Rejected by the Heir The Omega’s Hundred-Nights Reckoning

Seven years of being bonded, and I had stopped counting the she-wolves my mate, Kael Blackwood, had taken to his bed.

The reason I had looked away all this time?

He always showered me with territory gifts afterward.

A heat-entanglement with some low-ranking Omega from a neighboring pack? A private den in the heart of our central territory.

A moonlit gathering with young unmated females? A hunting lodge along the eastern ridge, deeded to my name alone.

He bought off my rage, my questions, my griefall with his wealth and land offerings.

Until I was eight moons heavy with his pup, and my baby died inside me. A stillborn. The healers had to force my body to release him.

I leaned on the denkeeper's arm, barely able to stand, as I shuffled out of my recovery chamber in the healer's den.

That was when I caught his scentin the birthing room next door. Kael, hovering over another Omega who had just whelped, handling her like she was something precious and fragile.

Our eyes met. A flash of panic crossed his features before the familiar coldness settled back into place.

He walked over and held out a territory deed, blank where the boundaries should be marked.

"Name whatever land you want."

I tore it to shreds.

I looked at him and smiled.

"Kael, I do not want territory this time."

My trembling hand rose, pointing past him toward the thin, reedy cry coming from that birthing chamber.

"I want that pup."

1.

"Selene, have you lost your mind?!"

Disbelief was carved into every line of Kael's face.

I said it again. "I want that pup."

The aftermath of the forced birth had left me so weak that every word felt like it was draining the life force from my body.

"What game are you playing?" He kept his voice low, a growl barely contained. "That is not your pup!"

"Your pup is gone!"

Yes. My pup was gone. Dead.

"Your pup," I said softly, "is that not also my pup?"

"Or would you rather the Blackwood Pack's firstborn heir enter this world branded as a rogue-born bastard?"

Kael's jaw clenched shut.

He and I had grown up together. Our packs went back generationsancient bloodlines intertwined with ancient bloodlines. The Blackwood Pack and the Nightshade Pack were both old-blood houses that lived and died by lineage and honor.

He could stray. He could have his heat entanglements. But a stain on the pack's bloodline? That was the one thing that would never be tolerated.

On the birthing bed, Vesper Ashfen finally understood what was happening.

She struggled to sit up, her voice shrill: "Kael! You cannot give her my pup! This is my only"

Her only weapon for clawing her way into the pack.

A rogue-born Omega of her unremarkable blood, dreaming of rising through motherhood? Delusional.

I watched Kael's face twist with conflict, and suddenly, the whole scene struck me as grotesquely absurd.

I gathered the last of my strength, shoved him aside, and walked into the room, one agonizing step at a time.

Vesper flinched, clutching the swaddled pup tighter against her chest, her scent spiking with fear.

"Hello, Third Mistress," I said. "I am Selene Nightshade. Kael's bonded mate."

I forced my lips into a rigid smile and delivered the truth, syllable by syllable.

"Starting today, I am this pup's mother."

I paused, savoring the way her face drained of color, then twisted the knife deeper.

"And you? Your pup was stillborn. Forced birth. Do you understand?"

Those two wordsforced birthI barely whispered them.

But they cut so deep I could hardly breathe.

"NO!"

Vesper's scream shattered the air. She grabbed the fur pelt from behind her and hurled it at me.

"You are lying! This is MY pup! MINE!"

Kael followed me in, his expression pained.

"Kael, you cannot let her take our pup!" Vesper sobbed, reaching for him desperately, her Omega scent thick with distress.

Kael looked at me, caught between two impossible choices.

"Selene..."

I leaned in close and murmured in his ear:

"The Westside Hunting Grounds Accord... the Pack Elder cares about it a great deal. And it just so happens to be in my brother's hands."

Kael went rigid.

The Westside Hunting Grounds Accord represented the Blackwood Pack's most vital territorial expansion for the coming decadeand Kael's sole opportunity to prove his worth to the Elder Alpha.

He spun toward me, his wolf surging close to the surface. Fury blazed in his amber eyes. Resentment twisted his features. And beneath it all, I caught the acrid scent of wariness bleeding through his carefully constructed mask.

He drew a sharp breath, nostrils flaring, then turned to Vesper. "Think clearly about this. The pup... let Selene raise him. It's the only path to legitimacy within pack law."

I shifted my attention to Eira Hearthwell, my denkeeper who had served the Nightshade household since before my birth.

"Go. Bring that pup to my chamber."

I stepped beyond the healer's ward and reached for my connection to my pack liaison.

"Aria Stormvale, secure the healer's den. This remains sealed between usno whisper reaches another ear. On the pup-ledger entry, only one name appears under 'Dam.' Mine."

