After My Mate Learned I Was Lycan Royalty

The chandeliers in the Graymist pack house dining hall were too bright. I'd noticed that before, but tonight the light felt like it was pressing down on my skin, making everything sharp and exposed. I sat at the far end of the long table, wedged between two Delta wolves who hadn't spoken to me once during the entire meal. That was normal. I was used to being invisible here.

Bodie stood at the head of the table, his Alpha aura filling the room the way it always did when he wanted everyone's attention. He looked good tonight. He always looked good. Dark hair, strong jaw, that easy confidence that made other wolves lean in when he spoke. My wolf stirred restlessly inside me, responding to the mate bond even now, even after three years of this.

Nina sat to his right, in the seat that should have been mine. She wore a deep blue dress that probably cost more than most wolves here made in a month. Her hair was perfect. Her smile was perfect. Everything about her screamed high-born, powerful bloodline, exactly the kind of she-wolf an Alpha was supposed to want.

I looked down at my own plain gray dress. It was clean and neat, but that was all you could say about it. Margaret, Bodie's mother, had made it very clear over the years that I shouldn't draw attention to myself. "Know your place," she'd said more than once, her voice dripping with that particular kind of cruelty that came wrapped in advice.

Bodie raised his glass. The room went quiet.

"Tonight is a significant evening for Graymist," he said, his voice carrying easily. "We're celebrating the beginning of what I believe will be a very beneficial alliance with Silverpine Pack."

Polite applause rippled through the room. I didn't clap. My hands were in my lap, my thumb moving slowly along the inside of my wrist. It was a habit I'd had since childhood, something I did when I needed to stay calm.

Bodie turned to Nina, his smile widening. "I want to introduce someone very special. This is Nina Kennedy, a distinguished she-wolf of Silverpine heritage. Her family has deep roots in one of the most respected packs on the continent."

Nina stood gracefully, inclining her head. The wolves around the table murmured appreciatively. I watched Margaret beam at her son, pride radiating from every line of her face.

I felt Bodie's attention shift. For a moment, I thought he might acknowledge me. The mate bond pulled tight in my chest, that constant thread connecting us whether I wanted it to or not. I reached for his hand instinctively as he moved, the gesture automatic after three years of trying to bridge the distance between us.

His fingers were warm under mine for exactly one second.

Then he looked down. His eyes met mine. There was nothing in them. No recognition, no warmth, nothing that said he remembered I was his mate, that the Moon Goddess herself had tied our souls together.

He pulled his hand away.

The movement was smooth, casual, like he was brushing off a piece of lint. He turned back to the room without a word, leaving my hand suspended in empty air.

Something in my chest twisted. Not broke. Twisted. Like a blade being turned very slowly.

"And this," Bodie said, gesturing vaguely in my direction without actually looking at me, "is Scarlet. She's just an Omega who handles errands around the pack house. Helps with paperwork, that sort of thing."

Just an Omega who handles errands.

The words hung in the air. I heard them clearly. Everyone heard them clearly.

Margaret's smile sharpened. Nina glanced at me, and there was something in her eyes that looked like satisfaction, like she'd won a competition I hadn't known we were having.

I set my glass down. The sound of it touching the table was very precise, very controlled. I stood up. My chair didn't scrape. I'd learned a long time ago how to move through this pack house without making noise, without taking up space, without being noticed.

No one stopped me as I walked toward the door. No one called my name. The conversation had already moved on, Bodie saying something about trade routes and territory agreements, his voice warm and engaged in a way it never was when he spoke to me.

The night air outside was cold and sharp. I walked away from the pack house, away from the lights and the voices, until I was standing alone in the dark near the tree line.

I ran my thumb along my wrist again. Once. Twice.

Then I did something I hadn't done in three years.

I opened the mind-link I'd kept sealed since the day I walked into Graymist. The one that connected me to my father.

Alexander answered immediately. His presence in my mind was vast and steady, like he'd been waiting at the threshold every single day, patient as stone.

*Scarlet.*

His voice was careful. He didn't ask what was wrong. He didn't ask why I was reaching out now. He just waited.

*I'm ready to come home,* I said.

There was a pause. When he spoke again, there was something in his tone I couldn't quite name. Relief, maybe. Or vindication.

*The Lunar Summit is in two weeks,* he said. *Your introduction has been prepared since the day you left.*

I closed my eyes. Somewhere behind me, I could still hear the faint sounds of laughter from the pack house. Bodie's voice, rising above the others.

*I'll be there,* I said.

I severed the link and stood alone in the dark, feeling the mate bond pull and twist in my chest like something dying.

But I didn't cry.

I was done being small.