After My Alpha Chose His Omega Over Me

The familiar scent of the Silver Moon Pack House hit me as I stepped through the front doors. After my run with Onyx in the Royal Lycan Territory, everything felt different—I felt different. My skin still tingled where his fingers had traced my scar, and Sasha remained alert within me, no longer the subdued presence I'd forced her to be for five years.

I headed straight for my room—or rather, what had been my room. In less than a month, I'd be gone forever, but Grandfather Hunter's request for one final moon cycle meant I needed to gather my essentials and move them to a guest cabin at the edge of pack territory.

"Valerie."

Miles's voice stopped me in the hallway. I turned slowly, taking in his disheveled appearance. Dark circles shadowed his eyes, and his hair stuck up at odd angles. He'd been drinking again.

"I'm just getting some clothes," I said evenly, continuing toward my room.

He moved faster than I expected, blocking my path. His nostrils flared as he scented the air around me.

"What is that?" he growled, his eyes narrowing. "Who have you been with?"

I raised an eyebrow. "That's none of your concern anymore, Miles."

He stepped closer, inhaling deeply. His face contorted with rage as he identified the unfamiliar masculine scent clinging to my skin—Onyx's powerful Lycan aura that had marked me as his.

"You fucking whore," he snarled, backing me against the wall. "While I was recovering from my accident, you were spreading your legs for some rogue?"

Sasha surged forward, her anger mixing with mine. "Careful, Miles. You rejected me. I'm no longer bound to you or this pack."

"Rejecting you was my right as Alpha!" he shouted, his face inches from mine. "But you're still Silver Moon property until you leave these grounds. And you've brought shame to our name."

His Alpha aura pressed against me like a physical weight, trying to force me to my knees. Once, it might have worked. But now, with wolfsbane no longer poisoning my system, his power slid off me like water.

"Look at you," he spat, his eyes wide with disbelief as I remained standing. "No wolf, no loyalty, nothing but a pack whore."

I smiled then, a cold curve of my lips that made him falter. "Is that why you couldn't keep me? Because I was too much for you to handle?"

His hand shot out, gripping my throat. "You will kneel when I tell you to."

Before his fingers could tighten, a thunderous crash shook the entire Pack House. The massive oak doors at the entrance had been ripped from their hinges, shards of wood scattered across the marble floor.

Every wolf in the vicinity dropped to their knees instinctively, their bodies responding to a power greater than any Alpha's. Even Miles staggered, his grip on my throat loosening as his eyes widened in shock.

Through the doorway strode Onyx, his presence filling the room like a physical force. Flanked by four elite Lycan guards in ceremonial black uniforms, he moved with predatory grace, his golden eyes fixed on Miles's hand still touching my throat.

"Remove your hand," Onyx said, his voice deceptively soft yet carrying to every corner of the now-silent Pack House.

Miles tried to straighten, to assert his Alpha dominance, but his body betrayed him. "Who are you to give orders in my territory?"

Onyx didn't answer. Instead, he released his full Lycan King aura—a crushing wave of power that drove Miles to his knees beside me. The Alpha's legs buckled as if his bones had turned to water, his face pressed toward the floor in forced submission.

Onyx stepped over him as if he were nothing more than an obstacle, his hand finding the small of my back. The touch sent electricity racing up my spine.

"Mine," he said simply, his arm wrapping around my waist and pulling me against his side.

He turned to address the stunned wolves watching from doorways and hallways throughout the Pack House.

"Let it be known throughout all territories," Onyx's voice resonated with authority, "that Valerie Reed is my fated mate and future Lycan Queen."

Gasps echoed through the hall as wolves struggled to process his words.

"Any disrespect shown to her," Onyx continued, his eyes sweeping over the assembled pack members, "will be considered an act of treason against the crown."

His gaze settled on Miles, still groveling on the floor. "That includes you, Alpha."

Miles's face contorted with rage and humiliation as he tried—and failed—to lift his head against the weight of Onyx's aura.

"The Silver Moon Pack will learn," Onyx said, his fingers tracing possessive patterns on my waist, "that some wolves are meant for greater things than playing Luna to an unworthy Alpha."