Knotting His Rejected Breeder

The closer they got to Silvercrest, the louder everything became.

Roads that had been quiet an hour ago now carried wagons, riders, and banners from packs Dane had only ever seen on maps. Estates lined the final stretch like they were competing for attention. Royal guards stood at every major turn. Merchants shouted prices that made no sense. Nobles arrived in polished carriages and travel cloaks that looked like they had never touched dust.

Dane looked sideways at Henrik.

"How many people did they invite?"

Henrik scanned the road with the same calm expression he wore everywhere.

"Enough to start a war if everyone here brought their armies."

Despite himself, Dane almost smiled. Almost. The scale of it still pressed against him in a way he didn’t like admitting. Bloodmoon was strong. Silvercrest looked like it had never needed to prove it out loud.

Their convoy passed under the outer gates, and the noise shifted. Less market chaos. More measured voices. More eyes.

That was when Dane noticed the other candidates.

He didn’t try to memorize every face. Only the ones that mattered.

The first was easy to spot. Tall, polished, smiling like the gathering already belonged to him. Adrian of Frostvale’s line carried himself with the kind of charm that made people underestimate how sharp he was. He saw Dane, and the smile sharpened by a fraction.

"Bloodmoon’s new Alpha."

Dane met his eyes.

"That’s what they tell me."

Adrian’s gaze flicked over him once, measuring cloth, posture, the way Dane stood like he had no interest in impressing anyone.

"I’ve heard your father was difficult to beat."

Dane’s expression didn’t change.

"Then you should be glad he’s not competing."

Adrian’s smile lingered a second longer before he moved on. Message received on both sides. Dane filed the name away. Charming rivals were rarely harmless.

Not far from him stood another young Alpha who didn’t bother with smiles. Lucien, son of Alpha Rowan, watched the arrivals in silence. Broad-shouldered, still, eyes that tracked movement without wasting energy. When his attention landed on Dane, it stayed there longer than politeness required. No greeting. Just quiet assessment. That kind of rival was often worse than the loud ones. Dane held the look for a beat, then turned away first on purpose. Let him wonder what it meant.

Henrik leaned in slightly as they dismounted.

"They’re measuring you."

"Let them."

"They’re not only measuring you," Henrik said. "They’re measuring Bloodmoon."

The reminder landed harder than Dane wanted it to. He hated how true it was. He hadn’t come here for a wife. He had come because Ramon made it clear that refusing would cost their pack more than pride. Every look, every silence, every sharp reply would be reported somewhere by someone with an agenda.

Inside the palace the air changed again.

High ceilings. Silvercrest crests carved into stone and metal. Royal guards in perfect formation. The main hall was already crowded with nobles and Alpha families, and the moment Bloodmoon entered, the whispering started like a current under the music.

"The new Bloodmoon Alpha."

"That’s Dane."

"He’s younger than I expected."

"His father stepped down only days ago..."

Dane heard all of it. He kept walking. Being Alpha, he was learning, didn’t stop people from judging him. It only gave more of them a reason to do it where he could hear.

He scanned the hall once and frowned.

Everyone was talking about the princess.

She wasn’t there.

"Where is she?" he asked Henrik.

Henrik nodded toward the wide royal staircase at the far end of the hall.

"Apparently she won’t be presented until tonight."

"Tonight?"

"They’re making everyone wait."

Dane’s jaw tightened, he was already being treated like a candidate, and he hadn’t even seen the woman this whole performance was about. The irritation sat under his ribs like a second heartbeat.

"Good," he muttered. "Maybe I’ll leave before then."

Henrik’s mouth twitched. "You won’t."

"Watch me."

"You’re too stubborn to walk out once the room is watching," Henrik said mildly. "And too responsible to hand Adrian an easy story about Bloodmoon’s new Alpha storming off."

Dane shot him a look. Henrik only raised a brow, annoyingly correct.

Ramon found him a few minutes later and pulled him slightly aside from the main flow of guests. Sonia remained near the elders, speaking in low tones. Hannah hovered close enough to overhear without pretending otherwise.

"Don’t provoke anyone," Ramon said.

"I’m not planning to."

Ramon gave him a long look, the same one he had used when Dane was sixteen and too ready to settle arguments with his fists.

"You have a habit of looking like you’re provoking people even when you’re silent."

From a few steps away, Hannah laughed under her breath. Dane shot her a warning glance. She only raised her brows, clearly enjoying herself too much for someone who had insisted on coming along "for family support."

Ramon’s expression sobered. "Whatever happens tonight, remember why we’re here."

Dane nodded once. He understood. Bloodmoon needed allies. Wanting nothing to do with the marriage didn’t change the weight of the room they were standing in. It didn’t change the fact that every pack watching them tonight would remember how the new Alpha of Bloodmoon carried himself.

Before the formal presentation began, Dane caught something else.

Near one of the side columns, two royal guards spoke in low voices. He only caught fragments, but the shape of it was clear enough. The princess was delayed. One of them looked tense, shoulders tight under the formal armor. The other glanced toward the upper corridors like he expected trouble and hoped it wouldn’t arrive in front of guests.

Dane didn’t investigate. It wasn’t his business.

Still, the tension stuck with him. A gathering this controlled shouldn’t have guards looking that careful.

When the hall finally filled and the music shifted, everyone stood. Conversations died in uneven waves. Dane expected the princess to appear from the main staircase in a wash of ceremony and noise, the way these things usually worked.

Instead, the doors at the opposite end of the hall opened.

The Lycan King and Luna of Silvercrest entered first.

The room bowed. Dane followed a second later, slower than some, but not enough to cause open offense. He felt Adrian’s attention from across the floor. Felt Lucien’s silence like a weight. The King raised a hand, and the hall settled into a deeper quiet than before.

"Welcome to Silvercrest."

He paused, eyes moving across the gathered Alphas and their sons with the ease of a man used to being obeyed without raising his voice.

"Before my daughter is presented to you, there is something you must know."

The quiet deepened further. Dane glanced at Henrik. Something in the King’s expression made the muscles between his shoulders tighten. Not fear. Recognition of a shift.

"The princess has made one request regarding the selection."

A low murmur started and died just as quickly when the King continued.

"She will not choose a husband based on his title, his wealth, or the strength of his pack."

Surprise moved through the room in uneven waves. Dane saw Adrian’s smile thin. Lucien’s expression didn’t change at all. Hannah, somewhere to his left, whispered something sharp under her breath that sounded suspiciously like approval.

Then the King said the part that shifted the air completely.

"She has requested that every candidate be tested."

Dane’s jaw locked.

Beside him, Henrik whispered, almost amused,

"This just became interesting."

Dane looked toward the closed doors behind the throne. He still hadn’t seen the princess. He still didn’t want any part of this performance. The idea of being tested like a prospect on display sat wrong in every part of him that had spent the last days trying to hold Bloodmoon steady.

But for the first time since entering Silvercrest, a different thought cut through the irritation.

What kind of woman made a hall full of powerful Alpha families wait—then forced them to prove themselves before she even stepped into the room?

Behind the throne, the royal doors began to open.

Dane straightened without meaning to.

Whatever came through those doors next, the gathering was no longer a simple parade of titles.

It had become a trial.

And every Alpha in the room, including him, had just been placed inside it.

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