Rejected By The Alpha, Claimed By His Billionaire Father

The night my mate was supposed to claim me, he claimed my sister instead. The pack house had never looked so beautiful. White roses hung from the ceiling, silver ribbons draped from the chandeliers, and the scent of pine and celebration filled the air. The entire Blood Moon Pack was dressed in their best. And in the center of it all, standing in a white silk dress that my mother had sewn for me before she died, was me. Zara Thorn. Twenty years old. The pack's only fatherless Omega. I had spent three years waiting for this night. Since I was seventeen, when I first felt the bond snap into place during Jace Blackwood's eighteenth birthday. He was the future Alpha, the golden boy, the strongest wolf in our generation. I was the girl who cleaned the pack house kitchen and scrubbed floors when no one wanted to. But the Moon Goddess had chosen us. Mates. My wolf, Lyra, had been howling all day. _Tonight. Tonight he claims us. Tonight we become Luna._ I believed her. Jace stood on the Alpha podium, looking like a god in his tailored black suit. His dark curls were perfect, his green eyes bright. When his eyes finally met mine across the crowded ballroom, my heart stopped. He smiled. Or at least, I thought he smiled. Then he looked away. The music stopped. The Elder, Rowan, stepped forward with the ceremonial blade. "We are gathered tonight for the Claiming. Future Alpha Jace Blackwood will now claim his chosen mate as his Luna." A hush fell. Everyone turned to look at me. My best friend, Mia, squeezed my hand and whispered, "Go." I took a step forward, my white dress whispering against the marble floor. My cheeks were burning. Lyra was purring so loud I thought everyone could hear her. Jace's eyes found mine again. But this time, there was no warmth. No love. Only cold, cruel amusement. "I, Jace Blackwood, future Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack," his voice boomed, amplified by his Alpha tone so that every wolf in the room could feel it in their bones, "reject you, Zara Thorn, as my mate and future Luna." Silence. For three full seconds, there was absolute, dead silence. As if the entire pack had stopped breathing at once. Then — chaos. "What did he say?" "He rejected her?" "On Claiming night?" The words hit me like physical blows. Reject. The word echoed in my head, in my soul, in Lyra's terrified whine. The mate bond, that golden thread that had connected me to Jace for three years, suddenly burned white-hot and then began to tear. Pain. Oh, Goddess, the pain. It felt like someone had reached into my chest and was ripping my heart out with their bare hands. I doubled over, a strangled cry escaping my lips. My knees hit the cold marble floor. The white dress pooled around me like spilled milk. "Why?" I managed to choke out, looking up at him through tears. My voice was so small. So broken. "Why, Jace?" He didn't even look guilty. He just smiled — that perfect, cruel smile — and reached to his side. And pulled my sister into view. Chloe. My older sister Chloe, blonde, beautiful, perfect in her red designer dress that hugged every curve. Chloe who had always been the favorite. Chloe who had been given everything while I was given chores. "Because I choose Chloe," Jace announced, wrapping his arm around her waist possessively. "Because Chloe is worthy of being Luna. She is pure. She is strong. She comes from a respectable line. Not a fatherless Omega mistake who scrubs toilets and thinks she can rise above her station." Laughter. I heard laughter from the crowd. Someone actually laughed. Chloe looked down at me, her eyes glistening with fake tears. "Oh, Zara... I'm so sorry. But you have to understand. Jace and I... we've loved each other for months. The Goddess made a mistake with you." A mistake. I was a mistake. Lyra howled inside me, a long, agonizing howl of pure heartbreak, and then she went silent. She curled into a tight ball in the darkest corner of my soul and began to fade. When a wolf loses its mate to rejection, it can die. And I could feel her dying. I couldn't stay here. I couldn't breathe here. I scrambled to my feet, not caring that my dress tore, not caring that my bare feet slapped against the marble. I ran. I ran past the white roses, past the pack members who parted for me like I was contagious, past my best friend who was