Pregnant and Rejected, The Lycan King's Obsession

The first time Scarlett De Luca saw Alpha Logan Ashford, he was fifteen, standing in the pouring rain with a split lip and a broken arm after defending a frightened omega from three older wolves. That was the day she fell for him.

Eight years later, she stood in front of a full-length mirror, wondering if she looked beautiful enough to become his Luna. The soft blue gown hugged her figure without being extravagant — she couldn't afford extravagant. Every coin she'd saved over six months had gone into it, and she'd spent three nights sewing loose beads back into place by hand. Her fingers trembled as she adjusted the neckline for what felt like the hundredth time.

"You'll wear the poor fabric out before the ceremony even starts."

Sophia Hart leaned in the doorway, arms folded, grinning.

"Does it look all right?" Scarlett asked.

"If you ask me that one more time, I'm throwing you in the river."

Scarlett laughed despite herself. "I just want tonight to be perfect."

Sophia crossed the room and tucked a loose curl behind her ear. "Tonight isn't about the dress. It's about the way Logan looks at you."

Scarlett's cheeks warmed. Logan. Even his name did something to her heart. For years the whole Silver Moon Pack had watched them grow closer — training together, laughing together, trusted with things he told no one else. When he became Alpha after his father's death, everyone assumed it was only a matter of time before Scarlett became Luna. Even the elders seemed sure of it. Not even she questioned it anymore.

A horn sounded across the valley. The Moon Ceremony had begun.

"Come on," Sophia said, clapping her hands.

Scarlett took one last look at herself, touched her mother's silver necklace resting against her collarbone — the only thing left of her family — and whispered, "Wish me luck."

"You won't need it," Sophia said. "You already have his heart."

Scarlett wished she believed that as fully as her friend did.

---

Outside, the whole pack had gathered beneath the ancient Moon Altar. Torches lined the stone path, their flames flickering under a full moon. Children darted between the benches; warriors stood in ceremonial dress. Music drifted through the cool air. Scarlett had been to dozens of these ceremonies, but tonight felt different. Tonight was hers.

Walking through the crowd, familiar faces smiled at her. *You look beautiful. Our future Luna. I knew this day would come.* Each word eased the knot in her stomach. Maybe she'd worried for nothing.

Then she saw him — Logan, standing at the center of the altar in the traditional black cloak of an Alpha, tall and confident, handsome enough to turn heads from three packs over. Their eyes met and her heart stumbled. He smiled, just barely, enough to remind her of every promise whispered under moonlit skies. She smiled back. This was the moment everything changed. She could already picture it: a home over the eastern cliffs, morning patrols together, children with his stubborn smile.

Elder Marcus raised his staff. The music died. Even the wind seemed to hold still.

"Wolves of Silver Moon Pack," he called, "tonight our Alpha makes a choice that will shape this pack's future."

The crowd cheered. Scarlett searched Logan's face and found his smile gone, replaced by something tight and rigid. Her wolf stirred uneasily. *Something isn't right.*

He stepped forward, gold eyes locked on hers. "Scarlett De Luca. You have served this pack with loyalty and honor. You have shown courage where others showed fear. You have earned this pack's respect."

Her chest warmed — this was tradition, an Alpha praising his Luna before claiming her.

Then he drew a slow breath, and everything in his face changed. The warmth was gone. Her smile faltered as a chill ran through her. The moon slid behind a bank of clouds, dropping the altar into shadow.

"But respect," he said, looking straight at her, "is not enough."

The silence that followed felt unnatural. Even the wind seemed to stop. Someone in the crowd gave a nervous laugh that died fast.

"What do you mean?" Scarlett managed.

"You deserve the truth."

"I don't understand."

"You will."

"No — explain it to me." She stepped toward the altar. The elders traded uneasy looks; this wasn't how a ceremony was supposed to go.

Logan's hands curled into fists, then slowly loosened. "For a long time, I believed you were the woman meant to stand beside me." Hope flickered in her chest — then he finished: "I was wrong."

Her heart seemed to stop. Sophia shot up from her seat. "What is he doing?"

"Logan," Scarlett said, voice cracking, "look at me."

"I am."

"No — look at me the way you did yesterday. The way you've always looked at me."

Pain flashed across his face and vanished. "As Alpha, my first duty is to this pack."

"What does that have to do with us?"

"Everything." He climbed the last step onto the altar, beneath the pack's silver crest. "I can't let personal feelings weaken my judgment."

"Weaken?" A bitter smile touched her lips. "So loving me is a weakness now?"

He closed his eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Don't. Don't say you're sorry. Tell me this is a nightmare. Tell me you're lying."

He said nothing.

Her knees went weak. She searched his face for the boy who used to bring her wildflowers, the young Alpha who'd once sworn he'd always choose her. That man was gone. Maybe he'd never existed at all.

Logan drew one last breath, and his voice carried across the courtyard. "I, Alpha Logan Ashford, reject Scarlett De Luca as my fated mate."

The words hit like lightning. Pain tore through her — not physical, but deeper, in a place nothing could reach. She collapsed onto the stone as the bond she'd cherished for years shattered inside her chest. Gasps rippled through the crowd. Someone whispered a prayer. Someone else looked away.

"Why?" she whispered.

Logan's mouth opened, but only one line came out. "It has to be this way."

"No, it doesn't." A tear slid down her cheek. She forced herself upright, legs shaking, refusing to let the pack remember her on the ground. "If you wanted to end this, you could have told me in private. You didn't have to destroy me."

He couldn't meet her eyes.

She let out a hollow laugh. "I loved you." Then she turned and walked away. No one stopped her. No one called her name. The wolves simply parted, clearing her path. Each step toward the gates felt heavier than the last. As she passed through them, thunder rolled overhead, the moon vanished behind the clouds, and rain began to fall. She didn't look back — if she did, she was afraid she'd run straight back to the man who'd just broken her.

Beyond the trees, hidden past the gates, a convoy of black SUVs waited with their headlights dark. A tall man in a charcoal suit stood beside the lead vehicle, watching her through the rain, his face calm but his sharp gray eyes never leaving her.

A guard stepped close. "Sir, should we move?"

He pulled on a leather glove. "Not yet."

"She's alone."

"I know." His gaze tracked her into the trees. "Let her take ten more steps."

"Why?"

A faint smile. "Because the wolves hunting her are already here."

As if summoned, a long howl rolled through the forest — then another, and another. Scarlett froze. The sound wasn't coming from the pack behind her. It was coming from the dark ahead.

She lifted her head. Dozens of amber eyes opened between the trees.

They hadn't come to welcome a rejected mate.

They'd come to kill her.