The alpha king's rejected mate

The Alpha King had thirty seconds to choose his mate. Aurelia Veyne knew because the executioner standing beside the royal throne had already begun counting.“Twenty nine.”The entire royal court fell silent.Aurelia stood beneath the enormous crystal chandeliers, surrounded by wolves dressed in silk and diamonds, while blood from a cut above her eyebrow trickled down her temple. She had not intended to attend the royal mating ceremony.She had not even intended to remain in the capital. But three hours earlier, a royal messenger had arrived at her pack with an order bearing the Alpha King's seal. Every unmated wolf between the ages of eighteen and twenty five was required to attend. Refusal would be considered an act of disobedience against the crown.Aurelia had learned a long time ago that powerful men rarely needed a good reason to ruin a powerless woman's life.So she had come.Now she wished she had run.“Twenty eight.”At the opposite end of the ballroom, Alpha King Cassian Valerius stood before his throne in a black ceremonial uniform.He was taller than she had imagined, with broad shoulders, dark hair, and a face that seemed carved from something colder than stone.A thin scar crossed his left eyebrow.His expression did not change when the executioner spoke.It did not change when the gathered Alphas began whispering.And it did not change when Aurelia's knees nearly gave way beneath the sudden, violent pull in her chest.She knew that feeling.She had heard stories about it since childhood.The mate bond.Impossible to manufacture. Impossible to bargain for. Impossible to mistake. Aurelia stared at the king.He stared back.Then the world disappeared.For one breathtaking second, the noise in the ballroom faded. The chandeliers blurred. Every person around them became insignificant.Something inside Aurelia awakened.It was not the familiar emptiness she had carried all her life.It was a voice. A woman's voice, ancient and distant, whispering inside her mind.Found you.Aurelia stopped breathing.The king's hand tightened around the armrest of his throne.For the first time that evening, his expression changed.He had felt it too. “Twenty seven.” Cassian descended the first step.Aurelia could hear his heartbeat from across the ballroom.One beat.Two.Then nothing.Her eyes widened.The king was looking at the silver mark beneath the edge of her dress.The mark her mother had forbidden her to reveal.His face drained of color. "Where did you get that? he demanded. Aurelia instinctively covered her collarbone. “I don't know what you're talking about. ”Take your hand away.”There was something in his voice that made the guards straighten. Aurelia did not move.The king crossed the remaining distance between them.Up close, he was even more intimidating. His eyes were a strange shade of gray, almost silver beneath the chandelier light. He looked at her as if she were not a woman standing before him.He looked at her as if she were a ghost.“Your name,” he said.“Aurelia Veyne.”A muscle shifted in his jaw.“Your mother's name.”Aurelia's heart lurched.“My mother is dead.”“Her name.”She swallowed.“Lavinia Veyne.”The king released her wrist as if her skin had burned him.Behind him, an elderly councilman dropped his glass.It shattered against the marble floor.Nobody moved to clean it up.Cassian turned toward the council.“Clear the ballroom.”Confusion spread through the crowd.“Your Majesty?” the councilman asked.“Now.”The command struck the room like a thunderclap.Within seconds, guards began ushering the guests toward the doors. The music stopped. Whispers rose into frightened murmurs. Aurelia remained where she was, her pulse pounding.Something was wrong.Not with the bond.With the king.He looked furious, but beneath the anger was something far more unsettling.Fear.When the ballroom had emptied, Cassian turned back to her.“How much do you know about your mother?“Enough to know she was a better person than most of the people in this room.”His eyes hardened.“Do you know why she died?”Aurelia's mouth went dry.“She was sick.”That is what you were told.”The floor seemed to tilt beneath her.“What are you saying? Before he could answer, a sharp pain tore through Aurelia's chest.She gasped and stumbled backward.The silver mark beneath her collarbone burned.Cassian caught her before she struck the floor. The moment his hand touched her skin, a strange vision exploded inside her mind. A room covered in blood.A woman screaming.A crown split down the middle.And a younger Cassian standing over a dead man, holding a dagger in his hand.Aurelia cried out.The vision vanished.She shoved herself away from him.“What did you do to me?”Cassian stared at her.For the first time, the Alpha King looked genuinely shaken.“You saw something.”It was not a question.Aurelia backed away.“I want to leave.”You cannot.”Watch me.”She turned toward the doors.“Aurelia.”She stopped.The way he said her name made the bond inside her tighten painfully.She hated it.She hated that some invisible force could make her body respond to a man who frightened her.She hated that a tiny, humiliating part of her still wanted him to reach for her. Cassian's next words destroyed that hope.“I, Cassian Valerius, Alpha King of the Northern Territories, reject you, Aurelia Veyne, as my fated mate.”The bond snapped. Pain tore through her so violently that she fell to her knees. She heard a gasp from the doorway. Someone had remained behind. But Aurelia could not look up.Her chest felt as though something had been ripped out of it. The king stood motionless before her.“Do you accept the rejection? he asked. She wanted to scream. She wanted to ask him why. She wanted to remind him that she had never asked for him, that she had never wanted to stand in his ballroom and have her heart broken before a kingdom of strangers.Instead, she forced herself to raise her head.“You don't get to destroy me twice.”Something flickered across his face.Aurelia rose unsteadily.“I accept your rejection.”The pain did not disappear.But she would rather bleed than let him see her beg.She walked toward the doors without looking back. Neither of them noticed the elderly councilman watching from the shadows. He waited until Aurelia had disappeared before approaching the king.“Your Majesty,” he whispered. “We have a problem.”Cassian did not turn.“Tell me something I don't know.”The councilman swallowed.“The mark appeared.”Silence.“That is impossible,” Cassian said.“We all saw it.”The king's hands curled into fists.“Then find her.”Alive?”Cassian's eyes lifted toward the doors through which Aurelia had vanished.For a moment, the mask of the Alpha King slipped.“Yes,” he said. “Alive.”The councilman hesitated.“And if the Blackthorn Alpha finds her first?”Cassian turned so sharply that the old man flinched.“Then pray he does not discover what she is.”Because seven years ago, the royal family had burned an entire bloodline to keep one secret buried. And tonight, its last surviving heir had walked into the palace wearing the face of a girl nobody thought worth saving.