After He Rejected Me, I Became the Lycan Prince’s Mate

The bond broke at exactly 10:47 p.m., under the full moon, on the ceremonial stone floor.

I felt it the moment Elijah opened his mouth. The bond-mark on my neck — still fresh from this morning's claiming, still warm where his teeth had pressed — went cold first. Like someone had laid ice directly against the skin.

"I, Elijah Morgan, Alpha of the Ironclaw Pack—"

His voice carried across the clearing. Every wolf in the territory had gathered for this. The Mate Ceremony was supposed to be a celebration. I'd worn white. I'd smiled at the pack members who congratulated me earlier. I'd believed him when he marked me at dawn and whispered that I was his forever.

"—reject you, Sophie Holmes, as my mate and Luna."

The cold turned to fire. The bond didn't just break. It tore. It ripped through my chest like silver claws dragging through flesh, shredding everything inside me that had recognized him as mine. My knees buckled. I hit the stone floor hard, palms scraping against the rough surface, and couldn't even feel the pain because everything else hurt more.

The pack was silent. No one moved. No one spoke.

I looked up. Elijah stood three feet away, his face blank, his eyes already sliding past me to someone else. Celine stepped forward from the crowd. She wore red. She smiled.

"Elijah," I whispered. My voice cracked. "The pups—"

I'd told him this morning. Twins. The Healer had confirmed it yesterday. He'd kissed my forehead and said we'd announce it tonight, after the ceremony, when the pack was celebrating.

He didn't even look at me.

Celine moved closer. Her hand slipped into his. He let her.

"You really thought he'd choose you?" she said softly. Only I could hear her. The pack saw her lean down as if to help me. "You really thought a faded bloodline and a plain face could hold an Alpha?"

I tried to stand. My legs wouldn't work. The bond-scar on my neck was burning now, a different kind of pain, like the mark itself was trying to claw its way out of my skin.

"I saved the last of my family's wolfsbane for you," Celine whispered. She pulled something from her sleeve. A thin blade. The metal gleamed silver in the moonlight, but the edge was stained dark green. "This is for every time he looked at you instead of me."

She drove it into my side.

The pain was instant and total. Wolfsbane burned differently than anything else. It didn't just hurt the body. It poisoned the wolf. I felt my inner wolf — who had been howling in agony since the rejection — go suddenly, terribly silent.

And then I felt something else break inside me. Lower. Deeper.

The twins.

I looked down. Blood was spreading across the white fabric of my dress, too much blood, the wrong kind of blood, and I knew — I knew —

"No," I whispered. "No, no, no—"

Celine stepped back. She wiped the blade on her dress and smiled at me. Then she turned to Elijah and took his arm.

He looked at me once. Just once. His expression was cold. Distant. Like I was a stranger. Like I'd never mattered at all.

Then he turned and walked away. Celine went with him, her red dress swaying, her hand possessive on his arm. The pack parted to let them through. No one helped me. No one even looked at me.

I collapsed fully onto the stone floor. My hands pressed against my side, trying to stop the bleeding, but the wolfsbane made everything slow and wrong. I could feel my body trying to heal and failing. Could feel the life inside me fading.

"Please," I whispered to no one. To the Moon Goddess maybe. To my wolf, who wouldn't answer. "Please."

Two wolves I didn't recognize grabbed me by the arms. They dragged me across the clearing, past the silent watching pack, past the ceremonial altar, past the boundary stones that marked Ironclaw territory. The rain started as they dropped me in the mud just beyond the border.

"Alpha's orders," one of them said. "You're not pack anymore. You're nothing."

They left.

I lay in the mud and the rain with one hand pressed to the wound in my side and the other pressed to my stomach, where my pups had been. The wolfsbane burned through my veins. My wolf was gone. The bond-mark on my neck felt like an open wound that would never close.

I didn't cry. I didn't scream. I just lay there and waited to die.

My Healer's satchel was still strapped across my body. I pulled it close and tucked it under me, protecting it even though I couldn't explain why. Old instinct maybe. The herbs inside had been my mother's. The only thing left of my family's pack.

The rain fell harder. The cold seeped into my bones. I closed my eyes.

Somewhere in the distance, I heard footsteps.

I didn't open my eyes. Didn't matter who it was. Didn't matter anymore.

Strong arms lifted me from the mud. A voice I didn't recognize spoke low and urgent to someone else. "Get the safe house ready. Now."

I forced my eyes open. A man's face swam into focus above me. Dark hair. Sharp features. Eyes that looked almost gold in the dim light.

"I know you," he said quietly. His voice was rough. "You saved my life once. I won't forget that."

I didn't understand. Didn't have the strength to ask.

He carried me away from the border, away from the Ironclaw territory, away from the man who'd thrown me away and the woman who'd tried to kill me.

"Hold on," he said. "Just hold on."

I closed my eyes again. This time, I didn't expect to wake up.