Moments later, the adjacent chamber eruptedsnarling, something shattering against stone walls, and Vesper's raw, gut-wrenching howls tearing through the silence.

I gazed down at the infant in the woven basket.

He slumbered peacefully, his tiny lips parting and closing with each soft breath.

A cold smile pulled at the corner of my mouth.

Kael came to my chamber every day. Lingered for a time. But his body occupied this space while his wolf remained tethered next door.

His communication crystal never stopped pulsing with light. Message after message from Vesper flooded through.

"Kael, I ache for our pup so desperately. Can't you compel her to return him to me?"

"I desire nothing else. I only want my offspring."

"Kael, I'm losing so much blood. The healers say my body isn't recovering from the birth. Will I survive this?"

Vesper understood precisely how to manipulate him.

She never struck at me directly. She simply circled back endlessly to her suffering, her yearning for the pup.

Painting me as heartless by comparison. Cruel and unfeeling.

Each time he absorbed her messages, the furrow between his brows carved deeper. Then he would mutter some flimsy excuse and rush from the room.

Early one morning, Kael had vanished. The healer attendants and Eira had taken the pup for his wellness examination.

Vesper materialized at my bedside like a wraith. Her eyes glittered with venom, her scent sharp with malice.

"Don't believe you've claimed victory, Selene."

"That ill-fated pup of yours? I'm the one who convinced Kael to eliminate it."

"That night, he'd been drinking moon-wine. Kept reaching out to me through our bond, again and again."

"I simply... played the wounded Omega. Whispered that the pup growing in your belly would become an obstacle to my place in his life."

"Begged him to spend more time with me. To stop orbiting around you and your swelling stomach."

"I never expected him to sever our connection and actually return to you. What unfolded after that..."

"Your pup? You simply weren't strong enough to protect it. Don't lay blame elsewhere."

"You're nothing but a surrogate nursing my offspring. Don't celebrate your position too soon."

She turned and glided out, her footsteps silent on the stone floor.

Every word seared into my flesh like a red-hot brand pressed against bare skin.

So that's how it happened.

I lay there, eyes sealed shut, my hands trembling violently beneath the woven blanket. Blood crept backward through the healer's needle, staining a section of the clear tube deep crimson.

I bit down on my lip until the taste of iron flooded my mouth, mixing with the salt of unshed tears.

I didn't cry. I didn't scream. I simply reached over and withdrew the needle from my hand.

A bead of blood rolled down the back of my wrist, dripping onto the pale linensa single, brutal plum blossom blooming against the white.

The door swung open with a groan.

Kael strode in.

He froze when the copper scent of my blood hit his senses, then crossed the distance in three swift strides and seized my wrist.

"Why did you remove the healer's needle? Have you lost all reason?"

He snatched a cloth from the bedside table and pressed it firmly against the wound, his brow furrowed with what almost resembled concern. For a heartbeat, he nearly appeared as though he cared.

My entire body shook. I wanted to scream. To demand answers. To shift and tear into him with claws and fangs.

But no strength remained in my limbs.

"Just go. Go be with Vesper."

"Eira will return shortly. I don't require your presence here."

From the neighboring chamber came another burst of pitiful wailing. Vesper, performing her role once more.

Kael bolted toward the door without a second's hesitation.

I summoned my pack liaison through the mind-link and commanded her to arrange my early release from the healer's den immediately.

"Back to the estate."

Time to claim what was mine.

When I appeared at the warded threshold of the Blackwood territory with that pup cradled in my arms, the entire pack erupted.

Elders from both bloodlines, council members, pack aunts and uncleseveryone swarmed around me, their wolves rising to the surface in excitement.

"Oh, my precious great-grandpup!"

The Elder Matriarch took the pup from my arms with trembling care, her weathered face splitting into a smile so wide it seemed it might never close. Her wolf's presence softened, radiating warmth I could feel against my skin.

The Alpha Patriarch was even more overcome. His hands shook as he looked at me, ancient eyes brimming with approval, his dominant scent mellowing into something almost gentle.

"Selene, well done! You are the greatest contributor to our bloodline!"

I became the pack's hero.

Because I had given the four-generation Blackwood bloodline its first male heir of the fifth generation.

No one knew that my heart had already died in that cold healer's chamber, alongside the pup I would never hold.

My bond-father watched the denkeeper's carriage pull directly into the inner courtyard and frowned, his nostrils flaring. "Where is Kael?"

"Occupied elsewhere, I suppose. I did not catch his scent at the healer's den either."

The elders' rewards were staggering.

