All Chapters of Lycan King's Cursed and Rejected Mate: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

KAELI shivered in the midnight air as I entered the pack house. Shifting back to human, I braced myself against the doorframe and drew in a ragged breath.The Gravok’s void-like face and the ferals’ disturbing restraint looped through my head like a riddle I couldn’t unravel.Why the fuck didn’t they attack?I crept into the foyer, planning to sneak upstairs, when voices from the living room froze me in place. Beside the fire, in a huddle-like formation, a heated but low-voiced interrogation was unfolding between my grandfather Eldric and his childhood comrade, Elder Mira.Eldric narrowed his eyes as his gaze snapped to me. “You’re late, Kael.” his tone was firm and loud. “I told you to be back hours ago. What’s the meaning of this?”Elder Mira’s eyes flicked toward me, curious but silent. Eldric’s temper barely registered. I was still trembling inside. My body was rattled from the encounter with the Gravok.I can’t let Mira know. She’s got a loose tongue. If word of ferals inside ou

SELENE(The morning after the gala)The first rays of dawn slipped through the heavy velvet curtains of my guest room at the Obsidian Crest Packhouse. The room was a masterpiece of opulence: silk drapes, a four-poster bed carved with intricate wolf motifs, and a crystal chandelier that glittered even in the soft morning light. I’d stayed here before, countless times, but the last was different.A satisfied smile curved my lips as I stretched beneath the silken sheets. My mind drifted to the conversation I’d had with Elder Eldric, Kael’s grandfather, at the gala. “You’re the right choice for this pack, Selene,” he’d said in a soft tone as if he chose me to be his grandson’s mate. “The perfect Luna to stand by Kael’s side.” His words wrapped around me like a warm cloak, affirming what I’d always known: I was destined to claim the Obsidian Throne as Luna. And now with Eldric’s support, that destiny felt closer than ever.My bare feet sank into the plush rug as I rose from the bed. I gl

MAYAA few days later, after the rejection, I found myself limping around the healing grounds of the Obsidian Crest Pack. I had no idea where I was going. I was just walking to wherever my feet took me.The wound on my back screamed on every step because I was healing slowly. The healers had to sew my body back together, but I didn’t care about that pain anymore. I had gotten stronger. I knew how to bear the pain. But the ache in my heart was a sharper wound, one for which there was no herb or bandage.As the scent of pine and wet ground reached my nose, I gathered the shawl tightly around my shoulders and felt the flow of the fine wool against my body. It was a brutal slap in the face of the world outside the pack lands: a world that I had once been a part of. The healers had given their okay for me to go home today, although they’d cautioned me against anything exhausting until I was completely healed. My body was not the one needing recuperation. It was my soul, just a bit bruised

MAYABy the time Finn turned into the driveway that led to the Ashbourne Wolves’ Pack house, the place I used to call home, the sun had started to set. I bit back a pang in my chest at the familiar sight of the stone manor stretching below. I sat paralyzed in the passenger seat with fisted hands on my lap. The burden of returning was so heavy on my shoulders that I could barely move.Finn looked me in the eye, and his warm, chestnut-coloured gaze caught the hesitation in my gaze. He placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “Do you want me to go in with you?” I nodded, thinking I would be dead by now if not for him. “Please,” I forced a whisper.The gravel crunched beneath my feet as we got out and walked up to the front door. My heart pounded with fear, and my hand shook as I grasped the door handle. Finn put his hand over mine and smiled gently at me. “You ready?” he asked, although we both knew I wasn’t.Do I look like I’m ready? Oh Goddess, how am I going to face them? I shouldn’

FINNEverybody had a first: the first kiss, the first hug, the first love. Mine were different, though. They weren’t about moments that pass or milestones carved in romance. Every first I’d ever experienced, the agonies and thrills of them all, were bound up with Maya, stitched into my life like a seam I couldn’t tease apart.Maya was my everything, though she had never known it. I was 10 years old when my mother died. I drowned in grief so deep I could hardly breathe. For days, I sat in my room, looking at the wall, lost in the void of her abrupt absence. She’d gone to the pack hospital to have my baby brother, but she never came back. My father was similarly overtaken by his own grief, barely able to meet my eyes, let alone offer any comfort. His responsibilities as Beta of the Ashbourne Pack consumed him quickly, and I was left to deal with my grief. But Maya… she was there.I even pushed her away at first because I was too buried in my grief to let anyone in. But she didn’t giv