The Rejected Luna Claimed By The Lycan King

The Replacement

I heard myself say to myself again and again, “fully accepted as Luna.”

Clara Wells.

Pack of Shadowfang Lunas.

I stood there, after the messenger had gone, my eyes glued to the empty corridor, as if I could somehow change my mind about what I heard.

But I couldn’t.

It was done.

Lucian looked on at me from a certain distance. He didn’t rush me. He didn't break the hush. He only noted, as he did when things changed within me.

My jaw tightened.

I should have known, I said quietly.

Lucian didn’t respond.

I took a deep breath out.

“She said we need not worry, she wouldn't hesitate.

Lucian put his head on one side.

“No,” he said. “She didn’t.”

My hands slowly curled at my sides.

“She looked down on me as if I was nothing,” I added.”

I could feel Lucian's gaze still on me.

“That's because she had to have no other existence besides yours”, he said.

The words landed cleanly.

No emotion. Just fact.

I swallowed slightly.

“She was my friend,” I said, more to myself than to him.

Lucian didn’t react to that.

Instead, he said, “Friends don’t usually take positions you are still standing in.”

That silence hurt more than I expected.

I turned away slightly, trying to steady my breathing.

Clara’s face kept appearing in my mind.

Not just in the hall.

But everywhere.

Her sitting beside Adrian.

Her hand on her stomach.

Her smile when she showed her mate mark.

Like she had been waiting for this.

Waiting for me to fall.

“I want to know when it started,” I said quietly.

Lucian stepped closer.

“When what started?” he asked.

“The plan,” I said. “Her plan. The moment she decided I had to go.”

Lucian studied me.

“You are asking the right question now,” he said.

I looked at him sharply.

“And what is the answer?” I asked.

He didn’t give one.

Not directly.

Instead, he said, “People don’t usually suddenly become powerful. They position themselves.”

That made my stomach tighten slightly.

“So she was already positioned,” I said slowly.

Lucian nodded once.

“Before the trial,” he confirmed.

My chest tightened again.

That meant it wasn’t just betrayal in the moment.

It was preparation.

Everything had been planned.

My accusation.

The herbs.

The testimony.

Even Adrian’s silence.

I exhaled sharply.

“So I was already removed before I even stood in that hall,” I said.

“Yes,” Lucian replied.

My hands clenched harder.

The anger came back—but this time it was different.

Lucian watched me carefully.

“You’re shifting,” he said.

I looked at him.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Before,” he said, “you reacted.”

I stayed silent.

Now," he went on, "you're beginning to think.

That shouldn’t have meant anything.

But it did.

Because he was right.

The pain was still there.

Something else sprouted over it, however.

Clarity.

Lucian approached the table in the room and laid a small map on it.

He said, “Shadowfang is unstable now.

I frowned slightly.

“Due to your attacks?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied.

I studied the map.

Marked a line on various areas of the map.

Weak points highlighted.

Broken supply chains.

Internal gaps widening.

They are not only losing land,” I whispered. “Drawing away their faith.”

Lucian nodded.

“Correct.”

I paused.

“And the centre of it is Clara,” I said.

“Yes,” he replied again.

This set a feeling in my chest.

Clara was not the only one sitting in my seat.

She was in a collapsing building.

And she was not even aware of it.

I was jolted from my trance by Lucian's voice.

“You're in her head now,” he said.

“It's been in my mind,” I said quietly.

He approached him with a slight step.

“If that's the case, then use it,” he said.

I looked at him.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Emotion is not the problem,” said Lucian. “Uncontrolled emotion is.”

I stayed quiet.

“You're angry,” he went on. "Good. But anger gets you nowhere.

I clenched my jaw a little.

“What is the point of it?” I asked.

Lucian's eyes narrowed a bit.

“Make it a direction,” he said.

I remembered that word.

Direction.

Not chaos.

Not revenge with no organization.

Something aimed.

Something precise.

I examined the map again.

At Shadowfang.

When the fractures are in the process of being formed.

In the location where I once lived.

And in the woman who took my place.

Slowly, I spoke.

No, I don't want to only hurt her," I said.

Lucian didn’t interrupt.

I exhaled.

But I said, “I want people to see her. “Everything that she did and how she did it.”

My hands clenched a little bit.

“How she deceived him in this hall,” I said. How she stood there and destroyed me and she spoke with a smile.

Lucian was intently observing me.

His face took on a different look, one that was softer.

Approval.

But, he did not tell him.

I lifted my gaze to his and looked him directly in the eye.

I didn't want her to just disappear, I said.

A pause.

I finished it up clearly then.

I want her to be beaten in front of everybody.