CLAIMED BY THE BANISHED ALPHA

He will regret it

ELODIE’S POV

I had known he was cruel, I had never seen it it myself but hearing it being said said by every other female wolf in the kingdom was enough for me. Which is another reason why I felt like such a fool for expecting a different ending to the night, I had not known he could be this precise with it, this straight forward and cold as he bluntly rejected me.

He stood by the balcony doors, moonlight cutting sharp lines across his face, turning him into something distant and untouchable. The wind carried the scent of pine and ash into the room. I was still trying to breathe through the ache in my chest when he spoke again.

“You will sleep here,” he said.

“I am here,” I replied, unable to keep the bitterness from my voice.

His eyes shifted to the bed.

“Our arrangement does not include shared quarters.”

It took me a second to understand.

“You’re joking.”

Damon did not joke.

“You will sleep on the floor.”

The words settled slowly. Like snow. Like ash after something has burned.

“The floor?” I repeated.

“There are spare blankets in the chest,” he said calmly. “You may use those.”

My ears rang.

How could he just decide that this was how it was going to be for the two of us? Was it because I disgusted him? Or maybe he was afraid…afraid that his chosen Luna would walk in here and find him having a hard time keeping his hands to himself? So to avoid that he thought treating me like I was nothing was a good idea. If I had known that this was what he had in kind when he sent me ere I would have never listened to him. I would have escaped while everyone else was still distracted…I should have escaped.

And now—

“I would rather you not share my bed,” he continued, voice steady. “It would create confusion.”

Confusion? As if I were some servant who might misunderstand proximity for affection.

“As I told you,” he added, not looking at me now, “I do not want you, not in the way you would expect me to.”

Something inside me cracked. Not loudly. Just a thin, invisible fracture running straight through the center of my pride.

“You don’t want me,” I echoed, my voice too soft.

“No.”

The certainty in that single syllable stripped me bare. I swallowed.

“Is that what you told Nyra?” I asked before I could stop myself.

His jaw tightened slightly.

“This has nothing to do with Nyra… she doesn’t even know you exist so you may as well keep her name out of your mouth”

It had everything to do with her, she was the one who had been picked in my place, she was the one who had held onto his arm as if she was afraid to loose herself if she let go, she held him as if she was afraid someone might snatch him from her and yet, she was the one snatching him from me. I had gone from being hopeful that I would be the Luna to being told that I would sleep on the floor because I wasn’t wanted.

“I was raised in this pack house,” I said, my hands trembling despite my effort to still them. “I have never slept on the ground like an omega.”

“You are not an omega,” he said.

“No?” I laughed softly, the sound hollow. “What would you call me then?”

He did not answer. Because we both knew. Unranked. Unwanted. Unclaimed.

“I am offering you protection,” he said instead.

I stepped closer to him.

“Protection would have been picking me tonight. And I also don’t even understand what you are protecting me from, you already said that everything happened discreetly. Or were you just lying to me?”

His eyes darkened, but his voice did not change.

“Enough.”

The word wrapped around my throat. He walked to the bed and pulled back the covers as if this conversation were over. As if I were no more significant than the furniture. I stared at the floor where I was supposed to make my bed, I had never been told to sleep on the floor before. Even the omegas of this pack never slept on a mattress let alone a pile of old blankets, they had beds better than this.

“I will not touch you,” he added, quieter now. “You don’t have to be afraid of that fear that.”

Fear. He thought I feared him. What I feared was becoming nothing. Slowly, deliberately, I walked to the wooden chest near the fireplace and pulled out the spare blankets. They were thick. Clean. But not meant for comfort. I spread them on the floor near the far wall.

Not close to the bed. Not close enough to feel his warmth. If he wished to pretend I did not belong beside him, I would make it easy. When I lowered myself onto the blankets, the cold of the stone seeped through immediately. A sharp reminder of exactly where I stood. Damon extinguished the lamps one by one. The room dimmed until only moonlight remained. I lay on my side, staring at the ceiling. The bed creaked softly as he settled into it. Above me. Higher. Warmer. Untouched.

“tomorrow you will adjust” he said as if it was as simple as he said it.

As if nothing had happened. As if I had not been carved open tonight. I did not answer. But in the silence, something shifted inside me. If he wished to reduce me— If he wished to make me small. Then he would learn something very soon. I could survive humiliation. What he would not survive…was losing me. And I was going to make sure he regretted this.