Rejected by the Alpha, Claimed by the King

Pain. That was the first thing I registered as consciousness crept back into my battered body. Every breath felt like fire in my lungs, and my limbs seemed weighed down with lead. The antiseptic scent of the medical wing stung my nostrils, mixing with the underlying smells of blood—my blood—and the faint traces of unfamiliar rogues that still clung to my skin despite what must have been thorough cleaning.

I kept my eyes closed, trying to piece together what had happened. The rogue attack had come without warning. I remembered fangs, claws, the sound of my own screams as they tore into me. Then... nothing.

*"You're awake,"* Lyra, my wolf, whispered in my mind. Her voice was unusually tense, almost vibrating with restrained fury.

*"Barely,"* I responded mentally. *"How long was I out?"*

*"Three days. But Natalie... be quiet. Listen."*

That's when I heard them—the hushed voices just outside my door. Brandon's deep, authoritative tone and Madison's softer, almost purring response. My boyfriend and my best friend. The two people I trusted most in the world.

The two people who had been sleeping together behind my back for months.

"This is perfect timing," Brandon was saying, his voice low and calculated. "The healer says she might have memory loss from the trauma. We can use that."

"You're sure about this?" Madison asked, a hint of excitement poorly disguised as concern. "Passing her off to an outsider?"

"Not just any outsider," Brandon replied, and I could hear the smirk in his voice. "Sterling. That exiled Lycan nobody. I'll tell her he's her mate, that she just forgot because of the attack."

My heart stuttered painfully in my chest, but I forced my breathing to remain even, my face slack. Inside, a cold fury began to build, spreading through my veins like ice.

"And then what?" Madison pressed, her voice dropping to a seductive whisper. "We can finally stop hiding?"

"Then I get what I need—you as my Luna in all but name, and eventually, an heir from Natalie before I discard her completely. The perfect arrangement." Brandon's voice hardened. "She's served her purpose as my chosen mate for appearances. It's time to move on to the next phase."

Lyra growled inside my mind, a sound so filled with rage I could almost feel it vibrating in my own chest. *"I'll tear his throat out,"* she snarled.

*"No,"* I replied, a plan already forming in my mind. *"We'll do much worse than that."*

Three years. Three years I had given to Brandon Walsh, the future Alpha of the Silvermoon Pack. Three years of loving him, supporting him, believing I was special because he had chosen me. All while he plotted with my so-called best friend to use me and discard me like I was nothing.

The evidence someone had anonymously sent me last week—photos of them together, text messages—had shattered my world. I'd been planning to confront them when the rogue attack happened. Now, it seemed, fate had handed me something far more valuable than a simple confrontation.

An opportunity.

"She's still out cold," Madison said, peering through the small window in the door. I kept my face carefully blank, my breathing measured. "Do you think she heard anything?"

"Doesn't matter if she did," Brandon replied dismissively. "We'll tell her it was a dream, a hallucination from the pain medication. She's always been easy to manipulate."

The casual cruelty in his voice made something snap inside me. In that moment, the naive, trusting Natalie died completely, replaced by someone colder, harder, and infinitely more dangerous.

*"We play along,"* Lyra urged, her voice now calm and calculating. *"We let them think they've won. And then we destroy them so completely they'll never recover."*

I felt my lips twitch, fighting a smile that would give me away. Yes. I would be their perfect victim. I would embrace this "memory loss" they so desperately wanted me to have. I would let Brandon pass me off to this Adrian Sterling, whoever he was.

And then, when they least expected it, when they thought themselves safe and victorious, I would show them exactly who they had underestimated.

I let a small moan escape my lips, playing my part as I prepared to begin the performance of a lifetime.