Discarded by My Alpha, Desired by the Lycan Crown

POV: Aria I should have known something was wrong when Kael wouldn't look at me. The silver chains of the mating ceremony felt heavier than they should, but I told myself it was just nerves. Around my wrists, the traditional silver cuffs clinked softly as I smoothed down my white dress for the hundredth time. My hands wouldn't stop shaking. "Stop fidgeting," Vivian whispered beside me, adjusting the crown of white roses in my hair one last time. "You look perfect and good’ Perfect. Right. Like an omega could ever be perfect enough for an Alpha. I stood at the edge of the ceremonial clearing, hidden behind the ancient oak trees while the pack gathered. Through the branches, I could see them over three hundred wolves from Silvermoon Pack, all dressed in their finest, all waiting to witness their future Alpha claim his mate. Except half of them looked like they were attending a funeral instead of a celebration. My stomach churned. I pressed a hand against it, trying to calm the nausea rising in my throat. "What if he doesn't go through with it?" The words tumbled out before I could stop them. Vivian went very still. When she finally turned to face me, something flickered across her expression. Guilt, maybe? But it was gone so fast I couldn't be sure. "The Moon Goddess chose you as his mate, Aria. The bond doesn't lie." "But I'm an omega." My voice cracked. "He's an Alpha. Everyone keeps saying…. "Everyone can shut their mouths," Vivian cut me off, but her voice sounded hollow. "Kael loves you. He's loved you since you were kids. This is just... ceremony. Formality. It'll be fine." I desperately wanted to believe her. The drums started beating, deep and primal, echoing through the forest. My heart jumped into my throat. "That's your cue, Vivian squeezed my hand once, then let go. "Remember head up, shoulders back. You're about to be Luna." She slipped away into the crowd before I could respond, leaving me alone in the shadows. Luna. Me. Aria Sinclair, the weakest wolf in the entire pack, about to become Luna. It still felt like a dream. Or maybe a mistake. I'd known Kael my whole life. We'd grown up together, playing in these same woods, swimming in the creek that ran through pack lands. He'd been my best friend before he was anything else. Before I'd fallen stupidly, hopelessly in love with him. I remembered the exact moment I realized what he meant to me. I was twelve, getting shoved around by some older kids who thought tormenting the runt was good entertainment. Kael had appeared out of nowhere, all protective fury, and sent them running with nothing but a growl. Then he helped me up, brushed the leaves from my hair, and said, "Don't worry, Aria. I'll always protect you." That was the day my heart decided it belonged to him. Six years later, on my eighteenth birthday, when my wolf finally emerged and the mate bond snapped into place between us, I thought it was fate. The Moon Goddess herself said we were meant to be together. But that was before I was presented as an omega. I closed my eyes, remembering that night. The shame of it. My wolf was so small, so weak. Silver fur instead of the strong browns and grays of the other pack members. Barely any power at all. I'd felt the pack's disappointment like a physical weight, watched my parents' faces fall, heard the whispers start immediately. "An omega? Alpha's mate is an omega?" "He can't seriously go through with it." "The pack will never accept her as Luna." I ran into the woods and cried until I couldn't breathe. Kael had found me there, sitting beside me in silence for a long time. Then finally: "The Moon Goddess doesn't make mistakes, Aria." I'd looked at him through my tears. "You don't care that I'm omega?" "Mates are chosen by the Moon Goddess," he'd said, taking my hand. "Everything else is just noise." I'd believed him. Goddess help me, I'd believed every word. The drums grew louder, more insistent. I could hear Elder Marcus's voice calling out, beginning the ceremony. It was time. I stepped out from the trees and into the moonlit clearing. Three hundred pairs of eyes turned to stare at me. I heard the whispers immediately, saw the pitying looks, the barely concealed disgust on some faces. My wolf whimpered inside me, wanting to run and hide. But I kept walking. One foot in front of the other. Head up like Vivian said, even though my knees were shaking so badly I was sure everyone could see. Kael stood in the center of the clearing, waiting. My breath caught despite everything. He was beautiful and powerful in his black ceremonial robes, the silver Alpha medallion gleaming on his broad chest. His dark hair fell across his forehead, and those golden eyes that had haunted my dreams for years glowed in the moonlight. But something was wrong. His jaw was clenched too tight. His shoulders were rigid. And he still wouldn't look directly at me. My steps faltered. No. No, it was just nerves. His nerves, not mine. This was a big moment. Of course