Page 8 of Pregnant, Rejected and Exiled By the Lycan King (Forbidden Alpha Kings #45)

“Will be managed appropriately,” my father spoke for the first time, his voice steady despite everything. “I’ll recuse myself from any votes regarding the Lycan King’s household.”

“Magnus,” another councilor said with false sympathy. “Surely you must have opinions about your daughter’s... situation.”

I watched my father navigate the trap with twenty years of political experience.

“My daughter is an adult who experienced an imperative we are all very familiar with and sympathetic to. The Lycan King responded appropriately to prevent potential violence from other unmated alphas. The claiming may have been unexpected, but it was lawful.”

The words were perfect. Politically neutral, legally sound, giving nothing for his enemies to grab onto.

But I saw the disappointment in his eyes when they briefly met mine.

His daughter, claimed in heat like a common omega instead of being properly courted and contracted. Everything he’d worked to rise above.

“She hasn’t spoken,” Yates observed, turning his sharp gaze on me. “The law requires verbal confirmation from the omega. Tell us, Miss Thorback, was this mating truly consensual?”

Every eye turned to me. This was the test Damon had warned about. Show weakness and they’d pounce like sharks scenting blood. But how could I call it consensual when biology had overridden choice? When heat had made me beg for things I’d never wanted?

“The mating was consensual,” I said, forcing my voice to remain steady. “I am Damon Kildare’s mate by mutual claiming.”

“And are you prepared for what that means?” Reeves leaned forward, and unlike the others, his concern seemed genuine.

“Being mate to the Lycan King isn’t just about warming his bed.

You’ll be expected to produce heirs, manage the household if that is what he decides, represent our territory at formal functions.

You’re young. Untrained in proper protocol.

And if he chooses to take a Luna outside of your bond, you’ll serve her too. ”

I didn’t miss the bite in his words. But his words were like cold water crashing over me. I had not thought about that. Damon had said nothing about a Luna. Not that we had any time to discuss it. I could not look at him, so I did what my father had trained me to do when cornered.

“I’ll learn,” I said simply. What else could I say? That my dreams had involved a quiet life and chosen love, not political mating? “I understand my duty.”

“Duty.” Hampton savored the word like fine wine. “Yes, an omega’s duty to submit to her alpha. To breed. To obey. How refreshing to hear such traditional values from the younger generation.”

The condescension made my teeth clench, but I kept my face neutral. Beside me, Damon radiated growing anger through the bond. His wolf didn’t like other alphas discussing his mate this way, even in formal council session.

“My mate will define her own role,” he said with finality. “The old ways are just that. Old. We’ll forge our own path.”

“The old ways have served us for centuries,” Yates countered. “You’re barely crowned and already challenging traditions?”

“I’m not crowned at all, as you so helpfully pointed out.” Damon’s voice could have frozen fire. “Yet here I sit, recognized by law and succession as your Lycan King. Perhaps it’s time to consider that not all traditions deserve preservation.”

The council rumbled with displeasure, but none challenged him directly. The power dynamics were clear even to me. He was their king now, whether they liked how he’d spent his coronation night or not. They could make things difficult, but they couldn’t unmake what biology had decided.

“If there are no further questions,” Damon said, making it clear questions were no longer welcome, “my mate needs rest.”

“One more thing,” Hampton said as we turned to leave. “The matter of heirs. Given the enthusiasm of your claiming, might we expect an announcement soon?”

Were they seriously asking if he’d knocked me up? The casual discussion of my potential pregnancy like I was breeding stock rather than a person made bile rise in my throat.

“Any announcements will be made in due time,” Damon responded coolly. “My mate’s medical information is not council business.”

“Everything about the Lycan King’s household is council business,” Yates disagreed. “The territory needs assurance of continuation. An heir, Kildare. Sooner rather than later.”

“Noted.” Damon’s tone suggested they could note it all they wanted. “If that’s all?”

They dismissed us with varying degrees of disapproval. As we left, I caught my father’s eye once more. So much he wanted to say, so much he couldn’t in front of his political peers. I’d disrupted twenty years of careful building in one night of heat.

The walk back passed in tense silence. Only when we reached a smaller sitting room did Damon speak. “Your father is waiting. Ten minutes.”

He left me alone with the man who’d raised me to be more than biology, only to watch me fall to exactly that. My father stood by the window, hands clasped behind his back in a pose I recognized from childhood. His thinking stance.

“Papa,” I started, then stopped. What could I possibly say?

