Knotting His Rejected Breeder

"If you take one more step, Dane, I swear to God I’m grabbing my bag and coming with you."

Hannah’s voice cut through the silence of the stone hallway. She stood at the edge of the archway, her dark hair pulled back, her eyes locked on her older brother. Beside her, Sonia looked pale and worn out, none of her usual royal composure left in her. A few paces behind them, Henrik leaned against the wall, his shoulders squared, watching Dane disbelievingly.

Dane stopped walking.

Beta Blane and his three guards halted behind him. Their boots scraped against the stone floor. Blane’s jaw tightened when he caught his son’s eye.

"Henrik," Blane said, his voice stiff. "You shouldn’t be here."

Henrik didn’t move off the wall. He gave his father a tired, flat look. "And you shouldn’t be playing jailer for a retired Alpha, Dad. Yet here we are. You know I’m his Beta, right. Wherever he goes I go."

Blane opened his mouth to answer, but Sonia lifted a hand and he went quiet. She wasn’t looking at them. Her eyes were on Dane, and then on Marcus, Kalessie, and Destiny, standing behind him under guard.

"You’re making a scene, Dane," Sonia said quietly.

"Nobody is stopping us," Dane said. His voice was flat and hard. "I gave the order. Beta Blane is escorting them to the gate, and I’m leaving with them. So unless you want to order my execution, everything is settled, Mother."

"Just listen to me," Sonia said, stepping into his path. She didn’t sound like a Luna giving a command. She sounded like a frightened mother. "For five seconds. Just listen. Your sister ran into my room ten minutes ago and swore that if you walk out those gates today, she’s following you into exile. Henrik told me the same thing. And you know as well as I do that if Henrik leaves, half the young warriors on this estate walk out with him."

Dane’s eyes narrowed. His travel pack sat heavy on his shoulders. "So what’s your point? Because I am not marrying Aurora. I’m not playing Vance’s political games, and I’m done letting my father use us as bargaining chips."

"Then don’t marry her," Sonia said.

The words landed hard, and no one moved for a moment. Behind Dane, Marcus shifted his weight, his eyes fixed on Luna Sonia. Kalessie pulled Destiny a little closer to her side.

Sonia took a slow breath and turned toward Destiny’s family. "Don’t marry Aurora. We’ll arrange for you to marry Destiny instead. Assuming, of course, she even wants you."

Hannah leaned in and nudged Destiny’s shoulder, whispering fast. "Say yes. Please say yes. I am not built for living in a tent."

Dane didn’t smile. His eyes stayed on his mother. "You called her a nameless commoner two hours ago. What changed?"

Sonia’s pride cracked, just for a second. She stepped past Dane, closing the gap between herself and Destiny. She looked straight into the girl’s eyes, and her hands trembled a little.

"I owe you an apology, Destiny," Sonia said, her voice low. "When you got here, I saw the way my son looked at you, and it terrified me. I’ve spent twenty-five years enduring Ramon, watching him treat this family like pieces on a chessboard. I told myself the only way to survive in this house was to play by the rules and make the trades. I tried to crush what Dane felt for you because I thought a royal marriage was the only thing that would keep him safe from his father and Vance."

She pressed a hand to her chest and took a shaky breath. "I was wrong. I was trying to lock my son in the same cage I’ve been stuck in my whole life. But watching him get ready to throw away his home, his title, his whole future, just to choose his own life, it made me understand something. His freedom matters more than my fear. I was cruel to you, and I treated you like a pawn. I am truly sorry."

The hallway went quiet. Marcus cleared his throat and stepped up beside his daughter, his stance unyielding.

"That’s a fine speech, Luna Sonia," Marcus said, his voice hard. "But a few quiet words don’t change the fact that ten minutes ago, your husband’s men almost had us locked in a guest room like cattle. Forgive us if we’re a little slow to trust a sudden change of heart with our daughter’s life."

"He’s right," Kalessie said sharply. "We came here for a peaceful resolution. Not to get pulled into a war between an Alpha and his father."

