The Lycan King’s Thick Obsession

Cierra’s POV

The zipper cut into my ribs. I forced it the rest of the way up anyway. The fabric pulled so tight across my stomach and under my arms that it already left deep red lines. My stomach was empty and loud. I pressed both hands against it hard, trying to force the sound down before Grady heard it from the next room.

Don’t embarrass me tonight.

That was all he said this morning. Cufflinks in his hands. Eyes already on the door. He didn’t look at me when he said it. He never did anymore.

I turned sideways in the mirror. The dress made everything worse. My stomach pushed against the fabric. My hips stretched the seams. I looked exactly like the thing they all whispered about when they thought I couldn’t hear.

One night. Just survive one night without giving them more reasons.

The hall changed when we walked in. Not fully silent. Just enough. Eyes moved over me the way they always did—slow, up and down, then away like they’d seen something unpleasant.

Grady didn’t offer his arm. He walked ahead of me like I was luggage he was required to bring.

Athena was already seated across from us. Slim. Perfect. The blue silk looked like it had been poured over her body. She smiled at Grady first—long, soft, familiar. Then she looked at me and the smile disappeared completely.

I sat down carefully. The chair groaned under my weight.

Someone near the end of the table laughed under their breath.

I heard it clearly.

Two more people glanced at the way the dress pulled across my stomach and then looked away like it was polite.

I took the smallest portions I could manage. I counted every single bite. One. Two. Three. Fork down. Wait. My hands started shaking by the third course. I hadn’t eaten since early morning and my body was done pretending it could keep going on nothing.

When the platter of meat came around again, I took a second piece. I couldn’t stop my hand.

The woman across from me didn’t lower her voice at all.

“Careful, Cierra. At this rate you’ll need a whole new wardrobe by the end of the month.”

Laughter broke across the table immediately.

Grady didn’t defend me.

He didn’t even pause.

“She has never understood the meaning of enough,” he said, still looking at his wine. “Some of us have been noticing for a long time.”

The table laughed harder. Athena leaned over and poured more wine into his glass like she had every right to. Her fingers stayed on his wrist longer than they needed to.

I put the fork down. My face burned. My stomach was still empty and it no longer mattered. I could feel every pair of eyes on the extra food sitting on my plate. I wanted to push the plate away. I didn’t. Moving would only make them look longer.

Two tables over, the young Luna from the Ashford pack stood up with her hand on her rounded stomach. Pregnant. The whole hall clapped and smiled like it was the best news of the year.

Then the woman beside me turned and looked straight at my body before she looked at my face.

“When will we celebrate yours, Cierra?”

The noise died in a wave.

Grady set his glass down slowly.

“We’ve been waiting long enough,” he said. His voice stayed calm. That made it worse. “It’s hard to get an heir when my Luna can’t even control what she puts in her own mouth.”

No one laughed this time.

They didn’t need to.

My body. The way I ate. The fact that I had never given him a child. He put all three in one sentence and said it in front of every person who had ever called me Luna.

I couldn’t lift my eyes. My nails dug into my palms under the table. The dress cut deeper into my ribs with every short breath I took. I could feel the soft roll of my stomach against the tight fabric and hated that I could feel it so clearly while they all watched.

Grady stood.

The hall went silent without him raising his voice even a little.

He walked behind my chair. His fingers found the clasp of the Luna necklace. He didn’t rush. He took his time, like he wanted everyone to watch.

The metal slid off my neck, leaving a cold strip of skin behind.

“I reject you as my mate,” he said, clear enough for the far tables to hear. “You are no longer my Luna.”

He dropped the necklace on the table next to my unfinished plate.

His Beta moved immediately. Two guards stepped forward like they had been waiting for this exact moment all night.

Someone at the nearest table whispered, “About time.”Another voice, lower: “Look at her. He should’ve done it years ago.”A third: “No wonder he never touched her.”

Behind me, Athena let out a soft, pleased breath.

I didn’t cry. I didn’t beg. I stared at the plate. The second piece of meat was still there, cold, and I knew I would remember that plate longer than I wanted to.

“Take her out,” Grady said.

Hands closed around my arms. Not rough. Just final. Like they were removing something that had been left out too long.

The whispers followed me as they walked me between the tables.

She’s even bigger up close.No wonder he was ashamed to stand next to her.How did she ever believe she could be Luna looking like that?

I kept my eyes fixed forward. Looking at any of their faces would have broken the last piece I was still holding together.

The doors shut behind me with a heavy, ordinary sound.

I stood in the corridor with the dress still cutting into my skin, the empty place on my neck where the necklace had been, and the full weight of what had just happened sitting on my chest.

I spent three years telling myself Grady was only ashamed of my body.

I was wrong.

He was ashamed of me.

And he had chosen the most public night he could find to make sure everyone else knew it too.

Cierra’s POV

The Beta walked half a step behind me down the long corridor. He didn’t speak. Neither did I. Behind us the banquet hall was already returning to normal noise, like what had just happened was only a short interruption.

“Your Luna privileges end tonight,” he said when we reached the stairs. Flat. Final. Like he was reading an instruction someone else had written hours ago.

I didn’t answer. There was nothing left to say.

The door to my suite was already open.

That stopped me harder than his words.

Inside, Lora and Zia were folding my clothes into wooden crates. They didn’t look surprised to see me. They didn’t look sorry either. They just kept working.

“We were told to have everything finished by tonight,” Lora said without turning around.

I stood in the doorway in the same tight dress that still cut into my skin and understood the truth cleanly: this had been arranged before I ever sat down at that table. Maybe this