Once Rejected, Bound To The Lycan King

AVA.

"Ava, I reject you as my mate." Nicholas's words drove through my heart like a knife. I sat up on the bed, looking in his direction. He placed what I assumed were the divorce papers right next to the table. I was confused, my heart was pounding in my chest. 

We had just spent the night together like we always did. Nothing was different and nothing had changed but now I woke up to divorce papers on his desk?

"I... I don't understand Nicholas. You just told me you loved me last night." Tears welled in my eyes and he faced me while buttoning his suit jacket.

"I'm getting married to Cassandra. That's right, she's back in town and she is my mate. In fact, we would be taking the next week off for a much-needed vacation." He said and I didn't think my heart could break any more until he said her name. 

Cassandra Walters, the woman after his heart. 

It didn't matter what I did, Nicholas always swore they were meant to be together.

After three years of marriage, I had nothing to show for it. I had been waiting for Nicholas to publicly acknowledge my existence and to claim me as his mate but he never did.

"Wait a little longer. You are a wolfless Omega, imagine what the other Alphas would say." He always said. "Give me some time, I'll announce you soon." These were lies, however I still believed him.

Last night marked our third wedding anniversary and Nicholas and I had dinner on our terrace, afterwards he made love to me passionately, whispering how much he loved me over and over and I thought finally, he was ready to claim me publicly.

But Nicholas quenched every last glimmer of hope I had when he handed me the divorce papers the this morning. And it was all because she returned.

Cassandra. His first love.

"Ava," He drew closer to the me. "Don't make that face, you know I could never accept you as my Mate. I'm an Alpha and you're only just an omega and you're yet to see your wolf. Imagine what people would say. I cannot, Ava." He paused. "I cannot marry you." 

These were all words he'd said a thousand times before but naively, I waited and hoped that someday Nicholas would change his mind. That he would look at me and he wouldn't see the eighteen-year-old girl that he'd saved that day.

Three years ago when I was still a freshman, I was constantly picked up on by bullies because I was the wolfless omega and the orphan who had no one. One of the girls who bullied me was Nicholas's sister, Rose and she was friends with Cassandra. 

The bullying got so bad that it caught her brother's attention and that was the first time I met Nicholas. To me, he was my hero and that was the day I fell in love with him.

"I won't let anyone hurt you." He promised me three years ago. But that was exactly what he was doing right now. 

I wiped my tears and looked at him.

"Could it mean that the last three years have been for nothing?" I cried but Nicholas impatiently stood up.

"I have made up my mind Ava," His words were callous. "You must sign the papers before I get back," He grabbed his briefcase and slammed the door on his way out. 

I stood up from the bed and looked through the divorce papers, convincing myself they were real. I could feel my heart shatter with every page I turned. My whole life had been the opposite of rosy, I was orphaned at a very young age. Displaced and forced to grow up in a Pack that wasn't mine. I never felt like I belonged anywhere. 

Until Nicholas took me in and for the first time, it seemed like I had a future. After we met, he'd offered me a place to stay in his Alpha chambers. Of course, there were a few protests but as the Alpha of Havenwood Pack, he had the final say. 

I had lived with him for those three years, first as a servant and then barely a wife. Even though we had gotten married, Nicholas never claimed me in public but I never complained because this was a reality still better than being a rogue. 

"You mustn't fall in love with me," He'd always warned but that was impossible to do. Not when he looked at me like I was the only one who mattered and kissed me in a way I had never been kissed. Every inch of his hands knew my body and my body knew him. 

How could I not fall in love with Nicholas?

But now he was getting married to his actual soulmate which meant it was only a matter of time before Cassandra got rid of me for good, now that she was back. 

Of course, he was always going to pick her. She was perfect. The daughter born of elders of his Pack. A gracious Luna. I was only the wolfless omega—I never stood a chance. There was no world where an Alpha King falls for the orphaned omega like me.

There was a sudden knock on the door and immediately, his sister Rose walked in. She had a sly grimace across her lips and her arms were folded across her chest.

"I hope you have packed your bags." She winced. Finally, she had gotten what she wanted—a way to get rid of me. "Or what did you think? That an Alpha like my brother would ever fall for a wolfless peasant like you?" She laughed in my face. 

"Over my dead body!" She walked closer to me and took a handful of my hair in her grasp. 

I gasped out of pain as she pulled my hair towards her.

"There is no place for you here. There never was." She whispered in my ears. "And the moment you step foot out of here when my brother is no longer able to protect you, I'll have you captured by the other Rogues who will finally put you out of your misery." Rose gritted her teeth and walked out of the room. 

My tear-filled eyes fell back to the divorce papers. I had no choice but to sign it. She was right, I didn't belong here. Then, I pulled out my phone. There was only one person I could call in that moment. One person who could save me.

"Miles Carter?" I placed the phone against my ear. He let out a hesitant breath before his deep, decadent voice. "Ava Brooks," He knew my name and a shiver went down my spine. 

"Is your offer still on the table?" I heaved out an exhale from my lips. This might've been my only way alive out of Havenwood. It was clear there was nothing left for me in a town that had hurt me so much. Miles Carter was my only way out. 

There was only one thing— he was Nicholas's best friend and Lycan Prince of his own Mooncrest Pack. And not only had he proposed marriage to me, but he'd also wanted me to bear him an heir.

"Are you sure?" He questioned in his deep voice and I swallowed a hard lump down my throat. "Yes, I am."