My Mate Publicly Rejected Me Before the Lycan Prince

The heavy mahogany table rattled under the impact of Bodie’s fist.

"What do you mean they pulled out?" Bodie roared.

The double doors of the pack war room were open half an inch. I stood in the quiet hallway shadow, watching through the gap.

Renner, his Beta, took a hurried step back from the table. His knuckles were white where he gripped his tablet.

"Greystone canceled the joint training exercise scheduled for tomorrow morning, Alpha," Renner said, his voice strained. "All fifty elite warriors. Their Alpha didn’t give an excuse. The message just said their borders were closed until further notice."

Bodie’s face turned an ugly, mottled red.

For three years, he had worn the calm, magnanimous face of an Alpha who had everything under control. Now the cracks were splitting wide open. His chest heaved against his tailored shirt.

"Alpha Bennett gave me his word," Bodie snarled, pacing toward the floor-to-ceiling map on the wall. "We signed a mutual defense pact six months ago! He can't just walk away on the eve of my Mate Ceremony!"

I pushed the heavy oak door open and stepped into the room.

Both men snapped their heads toward me.

"I can draft a diplomatic inquiry to Alpha Bennett," I offered in a quiet, measured voice. "He usually responds quickly to formal letters from our office."

Bodie rounded on me, his eyes blazing with irritation.

"Shut up, Serenity!" he snapped, his voice ringing off the wood paneling. "I don't need your damn letters! I don't need you scribbling on fancy paper like a schoolteacher. I need warriors on my border!"

Renner looked down at the floor, clearly uncomfortable.

I didn't flinch. I let my lashes lower, keeping my expression smooth as glass.

"Of course," I murmured. "I’ll leave you to your work."

I turned on my heel and walked back down the carpeted hallway to my suite.

Once inside, I locked the door behind me. I pulled the heavy leather ledger from beneath the mattress and opened it to the Greystone Pack tab. With a black fountain pen, I drew a single, clean line through their mutual defense clause.

In the margin, I wrote: *Confirmed.*

Beneath my ribs, my wolf uncurled her massive paws and rumbled with pure, wicked satisfaction.

Two days left. His house of cards was falling down on schedule.

***

Later that afternoon, a sharp, familiar laugh drifted down the second-floor gallery.

I paused by the archway leading out to the glass terrace. Jemma White was lounging on a wicker sofa with her phone propped against a pitcher of iced tea. She was on a video call, her screen tilted toward the sunlight.

Lainey’s face was unmistakable on the display. She was lounging in an outdoor pavilion in Silverpine territory, surrounded by towering vases of white lilies and silver ribbons.

"Bodie already cleared his rogue mercenary guard for the perimeter," Jemma was saying with a conspiratorial grin. "When Serenity shows up, we can have two of those bruisers block her at the outer gate. Force her onto the dirt path. Once the crowd starts laughing, she’ll run away in tears before the vows even begin."

Lainey gave a shrill sneer through the phone's speaker.

"No," Lainey said dismissively. "That’s far too gentle for an Omega who clung to my mate for three years."

I stayed completely still in the shadow of the brick pillar, listening.

"Bodie told me that ugly moonstone around her neck is the only thing she truly cares about," Lainey continued, her voice dripping with venom. "Her pathetic little safety blanket. I'm going to handle her myself, right at the altar. I'll rip it off her throat in front of every visiting elder and snap it under my heel."

Lainey reached up, her red-painted nails stroking the glowing, milky gem of the stolen relic resting at her collarbone.

"Let her watch me wear the real treasure," Lainey purred, "while her worthless rock turns to dust."

I pressed my thumb against the inside of my wrist, feeling the bite of the suppressing chain beneath my long sleeve.

*Let her try,* my wolf whispered in the dark of my mind.

I turned and walked away before Jemma ever realized I had been standing there.

***

Dawn arrived with a low, grey mist that swallowed the pines outside my window.

Bodie stood before the full-length mirror in the master bedroom, fastening the silver clasps on his formal Alpha coat. The midnight-blue wool and polished silver embroidery were designed to project supreme power. The self-made man. The conquering Alpha.

I sat at the mahogany vanity, wearing a simple, slate-grey shift dress. My hair was pulled back into a neat knot. No makeup. No rings.

When Bodie caught my reflection in the mirror, his hands froze on his collar.

For half a second, his boyish grin slipped. Something flickered behind his hazel eyes—a fleeting, uncomfortable shadow that looked almost like guilt. But just as quickly, he smothered it. He cleared his throat and adjusted his lapels.

"I hope you understand, Serenity," he said, using the smooth, reasonable tone he usually saved for negotiating pack treaties. "This isn't personal. It's about Ironvale’s future. Lainey comes from strong stock. She has the fire, the bloodline, the public presence a growing pack needs. An Alpha pair has to command respect."

I turned on the vanity bench to look at him.

I met his gaze dead-on, holding it with the unblinking stillness that had always made him look away first.

"I understand," I said softly. "I understand exactly what this is, Bodie."

A heavy sigh of relief slipped past his lips. He smiled, clearly mistaking my calm for submission. He took two steps forward, reaching out to pat my shoulder with patronizing warmth.

"Good girl," he murmured. "I knew you’d be sensible about it."

He checked his gold watch, turned on his heel, and walked out the door, his heavy boots echoing down the grand staircase as he left to join his escort.

The packhouse fell dead silent.

I stood up and opened the small velvet box on the dresser.

The moonstone amulet lay inside, cool and milky white. The ancestral suppressor that had kept my true scent and my Lycan wolf locked in the dark for three long years.

"One last time," I whispered.

I clasped the cold silver chain around my throat. The stone settled against my skin, sending an icy wave through my veins that forced my roaring wolf back behind her iron bars.

I picked up my coat and walked down the back service stairs, slipping through the side gate into the foggy morning air.

Eduardo stood waiting beside the black town car.

Rested on the tailgate beside him was the heavy cedar chest, draped in pitch-black velvet. A death offering for a broken mate bond.

Eduardo didn't say a word. He looked at me with his fierce, ancient eyes, then stepped forward and opened the passenger door.

"Let's go," I said.