shouting my name. I ran out into the freezing November night. The pack territory was large, but I knew every shortcut. I ran through the forest, branches whipping my face, until I reached the old stone bridge at the edge of our lands. Below it, the river raged, swollen from the autumn rains. If Lyra died, I would die too. That was the law of our kind. Maybe it was better this way. Maybe it was easier to let the water take me than to live as a rejected, wolfless Omega who had been humiliated in front of everyone she knew. I climbed onto the stone railing, my hands shaking from cold and pain. "Touch that railing and I'll break your hand before you can jump." The voice came from behind me. Low. Deep. Furious. An Alpha voice that made every hair on my body stand up. I froze. Slowly, I turned my head. A man stood at the entrance of the bridge, half in shadow. Tall. Unbelievably broad. He wore a long black wool coat that looked like it cost more than our entire pack house was worth. His hair was silver, thick and swept back, and even in the dark I could see the sharp line of his jaw, covered in silver stubble. His eyes were grey, like a winter storm. My blood ran cold. Alpha Damien Blackwood. Jace's father. The real Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack. The Billionaire. The legend. He hadn't set foot in the territory for three years, ever since he moved his business empire to the city. He was thirty-eight, ruthlessly powerful, and said to be even more ruthless in bed and in business. He was a widower. He was untouchable. And he was looking at me like he wanted to devour me. "Mr. Blackwood— Alpha—" I stammered. "Damien," he corrected, his voice cutting through the wind. He stepped out of the shadows, and the moonlight hit his face. Goddess, he was beautiful in a terrifying way. Older. Scarred. Nothing like his soft, pretty-boy son. "You smell like grief. Like tears. And like..." He inhaled deeply, his nostrils flaring, his grey eyes darkening. My scent. He was scenting me. "...like mine." My heart, which had been dead a moment ago, suddenly slammed against my ribs. "What?" I whispered. He was in front of me in two strides. He didn't touch me at first. He just looked, his gaze dropping from my face to my torn dress to my bare, bleeding feet. His jaw clenched so hard I saw a muscle tick. "I watched the whole pathetic display on the live feed from my office," he said quietly, but his quiet was more dangerous than shouting. "My son. Rejecting his fated mate for a social climber in a red dress. In front of the whole pack." He finally touched me. His large, warm hand cupped my jaw, his thumb rough and calloused. The touch sent a shock through my entire body — not the familiar spark of Jace's bond, but something deeper. Hotter. More ancient. Lyra, who had been silent and dying, suddenly lifted her head inside me and whispered one word with all her remaining strength. _Mate._ No. No, no, no. Impossible. The father couldn't be the mate of the son's rejected mate. That never happened. That was forbidden. "You're lying," I breathed, tears spilling over again. "You can't be— I'm nobody's. He just— your son just rejected me." "I know," Damien growled, his thumb brushing my tears away, his face inches from mine. His scent — whiskey, cedarwood, and pure Alpha male — was overwhelming. "And he is a fool. A complete and utter fool for not seeing what was right in front of him." His grey eyes burned into mine. "But I see you, Zara Thorn. I have always seen you." "You— what?" "Three years ago, at Jace's birthday. You were in the kitchen, carrying a tray. You dropped it when you felt the bond. I was standing in the hallway. I saw your face. I smelled your scent for the first time and thought I was going mad because you were too young. So I left." My mouth fell open. He leaned in, his lips brushing my ear, his voice a dangerous whisper that made me shiver. "Jace rejected you? Good. Let him. Because now you're free. So tell me, little wolf..." He pulled back, his eyes holding mine, possessive, dark, promising things that scared and thrilled me. "Will you let me claim you instead? Will you be mine? Will you let me make you my Luna? Not his. Mine." And in that moment, with the river raging below me and the ghost of my old bond still bleeding in my chest, I realized my life wasn't ending on this bridge. It was just beginning.