REJECTED LUNA: The vampire prince forbidden blood host

​I stood at the top of the grand staircase of the Silver Moon Plaza, my fingers digging into the railing until the wood groaned. Below me, the ballroom was a sea of power. Alphas from the Northern Reach. Lunas from the Coastal Packs. High ranking students from the Academy. The elite of the school, all gathered in their finest silks and leathers. ​And they were all whispering about me. ​"Look at her." A high pitched voice drifted up from the buffet line. "The daughter of the Alpha of Alphas. The strongest bloodline in her country. And she is tying herself to a Beta's son." ​"It is a disgrace." Another voice hissed back. "Kaelen is lucky. Marrying Lyra Thorne Chen is not a romance. It is a social climb. His family will be untouchable by midnight." ​I closed my eyes, forcing my inner wolf to stay quiet. ​They don't know him like I do, I told myself. They don't know how he held me when I failed my combat trials. ​"Lyra, sweetheart. You are shaking." ​My mother's hand settled on my shoulder. She looked beautiful in her charcoal grey gown, her silver hair pinned back with a diamond moon clip. ​My Dad, Vane Thorne Chen, had made his stance clear. He would not witness his only daughter downgrade the lineage. ​"I am fine, Mom." I lied, smoothing the front of my white silk dress. The dress was designed for the marking ceremony. Backless, so Kaelen's fangs could easily reach the scent gland at the crook of my neck. "Is he here? Has anyone seen Kaelen?" ​"He arrived an hour ago." Mom offered a small, forced smile. "One of the omegas said he headed up to the Private Sanctum. He probably wanted a moment of peace before the Alphas start their toasts." ​A rush of warmth flooded my chest. ​He is waiting for me. While everyone else was downstairs judging our bond, he was tucked away in our private room, probably practicing his vows. ​"I am going to go see him." I whispered. "Just for a second." ​"Lyra, the ceremony starts in twenty minutes." ​"I will be quick." ​I kissed her cheek and slipped away, weaving through the shadows of the upper gallery. ​The Private Sanctum was at the end of a long, dimly lit hallway. It was the room we had spent weeks decorating. The place where, in less than an hour, he would officially mark me as his mate. My heart hammered against my ribs, a rhythmic drum of excitement. ​I wanted to tell him that I did not care about the whispers. I did not care that my father was absent. I only cared about us. ​But as I reached the heavy doors, the air changed. ​The hallway was silent, but the air was thick with a scent that did not belong. It was the smell of musk, sweat, and another wolf's pheromones. Not mine. ​Then I heard it. ​A soft, rhythmic thud against the wall. A low, guttural moan that made the hair on my arms stand up. ​I froze. My wolf, usually calm and silent, let out a low, vibrating growl deep in my chest. ​Danger, she whispered. Betrayal. ​"Oh, Kaelen. Yes. Right there." ​The voice was high and breathy. ​It was Ava. ​My best friend. The girl who had helped me pick out this very dress. The girl who had held my hair back when I was sick. The girl who had sworn on the moon that she would always be loyal to me. ​We had been friends for seven years. Seven years of secrets and sleepovers and promises. She knew everything about me. Every fear. Every hope. Every insecurity. ​And she was in there. With him. ​I felt like the floor had turned into ice. My feet moved on their own, drawing me closer to the door. I could not breathe. I could not think. ​"Careful." Kaelen's voice came next. That deep, smooth voice I had listened to every night. But there was no love in it now. Only a raw, animalistic hunger. "We do not want the Alpha's daughter to hear her Beta having his fun before the big sacrifice, do we?" ​Ava let out a wet, giggling sound. "You call marrying Lyra a sacrifice? She is the most powerful woman in the country, Kaelen. You will be King." ​"I will be a prisoner in a gold plated cage." Kaelen spat, followed by a sharp smack of skin against skin. "I do not love Lyra. I never have. She is stiff. She is arrogant. She is boring. I am only doing this because my father is a Beta. Marrying that spoiled brat is the only way to lift