All Chapters of Rejected by My Alpha, Claimed by the Lycan King: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Lyra’s POV I hadn't slept.Two days back within Silver Fang Capital's walls, and still every time I closed my eyes I saw my father's painted face staring back at me, dark hair and steady eyes, a man I'd never know beyond a single miniature portrait and Elowen's secondhand memories. I lay awake most of the night turning Elias's letter over in my mind, the ring, the dead predecessor, the timeline that fit together into something far uglier than simple coincidence. Every time exhaustion finally threatened to pull me under, some new detail would surface instead, sharp and insistent, dragging me back to full wakefulness all over again.By morning, I'd given up entirely on rest and made my way to Cassian's study instead, finding him already awake, parchment scattered across his desk, dark circles beneath his eyes suggesting he'd slept even less than I had."You didn't sleep either," I said, closing the door behind me."Difficult to sleep, knowing what we know now and still being unable to

Cassian’s POVLyra gasped, one hand flying to her collarbone, and I was across the room and catching her before I'd fully registered moving at all."It's starting," she said, voice tight with pain, fingers pressed hard against the fabric covering her birthmark. "Cassian, it's already starting."That single sentence stripped away every last trace of the careful patience I'd been clinging to all morning."Full lockdown," I ordered, already moving toward the door, my voice carrying the particular flat authority I reserved for moments when hesitation cost lives. "Every gate sealed, every exit watched. Nobody enters or leaves this palace without my direct authorization."Darius was already moving, shouting commands to the guards stationed beyond the study door before I'd finished speaking. Rowan fell into step beside me, his own expression carved from the same grim urgency I felt clawing beneath my own composure."You think he'd come here himself?" Rowan asked."I think I'm done assuming w

Lyra’s POVI woke to the smell of smoke and crushed grass, Cassian's arms locked tight around me, his heartbeat hammering hard enough that I could feel it against my own back."You fainted," he said, before I could ask. "Only for a moment. I didn't want to move you until I knew you could actually stand."I pushed myself upright slowly, the world tilting only slightly before settling. My hair fell forward across my shoulder as I moved, and I went still at the sight of it — moonlit silver, entirely, not a single strand of the dark black I'd carried my whole life remaining anywhere within it."It's gone," I whispered. "All of it. Every trace of who I used to look like.""You're still you," Cassian said, though his eyes lingered on the change with the same careful wariness he hadn't quite shaken since my eyes had shifted colors minutes ago. "Whatever else this seal breaking changed, that much hasn't."I wanted to believe him completely. Some part of me still did. But sitting there in the

Lyra’s POV"I don't know how many days I actually have to make me look like someone worth trusting with an entire continent's fate," I said, only half joking, as I settled into the chair across from Elowen in the small council chamber she'd claimed for my lessons. "Cassian wouldn't tell me how long King Ashgrove's patience is likely to last. I don't think he knows either.""Then we prepare as though it's already running out," Elowen said dryly. "That's not nearly enough time to teach diplomacy properly, but it is enough time to teach you how to survive a single difficult conversation without making things worse. We'll manage with what we have."The days since the shrine had blurred together into an exhausting rhythm — power training with Mira in the mornings, now doubled in caution given what had happened at the shrine, and these new lessons with Elowen every afternoon, cramming centuries of diplomatic protocol into hours instead of years. Sleep had become something I fit into the gap

Lyra’s POVI heard the Council's decision before Cassian ever found me — servants murmuring in the corridors, a kitchen girl nearly dropping her tray at the sight of me, the whole palace humming with anticipation I hadn't felt directed at me since before my rejection."They approved it," Mira said, catching my arm. "The claiming ceremony. Full Council, formal, no more hiding behind quiet arrangements.""I heard three versions on the walk here, each more dramatic than the last." I managed a small laugh, though my chest still felt too fragile to trust it. "I keep waiting for the part where it's a misunderstanding.""It's not. You're going to be his Queen, in front of the entire continent."The word Queen still didn't fit right, however many times I turned it over. I'd spent so long being overlooked, packing myself into whatever small space the world allotted. It felt borrowed from someone else's story.I didn't see Cassian again until well after nightfall.A quiet knock came at my door