Claimed by His Lycan Uncle novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: Rejected

The Alpha King rejects Nerys in front of every pack and names her pregnant sister his Luna. Nerys begs no one and walks out, then collapses with rejection fever on the north road as a man's boots stop beside her.

Hadrian waited until I stood in the middle of the ring before he spoke.

"Alphas of the realm," he said. "Last night I marked a woman at this Gathering."

A murmur ran around the stones.

My wolf lifted her head.

I thought he was about to say my name, and I stood up straighter.

"It was a mistake," he said.

The murmur stopped.

I looked at him.

His eyes were brown again, with none of the gold I had seen in the trees.

"I, Hadrian Greymere, Alpha King, reject Nerys Lowther as my mate."

The words landed one at a time.

Pain tore down my spine, and the mark on my neck split open and bled.

Rue yelped inside me and curled up small.

I locked my knees and did not fall.

"Why?" I said.

He turned his head toward Cecily.

"Because the woman I have chosen is carrying my heir."

Cecily dropped her eyes to the ground.

Nobody in the ring moved.

"Cecily Lowther will stand beside me on Oath Night as Luna," he said. "I will not shame her father's house by taking back my word."

"Your word," I said.

"Nerys."

"You said last night that I was yours."

"A pull is not a promise." His voice stayed flat. "I was wrong about what it meant. I am correcting it now, in front of everyone, so there's no confusion."

Somebody in the crowd laughed, and somebody else hushed them.

I searched the faces for my family.

My mother had her hand pressed over her mouth again, the way she had at the gate.

My father stared at the dirt.

"Papa," I said.

He did not look up.

Cecily took one step toward me.

"Nerys, I'm so sorry," she said. "I never wanted you to find out like this."

Her voice shook, and she looked small and pale and sick.

For half a second I wanted to hold her.

Then the cedar smell reached me again, and it was on both of them.

I did not cry.

I did not kneel.

At Highcrest they teach you that a rejected wolf who begs is only handing the other side a second win, and I was not going to hand Hadrian one.

"Is that everything?" I asked.

"Everything," he said.

"Good."

I reached up and pulled my mother's silver pin out of my hair.

I held it out to her across the ring.

"Mama. This is yours."

She came forward, sobbing, and took it, and then she caught my sleeve.

"Nerys, please," she whispered. "Don't make a scene. He's the king."

I took her hand off my sleeve, gently.

"I already didn't."

I turned to Hadrian one more time.

"You marked me because it was easy," I said. "Remember this morning. You'll want to."

He smiled slightly.

"She'll cool off," he told the crowd. "She's young. She'll be back before the week is out."

I said nothing.

So I walked out.

The packs opened a path through the stones, and it closed again behind me.

At the edge of the ring a young Ashmere warrior put my bag into my arms without meeting my eyes.

"Your mother sent it," he said.

There were two roads from the Stonering, and one of them led past my father's camp.

I took the other one, the north road, up toward the ridge.

By the time the torches of the valley were small behind me, the fever had started.

It began in the mark and spread out through my chest and arms, and it was worse than anything I had ever felt in the training yards.

My legs went first.

I caught a tree, and then I caught nothing.

I hit the road on my hands and knees, and the gravel bit into my palms.

"Rue," I said. "Get up. Please."

She whimpered and did not move.

The edges of the world went gray.

I was lying on my side in the dust when I heard boots.

They were heavy, and slow, and they stopped beside my head.

The wind came down off the ridge and carried a smell of snow and woodsmoke.

Rue lifted her head.

A shadow fell across my face, and a very deep voice said, "Don't move."

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