Rejected and Banished: Claimed by the Lycan King

Lyra’s POV

Three years ago, Alpha Kael Stormclaw asked me to marry him, me, an ordinary omega.

The weakest rank in the entire pack, and even now, when I think about that moment, it feels like a dream I was never meant to have.

Everyone was shocked, confused, and some even laughed.

“An omega?” someone whispered loudly.

Kael stood in front of the whole pack. He was calm and composed as he said the words that changed my life.

“I will marry Lyra Vale.”

My knees almost gave out that day because I knew the truth.

I was just an omega who cleaned the pack house and carried water buckets every morning.

Why did he choose me?

The answer was simple. I saved his life.

That night still lives inside my head like it happened yesterday.

It was three years ago.

The howls woke me up.  Rogues attacked our border without warning, and the entire pack was fighting.

 I should have run when the battle started, just like everyone else did, but then I saw him.

Kael.

He was lying near the trees, and he was injured, bleeding badly. Some of the rogues surrounded him.

“Alpha!” I shouted.

But no one heard me. The rogues were about to attack him again.

I just ran, and I grabbed a broken spear from the ground and screamed like a crazy person.

“Leave him alone!”

The rogues turned toward me, surprised.

 Kael used the chance to strike one of them.

The fight was messy, it was fast and terrifying, but somehow… we survived.

Kael was bleeding badly, and his side was torn open.

“Stay awake,” I kept saying while dragging him through the forest.

"Please don’t sleep.”

My arms were shaking, my legs were sore, but I didn’t stop.

Arrows from the rogues flew past us, and one almost hit my shoulder, but still, I kept dragging him.

When we finally reached a safe place, he was barely breathing.

I took off my scarf and pressed it hard against his wound.

“Please don’t die,” I whispered, and my hands were covered in his blood.

“I don’t know what to do if you die.”

He didn’t answer, and so I stayed awake the entire night beside him, holding the scarf and praying to the Moon Goddess.

When morning came, Kael finally opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was me, dirty, tired, and crying.

He then stared at me for a long time, and he asked quietly,

“Why didn’t you run?”

I remembered laughing weakly.

“Because you’re the Alpha.”

He kept looking at me, like he was seeing me for the first time.

And then a week later, the entire pack gathered in the courtyard, and Kael stood before everyone, and then he shocked them all.

“I will marry Lyra Vale.”

Gasps filled the courtyard, and someone shouted, “But she’s an omega!”

Kael didn’t even look at them; he just said calmly,

“I already decided.”

That was the moment my life changed.

For three years, I believed it meant something, and I believed maybe… maybe Kael cared about me.

Maybe one day he would truly love me, but tonight I realized something painful.

I was wrong.

I sat across from Kael now in the pack office.

The room was cold, too quiet, and Kael stood near the desk, tall and distant.

He didn’t look at me, not even for once, but slid a paper across the table toward me.

“Sign it.”

His voice was calm, too calm, and I blinked in confusion.

“Sign what?”

The paper stopped in front of me, and I slowly looked down, the words hit me like a punch.

“Termination of Engagement Agreement.”

My fingers started shaking, and I looked back at him quickly.

“Kael… what is this?”

He still didn’t look at me, and his jaw tightened slightly.

“Our engagement ends today.”

The words sliced straight through my chest, and for a moment, I thought I had heard wrong.

“Ends??”

My voice came out small.  “You mean… postpone?”

“No.” His answer was sharp. 

The room suddenly felt hard to breathe in, and I stared at him.

“Why?” I whispered, and silence filled the room, and then my heart started beating faster.

“Did I do something wrong?”

Nothing.

My throat tightened.

“Kael… please say something.”

He spoke, but his voice sounded colder than I had ever heard before.

“This marriage cannot happen anymore.”

My hands clenched slowly on my lap.

“Why?”

Before he answered, the door behind him opened, and the sound made both of us turn.

A woman walked into the room. She moved slowly and confidently, as she belonged here; my heart stopped the moment I saw her face.

She was tall, beautiful, with long black hair and sharp eyes.

Serena Blackwood, the woman Kael loved before she disappeared three years ago.

The woman everyone believed was dead, I felt the air leave my lungs.

She smiled gently, as if we were old friends, but her eyes stayed on Kael as she walked toward him without hesitation.

Then she reached out and held his arm, but Kael didn’t move away. My chest tightened painfully.

Kael finally spoke, and his voice was quiet.

“Serena is back.”

The words shattered something inside me, and then Serena leaned her head slightly toward him; it was like she had always stood there.

Like I was never here, she then finally looked at me and smiled, not kindly, it was more like someone watching a game they already won.

Kael pushed the pen closer to me.

“Sign it, Lyra!”  My ears rang.

Three years, three whole years, of laughing together, eating together, and waiting for the day we would marry.

Was all of it just… nothing?

My fingers slowly reached for the pen; they shook so badly I almost dropped it.

I looked up at him one last time.

“Kael…”

My voice cracked.

“Was I ever your choice?”

He didn’t answer, and that silence hurts more than any words.

My chest was empty; maybe the truth was something I was too afraid to admit.

The pen was heavy in my hand.

My fingers trembled and slowly… I moved it toward the paper.