Craving the Rejected Omega: One Night with the Alpha King

ELARA POV:

Five years later. I stepped out of the sliding glass doors of the international airport. The heavy, polluted air of the city hit my lungs, laced with the faint, underlying scent of the Silver Moon Pack's territorial markers.

I pulled the collar of my designer trench coat up and adjusted my oversized sunglasses. My fingers brushed my left cheek. The skin was perfectly smooth. The jagged, ugly scar that had defined my miserable existence for twenty-three years was gone.

It had vanished five year ago. After I gave birth in that rundown human clinic, my weak Omega body couldn't handle the strain.

But the dormant Alpha essence I had drawn from Damien Carlisle once suddenly ignited. It triggered a terrifying, week-long fever that nearly killed me.

The fever burned away my old genetics. It reconstructed my cells, erased my scar, and unlocked a rare, ancient ability in my blood: Essence Draw. I could now absorb the pain and debuffs of others.

But more dangerously, my body hungered to draw power from intimacy, converting Alpha vitality into my own strength.

"... Miss Vance?" A raspy, hesitant voice tried to break my momentum. I stopped and turned slowly. Standing near a sleek black town car was an old man in a chauffeur's uniform. Rufus Sullivan.

My father's driver. He was the only person in the Bennett household who had ever looked at me with an ounce of kindness.

Rufus stared at me, his cloudy eyes wide with absolute, earth-shattering shock. His gaze darted from my confident posture to my smooth left cheek. "Is it really you? Your face... your scent..."

I lowered my sunglasses just enough to look him in the eye. I didn't shrink away. "It's been a long time, Uncle Rufus."

Tears welled up in the old man's eyes. He gripped the car door. "You're back. Thank the Goddess. The Alpha... he has missed you."

Missed me. A cold, mocking laugh escaped my red lips. Alpha Warren Bennett didn't miss his daughter.

He missed a pawn he thought he could still control. I reached into my handbag to grab my phone, but a small, folded piece of glossy paper slipped out, fluttering toward the concrete pavement.

It was a faded ultrasound photo. The grainy black-and-white image of two tiny, curled-up fetuses.

My twins. Rufus bent down to retrieve it, but my hand lashed out with a speed that left him blinking in shock. I snatched the photo out of mid-air before his fingers could even brush it, smoothly tucking it back into my hidden inner pocket.

"Some ghosts are better left in the dark, Rufus," I said, my voice smooth as silk but carrying a blade of authority that made him instantly straighten up and bow his head.

Five years ago, three days after I gave birth, I woke up from my fever to an empty crib. Someone had stolen my babies.

The grief had hardened me into a weapon. I wasn't here to mourn a broken mate bond. I was here to legally sever my past, infiltrate the werewolf elite, and tear this city apart until I found out who stole my children.

The car turned onto the long, winding driveway of the Bennett estate. The towering stone mansion used to look imposing. Now, it just looked like a crumbling cage.

I pulled down the sun visor and checked my reflection. Ice-blue eyes, flawless porcelain skin, and a jawline sharp enough to cut glass. The game was just beginning. I pushed the heavy double doors open myself, the loud thud echoing through the grand foyer.

Standing there were my father, Alpha Warren, my stepmother Eleanor, and my half-sister Nora. They were waiting to look down on the ruined, scarred daughter returning in absolute disgrace.

Instead, their smug superiority shattered into a million pieces. Nora's jaw practically unhinged, her eyes turning a sick, vibrant shade of green with instant, visceral jealousy as she stared at my unblemished face and perfect figure.

My father took a literal step back, completely losing his Alpha composure. I took off my sunglasses, tossing them carelessly onto a silver tray.

"Hello, Father," I purred, my voice dripping with icy elegance. "I heard the Bennett family was expecting a disgrace. I hope I haven't disappointed you."