The Alpha Patriarch granted me a coastal den overlooking Blackwood Harbor. He placed the territory tokens on my nightstand himself, the ancient metal warm from his palm.

The Elder Matriarch brought out her most treasured moonstone jewelryset after set, so luminous they seemed to hold captured starlight.

My bond-father transferred five percent of the Blackwood territory rights into my name, making me the youngest member of the pack council overnight.

My bond-mother was the most thoughtful. She gifted me a private island sanctuary in the southern waters, saying I could retreat there to recuperate once my body had healed from the birthing.

I smiled and accepted everything.

I deserved all of it.

I had paid for it with my pup's life.

No one knew that in the deepest corner of my den's inner chamber, I had carved out a small space.

There were no fine furs there. No ceremonial gowns.

Only a small memorial tablet, carved from sacred sandalwood.

It bore no name.

Before it lay a pair of tiny knitted booties I had made with my own handsbooties I would never give to anyone now. And a few heartbreakingly small pup wrappings.

Every night, when the pack fell silent and the moon hung heavy overhead, I would lock myself in that chamber.

I would hold that little tablet, running my fingers over its smooth surface again and again.

Little one, Mama is here.

Little one, your grandparents brought so many things today. If you were here, you would have them too.

Little one, do you blame Mama? Mama was useless. Mama could not protect you...

I never howled my grief aloud. I just let the tears slide down in silence, soaking into the wood I clutched against my chest.

There was a hole where my heart used to bea wound that would never heal. Cold wind howled through it endlessly, and the pain made it impossible to breathe.

That was the secret that belonged only to me and my lost pup.

Kael returned to the estate too, but he did not dare come near me.

In front of the entire pack, the Alpha Patriarch struck his ceremonial staff against the stone floor and called him a disgrace. I had just "given birth," he thundered, and not only had Kael failed to stay by my sidehe had upset me during my most vulnerable time.

He was made to kneel in the ancestral shrine all night, surrounded by the watching eyes of every Blackwood who had come before.

He probably could not understand it. The Selene who had once loved him to the point of obsession, the omega he had believed he held completely under his swayhow had she suddenly become this?

Occasionally, he would come to the bedchamber to keep me company. But more often, he went to see the pup.

He would hold the child clumsily, offer him the feeding bottle. And in his eyes, there was something unfamiliarsomething that might have been called fatherly devotion.

One evening, he stood behind me for a long time. I could feel his presence, sense his wolf pacing restlessly beneath his skin. Then, finally, he spoke.

"Selene, about that night... I was wrong. I had drunk too much moonwine."

A pause.

"Vesper... she just depends on me too much. Do not hold it against her."

I slowly lifted my gaze to the polished obsidian mirror, taking in our reflection.

He stood tall and striking, his Alpha presence radiating like heat from a forge. I looked gaunt, hollowed out, my Omega scent thin and faded like autumn leaves.

"Resentful?" A brittle laugh escaped me.

"What right do I have to resent anything? I couldn't even protect my own pup."

His expression twisted, as if my words had struck a raw nerve beneath his skin.

"That was an accident!" His voice rose sharply, a growl threading through the words. "Why do you keep dragging it up? I've been trying to make it up to you!"

Make it up to me?

I was born into the Nightshade bloodline, one of the oldest and most powerful packs in the territory. Wealth and tribute tokens meant nothing to methey were the most useless things he could offer.

I had no desire to argue anymore. I pushed him toward the chamber door.

"Selene, what do you want from me?"

"What do I want?" I met his amber eyes, my tone cutting through the air like a blade. "I want you to stay away from me."

In the end, he let go.

From that day on, he rarely set foot in my den chambers. The paper-thin pretense between us? Neither of us bothered maintaining it anymore.

When the pup turned one hundred nights old, the Blackwood Pack threw an extravagant celebration.

The venue was the sprawling moonlit grounds of the ancestral pack estate. The territory's elite had turned out in full forceevery Alpha, Beta, and high-ranking wolf that mattered was there.

I wore a custom crimson gown woven with silver thread, cradling the pup swaddled in silk brocade, standing beside the Alpha Patriarch and the Elder Matriarch as guests showered us with congratulations and envious glances.

The Alpha Patriarch had named him Rowan Blackwooda name wishing him strength rooted deep, like ancient trees that weather every storm.

Halfway through the Hundred-Nights Rite, the Alpha Patriarch took the ceremonial stage, his carved oak cane in hand, and lifted the speaking crystal.

The hall fell silent instantly.

"Tonight, on the occasion of my great-grandson Rowan's Hundred-Nights celebration, I have an announcement."

His voice rang out, strong and commanding, carrying the weight of generations.

