Rejected by the Heir, Claimed by the Alpha King

My Coming of Age ceremony was supposed to be a coronation. Instead, it was a funeral for my heart.

I stood shivering as Catalina, the woman trying to steal my place, pushed me into the stone pool. My heavy silk dress pulled me down like an anchor. I waited for Jax, the Alpha Heir and my Fated Mate, to save me. He did dive in-but not for me.

He scooped up Catalina, who was standing in waist-deep water, treating her like a porcelain doll while I choked on the water.

His voice exploded in my head, not with concern, but with disgust.

"Stop embarrassing me, Eliana. You look pathetic."

Things only got worse. When I confronted them later, Catalina shoved me down the grand staircase. My knee-my dancer's knee-snapped with a sickening sound. Jax didn't call a doctor. He used the Alpha Command to force me to drag my broken body out of the room so I wouldn't "upset" his mistress.

I thought he was just blinded by love, until I overheard him laughing with his Beta. He admitted he didn't love Catalina. He was just using her to break my spirit, to "tame" me into a submissive pet before finally marking me.

He thought I was weak. He thought I would stay in the mud forever.

He was wrong.

I took a silver knife and scraped our carved initials off the Sacred Oak until my skin sizzled. I packed my bags for New York, severing the pack link that bound us.

"Sleep well, Jax. Because when I come back, I won't be the girl you broke. I will be the nightmare you created."

Chapter 1

Eliana POV:

The Coming of Age ceremony was supposed to be a coronation. For me, it was a funeral.

I stood on the periphery of the stone basin, gripping a plastic cup of lukewarm punch until it cracked. My dress, a repurposed silk number from a cousin who married down, felt tight across the ribs.

"You look like a stray dog wrapped in silk, Eliana."

Catalina Manning. Of course.

She stood before me, flanked by two other she-wolves who giggled at her cruelty. Catalina was beautiful in the way a poisonous flower is beautiful. She wasn't high-born, but she had clawed her way up the social ladder using her body and her ambition.

"Leave me alone, Catalina," I whispered, stepping back.

"Or what?" she sneered. "You'll cry to your daddy? Oh wait, your father is just a glorified accountant for the Alpha. He has no teeth."

She stepped closer. Vanilla and rot-that was her scent. A cloying sweetness trying to hide the smell of ambition. She released a wave of pheromones, a challenging scent meant to provoke.

I tried to turn away, but she was faster. She didn't just shove me; she checked me with her shoulder, hard.

My heels skidded on the wet limestone.

Splash.

The water was a shock to the system, filling my nose before I could even gasp. I thrashed, my heavy dress pulling me down like an anchor. Panic flared in my chest. Not because I couldn't swim, but because of the humiliation.

Through the churning surface, I saw a shadow dive in.

My heart leaped. Jax.

Jax Little, the Alpha Heir. The man whose scent of storm and pine had haunted my dreams since I turned eighteen. My fated mate.

He hadn't marked me yet. He said I wasn't "ready," that I needed to learn how to be a proper Luna first. But surely, he would save me.

I reached out, my hand breaking the surface.

But strong arms didn't grab me.

Instead, I watched through the splashing water as Jax grabbed Catalina, who was standing in waist-deep water, barely wet.

He lifted her out of the water with the tenderness one would show a porcelain doll.

Stop embarrassing me, Eliana.

The voice exploded in my head. The Mind-Link. It tasted like iron.

I froze, treading water, gasping for air as I wiped the hair from my eyes.

Jax stood on the edge of the pool. He was magnificent and cruel, his dark hair perfectly styled, his jaw set in a line of irritation. He wasn't looking at me with concern. He was looking at me with disgust.

Get out of the water. You look pathetic, he linked again.

I dragged myself to the stone rim, shivering violently. My dress clung to my body, exposing everything, heavy and ruined.

"Oh, my poor ankle!" Catalina wailed, clinging to Jax's bicep. She wasn't hurt. I knew it. He knew it.

Jax took off his suit jacket. It was a custom piece, worth more than my father's car. He draped it over Catalina's shoulders.

The scent of him-his Alpha pheromones-wafted over to me. It felt like a physical slap.

Giving a female your jacket is a primal signal in our world. It means protection. It means claim.

The pack watched in silence. They knew I was his mate. They could smell the bond between us. But they also knew the hierarchy. Power respects power.