Sonia didn’t flinch. "You have every right to be suspicious, Lord Marcus. But as Dane’s mother, I give you my word. I will stand between him and Ramon. We don’t have to run to fight this."

Dane turned, searching Destiny’s face. "You don’t have to do this," he said softly. "If you want to walk out those gates right now, my order still stands. Blane will take you to the border, and I’ll hand over the pack. It’s your choice."

Destiny looked at him. He stood there in plain leather gear, stripped of his silver-trimmed cloaks and his royal titles, ready to throw all of it away just to keep her family safe.

She stepped toward him. A small, faint smile touched her lips.

"I’ve met a lot of high-born wolves across the territories," Destiny said, her voice steady enough to carry down the hall. "I’ve never met a prince who was actually willing to give up his kingdom just to stand next to a farmer’s daughter."

She looked at Sonia, then back to Dane. "If you’re really ready to stand up to your father and build something real, then yes. I’ll stay. I’ll marry you."

Hannah let out a huge breath and slumped back against the stone wall. "Thank the Goddess."

"Don’t break out the champagne yet," Henrik said, pushing off the wall and stepping into the middle of the group. "It’s a great moment. It really is. But we still have a problem, and his name is Alpha Ramon."

The mood in the hallway went cold.

"He’s not going to sit in his study and wait for an invitation to your wedding," Henrik went on. "He’s going to be furious."

Dane’s jaw tightened. "He can be furious but what’s done is done, that’s why we should move fast as one united front."

He turned to Destiny, and something in his face shifted, the hard edge easing into something more urgent.

"I don’t want to wait," Dane said. "Not for a banquet hall full of BloodMoon nobles, not for Vance to find some new way to stall it. I want the blessing tonight. The moon rites, in front of the Goddess. That’s what makes a marriage binding among our packs, not the party after. The feast, the guests, all of that can come later. But if we say the vows tonight, Vance can’t put Aurora’s name next to yours anymore. It’ll already be done."

Destiny’s breath caught. "Tonight."

"Tonight," Dane said. "Before Ramon finds a way to stop it."

Sonia’s eyes went wide, but she recovered fast, already thinking three steps ahead the way she always did. "The chapel is across the west court, past the training grounds. If we move now, we can have the elder priestess there within the hour."

"That’s cutting it close," Marcus said, though there was something almost like approval in his voice.

"Close is all we’ve got," Henrik said. "Ramon already knows something’s wrong. Blane’s guards left their post to walk you two down this hallway. Word travels fast in a house this size."

Blane winced but didn’t argue.

Sonia turned to Marcus and Kalessie. "I know you have no reason to trust me. But I am asking you to let your daughter marry my son tonight, in front of the Goddess, so that no council, no king, and no husband of mine can undo it in the morning."

Marcus looked at Destiny for a long moment. Whatever he saw in her face was enough. He gave a short nod. "Let’s go, then."

They moved as a group, faster now, the tension of the hallway giving way to something closer to momentum. Blane and his guards fell in around them, no longer captors but something closer to an honor guard, though nobody said the word out loud. Henrik walked ahead, scanning every corridor and courtyard they crossed like he expected Ramon to step out from behind a pillar.

The west court opened onto the training grounds, quiet at this hour, the practice rings empty under the evening sky. Beyond them, past a low stone wall lined with old moonflower vines, sat the chapel: a plain, round building with no banners and no guards, the one place on the estate that belonged to the Goddess and not to any Alpha.

Destiny’s hand found Dane’s as they crossed the grounds. "Are you sure about this?"

"I’ve never been more sure of anything," Dane said.

Hannah jogged to catch up, breathless. "For the record, I’m still not built for a tent, but I will absolutely stand up for this wedding on ten minutes’ notice."

Even Destiny laughed, a short, surprised sound that cut through the fear still sitting in her chest.

They reached the chapel steps. The heavy wooden doors stood open, candlelight spilling out onto the stone, warm and steady against the cooling dusk.

And standing just inside the doorway, arms crossed, waiting like he’d known they were coming all along, was Ramon.

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