Rejected By My Alpha, Claimed By The Lycan King

I bled for Alpha Ethan. On the battlefield, I took the silver blade meant for his heart. It went through my shoulder. The pack healer said I would never shift with my left arm again. Ethan held my hand while I bled and said, "You are my Luna. My only Luna. I will love you until my last howl." That was 24 hours ago. Now, I am standing in the pack ceremony hall, my arm still bandaged, blood still seeping through, watching him mark another woman. Her name is Chloe. She is fragile. She faints when she sees blood. She has never fought a day in her life. But she is the daughter of the Northern Alpha, and Ethan needs her father's army. "Seraphina Grey," Ethan says, not even looking at my bandage. "You served the pack well. But a wounded wolf cannot be Luna. I, Alpha Ethan Blackwood, reject you as my mate and Luna." The whole pack gasps. My mother grabs my good arm. The pain is worse than the silver blade. My wolf, Lyra, howls inside me so loud I think my chest will break. I fall to my knees. The rejection tears through our bond. I can feel him cutting it with his words. Chloe smiles at me from his arms. A small, fragile, winning smile. "I accept his rejection," I whisper, because if I don't, I will die. The bond snaps. I scream. And that is when the doors of the ceremony hall burst open. Cold wind. Snow. Every wolf in the room drops to their knees, including Ethan. Including Chloe. Only I stay standing, because I am already on my knees. A man walks in. 7 feet tall. Black coat. Eyes like molten gold. No one has seen him in 10 years. The Lycan King. The King of all werewolves. The one they say kills Lunas who betray their mates. King Magnus. His eyes go straight to me. To my bleeding shoulder. To my tears. To my broken bond still smoking in the air. "Who rejected you?" His voice shakes the hall. Ethan, still on his knees, stammers, "My King, this is pack business, she is wounded, she cannot-" King Magnus doesn't listen. He walks to me. He kneels in front of me, in front of the whole pack, and lifts my chin with one finger. "You bled for an Alpha who cannot even stand when I enter?" he says quietly, so only I can hear. "What is your name, little wolf?" "Seraphina..." "Seraphina," he repeats. My name in his mouth sounds like a claim. "I watched you take that blade yesterday. On the hill. I was there. You fought while his fragile Luna hid." He stood up. He turned to the pack. "I, Magnus Lycan, King of the Northern Realms, claim Seraphina Grey as my own. She is no longer packless. She is no longer rejected. She is under my crown. Anyone who touches her touches me." He picks me up. One arm under my bleeding shoulder, so gently I barely feel it. I should be scared. The Lycan King is terrifying. They say his touch burns. But his touch doesn't burn. It heals. The bleeding stops. Ethan screams, "You can't! She is mine! I rejected her but-" King Magnus looks at him, gold eyes blazing. "You rejected her. Now watch her rise as your Queen." He carries me out of the hall, past my mother, past Chloe crying, past Ethan on his knees. And for the first time since yesterday, my wolf Lyra stops howling in pain. She starts howling for him. Not for Ethan. Ethan who said "You are my Luna. My only Luna. Until my last howl" 24 hours ago while I bled. Not for him. For Magnus. King Magnus. Lycan King. Terrifying. Gold eyes blazing. They say his touch burns. But his touch heals. He carries me out of the hall. One arm under my bleeding shoulder, so gently I barely feel silver. Silver that healer said would make me never shift with left arm again. The pack ceremony hall has 200 wolves. I know because I counted them when I was Luna-in-waiting. I counted every wolf Ethan needed. Now 200 wolves watch Magnus carry me. Past my mother. My mother is there. In your second screenshot I didn't see her, but now you show her. She is at edge. She is human? Or wolf? She is looking at me with $5,000 in her eyes? No, with tears. My mother, who told me "Serve the pack, Seraphina, serve Alpha Ethan, he will love you." She told me to take blade for him. She said "Good girls bleed for Alphas." She is crying now? Not like Chloe crying. Chloe crying is fragile crying, pretty crying, for attention. My mother crying is silent crying, because she knows she told daughter to bleed for boy who marks another woman while daughter's blood still seeping through bandage. Magnus doesn't stop for my mother. He walks past. Gold eyes forward. He is King. Kings don't stop for mothers who told daughters to bleed. Past Chloe crying. Chloe. Fragile. Daughter of Northern Alpha. She faints when she sees blood. But she is not fainting now. She is crying. Why? Because Ethan is on his knees? Or because Magnus gold eyes blazing scared her? Chloe has never seen Lycan King. No one in Eastern territory has. Northern Alpha has seen, because Northern has $100 million and Lycan has $400 million, they do business. But Chloe, 22, never fought a day in her life, never saw gold eyes blazing. She cries, "Ethan! Ethan! He is taking her!" Ethan. Past Ethan on his knees. Ethan screams, "You can't! She is mine! I rejected her but-" But what? But you need her father's army? But you said "You served the pack" and offered $5,000 and Omega status and kitchen job $12 an hour? But you held her hand while she bled and said "My only Luna until my last howl" 24 hours ago? Ethan is on his knees because Lycan King Magnus gold eyes blazing makes Alphas kneel. Even $40 million territory Alpha kneels to $400 million Lycan King. Even Northern Alpha, Chloe's father, who is standing in corner with $100 million territory, is kneeling. All Alphas kneel when Magnus blazes. Magnus looks down at Ethan on knees and says, "You rejected her. Now watch her rise as your Queen." Your Queen. Not his Queen. Your Queen. Ethan's Queen. Because Eastern pack will soon be under Lycan empire? Because Northern army will be under Lycan empire? Because when Lycan King claims a girl before whole pack, that girl becomes Queen of all packs? I don't know. My wolf Lyra knows. Lyra stopped howling in pain for first time since yesterday, when silver blade went through shoulder. Healer said Lyra would never shift with left arm again. Lyra howled in pain for 24 hours inside me. Now she stops. And starts howling for him. For Magnus. What does Lyra howling for him mean? In werewolf books, wolf howling for male means fated mate. Second chance mate. Moon Goddess gives second chance when first mate rejects. I didn't know Moon Goddess gives second chance so fast. 24 hours after first rejection, second claim? Magnus carries me out of hall, past 200 wolves bowing, past mother crying, past Chloe crying, past Ethan on knees, past Northern Alpha on knees, out of $40 million territory hall, into night. Night in Manhattan? No, this territory is not Manhattan. This is forest. Blue Moon Pack forest. Trees. Moon. Full moon that saw rejection. Outside, air cold. My bandage still bleeding? No. His touch doesn't burn. It heals. The bleeding stops. How? Lycan King touch heals silver wounds? They say his touch burns because Lycan fire is hotter than werewolf fire. But for me, it heals. He sets me down? No, he keeps carrying. One arm under bleeding shoulder, other under knees. Like bride. They say Lycan King never carries brides. He burns them. "Can you stand?" he asks. Voice not terrifying now. Voice low, gold eyes not blazing now, soft gold. I nod. My wolf Lyra howls inside, not in pain, in want. "Put me down, Seraphina. Let me sniff him. Let me mark him. He heals." He puts me down gently on moss. Moss outside ceremony hall. $0 moss, but soft. My legs wobble. 24 hours bleeding, silver in blood, $3,800 healer debt, $1,200 bank, no food since yesterday battlefield. I wobble. He holds my good arm. Right arm. Not bleeding shoulder left arm. He knows. "Seraphina Grey," he says my