I stood up, water pooling around my feet. My teeth chattered.

The silver thread connecting our souls vibrated, snapping tight against my ribs. My inner wolf, usually quiet and dormant, let out a low, mournful whimper.

Jax turned his back on me, guiding Catalina toward the warmth of the Pack House.

I shut my eyes. I reached into the mental space of the Mind-Link and found the channel that connected me to Jax.

I slammed the door. Hard.

It was a small rebellion, but it was all I had.

I turned and ran toward the shadows, away from the lights, away from the laughter. I didn't go to my room. I went to the old servant quarters behind the kitchens.

I pulled out a burner phone I had hidden under a loose floorboard. My hands were shaking so hard I could barely dial.

"Hello?" A raspy voice answered.

"Elder Sal," I choked out. "It's Eliana. You owe my mother a blood debt."

Silence stretched on the line. Blood debts are sacred. They bind a wolf's honor to their very life force.

"I remember, child," the old wolf replied.

"I need a transfer," I said, my voice hardening. "Get me out of the Iron Claw territory. Get me into the Empire Moon Academy in New York."

"That is... difficult. The Alpha Heir will not like it."

"The Alpha Heir doesn't care if I live or die," I said, looking down at my shivering, soaked body. "Do it, Sal. Or the debt is forfeit."

"Done," he whispered. "Pack your bags."

I hung up. The chill in my bones had nothing to do with the water.

Eliana POV:

The next morning, I felt brittle. One wrong move and I'd shatter. I needed to end this. I needed to sever the hope before it killed me.

I marched up the grand staircase to the Alpha floor. This was restricted territory, but as the unspoken future Luna, the guards let me pass, though their eyes held pity I didn't want.

I didn't knock on Jax's door. I pushed it open.

The smell hit me first.

It wasn't just the storm and pine of Jax. It was the cloying vanilla of Catalina. It hung thick in the air, smelling like sex and betrayal.

My stomach turned.

Jax was sitting on the edge of his massive bed, shirtless. Catalina was there, too. She was wearing his football jersey-the one with "Little" on the back. It hung to her knees.

She smirked when she saw me.

"Eliana," Jax said, standing up. He didn't look guilty. He looked annoyed. "You don't barge into an Alpha's room."

"And you don't parade your mistress in front of your mate," I shot back. My voice was steady, surprising even me.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the small velvet box. Inside was a Moonstone necklace. It wasn't an engagement ring, but in our pack tradition, it was a promise. A promise of a future mating.

I threw it on the mahogany desk. It landed with a dull thud.

"I don't want it," I said.

Jax's eyes darkened. His pupils dilated, swallowing the iris. The Alpha in him didn't like rejection.

"Pick it up," he growled. The Alpha Aura hit the room like a sudden drop in air pressure.

My knees trembled. My instinct screamed at me to bare my neck, to submit. But the anger in my blood was stronger.

"No," I said through gritted teeth.

I turned to leave.

"Wait!" Catalina chirped. She hopped off the bed and ran to the doorway, blocking my exit. "You're just jealous, Ellie. Jax needs a woman who knows how to please him, not a prude."

"Move, Catalina," I warned.

She laughed and shoved me. "Make me."

We were at the top of the stairs. The landing was narrow. I tried to step around her, but she lunged again, her claws slightly extended.

It happened in slow motion.

She pushed hard against my chest. My heel caught on the edge of the carpet. I tipped backward.

My arms flailed, grasping at empty air.

I fell.

My body tumbled down the hardwood steps. One. Two. Three. I hit the landing hard, my left leg twisting at a sickening angle beneath me. A wet snap echoed in the hallway.

White-hot agony blinded me. It wasn't just a break. It was my knee. My dancer's knee.

I lay at the bottom of the stairs, gasping, white spots dancing in my vision.

Jax appeared at the top of the stairs. He looked down at me, then at Catalina, who was faking a gasp of horror.

"She attacked me, Jax! I had to defend myself!" Catalina lied, her voice trembling perfectly.

Jax descended the stairs slowly. He didn't run to me. He didn't check my leg.

He stood over me, his shadow blocking the light.

"You attacked a guest in my home?" he asked, his voice cold.

"She pushed me..." I gasped, tears streaming down my face from the pain. "Jax, my knee... I can't move it."

