After My Mate Rejected Me, The Lycan Claimed Me

The heavy oak doors of the pack hall were sealed shut, trapping the suffocating scent of panic inside. At my feet lay the crumpled parchment of the decree from the Lycan Royal Court. The thick wax seal of the Obsidian Moon Pack stared up at me like a blood-red eye, sealing my fate.

Prince Jackson, the ruthless, bloodthirsty monster of the North, had demanded an Omega tribute. The decree specifically named my half-sister, Marigold.

"I won't send her!" Alpha Reid's voice cracked, completely devoid of the commanding strength an Alpha should possess.

I watched in numb horror as my husband of five years pulled Marigold tightly against his chest. His hand rested possessively on her hip, and she buried her face in his neck, sobbing softly. A collective gasp echoed through the gathered Silverfang pack members. The whispers and rumors were true. My mate, my Alpha, had been sleeping with my half-sister.

Reid's terrified, desperate eyes darted across the room and landed on me. "Isabella will go."

The great hall went dead silent. "What?" I breathed, my inner wolf pacing in frantic distress. I was his Luna. His chosen mate.

"You will take her place," Reid demanded, his voice trembling with cowardice. He puffed out his chest, trying to look authoritative while shielding his mistress. "You will go to the Lycan Prince's estate. Marigold is the new Luna of this pack."

I wanted to scream. I wanted to shift and tear his throat out for the ultimate humiliation he was putting me through in front of our entire pack. But before I could even process the magnitude of his betrayal, a small figure stepped out from behind Marigold's legs.

Dustin. My beautiful, sweet boy. My own pup.

I reached out a trembling hand, my heart leaping into my throat. "Dustin, come here—"

He swatted my hand away. His little face was twisted in a cruel sneer that looked exactly like Marigold's. "Just leave!" he shouted, his voice echoing in the silent hall. "You're just a weak she-wolf anyway. Marigold is a real Luna. She's going to be my mother now."

The world stopped spinning. The betrayal from my mate was a knife in the back, but my pup's words? That was a jagged blade twisted straight through my heart. The brainwashing was complete. Marigold's poisonous lies had stolen the only thing I truly loved in this pack.

I shoved my hand into my coat pocket, my fingers desperately closing around the small carved wolf figurine my mother had left me before she died. The smooth wood grounded me. It was the only real piece of family I had left.

Reid didn't waste another second. His eyes flashed gold as he forced his dominant aura over the room, pressing heavily against my chest.

"I, Alpha Reid of the Silverfang Pack, reject you, Isabella Warren, as my mate and my Luna!"

The words triggered a violent explosion in my soul. Agony ripped through my veins, hot and merciless. It felt as though invisible, burning claws were tearing my heart directly from my ribcage. My knees buckled, but I forced my legs to lock. I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted hot copper. I would not shed a single tear for these traitors. I would not give them the satisfaction of my breakdown.

I lifted my chin, locking my gaze with Reid's cowardly eyes. "I, Isabella, accept your rejection."

Snap.

The mate bond severed. The pack link shattered into a million icy pieces. I was entirely, terrifyingly alone.

I didn't pack a bag. I didn't look back. I walked straight out of the pack house, leaving five years of my life in the dust. My chest hollow and aching, I crossed the invisible boundary line of the Silverfang territory and stepped into the dense, bordering woods.

The wind howled through the trees, chilling my sweat-dampened skin. I was a rogue now. An Omega tribute walking blindly toward the territory of a monster.

Suddenly, the sharp crunch of dead leaves broke the silence.

I spun around. Reid's Beta lunged from the shadows of the pines. The pale moonlight caught the deadly glint of a silver syringe in his fist. The sickening, bitter scent of liquid wolfsbane hit my nose, making my wolf recoil in panic.

"Sorry, Isabella," the Beta snarled, his eyes wild and breathless. "Alpha's orders. We can't have you blabbing about our pack's internal affairs to the Lycans. You have to die here."

He thrust the needle directly toward my neck. I braced for the burning sting of the poison.

It never came.

A massive shadow dropped from the canopy above. The earth literally shook as a towering figure landed directly between me and the Beta. Before my attacker could even blink, a massive, clawed hand shot out, wrapping around the Beta's wrist.

CRACK.

The Beta's agonizing scream tore through the night as his arm snapped like a dry twig. The silver syringe tumbled harmlessly into the dirt.

Three more immense figures stepped out of the darkness, their eyes glowing with lethal intent. They were massive—standing well over six and a half feet tall, radiating an aura so thick and suffocating it made Reid's Alpha tone feel like a child's tantrum. Lycans. The elite warriors of the Obsidian Moon Pack.

The man who had broken the Beta's arm kicked the whimpering attacker aside like a piece of garbage. He turned to me. His eyes were sharp and glowing, but his posture immediately shifted from lethal predator to absolute, unwavering respect.

He placed a massive fist over his heart and bowed his head deeply. "Lady Isabella. I am Beta Marcus. The Prince sent us to ensure your safe passage."

I stared at the brutal, towering warriors, my heart pounding against my bruised ribs. They weren't here to drag me away in chains. They were here to escort me.