All Chapters of Lycan King's Cursed and Rejected Mate: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

MAYAMy heart felt like it was caving in under the weight of Kael’s crushing rejection as I stumbled out of the garden. My limbs were sluggish as though burdened by invisible chains. Though he hadn’t formally severed our bond, his words had made my place in his life painfully clear… a place of shame and secrecy.I should’ve known better. Was I so desperate… like a whore!? Gosh, if anyone finds out about this, I’ll be titled as the Lycan King’s Rejected Whore!Even as I walked away, something inside me kept begging to turn around, to look back and find him there with his arms open for me. But that was a fantasy, wasn’t it? Just another cruel illusion I let myself believe in.For a fleeting moment, I’d dared to believe what we had was something real and pure. The way his eyes had burned into mine as he marked me… it had felt like more than lust. Like fate pulling us together in defiance of everything. But now, those same eyes had turned cold.I wandered through the corridors of the Pac

MAYA"You'll be fine, Maya," I whispered, though my voice shook. "You’ll go back… back to before the Gala, before you met him, before all of this. You don’t need him. You don’t need anyone." The lie quivered on my tongue, but I kept walking.Freedom burned like ash on my tongue. Ashbourne was no home: it was a prison of scorn, where my father’s cold eyes cut deeper than any blade and Veyra’s venom waited to strip me bare. I would rather vanish into the wilds than crawl back to that cage.Tears pressed hot against my lashes, but I swallowed them down, strangling the sob clawing at my chest. Tears had never saved me. Not when Stacy drenched me in humiliation. Not when my father named me a disgrace. Not when Kael’s gaze seared me with a hunger he refused to claim.Crying was useless. As useless as the empty space inside me where a wolf should have been.The road stretched ahead like a gray ribbon winding through the jagged bones of the Obsidian Crest Mountains. To my left, a stream of tr

KAELMy blood boiled. How dare she?Rage and regret seared my veins as I sat at the head of the round table in the Obsidian Throne’s council hall. The vinyl surface beneath my fingers trembled under the relentless drumming of my impatience. Each tap was a futile attempt to drown out the chaos in my mind. Maya’s drama at the gates this morning replayed like a cruel taunt. She was so stubborn. I didn’t know if I was angry at myself for letting her go, or at her for not acting on the plan I’d told her earlier.Is she testing me? Daring me to chase her? She was my mate, yet she defied me. Mate or not, I was the Lycan Leader. She was to obey me and do as I say, but she did what she wanted to. The audacity of it ignited a storm within me. Fenrir snarled in my chest, furious at my restraint.She’s reckless. She’ll put me and herself in danger, I told myself, trying to smother the ache that followed. But the memory of our garden encounter haunted me. Her skin was so soft under my touch, an

KAELIt had been six days since that incident. The pack healers at Obsidian Crest were doing their best to treat her, but she hadn’t moved even once. The healers, who were said to be the best in the Dominion, did everything they could, but her injuries still looked fresh, as if they never wanted to be healed. And yet without a wolf, her body clung on by a thread.I scrounged beside her bed. She was laid up in the healing ward. I hated it. I hated seeing her like this. I hated myself for letting her go in the first place. A lot was going on in Dominion. The feral attacks were growing every day. Being the Laycan Leader, every wolf's blood was on my hands. And then, there was Maya. She wouldn’t leave my thoughts for a second. It was getting harder for me to focus on saving my people, but I didn’t blame her. I loved her.Fangridge was on high alert since the raid two days ago. Soldiers who were patrolling had been targeted, but the ferals didn’t attack or kill anyone. They secretly came

MAYAKael’s arms turned rigid under my fingertips. His body ironed out with stiffness as though I were a flame he was afraid to take. And then gradually his arms relaxed, curling around me with such a fragility that it ignited a spark of hope in me. He ran his fingers through my hair as low whispers from his mouth caressed my ear. “You’re safe now, Maya. Everything’s alright.”I held onto him as the seconds drew out into all eternity of silent peace. The awful terrors of the nightmare’s fields and faces washed away in the warm presence of his body. He’s here, wrapping his arms around me, without caring what anyone would think. Maybe he cares, and I was wrong all along. Maybe he loves me.But the handle of the door rattled, and the moment was gone just like that. Kael shoved me away from him. My heart sank as my rejection stung all over again. I’m still just his dirty secret. How could I ever believe he’d truly accept me… a wolfless deviant, a blemish on his throne? My feelings don’