My Lycan King: Betrayed, Rejected but Claimed

"He's finally come back home after three years of waiting, praying and hoping for his safety but should I be happy about it?."

~

The crescent moon hung low in the sky, casting a silver glow over the fields of Crescent Hill. The wind carried the scent of pine, wildflowers and something else, maybe anticipation. The kind that made the hairs on your arms rise and your heartbeat pulse in your ears.

He's coming home, Alpha Jace Thatcher, my mate not by fate but by choice.

I stood on the steps of the packhouse, wrapped in a deep green cloak, the wind teasing the loose strands of my braid. My fingers trembled around the edge of the hood, and my knuckles were pale from holding on too tight.

After nearly three years of silence, I am going to see him again, the boy I met at sixteen, the Alpha I ruled beside for five years, the man who told me "Fate doesn’t get to decide for me. I choose you, Madelyn. Always you."

The war with the Blood Ash rogues have stolen him from me and swallowed him whole into their northern territories. We have buried soldiers, waited for letters that never comes and prayed over ashes we couldn’t identify but Jace, Jace survived.

He's finally coming back.

The pack gathered behind me. Elders, warriors, omegas and pups stood in rows, murmuring with excitement. The young she-wolves have painted their faces and wore flowered sashes across their shoulders. Music stirred faintly behind the gates.

“Luna,” someone whispered, offering me a fresh laurel crown. I smiled, slipping it over my head.

It wasn’t vanity that made me wear it, it's duty because they needed a Luna who is unshaken, radiant and welcoming. And I needed to believe, if only for tonight, that nothing had changed.

The horns sounded, low and thunderous, the gates groaned open. That's when I saw him.

Tall, broad-shouldered, battle-worn. His sable hair fell longer than I remembered, his beard trimmed short but rugged. There was a scar across his cheek I didn’t known of and a limp in his step he tried to hide.

But his eyes… Goddess, his eyes were still the same. Stormy gray, sharp and searching. They found me instantly, as if nothing and no one else existed.

Jace’s pace quickened, the crowd roared and my chest ached.

I stepped forward and then, she appeared beside him, a woman I didn’t know.

She is golden-skinned, eyes like honeyed fire. A beauty that didn’t shimmer, it commanded. She was dressed in white robes that clung to her curves, her hand linked with his and their steps perfectly in sync.

Every instinct inside me turned cold. She didn’t look at me, she looked through me.

“Pack of Crescent Hill!” Jace raised his voice, stopping at the base of the steps. “I bring with me not just peace from the war but the woman the Moon Goddess has chosen for me.”

A silence fell like winter frost.

I didn’t move, I couldn’t.

“This is Angela Vale,” he continued, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. “My fated mate.”

My breath vanished, not because I have never imagined this moment, of course I have, every Luna does especially those that were not fated to their Alpha but chosen.

The threat of a fated mate lingering like a ghost in the room for a long time but he had promised me. Jace had promised me that he didn’t care about the bond, that he loved me and that fate had no power over him.

So why, why is he standing here holding another woman’s hand?

I forced my face to remain still because the pack is watching and waiting. If I crack and brake now, they will sense the shift.

“Angela,” I said, stepping down the last stair, my voice steady. “Welcome to Crescent Hill.”

Angela smiled or something like it. Her eyes glinted like a dagger edge.

“The pleasure is mine, Luna.” She replied.

It wasn’t just a greeting, it's a challenge. And Jace… Jace didn’t say anything, didn’t say she’s still my Luna, didn’t step in or see what was unraveling between us like thread pulled too tight.

He just looked at me with those haunted eyes and said softly, “We need to talk.”

~

The moon have risen higher by the time we stood alone in his office. The fireplace crackled and the shadows flickered across his face, but even in the dim light, I could see the truth in his expression. He looked ashamed.

“Madelyn,” he began with rough voice. “I didn’t expect this, the bond… it came out of nowhere. I fought it, I swear to the Goddess, I fought it....”

“You fought it,” I repeated. “But not enough to come home alone to me right?.”

“She’s my mate,” he said, like that word should explain everything. “The bond is overwhelming, it’s primal, it's not like what we had...”

“What we had?” I echoed, ice lacing my words. “Jace, I gave you everything. My heart, my loyalty, my life.”

“And you were the best Luna this pack will ever have.” His voice cracked. “But fate”

“Don’t you dare speak to me about fate,” I hissed.

He looked stunned.

I stepped back, trying to breathe, trying to keep the tears at bay.

I waited three years for this man, held on through silence, through fear, through endless nights wondering if he’d return whole or broken and now, now he stood here, telling me that everything we were, everything we built was no longer enough because fate said so.

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“I won’t stay where I’m not wanted,” I whispered. “But I will stay until you make it clear to them, to her that I’m not some discarded memory.”

“You’re not,” he said immediately. “You were never such.”

“Then act like it.”

I left before he could say anything else, before I shatter into pieces in front of him.

~

That night, I stood alone at the edge of the packhouse garden.

The stars blinked overhead. The wind howled through the trees, and my wolf, quiet for so long whimpered in the back of my mind.

I should’ve felt grief, rage, something loud and violent but instead, I felt hollow. As if someone had scooped out my soul and left nothing behind but the shell of a Luna who once believed in love strong enough to defy the gods.

Behind me, laughter rang out. I didn’t turn, I don’t have to. It's Angela.

She laughed like she owned the air, like she already belonged here, like she have just shattered the life I have spent years building.

She haven’t won yet because I am not leaving, not until I understood why everything felt so… wrong, what she really is and if Jace really chose her… or something else made him.