he was tense. I forced myself to keep going until I stood directly in front of him, close enough to touch. Close enough to smell his familiar scent pine and earth and something uniquely Kael. "Kael?" I whispered, searching his face. His eyes finally met mine, and my stomach dropped straight through the ground. They were cold. Completely, utterly cold. "Silence," Elder Marcus commanded, his ancient voice carrying across the clearing. "We are gathered under the full moon to witness the sacred mating bond between Alpha Kael Blackthorn and Aria Sinclair." My hands were shaking so badly now that the silver chains rattled. "The Moon Goddess has chosen these two souls to be joined for eternity," the Elder continued. "What She has bound together, no wolf may tear apart." Except I could see it in Kael's eyes. He was about to tear it apart. He was about to No. No, I was being paranoid. The bond was real. What we had was real. Wasn't it? "Alpha Kael," Elder Marcus intoned, "speak the binding words." This was it. The moment I'd dreamed about for six years. The moment that would make everything official, that would prove to the whole pack that I was enough, that I mattered, that I was worthy of love despite being the weakest wolf any of them had ever seen. Kael's throat worked as he swallowed. His hands clenched into fists at his sides. Then his golden eyes went completely flat, and I knew. I knew before he opened his mouth what was coming, and I couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't do anything but stand there and watch my entire world end. "I, Kael Blackthorn, Alpha of Silvermoon Pack Please no please no please….. "REJECT Aria Sinclair as my mate and Luna." The words hit me like a physical blow. For one single heartbeat, nothing happened. The world hung suspended, silent and still. Then the pain came. It felt like someone had grabbed the invisible thread connecting my soul to his and ripped it out through my chest. Like every bone in my body was breaking at once. Like my heart was being shredded by claws from the inside. I couldn't breathe couldn't think couldn't A scream tore from my throat. I collapsed, my knees hitting the hard ground, barely feeling it through the agony consuming every inch of me. The mate bond was breaking, shattering, dying, and it was taking me with it. "Please," I gasped, reaching for him with trembling hands. "Kael, please, He took a step back. Away from me. Like I was something diseased. "You're too weak to stand beside an Alpha." His voice was flat, emotionless, like he was commenting on the weather. "I need a Luna who brings strength, not shame." Each word was a knife, stabbing deeper and deeper into what was left of my heart. Around us, the pack erupted into chaos. Gasps, shouts, whispers spreading like wildfire. "I knew this would happen" "Poor girl actually thought " "An omega Luna, honestly, what did she expect? And underneath it all, laughter. Someone was actually laughing. The silver chains around my wrists started burning. I clawed at them, trying to get them off, but they wouldn't budge. The pain just kept getting worse, spreading through my veins like poison. Through my tears, through the agony ripping me apart from the inside out, I looked up at Kael one last time. Begging him. Pleading with him to take it back, to make it stop, to be the boy who'd promised to always protect me. But he wasn't looking at me anymore. He was looking past me, toward the edge of the clearing, and there was something in his expression that destroyed me even more than the rejection had. Relief. I turned my head, following his gaze through vision blurred with tears. Selene Ashford stood at the edge of the crowd. Tall, beautiful, powerful everything an Alpha's mate should be. Her dark hair fell in perfect waves down her back, and her emerald eyes gleamed with triumph. And Kael was smiling at her. Not the soft, gentle smile he used to give me. This was different. Hungry. Wanting. He'd already moved on. Before the bond was even fully broken, he'd already chosen someone else. The pain became unbearable. My vision went dark at the edges, my body giving up, shutting down. I felt myself falling forward, the ground rushing up to meet me. The last thing I saw before consciousness left me was Kael walking away toward Selene, his hand already reaching for hers while I lay broken and bleeding in the dirt like something worthless. Like garbage. Like nothing at all. Then darkness swallowed me whole. But just before it did, something strange happened. A burning sensation erupted on my wrist, different from the chains. Hotter. Deeper. Like something was being carved into my skin from the inside. And in the distance, so far away I couldn't be sure I really heard it, came a sound that made my dying wolf's ears prick up. A howl. Not a wolf's howl. Something bigger. Older. More powerful than anything I'd ever heard. Something that made every wolf in the clearing freeze and turn toward the dark forest beyond. Something that was coming. For me.