Rejected by the Heir, Claimed by the Alpha King

My Coming of Age ceremony was supposed to be a coronation. Instead, it was a funeral for my heart.

I stood shivering as Catalina, the woman trying to steal my place, pushed me into the stone pool. My heavy silk dress pulled me down like an anchor. I waited for Jax, the Alpha Heir and my Fated Mate, to save me. He did dive in—but not for me.

He scooped up Catalina, who was standing in waist-deep water, treating her like a porcelain doll while I choked on the water.

His voice exploded in my head, not with concern, but with disgust.

"Stop embarrassing me, Eliana. You look pathetic."

Things only got worse. When I confronted them later, Catalina shoved me down the grand staircase. My knee—my dancer’s knee—snapped with a sickening sound. Jax didn't call a doctor. He used the Alpha Command to force me to drag my broken body out of the room so I wouldn't "upset" his mistress.

I thought he was just blinded by love, until I overheard him laughing with his Beta. He admitted he didn't love Catalina. He was just using her to break my spirit, to "tame" me into a submissive pet before finally marking me.

He thought I was weak. He thought I would stay in the mud forever.

He was wrong.

I took a silver knife and scraped our carved initials off the Sacred Oak until my skin sizzled. I packed my bags for New York, severing the pack link that bound us.

"Sleep well, Jax. Because when I come back, I won't be the girl you broke. I will be the nightmare you created."

Chapter 1

Eliana POV:

The Coming of Age ceremony was supposed to be a coronation. For me, it was a funeral.

I stood on the periphery of the stone basin, gripping a plastic cup of lukewarm punch until it cracked. My dress, a repurposed silk number from a cousin who married down, felt tight across the ribs.

"You look like a stray dog wrapped in silk, Eliana."

Catalina Manning. Of course.

She stood before me, flanked by two other she-wolves who giggled at her cruelty. Catalina was beautiful in the way a poisonous flower is beautiful. She wasn't high-born, but she had clawed her way up the social ladder using her body and her ambition.

"Leave me alone, Catalina," I whispered, stepping back.

"Or what?" she sneered. "You'll cry to your daddy? Oh wait, your father is just a glorified accountant for the Alpha. He has no teeth."

She stepped closer. Vanilla and rot—that was her scent. A cloying sweetness trying to hide the smell of ambition. She released a wave of pheromones, a challenging scent meant to provoke.

I tried to turn away, but she was faster. She didn't just shove me; she checked me with her shoulder, hard.

My heels skidded on the wet limestone.

Splash.

The water was a shock to the system, filling my nose before I could even gasp. I thrashed,