My fated Luna rejected me in front of five hundred wolves.The mating ceremony hall of Silver Moon was dead silent. The great stone hall that had been decorated with white moonflowers and silver candles for this sacred day now felt like a courtroom where I was the criminal. All eyes were on us — on me, Kael, the pack's only surviving Omega, kneeling on the cold stone floor with blood on my lips, and on Selene, the most beautiful she-wolf of our generation, standing over me with nothing but disgust in her perfect blue eyes."I, Selene of Silver Moon, reject you, Kael, as my mate and my Luna."The words were not loud. She didn't shout. She said it coldly, clearly, like she was throwing away trash. But the power of a formal rejection in front of the Moon Goddess altar made the entire hall shake.My wolf, Fenrir, howled inside my soul. It was not a powerful Alpha howl. It was weak, broken, like a wounded dog. For seven years I had felt the golden mate bond thread connecting my heart to he

The silver water was warm, but my body was hotter.Lyra knelt in front of me in the lake, her hands on my chest. The silver marks on her skin glowed bright, and the silver marks on my chest glowed back, answering her. The royal blood essence we both carried was connecting."Close your eyes, little king," she whispered. "Your power is too wild. If you do not control it, it will burn your heart."I closed my eyes. The pain in my chest from the earlier awakening was still there, but now it was changing into something else, something powerful and heavy, like a storm trapped inside my body.Fenrir, my wolf, was no longer a small gray wolf. In my mind, I could see him now. He was huge, black fur with silver on his back, twice the size of an alpha wolf, with red gold eyes and a crown of bone on his head. He was pacing inside my soul, restless.He is too strong, I told Lyra in my mind. I cannot control him."You are not supposed to control him," Lyra said, her voice inside my head now. She co

The first royal guard who stepped forward was the biggest.He was seven and a half feet tall, his black armor covered in old battle scars, his face marked with a long scar from his left eye to his jaw. His name, Lyra whispered to me through a mind link, was Rook. He was the captain of the fifty guards before the curse."My king," Rook said, his voice like rocks grinding. "If you want to lead us, you must prove you can fight. A Lycan King who cannot fight is just a boy on a throne."He was right. I had new power, new bloodline at forty percent, a bone sword, a roar skill, but I had never fought a real Lycan before. My ten years as an omega servant taught me only how to take beatings, not how to give them.I stood up from the bone throne. The shadow clothes Lyra made for me shifted with my movement, light but strong."How do we train?" I asked."No weapons," Rook said. "Just claws and strength. If you can make me kneel in this circle, you pass."The other forty nine guards formed a circ

The Silver Moon pack looked the same, but I saw it differently now.When I was an omega servant, I saw the white stone houses as beautiful, the tall ceremony hall as sacred, the Moon Goddess altar as holy. I saw the pack as family, even when they treated me like trash.Now at fifty two percent Lycan King bloodline, with Blood Sense active, I saw the truth.The white stone houses were built with blood money from my parents' death. The ceremony hall was where my mother was judged as traitor a thousand years ago. The Moon Goddess altar was stained with royal blood that only a Lycan could smell.I smelled it. Old blood, a thousand years old, under the white paint.The five guards walked behind me, their shadow cloaks hiding their huge size and glowing eyes. Rook was on my right, his hand near his sword hidden in mist.The pack border patrol did not stop us. Two young warriors at the gate looked at our cloaks and felt something that made their wolf whimper and step back."What pack are you

I woke up before sunrise.The Forbidden Forest was still dark, but my Lycan eyes could see in the dark like it was day. The black trees, the black moss, the silver flowers that now covered half of the black stone circle, all clear.Lyra was asleep on the throne steps, her shadow dressed as a blanket. My fifty guards were in a meditation circle, their armor faintly glowing.I stood up from the bone throne and felt my bloodline.Fifty five percent last night. Now after the night of throne healing, fifty six percent.[Daily Throne Gift Absorbed: Fifty Five to Fifty Six Percent][Blood Sense Range Increased: Ten Miles to Fifteen Miles]Good. One percent per night just from sleeping on the throne.But I needed more. I told Magnus seven days. To keep my promise, I needed seventy percent."Rook," I called quietly.Rook opened his red gold eyes instantly. He never truly slept."My king?""Wake five guards. We are going to take three small packs today."Rook smiled under his helmet, his scar s