"The Blackwood Pack has established a new territory venture specializing in premium pup-care goods and healer supplies. Current projections value it at one billion in trade rights and tribute allotments."

He paused, letting the figure sink in.

"Tonight, I'm giving this venture to my granddaughter-by-bond, Selene, as a gift."

Applause erupted like thunder rolling across the mountains.

I held Rowan close and dipped into a graceful bow, a polished smile fixed on my face. Gasps and whispers rippled through the crowd like wind through tall grass.

Every eye in the hall burned with envy.

A billion-value territory venture, handed over just like that. This was favor beyond measure.

I was about to step onto the stage to express my gratitude when

The great hall doors slammed open with a deafening crack.

A woman in a white dress burst through, shoving past the pack guards, wild-eyed and frantic. Her scent hit me before I even saw her facesharp, desperate, laced with fury.

Vesper.

She tore through the crowd like a wolf possessed, charging straight for the main stage.

"WAIT!"

The room froze. Silence crashed down like a guillotine.

Kael's face drained of color. He rushed forward to intercept her, his Alpha command bleeding into his movements.

"Vesper! What are you doing here? Stop this!"

She wrenched free of his grip, her claws extending slightly in her agitation. Her hand shot up, clutching a document, her bloodshot eyes locked onto mine. Her voice came out raw, ragged.

"I'm causing a scene?" She let out a shrill laugh that echoed off the stone walls. "Kael, look at her! She's holding MY pup, basking in the glory that should be MINE! She's the one who should be stopped!"

Vesper shook Kael off and pulled another document from her bag, thrusting it high above her head for all to see.

"Tonight, I'm going to show everyone exactly how the Blackwood Pack treats their own!"

She stormed onto the stage and snatched the speaking crystal from the ceremony master.

"Everyone, take a good look!" Her voice blasted through the crystal's amplification, echoing across the moonlit grounds. "This is a lineage rite! A scent-blood proof!"

The crowd held its breath, the tension thick enough to choke on.

"It says right heremarked in blood and witnessed by healersRowan shares my bloodline signature!"

Her voice cracked with triumph and fury, her whole body trembling.

"I am his birth mother!"

The great hall erupted into chaos.

Every pair of eyes swiveled toward me like wolves catching the scent of blood on the wind.

Suspicion. Contempt. Barely concealed satisfaction at witnessing a high-born Omega's fall.

My bonded family's faces drained of color. The Blackwood elders stared at me, their gazes sharp with unspoken accusations, their nostrils flaring as if they could smell guilt upon my skin.

Kael rushed onto the ceremonial platform, trying to snatch the lineage document from Vesper's trembling claws, his voice low and coaxing.

"Stop this madness. We'll speak in the private chambers, alright?"

But Vesper ignored him completely. Her eyes were bloodshot, wild with the feral gleam of a cornered she-wolf, fixed on me with raw hatred that made the air thick with her bitter scent.

"Selene! You thief! You stole my pup and you stand there playing the victim? Have you no shame before the pack?"

Her claw-tipped finger jabbed toward me as she screamed herself hoarse, her voice echoing off the stone walls of the great hall.

The gathering descended into pandemonium. Pack members shifted uneasily, some half-rising from their seats, others growling low in their throats at the breach of ceremony.

Kael lunged to cover Vesper's mouth, but she bit down hard on his hand, her teeth drawing blood.

"Kael, you have one choice nowreject the bond with her and claim me as your true mate!"

My pack liaison moved silently to my side, her footsteps soundless on the ancient floor, and set an antique black-lacquered wooden box at my feet.

I drew a deep breath, filling my lungs with the mingled scents of shock and judgment that permeated the hall. The pup had started fussing in my arms, sensing the turmoil around us, but I held him close as I walked slowly onto the ceremonial platform.

I took the lineage document from Vesper's trembling fingers. I didn't even glance at the damning words inscribed there.

Then I picked up the speaking crystal and looked out at the sea of faces belowshock, curiosity, judgment, all of it reflected in dozens of amber and gold-flecked eyes.

"She speaks truth."

My voice was steady as moonlight on still water. I even managed a faint smile.

"Everything she has claimed is accurate."

The chaos peaked. Whispers became snarls. Someone let out a sharp gasp that echoed through the vaulted ceiling.

At that moment, Aria stepped onto the platform and placed a heavy sandalwood box into my hands. The wood was warm, as if it held something precious within.

I opened it.

I looked into the speaking crystal, then out at those stunned facespack elders and visiting Alphas, Omegas and Betas alikeand spoke.

"Please. Bear with me a moment longer."

"Because tonight... I have a revelation of my own."