Rejected by My Alpha, Claimed by the Lycan King

ELARA’S POV “Kneel.” The word hit me like a slap and the hall went silent and even the torches seemed to stop moving. I looked up at him, Alpha Kael stood on the high platform and his back was straight, his face showed nothing and his eyes did not soften when they met mine. Three years. Three whole years. And this was the first word he gave me today. “Kneel,” he repeated. My hands shook, but I moved and I gathered my dress and lowered myself to the marble floor, the stone bit into my knees and I kept my head high. All of Silvermoon Pack was here. Elders, warriors, omegas and even the children stood at the back, whispering. Today was the final day of our three-year contract. Three years ago, I stood in this same hall, I was seventeen, I was afraid, proud and determined. Daughter of Alpha Rowan of Nightfall Pack, offered as alliance, not as a bride but as a deal. Kael needed our army and my father needed his land and so we were bonded under the moon. There was no love but only politics. At least… that was what everyone said, but I was young and foolish and I fell in love. I lifted my eyes again. He did not look at me the way he used to during banquets. Back then, he always sat beside me, even when other Alphas visited, he would pull my chair closer to his. “Stay near me,” he would say and I thought it meant something. During rogue attacks, he always stood in front of me, his wolf was massive and fierce, and it would circle mine. “Do not move from my side,” he ordered once, blood on his cheek. I thought it meant something. Sometimes, when winter winds blew hard, he would place his cloak over my shoulders and his scent would stay on it for days, it was strong, protective and male. I would press my face into the fabric when I was alone, I thought it meant something. “Lift your head properly,” Elder Marius snapped and I straightened and then Kael finally spoke again. “Our agreement ends tonight.” My heart skipped, but I held my breath, this was the part where he renewed it. Where he said our alliance grew stronger and where he kept me. Right? He then reached into his coat and the sound of parchment slid out echoes in the hall and then he threw it. The scroll landed at my knees and the c***k of it hit the floor was louder than thunder. “Our agreement ends tonight,” he repeated, and his voice was firm. “I, Alpha Kael of Silvermoon Pack, reject you as my mate.” The words was heavy and for a moment, I did not understand them. Reject. The word moved slowly through my mind and then… My wolf screamed, it was not a gentle cry, it was sharp and painful, it was like claws were tearing inside my chest. I gasped and I grabbed my dress. The bond, I felt it and the silver thread that tied my soul to his. It shook, it trembled and it cracked but it did not fully break. Why? Gasps filled the hall. “No…” “She was his Luna…” “After three years?” Voices rose around me and I forced myself to look at him. “You reject me?” My voice came out thin and his face did not change. “Yes.” Just one word, it was like I was nothing more than a stranger. “You promised,” I whispered. “You said we would discuss renewal.” “There is nothing to discuss.” My chest tightened. “Is it because I failed you?” I asked. “Tell me what I did wrong, I will fix it.” A murmur spread through the pack, Lunas do not beg, but I did not care. I love him. Or at least… I thought I did. “You did your duty,” Kael said. Duty? That was all I was. “You represented your pack well, you bore the title with honor.” “Then why?” My voice broke now and I did not stop it and then his jaw tightened. Because for a second, just a second, I saw something move in his eyes. Regret? No, it disappeared too fast and then he spoke again. “My true mate has returned.” The words hit deeper than rejection and the hall exploded in whispers. “True mate?” “But he is already bonded!” “How can that be?” My ears rang. True mate. The Moon Goddess chooses one. A bond stronger than contracts. Stronger than politics. Stronger than anything. My stomach dropped. “She died,” someone whispered. “Yes, years ago.” I then looked at Kael again, his posture had changed and he no longer looked like a king making an announcement. He looked like a man waiting, waiting for someone. Then the massive doors at the end of the hall opened and every head turned and footsteps echoed on stone, it was slow and graceful. A woman then walked in, and she wore white. Her hair fell like silk over her shoulders and her chin was lifted and also her steps were steady. The air changed around her, it was power, it was not loud but strong and she stopped at the center of the hall. Then our eyes met and her lips curved. “Kael,” she said gently and my heart stopped. That voice. He stepped down from the platform and he did not look at me, he just walked past me and past his kneeling Luna and then he stopped in front of her. “Seraphina,” he said and the name hit me like ice water. Seraphina. The woman who died years ago. The woman he once loved. The woman he mourned. I heard stories. When I first arrived, the servants whispered about her. The beautiful Luna who was sick, the one who died during a rogue ambush. The one Kael failed to save and I remembered asking him about her once. “Do not speak of the dead,” he said. I never asked again. But now she stood here. Alive. Breathing. And looking at him like he was her world. “You came back to me,” Kael said, and his voice was lowered now. I have never heard that tone from him, not even once. “I told you I would,” Seraphina replied and she touched his arm. He then closed his eyes for a second and that was when it broke inside me. But it was not the bond, but my heart. I saw it now, everything. The medicine he forced me to drink every winter. “You must stay strong,” he always said. Seraphina was sickly. The meals he requested for me from the kitchen. “Cook the herbal stew,” he would order. I thought he cared about my health. But I once heard an old cook whisper, “That was Lady Seraphina’s favorite.” The protection, the way he panicked when rogues came near me, it was not because he loved me. Because once, long ago, he failed to protect her. I was never special. I was a practiced, I was a guilt and I was replacement. Seraphina finally looked at me and eyes scanned me from head to toe. “You must be the alliance Luna,” she said. Alliance Luna, not Elara and not Kael’s mate but just alliance. I slowly rose from my knees and the pain shot through them, but I ignored it. “I am his wife,” I said and my voice shook, but I stood tall. Seraphina then smiled. “A temporary one.” The hall then went silent again and Kael did not correct her. He did not defend me and he did not even look at me. The bond inside me trembled again and it still did not break. Why? Why does it still connect us? If she was his true mate… If he rejected me… Why does my wolf still feel him? “Guards,” Kael said and two warriors stepped forward and then my breath caught. “You will escort Elara to the eastern wing,” he continued. “She will remain there until her departure at dawn.” Departure. Like I was cargo. “Kael,” I whispered and he finally looked at me and his eyes were unreadable. “This is for the best.” “For who?” I asked but he said nothing and then Seraphina stepped closer to him and their shoulders almost touched and suddenly I felt it. A pulse, from him. Through the bond. It was not love, it was not longing, it was confusion and shock flashed through his eyes. Just for a second and he gripped his chest. Seraphina frowned. “Kael?” I felt it too. The bond, it cracked louder this time, but it still did not break. My wolf rose inside me but she did not cry now, she growled.. Because something was wrong, if Seraphina was his true mate… Then why does he still feel me? And why? Why do I feel that the Moon Goddess was not done with us yet? The guards then grabbed my arms but I did not fight. I kept my eyes on Kael, on the man who said I was nothing and on the man who once sat beside me at every banquet. On the man who left his scent on my cloak, on the man who protected me from rogues and I understand now. He was not loving me, he was reliving her and I was never his choice, I was her shadow, her echo and her replacement.