He turned, and the politician’s mask had fallen away. This was just my father, tired and worried and disappointed. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” I lied, because the aches between my legs weren’t the kind of hurt he meant. “Damon was... careful.”

“Careful.” He tested the word like it might bite. “Is that what we’re calling it?”

“What do you want me to say?” Exhaustion made me sink into a chair, propriety be damned. “That I’m sorry? I am. That I didn’t mean for this to happen? I didn’t. But it’s done now.”

“Yes. It’s done.” He moved closer, sitting across from me. “Twenty years I’ve worked to show that omegas can be more than our inherent roles. That we can contribute intellectually, politically. And in one night...”

“In one night, I proved them all right.” Bitterness crept into my voice. “The omega who couldn’t control her heat. Who had to be claimed by the first available alpha. I know.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Isn’t it?” I met his eyes, seeing my own pain reflected there. “I’ve made you vulnerable. Given Hampton and Yates ammunition. The omega spokesperson whose daughter seduced the Lycan King.”

“Nobody believes you seduced anyone.” He leaned forward, taking my hands. “But yes, this complicates things. You’re tied to him now. His choices affect you. His enemies become yours.”

“I know.” The weight of it sat heavily on my shoulders. “I’ll be careful. I won’t give them more ammunition against you.”

“I’m not worried about me.” His hands tightened on mine. “I’m worried about you. Damon Kildare is not a cruel man, but he’s ambitious. Calculating. He’ll use you if it serves his purposes.”

“He already has.” The words came out more bitter than intended. “Used me to avoid a political mating. To claim an omega without the usual negotiations and contracts. I’m convenient.”

“Then be inconvenient.” My father’s advice surprised me. “If you’re stuck in this situation, find your power within it. He needs you now. For stability. For image. For heirs. That gives you leverage.”

“Leverage.” I laughed, short and sharp. “I’m an omega. What leverage do I have?”

“More than you think.” He stood, pulling me up with him. “You’re the Lycan King’s mate. His only mate, unless he wants to break tradition entirely. Use that position. Carefully, quietly, but use it.”

A knock interrupted whatever else he might have said. Damon entered without waiting for permission, because of course he did. Alphas didn’t wait for anyone, especially in their own territory.

“It’s time,” he said simply.

My father squeezed my hands once more, then released me. “Be strong,” he murmured, too low for Damon to hear. “You’re still my daughter. Still a Thornback, even if you wear his name now.”

He left us alone, and I felt the loss of his presence like a physical thing. My last tie to my old life, walking away in formal robes that represented everything I’d complicated.

“Come,” Damon said. “I’ll take you home to collect your things.”

Home. Like I could just pack up my old life and move it into his. Like everything hadn’t fundamentally changed. But I followed him, because what else could I do? I was his now, bound by the law and witnessed by the council.

The drive to my family’s house passed in silence. I stared out the window at familiar streets that felt foreign now. Everything looked the same, but I was different. Marked. Mated. His.

My mother waited at the door, and her face told me everything I needed to know about the scandal we’d caused.

She’d been fielding calls all morning, no doubt.

The society gossips would be having a field day with this.

The omega spokesperson’s daughter, claimed in heat by the new Lycan King.

It was like something out of the trashy novels she pretended not to read.

“Inside,” she said simply, and I followed her to the kitchen where tea waited. Of course there was tea. Neva Thornback believed tea could fix anything, even biological disasters.

“Well,” she said once we were seated. “This is a mess.”

“I’m sorry.” The words came automatically, uselessly.

“Sorry doesn’t unmake a mate bond.” She sipped her tea with perfect composure even as her eyes catalogued every visible mark on my skin. She continued without commenting on it.

“Your father thinks this can be managed. That you can find power in the position. I’m less optimistic.”

“You think I’m trapped.”

She set down her cup with a click. “Trapped or not, you’re the Lycan King’s mate now. You need to act like it.”

“I don’t know how.”

“Be smart,” she whispered. “And remember, you’re still our daughter.”

My father entered the room and noticed how deep in conversation we were. “What’s done is done. We move forward from here. Damon has agreed to let you stay here tonight so you can say your goodbyes and pack your things.”

There was a hint of sadness in his voice and I tried not to be affected by it.

My parents were political beings by nature, but they were great as my parents too.

Despite being an omega family I had never been denied any comfort.

So I knew why they looked disappointed by this turn of events. And worse they looked scared too.

My father clapped my back as I stood up to head to my room. I could not stop myself before I pushed into his arms for a hug. “I am so sorry, Papa.”

He rubbed my back and whispered in my hair, “It’s alright, darling. It will all be okay.”