"Stop lying," he snapped. "Catalina is half your size."

He leaned down, his face inches from mine. I thought he was going to help me up.

"Get out," he commanded.

He used the Voice. The Alpha's Command.

It hit my brain like a sledgehammer. My body, despite the broken bone, tried to obey. I dragged myself across the floor, sobbing as the shattered pieces of my knee ground together.

"Jax, please," I whimpered. "It hurts."

"Go to the hospital," he said, turning his back on me to comfort Catalina. "And don't expect me to pay for it. You brought this on yourself."

I dragged myself out the front door, leaving a trail of tears on the polished floor.

At the pack hospital, the doctor wanted to use the healing accelerator-a device that uses Alpha energy to speed up bone knitting.

"No," I said, gripping the bedsheets.

"But Miss Carter, it will heal in hours," the doctor argued.

"Let it heal naturally," I whispered. "I want to remember this pain. Every single second of it."

I checked my phone while the nurse cast my leg. A notification popped up. Catalina had posted a photo on Instagram. It was her in Jax's jersey, sitting on his lap.

Caption: My Alpha protects me.

That was it. The last thread snapped.

Eliana POV:

Three weeks later, I was walking with a cane. The cast was off, but the limp was noticeable. The doctor said my dancing career was over.

I didn't believe him. I wouldn't let Jax take that from me, too.

Tonight was the Full Moon Party. Attendance was mandatory for all pack members. It was a time for the wolf spirit to revel in the moon's energy.

I wore a simple black dress that covered my brace. I stood in the corner of the great hall, watching the pack dance and drink.

The music stopped abruptly. The crowd parted.

Jax entered. He was wearing a tuxedo, looking every bit the future king. On his arm was Catalina, draped in red sequins, looking like a triumphant queen.

He reeked of her. He was marking her with his scent intentionally, masking her natural smell with his own to warn off other males.

It was the ultimate disrespect to a Fated Mate.

He scanned the room and locked eyes with me. He frowned when he saw the cane.

I felt a prod at my mental barrier. He was trying to Mind-Link me.

Open the link, Eliana, he pushed.

I kept the wall up. It was solid brick now.

Jax narrowed his eyes. He grabbed a microphone from the stage.

"Let's play a game!" he announced, his voice booming. The crowd cheered, drunk on moonshine and loyalty. "Truth or Dare."

The bottle spun on the large table in the center of the room. It landed on Catalina.

"Dare!" she squealed.

Jax smirked. "I dare you... to kiss the highest-ranking male in the room."

The room went silent. Everyone looked at me. I was the Mate. By law, I was the highest-ranking female. This dare was a direct challenge to my status.

Catalina pretended to look shy. She glanced at me, a mock apology in her eyes, before turning to Jax.

She grabbed his lapels and pulled him down.

Jax didn't pull away. He kissed her back. Deeply. Passionately. He tangled his hand in her hair, pulling her closer, making a show of it.

The crowd erupted in awkward cheers and nervous murmurs.

Look at her, they whispered. The Alpha prefers the mistress. The Mate is defective.

Jax broke the kiss and looked straight at me, wiping lipstick from his mouth.

"Some she-wolves are born to please," he said into the microphone, his eyes boring into mine. "And some are just... burdens."

The silence that followed was deafening.

I didn't cry. I didn't run.

I tapped my cane on the floor, the sound echoing in the quiet hall. I limped forward until I was standing in front of the stage.

I looked up at him. My face was completely void of emotion. No anger. No sadness. Just nothing.

"Are you finished?" I asked. My voice wasn't loud, but in the silence, it carried.

Jax blinked, confused by my lack of reaction. He wanted tears. He wanted me to beg.

"Eliana-"

"You are not a king, Jax," I said calmly. "You are just a male with a title your father gave you."

I looked at Catalina, then back at him.

"And you have poor taste."

I turned around.

"How dare you!" Jax roared. The Alpha Aura slammed into the room, making people drop to their knees.

But I didn't kneel.

The pain in my knee was blinding, but I locked my joints. I kept my spine straight.

"You are nothing to me," I said, not looking back. "Just a common male."

I walked out of the hall. The pressure of his aura pushed against my back, trying to crush me, but I used it as fuel.

I heard glass shattering behind me. Jax had thrown his drink against the wall.

He was angry. Good.

Because I was done being sad.