Claimed By The Lycan King

At the Full Moon Banquet, my husband didn't just announce a surrogate. He humiliated me.

Alpha Bennett stood center stage, radiating power, while I stood in the shadows—the embarrassment, the Wolfless Luna.

"Kelsey is too fragile," he announced to the pack. "Aria will carry our legacy."

He called it a medical necessity. But later, I heard him tell his Beta the truth:

"I look at her and see a dead end. Aria smells like a mate should."

The humiliation didn't stop there. Aria moved into our home, scent-marking my bed with her vanilla perfume. When she staged a fall, Bennett didn't check if I was okay. He grabbed me by the throat, accusing me of trying to kill his unborn "Alpha twins."

He even drained his own blood to save her fake pregnancy, while I bled from silver wounds he ignored.

Broken and replaced, I left my wedding ring on the table and vanished to Paris. Bennett was so eager to be rid of me, he signed the separation papers without even reading them.

It wasn't until his wedding day to Aria that the truth came out. The pregnancy was a lie. The twins were a fraud created by witch potions.

Desperate and regretful, Bennett tore through Europe to drag me back, thinking I was still his weak, human wife.

He didn't know he was walking straight into the Lycan King's territory.

And he certainly didn't expect to find that his "Wolfless" wife had finally awakened as the legendary White Wolf.

Chapter 1

Kelsey POV:

The crystal chandelier above the ballroom cast a fractured light over the crowd, but it couldn't hide the shadows in their eyes when they looked at me.

I stood by the long table laden with raw meats and delicacies, gripping my champagne flute so hard I feared the stem might snap. This was the Blood Moon Pack's monthly Full Moon Banquet. For everyone else, it was a release. For me, it was a monthly reminder of my failure.

"She shouldn't be up there," a whisper floated from a group of female Betas near the entrance. "A Luna who can't shift? It's embarrassing the Alpha bloodline."

"Heard she's completely Wolfless. Just a human playing dress-up," another sneered.

I took a sip of the drink, letting the bubbles burn my throat. I wasn't human. I was born into a werewolf family, but my wolf had never come. The Awakening ceremony at eighteen had passed with agonizing silence. No bone-breaking shift, no voice in my head. Just me.

Alpha Bennett, my husband, stood at the center of the room. He looked magnificent, dammit. His shoulders were broad, straining against his tuxedo, and his dark hair was swept back, revealing the sharp, predatory lines of his face. He radiated power-the Alpha Aura-a physical pressure that made weaker wolves lower their heads.

He tapped a spoon against his glass. The room fell into an instant, obedient silence. The Alpha's Command.

"My pack," Bennett began, his voice deep and resonating in my chest. "We are the strongest pack in New York. We hold the financial veins of this city. But strength requires continuity. It requires a legacy."

My stomach dropped. I knew this speech. We had argued about it for months.

"As you know, my mate, Kelsey, has... limitations," he said, gesturing vaguely toward me without meeting my eyes. "Her body is too fragile to carry an Alpha pup. The strain would kill her. And I, as a benevolent leader, cannot risk her life."

Bullshit. The pack doctors said I was healthy. It was Bennett who refused to touch me, claiming he didn't want to "break" me.

"Therefore," Bennett continued, a smile touching his lips that didn't reach his eyes, "I've made a call for the good of the Blood Moon. We're bringing in a surrogate. A she-wolf of strong stock, to keep the bloodline pure."

The doors opened.

A woman walked in. She didn't walk; she prowled. She had cascading blonde hair and a figure that was practically poured into a shimmering gold dress. But it was her scent that hit the room first. Even with my dull human senses, I could smell it-a heavy, overly sweet aroma of vanilla and musk. It screamed 'fertility.'

"This is Aria," Bennett announced. "She has graciously agreed to help us."

Applause broke out, polite but confused. I stood frozen. He hadn't told me he had already chosen someone. He hadn't told me she would be here.

Aria glided through the crowd, her eyes locking onto Bennett. I saw the way her nostrils flared, inhaling his scent-storm clouds and pine. It was intimate. Too intimate.