him. The blood rushed from his face.

But Selena immediately began to sob hysterically, burying her face in Dion’s chest. "He was attacking me! I was so terrified! Dion, my stomach... it hurts so badly..."

Dion gritted his teeth, forcing himself to meet Rowan’s lethal gaze. "The Prince charged at her. I was only protecting my unborn child."

I had already dropped to my knees beside Ash. My hands hovered over him, trembling violently.

A thin trail of blood leaked from the corner of the boy's mouth. His chest hitched as he struggled to breathe, but his golden eyes were still fixed on Selena’s throat.

"Sister..." he wheezed, his tiny voice barely audible. "She stole... from you."

I squeezed my eyes shut, fighting the burning in my throat. When I opened them, they were dry.

"Rowan," I said.

The Alpha King turned his massive frame toward me.

I pushed myself to my feet. Ice settled deep into my bones.

"Run the examinations," I said, my voice echoing off the vaulted ceiling. "Examine Ash. And examine Selena."

Selena let out a piercing shriek. "Who gave you the right to decide that?!"

I took a slow, deliberate step toward her. "The right comes from the fact that you two just kicked a child until he bled."