MY DESTINED MATE IS A LYCAN KING CHAPTER 1

The moon hung low and swollen over the sacred clearing, silver light pouring across the white stone altar like liquid blessing. Pine smoke and crushed moonflowers drifted on the night air. Every wolf of the Blackthorn Pack stood in a perfect crescent, their eyes bright with anticipation. Tonight their future Luna would be bound.

I stood at the center of it all, barefoot on cool stone, heart hammering so hard I felt it in my throat. The ceremonial gown clung to my body like water ivory silk that skimmed the soft curve of my stomach where our child already slept. Three months. Still small enough that most of the pack did not know, but I felt every flutter, every quiet miracle.

Alpha Bonen waited for me at the far end of the altar. Tall. Broad-shouldered. Dark hair falling across his forehead the way it always did when he was trying to look composed. The mating mark he had given me three months ago pulsed warm against the side of my neck. I touched it without thinking, smiling so wide my cheeks ached.

“I am so excited today,” I whispered to my best friend Lira as she adjusted the final flower in my hair. “Our bonding ceremony with my alpha… and I’m carrying his child.”

Lira’s eyes shone. “You look like the moon herself chose you, Chloe. He’s going to lose his mind when he sees you.”

I laughed, soft and breathless. “He already did once. Tonight he gets to keep me forever.”

The elder’s voice rose, deep and resonant. “Chloe of the Draken line, step forward. Claim your place beside your Alpha.”

I walked. Every step felt like flying. The pack parted for me. Hands brushed my arms in blessing. Someone began the old mating song..low, aching, beautiful. I kept my eyes on Bonen the entire time. He watched me the way a man watches the only thing that has ever mattered to him. Or so I believed.

I reached him. His fingers closed around mine. Warm. Steady. Mine.

“You are breathtaking,” he murmured, just for me.

“I love you,” I answered, voice shaking with joy. “I’ve loved you since the first night you smiled at me across the training field.”

His thumb stroked the back of my hand. “And now the whole world will know you belong to me.”

The elder lifted the ceremonial blade. Silver light caught on the edge. “Blood of the Alpha. Blood of the Luna. Bound under the full moon until death..”

The first scream tore the night apart.

It came from the eastern treeline high, wet, wrong. Then another. Then a dozen. Shadows exploded from the forest. Rogue wolves, eyes glowing sickly yellow, bodies scarred and wild. They crashed into the outer circle of our pack like a black wave.

Chaos.

Howls of rage and terror mixed with the wet sound of teeth meeting flesh. Torches toppled. Flames licked across dry grass. The sacred altar became a battlefield in the span of three heartbeats.

Bonen’s hand left mine. His Alpha command roared through the clearing. “Protect the Luna! Form ranks!”

I spun, searching for Lira. She was already shifting, fur rippling over her skin. Someone shoved me hard from behind. I stumbled, caught myself on the edge of the stone.

“Chloe—run!” my father’s beta shouted. Then a rogue tore out his throat.

Blood sprayed warm across my cheek.

I ran.

The gown tangled around my legs. I ripped the skirt higher and forced my body forward. Behind me the pack was fighting for its life. I heard Bonen’s roar deep, furious, the sound that used to make me feel safe. I tried to turn back toward him.

A rogue slammed into me from the side. We hit the ground hard. Dirt filled my mouth. Claws scraped across my shoulder, tearing silk and skin. Pain flared white-hot. I drove my knee up, shifted just enough for my own claws to punch through the rogue’s stomach. Hot blood poured over my hand. The body went limp.

I scrambled up and kept running.

Trees blurred past. Branches whipped my face. The child in my womb gave a sharp, frightened kick. I pressed a hand over the small swell and whispered, “I’ve got you. Mommy’s got you.”

The path narrowed. I knew these woods. I had run them since I was a pup. But tonight every familiar turn felt like a trap. Rogues howled behind me closer, closer. One lunged from the left. I ducked, rolled, came up swinging. My claws caught its muzzle. It yelped and staggered.

I didn’t stop.

My lungs burned. Blood dripped down my arm, sticky and hot. The mating mark on my neck throbbed like an open wound. Where was Bonen? Why hadn’t he found me yet?

The trees thinned. Moonlight flooded a rocky outcrop. I burst into the open and skidded to a stop.

Dead end.

A cliff dropped away at my feet, the river far below roaring like a living thing. Sheer rock on both sides. Nowhere left to run.

I spun, chest heaving.

They came out of the trees one by one. Six rogues. Eyes gleaming. Lips peeled back from yellow teeth. And behind them.

Bonen.

Relief hit so hard my knees almost gave out.

“Alpha..” My voice cracked. “Thank the Moon. They’re everywhere. The pack..”

He didn’t move toward me. He simply stood there, arms folded, watching.

Then my cousin Astrid stepped out from behind him.

She wore black fighting leathers instead of ceremonial white. Her smile was the same one she had worn at every family dinner when she thought no one was looking sharp, secret, satisfied.

“Well, well, darling,” she said, voice dripping honey and poison. “Why is she still alive? The pack is already burning. Dead. Or soon will be.”

The words didn’t make sense at first. They floated in the air like smoke.

I looked at Bonen. “Alpha… what does she mean? Are you with them?”

His face changed. The warmth I had lived on for three years drained away like water through cracked earth. What remained was cold. Bored. Cruel.

“Chloe,” he said, almost gently. “I am fed up with your pathetic face. I’ll stop pretending now. My Luna will be only Astrid. And no one else.”

The ground tilted.

“Why?” The word tore out of me. “Why, Alpha? Why did you do this to me? I am carrying your child..”

Astrid laughed. The sound was bright and ugly. “Do you know that night you slept with a stranger? Not Bonen.”

I stared at her. “What?”

Bonen stepped closer, circling me the way a cat circles something already dying. “I did not touch you, Chloe. The one who took your virginity was a random guy I picked up at the barn. I just… endured you. Because you are the daughter of Alpha Draken. Now your pack has fallen. I do not need you anymore.”

He walked toward me. Slow. Deliberate. Every step drove the knife deeper.

“I never loved you,” he said. “Not even once. I despise you. I only ever wanted your power. That’s all. That bastard in your belly isn’t mine. I only have Astrid my future Luna. Not you, a dirty as hell.”

I backed away. My bare feet found the crumbling edge of the cliff. Small stones skittered into the dark and vanished.

“I love you so much,” I whispered. Tears blurred the world. “I treated you with all my heart… and this is how you repay me? So that night… it wasn’t you? Have you ever loved me, Bonen? Even once? Tell me. Please, Alpha why did you make me believe that you loved me? Why did you pretend that night something happened between us? Why, Bonen? Of all people… why did you betray me?!”

“I never loved you even once, Chloe.” His voice was flat. Final. “I despise every soft, desperate inch of you. I despise your closeness and your kiss!”