Once rejected, now Desired by the Lycan King

I should have known when he wouldn't meet my eyes. The entire Ravenlaw Pack had gathered in the courtyard under the full moon. Everyone was dressed in their finest year because this was the night our alpha would claim his mate, after all. The night that would determine the pack's future. The night that was supposed to be mine. My hands trembled as I stood at the edge of the crowd, wearing the only decent dress I owned—a simple blue thing that my friend Maya had helped me pick out last week. It wasn't much compared to the silk gowns the high-born females wore, but it was mine, and I'd felt almost pretty when I'd looked in the mirror earlier. Almost. "He's going to choose you, Rhea," Maya whispered to me an hour ago, squeezing my hand. "I can feel it." I wanted to tell her the truth that I'd known for three weeks already. The moment I turned twenty-one, the mate bond had snapped into place, clear as day. Asher was mine, and I was his. The pull between us was undeniable, written in

It started as a tingle at the base of my spine and then exploded outward, racing through my veins. It happened so fast my vision went white as my body convulsed, bones cracking and reforming so fast I didn't have time to scream. Was I shifting? Because this wasn't like the stories I'd heard, this was nothing like the gentle first shifts that elders guided you through. This was violent, painful, like being torn apart and rebuilt in seconds. My clothes shredded the moment my human form disappeared and then I was standing on four legs instead of two, looking down at the rogues who'd been about to kill me. The first thing I noticed was that I was way bigger than them, I don't think they had seen a wolf of this size because they had stumbled back, their eyes wide with shock. The second thing I noticed was my fur. It wasn't the grey or brown I'd always expected. It was white. Pure white that seemed to glow in the moonlight filtering through the trees. What the hell? I didn't have t

Near the end of my second year with Mira, she announced that we'd be attending something called the Lycan Summit. "It's a gathering of all supernatural leaders," she explained. "Happens once every decade. It's... political, mostly but it's also the best way to understand the current power structures, who's allied with whom, and where potential threats might come from." "And you want me to come?" I was surprised because I wasn't sure if I was ready to face people again. We'd been so isolated for two years that the idea of being around crowds of supernatural beings sent a shiver down my spine. "I think you're ready," Mira simply said. "Besides, you can't hide forever, eventually, you need to learn how to navigate the supernatural world as yourself, not as a hidden omega. This summit is as good a place as any to start." I was nervous but also... excited. For two years, I'd been training, learning, preparing. Maybe it was time to see if all that work had actually made me ready for the

Every instinct I had screamed at me to run. I had been here before so I knew the mate bond, the certainty, the feeling that this was what the Moon Goddess intended when I felt one and I had learned the hard way that mate bonds could be broken, that they meant nothing if the other person didn't want you. I couldn't do this again. I just knew I wouldn't survive it. "Rhea," Mira said urgently, grabbing my arm. "Please don't..." But I was already moving, pushing past her, past other attendees, heading for the exit. I could feel Alaric's eyes following me, could feel the bond pulling me back toward him but I ignored it and kept walking. I made it out of the ballroom and into one of the side corridors before I had to stop and lean against the wall, breathing hard. My chest felt tight, my wolf was going crazy inside me, and the bond was singing in my blood demanding I go back, claiming that our mate was right there, so why was I running? I guess we both know the answer. I learned my les

Dinner was not what I expected. I had braced myself for an awkward conversation where we would just dance around the obvious tension between us. What I got instead was Alaric being surprisingly easy to talk to. "So," he said as the servers brought out the first course. "Tell me about yourself and please don't say 'there's nothing to tell.' I've lived four hundred years so I can spot a deflection from miles away." I couldn't help but smile slightly at that. "What do you want to know?" "Everything." He said it simply, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "But let's start with the basics. Where are you from? What pack?" I frowned. "I'd rather not talk about my pack." "Is it because that's where he was?" he asked quietly. "I mean the one who rejected you?" I nodded, not trusting my voice. "Then we won't talk about it," he said easily, and I was grateful for how quickly he let it go. "What about your training? I can sense you're powerful, even with your shields up. That k