Rejected by My Alpha, Crowned by the Lycan King

LIORA  My seat at the table was taken. At twenty-five, I had learned that a woman could carry the title of Luna and still be treated as if she did not belong beside her Alpha. Most wolves awakened between sixteen and nineteen. Mine never had. For years, healers called me a late bloomer. Then they called my condition unusual. After my twentieth birthday, they stopped searching for kinder words. Wolf-less. The mate bond had still chosen Ronan Blackwood and me. He had recognized me before the pack, fastened his family’s ceremonial necklace around my throat, and named me his Luna. For a while, I had believed that would be enough. After six hours in the infirmary treating two hunters wounded near the border, all I wanted was a bath, something to eat, and a place beside my mate. Instead, I stopped at the entrance to the council hall and found Selene Ashford sitting on Ronan’s right. In the Luna’s chair. The twenty pack leaders around the long table lowered their eyes. Some stared at their plates. Others reached for their wine. No one looked surprised to see me in a blue dress stained with blood and healing herbs. Ronan wasn’t surprised either. “Liora,” he said, as though I were late for an ordinary dinner. “I thought you were eating at the infirmary.” “I told you I would return for the council meeting.” My plate had been placed at the opposite end of the table, between the stablemaster and an elder who rarely spoke to me. A servant avoided my gaze as he pulled out the chair. Then a child’s voice broke the silence. “More meat, Daddy.” Milo sat between Ronan and his mother, holding up his plate. He was five and had the same brown eyes as Eamon, Ronan’s dead brother. It was impossible to look at him without remembering the man our pack had buried. Ronan smiled and placed another slice of meat on Milo’s plate. “Only if you eat your vegetables too.” He didn’t correct him. He didn’t tell him to call him uncle. Selene touched Ronan’s arm with enough familiarity to make my breath catch. “Don’t spoil him,” she said with a soft laugh. “He already gets everything he wants from you.” That was when I saw the necklace. A silver crescent rested against Selene’s chest, a moonstone gleaming at its center. Ronan’s mother had worn it for twenty years. On the night I became Luna, Ronan had fastened that chain around my neck himself. That morning, it had been inside our bedroom. “That necklace belongs to me,” I said. Selene touched the pendant. The surprise on her face was too perfect. “Ronan said I could wear it. My dress looked so plain, and I thought—” “That is the Luna’s ceremonial necklace.” Ronan leaned back. “It belonged to my mother before it belonged to you. Selene is family.” “Being family does not make her the Luna.” The hall went still. Selene reached for the clasp. “I didn’t know. I can return it now.” “Leave it,” Ronan said. She obeyed. So did I, though every instinct inside me screamed to tear the symbol of my position from her neck. I did not. Milo was not to blame. Selene had lost her husband. Ronan carried Eamon’s death like a wound that refused to close. But I could not ignore the way his fingers rested on the back of Selene’s chair. “Sit down, Liora,” Ronan said. “We have important matters to discuss.” I crossed the hall beneath the eyes of my pack and took the place prepared for me. For the first time since becoming Luna, I was not sitting beside my Alpha. The meeting continued. Patrols. Supplies. Intruders near the river. I asked two questions and received short answers. Selene did not speak once, yet her presence occupied more space than every other voice in the room. When the servants removed the plates, Ronan rose. “There is one more matter. Selene and Milo will be leaving the guesthouse tonight.” My relief lasted less than a second. “They will move into the private wing of the Alpha residence.” Several council members nodded. One smiled at Milo. I stood. “The private wing belongs to the Alpha and his Luna.” “And to the Alpha’s family,” Ronan replied. “There are twelve available rooms in the guest wing.” “The roof is damp, and Milo wakes frightened. They need to be close to us.” Close to us. Selene lowered her head. “Ronan, perhaps it would be better if I stayed where I am. I don’t want to cause problems between you.” “You aren’t causing anything,” he said immediately. He defended her faster than he had ever defended me. Milo tugged on Ronan’s sleeve. “Will my room be close to yours, Daddy?” Ronan placed a hand on the boy’s hair. “It will, little one.” Several people smiled. No one looked at me. “You made this decision without speaking to me,” I said. “This is not something we should discuss in public.” “You announced it before the entire council.” His jaw hardened. For a moment, I saw the Alpha who could make trained warriors retreat with a single look. But I was his mate. Not a soldier under his command. “All I can still do for Eamon is care for the family he left behind,” Ronan said. “I thought you would understand.” “I understand protecting them. I do not understand why it requires my place at the table, my necklace, and now my home.” Selene turned pale. Ronan glanced around and realized, too late, that everyone was watching us. He approached and lowered his voice, transforming my humiliation into something that almost looked intimate. “She needs us,” he said. “You can endure this.”