Rejected By My Alpha, Claimed By My Crown

My mate, Alpha Damien, was holding a sacred naming ceremony for his heir.

The only problem? He was celebrating a pup he had with Lyra, a rogue he brought into our pack. And I, his true mate, four months pregnant with his actual heir, was the only one not invited.

When I confronted her, she clawed her own arm, drew blood, and screamed that I had attacked her.

Damien saw her performance and didn't even look at me. He snarled, using his Alpha's Command to force me to leave, the power of our bond twisted into a weapon against me.

Later, she attacked me for real, making me fall. As blood bloomed on my dress, threatening our child's life, she tossed her own pup onto a rug and screamed that I had tried to kill him.

Damien burst in, saw me bleeding on the floor, and didn't hesitate. He scooped Lyra's screaming pup into his arms and sprinted away to find a healer, leaving me and his true heir to die.

But as I lay there, my mother's voice echoed in my mind through our own link. My family's escort was waiting for me just beyond the territory border.

He was about to find out that the Omega he threw away was actually the princess of the most powerful pack in the world.

Chapter 1

Elara POV:

My fingers trembled as I held the cold phone to my ear, a useless human device. The real conversation was happening in my mind, a silent, shimmering thread of thought connecting me to my mother hundreds of miles away.

"I'm going to do it, Mom. I'm leaving him." The thought was a painful whisper in the vast space of our Mind-Link. The Mind-Link, a gift from the Moon Goddess, was supposed to be a source of comfort, a way for pack members to feel connected. Tonight, it felt like a lifeline I was about to sever.

My mother, Luna Seraphina of the Silver Moon Pack, responded instantly. Her mental voice was a soothing balm of moonlight and ancient power. "It's about time, my sweet girl. We were worried. That boy, Damien... his ambition stinks more than his pack's territory. The Bloodstone Pack is built on shaky ground."

"I know," I sent back, a wave of relief washing over me. I had been so afraid of her disappointment. "I just... I wanted to believe he was the one. The Goddess's gift."

"The Goddess gives us choices, Elara, not chains. We are waiting for you. The pack is waiting."

I cut the link, the sudden silence in my head feeling both empty and liberating. I leaned against the cold stone archway of the grand hall, the chill seeping through my thin dress. From here, hidden in the shadows, I could see everything.

My mate, my Alpha, Damien, stood in the center of the room.

He was holding a baby. A pup, not yet a month old, wrapped in the ceremonial furs of the Bloodstone Pack. And next to him, beaming as if she were the queen of the world, was Lyra.

A rogue she-wolf he'd brought into our territory a year ago.

The pack members were cheering. They raised their glasses to Damien, to the pup, to Lyra. It was a naming ceremony, one of the most sacred rituals in a pack. A celebration for the Alpha's heir.

And I, his true, fated mate, four months pregnant with his actual heir, was the only one who hadn't been invited. The entire pack knew, their shared thoughts a low hum of excitement I could feel at the edge of my senses, but they had all conspired to keep it from me.

A bitter memory surfaced. The day I met Damien at the art academy. He was a force of nature, an Alpha whose ambition burned like a forest fire. His scent had hit me first-a dizzying mix of pine after a thunderstorm and rich, dark earth. It was a scent my soul recognized instantly. My heart had hammered against my ribs, a frantic drumbeat, and a primal, possessive roar had echoed in the deepest part of my being.

"Mine!" my inner wolf had screamed.

He had felt it too. His eyes, the color of molten gold, had locked onto mine, and for a moment, the world had fallen away. The Moon Goddess had blessed us.

Or so I thought.

Now, watching him with another woman and her child, that memory felt like a cruel joke.

A flicker of unease rippled through the Mind-Link from Damien's Beta, his second-in-command. I could intercept the public channels if I focused.

"Alpha, she is still your mate. To do this..." the Beta's thought was laced with worry.

Damien didn't even turn his head. His own mental voice was sharp, cold. "She's been hostile towards Lyra lately. It's just a ceremony. She doesn't need to know."

"And if she finds out?"

The response came, sharp and cruel, a shard of ice piercing the bond that still connected us. "We'll hide it as long as we can. If it comes to it, I'll just formally reject her."

A gasp escaped my lips, and I pressed a hand to my mouth. Reject me? He would sever the sacred bond gifted to us by the Goddess herself? For them?

The pack members around Lyra were fawning over her. "Our Alpha is so merciful, taking in a poor rogue and her orphaned pup," one she-wolf cooed.

Another laughed. "Don't worry about Elara. Even if she finds out, where would she go? A pregnant Omega can't survive without her Alpha's protection. She'll never leave him."

A cold, hard resolve settled in my chest, solidifying the heartbreak into something else. Something stronger.

They were all about to find out just how wrong they were.