Lahat ng Kabanata ng Rejected Once, Now Claimed By The Lycan : Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 7

"I shouldn't be here."I whispered the words under my breath as I stepped through the doors of the Night Howl pack house. The familiar scent of wood and wolf hit me like a wall, stirring memories I had spent months trying to bury.This place had never been my home.Not really.Even when I had lived here, I had always been a ghost — invisible to everyone who mattered, including my own family.My name is Ava Cole. Twenty years old. Black hair, hazel eyes, and a smile I had learned to fake so well that even I sometimes forgot it wasn't real.I was the beta's daughter.You would think that meant something.It didn't. Not for me.My father, Beta Cole, was one of the most powerful men in our pack. My brother Oliver had followed in his footsteps, taking over the beta position the day he shifted on his eighteenth birthday. My sister Elsie was tall, strong, and beautiful — everything a werewolf woman should be.And then there was me.The failure.The disgrace.My eighteenth birthday had come a

Ava's POV"Mate."That single word had undone me completely.For one brief, impossible moment, I had let myself believe it. Let myself feel it — the warmth of the bond, the electricity of his touch, the wild and reckless hope that the moon goddess had finally looked down at me with something other than indifference.I had been so foolish.When Alpha Jackson's hand touched mine, a jolt shot through my entire body like lightning finding the ground. And with it came his scent — rich and full, like a field of flowers after rain. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever experienced.It lasted about ten seconds.Then he opened his mouth and destroyed everything."You will continue to live your life outside the pack house. It will be a thing of shame if anyone finds out about your existence."He didn't even look at me when he said it. Not once. I was standing right in front of him — his *mate* — and I wasn't worth a single glance."King Sebastian will be arriving in a few days. Leave the c

Ava's POVNot this again.I heard the words leave Sebastian's mouth and felt the room shift around me like the ground had tilted. My first instinct was almost a laugh — a short, hollow thing that I swallowed before it could escape.Two mates in one week.The moon goddess had a truly terrible sense of humour."I'm afraid you're mistaken, Your Majesty." Jackson's voice was smooth, diplomatic, but I could hear the tension underneath it. He smiled at Sebastian the way people smile when they're trying to control something they can't. "Ava cannot be your mate. It's simply not possible."Sebastian didn't even glance at him.His grey eyes stayed on mine, steady and unbothered, like Jackson hadn't spoken at all."I am certain," he said simply. Then — "Where are her parents? I'd like to speak with them."Something moved across Jackson's face. Something I might have called jealousy if I believed he was capable of it.He ruffled his hair, jaw tight, and left the room without another word.*****T

Ava's POVThe moment the pack house doors closed behind me, I exhaled.Not a small, careful breath — a real one. Deep and long, like I had been holding it for years and only just remembered I was allowed to stop.I wasn't being chased out this time.I wasn't being hidden, or warned away, or reminded of everything I lacked. I was walking out of my own accord, beside a man who had stood in front of my entire pack and claimed me in front of everyone who had ever made me feel worthless.*My life is finally changing.*I let myself believe that, fully, for the first time.Outside, a convoy of sleek black cars lined the road in front of the pack house. Quiet. Immaculate. The kind of vehicles that didn't need to announce themselves because everything about them already did.The entire pack had spilled out to watch.I felt their eyes as Sebastian walked beside me — some curious, some bitter, some wearing the particular expression of people recalculating how they had treated someone they now ha