Rejected By My Alpha: Contracted To The Billionaire Lycan

The heavy velvet curtains of the Blood Moon packhouse ballroom were drawn tight, but the suffocating stench of expensive champagne, arrogant superiority, and cheap perfume still choked the air. I stood frozen in the center of the polished marble floor, the hem of my white silk dress suddenly feeling like a heavy shroud. My hands trembled violently, my fingers clutching the delicate fabric of my skirt until my knuckles turned white. Only three feet away stood Alpha Marcus, the man I had loved since I was a teenager, the man the Moon Goddess had blessed me with as my fated mate. Yet, he wasn't looking at me. His gaze was fixed on my stepsister, Isabella, who was draped over his arm like a venomous snake. Her manicured hand rested possessively on his forearm, her blood-red lips curved into a triumphant, mocking smirk. "Marcus," I whispered, my voice cracking over the lump of pure terror lodged in my throat. "What is the meaning of this? The elders are here. The entire pack is here. We were supposed to announce our engagement tonight." A low, cruel chuckle rippled through the gathered crowd of elite pack members. Hundreds of eyes bored into me, filled with pity, amusement, or outright disdain. Marcus didn't even have the decency to look at me with a shred of remorse. His eyes, which I had once believed held the warmth of the morning sun, were as cold and lifeless as the bottom of the ocean. "Engagement?" Marcus scoffed, his voice carrying effortlessly across the silent ballroom, bouncing off the crystal chandeliers. "Did you actually think I would make a weak, pathetic healer my Luna? Look at you, Selene. You are a disgrace to the Blood Moon name. You have no political power, no family lineage worth mentioning. Isabella is an Alpha's daughter. She is powerful. She is worthy of standing by my side." The golden thread in my chest—the sacred, invisible bond that had tied my soul to his since my eighteenth birthday—gave a violent, agonizing tug. It felt as though someone had reached into my ribcage and squeezed my heart. "You promised," I gasped, tears blurring my vision, turning the glittering ballroom into a distorted nightmare. "For five years, you promised me, Marcus. You said you loved me." "I was bored," he said coldly, his words slicing through me like silver blades. "I needed a toy to warm my bed while I waited for a real woman. Now, I am done playing with the weak little healer." He turned to Isabella, dipping her low, and kissed her deeply, claiming her in front of the entire pack. The crowd erupted in applause and cheers. The sound was deafening, a roar of approval for my public destruction. Marcus pulled back, his gaze landing on me with utter disgust. "You are nothing. And you are no longer welcome here." I felt the air leave my lungs in a rush. "Where am I supposed to go? I have no family left! My parents died in the rogue attacks, and your father took me in!" "My father is banishing you," Marcus said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper meant only for my ears. "He wanted to throw you in the dungeons for trespassing, but I convinced him to show mercy. If I ever see your face again, Selene, I will have you hunted down and torn apart by the border patrol. You are dead to me." He stepped back, raising his voice so the entire room could hear. "I, Alpha Marcus of the Blood Moon Pack, formally reject you, Selene, as my mate and my Luna." Snap. It felt like my spine was being ripped out through my throat. The mate bond shattered, the magical tether breaking with a violent, psychic explosion. An excruciating pain, a thousand times worse than any physical wound, dropped me to my knees on the cold marble. I clutched my chest, a bloodcurdling scream tearing from my lips. It felt as if a part of my very soul had been violently amputated. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't see. All I knew was the blinding, white-hot agony of rejection. The pack didn't care. They laughed. They pointed. Isabella let out a tinkling, melodic laugh, pressing her hand to her chest in faux shock. They watched as I crawled toward the heavy oak doors, broken, bleeding on the inside, while my stepsister wore my crown and my mate. I dragged myself out into the freezing night. The rain pelted my skin, washing away the blood from where I had scraped my knees on the marble floor. The heavy doors of the packhouse slammed shut behind me, sealing my fate. With every agonizing step I took away from the only home I had ever known, the physical pain of the broken bond faded slightly, replaced by a cold, hollow, numbing void. I didn't look back. I couldn't. I just ran, letting the shadows of the forest swallow me, until the grand lights of the Blood Moon territory were nothing but a distant memory. I ran until my legs gave out, collapsing in a muddy alleyway on the outskirts of the human city. I curled into a ball under a pile of discarded cardboard, shivering uncontrollably as the freezing rain soaked through my ruined white dress. That night, I slept in the filth of the gutter, clutching my torn clothes, dreaming of the man who had shattered me. But as the dawn broke, painting the sky in shades of bruised purple, a violent, overwhelming wave of nausea hit me. I rolled over, violently heaving into the gutter. I pressed a trembling, ice-cold hand to my lower belly, a terrifying, impossible realization washing over me. The doctor had told me just last week that it was a miracle. That the Moon Goddess had blessed us. I hadn't told Marcus yet; I wanted to surprise him at the engagement party. I wasn't just broken, banished, and rejected. I was pregnant. And the Alpha who had just thrown me away like garbage was the father.