chapter 5

Chapter 5

Naomi's POV

The banquet hall was a sea of gold to say the least. I felt awfully small and almost non-existent. 

And with how underdressed I was? Yeah, I was this close to bolting. 

I was standing near the buffet table, my fingers trembling as I held a glass of water I was too nauseous to drink.

Then, the room went quiet.

Liam stepped into the center of the floor. He looked like a god.

His dark suit was tailored to perfection, and his presence was so commanding that the Alphas of our pack actually bowed their heads.

My wolf was screaming now, a frantic, joyous sound. Mate. Go to him. He’s going to fix this.

I took a step forward, my heart in my throat. I was imagining the look of recognition in his eyes, the way he would pull me away from the whispers and tell everyone that I belonged to him.

Liam’s eyes found mine, and for a second, I thought it was happening. But his gaze wasn't warm. It was far from that. 

"Everyone!" Liam’s cold voice carried to every corner of the room. "I believe there has been a misunderstanding. A certain... anomaly... has been spreading a rather pathetic rumor."

He pointed a finger directly at me. The crowd turned as one, their eyes burning into me like lasers.

"Naomi Reed," he said, his lip curling in a way that made my stomach do a slow, painful roll. "I’ve heard you’ve been telling people I saved you on the roof last night. That you’ve been claiming some kind of... connection to me."

I froze. My mouth went dry. "Liam, I... you did. You caught me."

Liam let out a short, bark-like laugh that sent a chill down my spine. "I wouldn't touch a vile, ordinary Omega like you if you were the last creature on earth."

"You’re a suicidal attention-seeker, Naomi. You threw yourself off that roof hoping someone would notice you, and now you’re trying to latch onto my name to save yourself from being a pack failure."

The room erupted in whispers. I could see my parents in the crowd, their faces turning a bright, humiliated red.

"But the bond..." I whispered, though it felt like my lungs were filling with lead. "You’re my mate. I felt it."

Liam walked toward me, stopping just inches away. He leaned down, his scent of woodsmoke blocking my senses, acting as poison. 

"A worthless mutt like you could never stand beside me," he hissed, loud enough for the front row to hear.

"I, Liam Silva Lyon, hereby reject you, Naomi Reed, as my mate. You are nothing to me. You are a stain on this pack, and I’d rather shift and claw my own heart out than be tied to a dud like you."

The rejection hit me like a physical blow. My wolf let out a silent, agonizing howl in my head before collapsing. I felt something inside me tear, a raw, bleeding hole opening up where my soul used to be.

Liam didn't  even watch me crumble. He turned on his heel and reached out a hand.

Helena stepped forward, looking like a shimmering saint in her silk dress. He pulled her into his arms, tucking her head under his chin.

The pack erupted in mocking laughter and cheers.

I didn't  stay to see the rest. I turned and bolted, the sound of their laughter following behind me.

I ran, not  caring about the graduation or my parents or the fact that I was bleeding internally from the severed bond. I just needed air. To not feel like I was being suffocated.

I burst through the academy gates and plunged into the forbidden pack woods, the branches clawing at my face and tearing my navy dress to rags.

The bond-break was making my vision swim. Every step was agonizing. 

I tripped over a root and slammed into the dirt, coughing up a mouthful of blood that tasted like the failure I was.

I was so weak. My wolf was silent, too new and too broken by the rejection to help me.

I was just lying there, waiting for the dark to swallow me, when the snapping of twigs made my ears twitch. I wasn't alone.

Three men stepped out from behind the oak trees. They were not part of my pack.

They smelled of….. oh no. Rogues. My mind screamed that this was impossible; the pack borders were supposed to be iron-clad.

They should not be able to get this close.

"Well, well," the lead rogue said, his eyes glowing a sickly, crazed red. "Looks like the pack threw out the trash just in time for dinner."

I tried to scramble backward, but my legs felt like jelly. The rogue lunged, his claws extended for my throat.

I closed my eyes, bracing for the end. At least the pain would finally stop.

But the strike never came.

Instead, a roar shook the very earth beneath me. It wasn't a wolf’s howl. It was deeper, more primal. It was unlike anything I'd ever heard before. 

A blur of black and silver tore through the clearing. Before I could even blink, the lead rogue was slammed into a tree with enough force to shatter the trunk.

A single swipe of a massive hand sent the second rogue flying into the darkness, his screams cutting off abruptly.

The third one didn't  even wait—he turned and fled, but he was gone before he could take two steps.

I was shaking, my breath coming in short, terrified hitches. I looked up, expecting another monster, but I found a man.

He was standing in the center of the carnage, his chest heaving. He was taller than Liam, broader, his presence so heavy it felt like the ground was slipping away from underneath me.

He turned to me, and my heart stopped.

His eyes were blue, but not like Liam’s. These were the color of the midnight sea. They seemed like the eyes of something that had seen empires rise and fall.

Before I could move, he was in front of me. He grabbed my shoulders and pinned me against a rough oak tree, his body, radiating heat.

His scent hit me. Other than dark cedar, there was something else there. It was the bond.

It hit me a second time, stronger than before. My broken wolf stirred, lifting her head and letting out a sound that was a submissive, recognition-filled whine.

"The Lycan King," I breathed, the realization hitting me like a freight train.

He leaned in, his nose brushing the pulse point on my neck, his dominance crushing the air right out of my lungs. 

I could feel his power humming against my skin, a dark pressure that demanded I surrender.

"Liam," I choked out, confused and hurting. "Liam was... he said..."

The man pulled back just enough to look me in the eye. His grip on my arms was firm and possessive.

"Liam was a mistake," he growled, his voice a low, gravelly rumble that sent a shiver down my spine. "In plain terms, he's just a boy playing with a power he doesn't understand."

He leaned closer, his lips almost touching mine, and the world went still. "The moon doesn't make mistakes, Naomi. It just gives the strongest souls a choice."

The impossible truth settled into my soul, stitching the broken pieces of my heart back together with this dark thread I'd just found.

Liam wasn't the only one the moon assigned to me. I wasn't just a mate to some stupid prestigious student.

I was the mate of the King.

As the darkness of his gaze swallowed me whole, I realized that the girl who was rejected by the pack was about to become the woman who rules them all.

Liam didn't  just throw away a mutt; he threw away a queen.

The Lycan King’s grip tightened, his eyes flashing with a possessive hunger that told me he was never letting go.

"Mine," he whispered. And for the first time in twenty-one years, I believed it.