my family's name out of the dirt." ​I felt the first tear track down my cheek, hot and stinging. ​Three years. Three years of defending him. Three years of fighting my father. Three years of believing he was different. ​"And after the ceremony?" Ava moaned. "What happens to us?" ​"Nothing changes." Kaelen grunted. "She will get the public title of Luna. She will be too busy playing Pack Leader to notice what I am doing. You will be my secret Luna, Ava. My real mate. She will never know. She is too high on her own bloodline to realize I am just using her as a ladder." ​The world tilted. My vision blurred, turning a sharp, predatory red. The pain in my chest was so intense I thought my heart was physically breaking in two. ​I did not knock. I did not cry out. ​I kicked the door. ​The heavy oak slammed against the wall with a sound like a thunderclap. ​The scene inside was a nightmare painted in flesh. My bed. The bed where we were supposed to share our first night as mates. It was a mess of tangled sheets. Kaelen was over her, his back arched, his skin flushed. His dark hair was matted with sweat. His eyes were wild. ​Ava was beneath him, her fingers tangled in his hair, her eyes wide with shock. ​The silence that followed was deafening. ​"Lyra." Kaelen stammered, scrambling backward, his face draining of all color. He tried to pull a sheet over himself, but it was too late. I had seen it all. "Lyra, wait." ​"A ladder?" ​My voice did not sound like mine. It was hollow. Cold. It carried the weight of the Alpha blood I had tried so hard to downplay. ​"Lyra, I can explain." Ava cried, clutching a pillow to her chest. Her eyes were red, but I could see the triumph hiding behind the fear. She had taken him. She had won. "We did not mean to. It just happened. The bond." ​"The bond?" I let out a laugh that sounded like a snarl. "You think the Moon Goddess gave you this filth? No. This is just what you are. A traitor and a dog." ​"Lyra, please." Kaelen stepped toward me, his hands reaching out. His body was still naked. He did not seem to care. "It is the stress. The engagement. The pressure of your father. I just needed a release." ​"Don't. Touch. Me." ​The command hit him like a physical blow, forcing him back. His knees buckled. He fell against the bedframe. ​But I was not the only one who had heard the crash. ​The hallway was suddenly flooded with light. The crowd from downstairs came rushing up the stairs. Alphas. Lunas. Academy students. Pack members. Dozens of them. All led by the sound of the disturbance. ​They all stopped at the threshold. ​The whispers died instantly. ​A hundred pairs of eyes fell on the bed. On Kaelen's naked body. On Ava clutching the pillow to her chest. On the Alpha of Alphas' daughter standing in the middle of her own ruin, wearing a white silk dress that was supposed to mark the beginning of her future. ​My mother pushed through the crowd. Her hand flew to her mouth. ​"Oh, Goddess. No." ​Kaelen looked at the crowd, then at me. He knew his life was over. His social climb had just ended in a vertical drop. ​"Lyra, do not do this. Not in front of everyone. Let us talk in private." ​"Private is over, Kaelen." ​I stepped forward, into the center of the room. I looked at the man I had defended against my father. The man I had loved more than my own rank. The man with the kind eyes and the soft voice who had promised me forever. ​"Everyone, look closely." My voice carried to every corner of the hallway. "Look at the man who thought he could use a Thorne Chen to climb his way out of the gutter." ​I turned to Kaelen. My eyes were glowing now. A bright, lethal amber. My wolf was at the surface, her fangs scraping against the inside of my lips. ​"Kaelen of the Beta Line." The ancient words of Pack Law fell from my tongue like heavy stones. "I, Lyra Thorne Chen, daughter of Alpha Vane Thorne Chen, find you unworthy. I find your blood foul and your soul hollow." ​Kaelen's eyes went wide. "Lyra, no." ​"I REJECT YOU." ​The power of the Alpha of Alphas' lineage exploded from my chest in a wave of golden light. The windows rattled. The chandeliers shook. The floor beneath my feet cracked. ​"I reject you as my mate. I reject your touch. I reject your name. And I banish you from my sight."