Page 1 of Rejected and Pregnant by the Lycan King

1

Kylie

The sloshing of water was the only sound I heard around me as I tried to keep to myself when the pack house was full. It never ended well when the entire pack congregated. Well, not for me, anyway. Because that’s when everyone took notice of the lowly omega whose lycan was too weak to shift. No one understood why my lycan didn’t even have the power level of an omega. Nothing about my birth was unusual, and growing up, there were no abnormalities with my development. Without an explanation, there was no way to cure it.

So, instead, I was just known as the weak omega.

The pathetic little runt.

The pack treated me accordingly because I was the weakest member. My father, Alpha Alexander Blackthorne, despised the fact that his only child was as weak as I was. As soon as I couldunderstand what chores were, he forced me to become a maid to the pack like any other omega lycan. His creeping fear that his only heir was an omega confirmed itself after I came of age and gained my lycan. My first shift took hours, and when it was over, I could barely stand—let alone run with the pack.

Then, I became the pack’s reject.

Well… until the next full moon run, anyway.

Without my lycan to protect me from everyone, I just kept my head down and focused on my assigned chores. I always requested heavy-duty cleaning tasks, like scrubbing down the bathrooms on days we hosted the pack runs. It kept me out of the pack’s sight unless someone entered the bathroom I was cleaning. Which, of course, had to be today.

I caught a brief whiff of smoke mixed with peaches. The distinct aroma wafted into my nostrils just before I felt the rope whip across my back. Intense, searing agony spider-webbed across my skin. I sucked in air through my teeth and stifled a sharp scream. There was no reason to scream, as it would only draw attention, and attention would make everything worse. Screaming was a sign of weakness in the eyes of this pack. The Ironhide pack showed no weakness.

That’s why I was such a disgrace.

“Stay down, you useless piece of shit.”

The whip slashed across my back again. In the tight quarters of the bathroom, the leather switch cracked with a sonic boom that echoed. A chorus of high-pitched sounds accompanied the whip crack, cackling behind me as my back arched from the pain. Mybody fell forward onto the slick floor, slick with soapy water, and I threw my hands out to catch myself before hitting my face, cracking against the hardwood. My attacker was the female who wanted to take my mother’s place as luna of the pack. Since my mother’s death, my father hadn’t taken a new mate. Ivy blamed me for that—he told her no one would want to become luna if it meant having me, the weak lycan runt, as a stepdaughter. It had nothing to do with my father being a bitter, angry, stubborn man. Nope. Nothing at all.

I bowed my head as I endured the pain and shame. Ivy would continue to tear into me with the whip if I showed any signs of resistance. It was better for me to remain on all fours while she had her moment.

“You didn’t clean your father’s bathroom yet. It’s supposed to be the first one you clean when you take on this duty,” Ivy snarled. I avoided looking at her, but I could hear her bared teeth as she spoke.

My father’s bathroom was always the first place I cleaned. It had been that way since I was first able to use a sponge. Now, I was the only omega in the pack allowed in his room. He trusted I wouldn’t touch anything in there and would clean it thoroughly. Because if I didn’t, I knew I would receive beatings for doing it half-assed. Or worse, Ivy’s whippings.

“I must not have cleaned it thoroughly enough to his liking, for which I apologize,” I said through my teeth as the skin on my back screamed in burning torment. The warmth of my blood coated my back as my lycan infused her magic through me to begin the healing. It would take at least a day before these wounds were fully healed, while it would take the rest of thewolves in my pack only a few hours. “I will get back up there and clean it again, this time with a better eye for detail.”

I felt the smooth leather of a boot connect with my left cheek, sending me sprawling across the wet, soapy floor. My head hit the bucket of water, causing some to spill over the edge onto me. Splashes hit my back, and I hissed at the new sting from the soap against my open wound. Foamy water got into my eyes and burned like hell. I heard a few things crack, and I knew some of my ribs had fractured from hitting the ground. My lycan’s weakness came with a side effect that ran deep—all the way to my bones. It was easy to break things if someone hit me the right way.

This assault was just one of many reasons I stayed away from everyone in this pack. They all knew how easily they could break me and how fun it could be to shatter something fragile. How simple it would be to put me in the infirmary with every bone snapped in half. I could heal in a few short days, and the process could repeat itself all over again.

I only had one person I could trust not to make me feel this way in my pack, but she couldn’t save me right now.

I was glad I always wore older clothes while cleaning instead of anything nice. As I lay on this grimy floor, my clothes absorbed the water and filth around me. The dirty water soaking into my clothes would be hard to wash out, along with the blood on my back. There were even things on this floor that I couldn’t identify before I started, and now they coated the front of my shirt.

Gross.

“You should have cleaned the bathroom the way your father liked it the first time, you stupid bitch. No wonder your father doesn’t enjoy telling other packs he has an heir. The pack would never respect you, and you will never be strong enough to take over the pack, anyway.”

While I pulled myself to my hands and feet, I heard the footsteps of someone approaching. The smoky scent told me it was my father, and my heart froze as my breath caught in my lungs. My body trembled at his approach because it could go one of two ways. My father could either join Ivy in this session of breaking me or simply yell at me for taking too long to get anything done. I had to hope for the latter. If it was the former, I might die on this half-cleaned floor today.

Alexander growled as I heard him step into the bathroom. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Sorry, Father. I was cleaning in here when Ivy came to reprimand me for not cleaning your bathroom to your liking. I’m sorry. Once I am done in here, I can move back up to yours to make sure it gets cleaned properly, as it should.”

Dead silence. I hated when he got silent. It meant he was fuming, and I could never tell if it would lead to me being hurt worse than I was now or if he would punish me later after I healed. Tears and soap stung my eyes as I waited for his response. I knew better than to say anything more than I already had. It wouldn’t end well, as he hated it when I begged too much for his acceptance of my pleas. It was always better just to stay silent.

“Clean up in here and then get yourself ready. The pack will be here soon, and I don’t want to delay any of the moon festivities because of your antics.”

Then he disappeared. I heard Ivy growling along with his loud footsteps, so I hoped that meant he took her along with him. When I peered over my shoulder, I didn’t see her fake blonde hair and breathed out a ragged sigh. The cracked ribs hadn’t helped my ability to breathe, and the blood across my back made it difficult to move as it scraped against the open wounds. I sucked air through my teeth as I straightened myself. This would not be easy.

I heard new footsteps, and my heart stopped again as I waited to find out who they belonged to. A chocolate scent filled the room, and I let my breath out slowly. I knew this scent. It belonged to the only person I could trust in this pack.

---