Rejected and Sold to the Cursed Lycan King

ds stop singing. The wind holds its breath. Your wolf - that wild, beau

t they don

world goes quiet because two hundred peopl

Silver

er stone. He stood on the dais in his ceremonial white, the future Alpha of

you, Ayra Silverclaw, a

re deep in my chest, in the hollow place where

less. The pack's favorite joke for eighteen ye

d, two hundred pairs of eyes went bright with appetite. The kind

's jaw tightened. "The bond require

Cut the last thread tying me to the

es from the kitchen. The boy who had kissed me behind the training hall three weeks ago an

girl standing thre

ested on Kellan's arm, and her smile was th

been sent to Aunt Helda

go, she cam

voiding my eyes

Whatever else the Moon Ceremony took from me, my voice didn't shake. "You couldn'

d quietly, "because a pack needs to

ed before they could walk. The pack comes first. The bloodline comes fi

. Alpha Godric Silverclaw had a presence like a storm f

ad

" he said, "because it's alread

uare and rolled around like s

ange

angement?

rolling in - thick and wrong, black as ink even under the full moon. Beyond that mist l

oodline. Your grandmother's bloodline." His eyes finally came to me, and there was nothing in them. No apology. No father. Ju

p my spine one ve

oice came out small.

Southern Alliance. His brother has promised our pack a generation of protection and triple tribute if the king survives the year." He paused, and for one moment

e went ve

of it, quickly smothered behind her hand

d at my father. "You're sell

onster. He's a dying king

e last healer

as badly trained. Your grandmother trained you

igh. "You keep saying *survive* like it's my job.

that needed an heir. You have eaten Silverclaw's food for eighteen

o their own kitchens by morning. *The Alpha sold the wolfless one to

inally pa

a strange, ringing calm, like the world had gone underwater. I straightened my spine

flinch at how steady I was. "You're not my mate. You're not anyon

id, but his voice had gone flat, and he couldn't h

nd I gave her my sweetest smile. "Enjoy him, sister. When he's bored of perfection, h

sed on my arm like a shackle.

I kept my chin up the entire walk across the square, past the honey cake stall where Kellan bought my favorites, past the

. Old stories said the Lycan King had burned his own court to ash on the night of his coronation - servants,

it had ever carri

Younger than Kellan. He wouldn't look at m

ere. And, um." He swallowed. "Nobody's ever lasted the night. I'm

d words I'd heard all day, fro

you,"

e - my pack, my father, my whole empty, useless, eighteen-ye

asted like metal. It whisp

de, I understood why no one ever

gardens, or the palace that rose up aga

the s

treet, every window - utterly, perfectly

ace waiti

d man in priest's robes stood beneath the gate, stari

past me - to

e, and his face w

eathed. "The goddess s

the mist

omething that had been silent f