Page 5

I pause, jaw tightening. I can’t tell her the whole truth now, can I? It would bury me further. The words spill out of me though, the sound forced through my mouth before I can even process it.

“I tried, but I couldn’t… perform.”

What just happened? Why did I admit to that?

I look down — and of course, now there’s a very visible issue pressing against my pants.

I throw my hands up, exasperated. “Clearly that’s not a problem anymore!”

Her eyebrows shoot so high they practically touch her hairline.

And then she laughs.

It bursts out of her like sunlight breaking through thunderclouds — bright, sharp, and wild. It hits me like a blow to the chest. I’m frozen, caught in it. That sound. I could drown in it and never want air again.

She wipes an imaginary tear from the corner of her eye, smile still curling at the edges of her lips.

“Good,” she says, biting each word. “That’s great, actually. If your body only reacts to me now, you should go ahead and prepare for a very long, very sexless life.”

A low growl rumbles out of me, involuntary.

She doesn't flinch.

Her hand lands on her hip, her expression carved from stone.

“Maybe you didn’t screw her,” she says, voice like frostbite, “but you still kissed her. Touched her. Held her.”

She steps closer, just enough to twist the knife.

“And I felt it. Every. Single. Time.” Her voice dips, sharp and gutted. “Every kiss. Every touch. It tore through me. A betrayal to our bond. I can’t forget that pain.”

She flicks her hand like she’s brushing dust off her sleeve.

“You’re in love with her. So go. Be with her. I don’t care. Not anymore.”

Her voice gets softer, deadlier.

“I only cared because I wanted to survive. But I’ve already solved that problem.”

“No—” I start, but she cuts me off, looking around the room.

“Now,” she says, arms crossed tight across her chest, “I want to leave. Am I still exiled and supposed to go back to the forest, or am I free to move wherever I want?” Her voice is deceptively calm.

A growl rips from my throat, low and dark. “You’re not going anywhere.”

She opens her mouth — probably to argue — but I cut her off before she can chip away at my last thread of sanity.

“I’m the King of Alphas. The ruler of all shifters.” I take a step closer, voice dipping. “You’re a shifter. Ergo, you follow my command. And I command that you stay right here.”

Her eyes bulge. Her mouth falls open.

I take another step forward, towering over her.

She barely reaches my shoulder. She has to tilt her head all the way back to look at me.

She tries to retreat, to put space between us — but I stop her with a hand curling behind her neck.

Not tight. But enough to grab her full attention and make her listen.

“I’m going to figure out what the fuck happened to our bond,” I say, each word laced with steel. “And I’m going to win you back. No matter what it takes.”

Fire ignites in her gaze. She steps into me, fury pouring off her in waves.

“You’re insane,” she snaps. “Whatever magic's tangled in you probably took your sanity with it. I will never accept you as my mate again. Never!”

Her eyes narrow to slits, voice like venom.

“I seem to recall you saying that even if you had a mate, it wouldn’t be someone as pathetic as me. That I was too weak for someone like you. Worthless. Well guess what, Your Majesty — take those words and shove them so far up your royal ass they never come out!”

I chuckle — low, broken.

“I would never have rejected my mate,” I say, softer now.

“You could’ve been human. Magicless. Anything.

And I still would’ve wanted you. You think I didn’t bleed when the Priestess looked into my soul and told me there was nothing there?

That I was destined to be alone? You think I didn’t carry that wound with me every day? ”

I shake my head, voice rough. “The night in the ballroom... I was angry. I said those things to hurt you. Because I thought you were trying to hurt me, to slice into that wound even further. I couldn’t feel the bond. I didn’t know. If I had...”

I swallow.

“If I had, I would have dropped to my knees.”

She doesn’t soften.

“It doesn’t matter now,” she says, her voice final. “I don’t feel the bond anymore. It’s gone.”

Her gaze locks with mine.

“I’m not your mate anymore.”

“I’m not giving up,” I tell her, voice firm. “And you’re not going anywhere. I’ll fix this.”

She huffs, annoyed as hell.

“I may not be able to defy the King’s command,” she snaps, “but I can set my own conditions.”

Her eyes narrow into slits.

“Can’t I, Your Majesty ?”

“You can,” I bite back, “if you stop calling me that. My name is Draven.”

She smiles — slow, sugar-sweet. And full of venom. “I prefer your title. It would make me happy to keep using it.”

Fuck, she’s good at this. No shifter can resist pleasing their mate. Especially a lycan.

The word grinds out of me before I can stop it. “Fine.”

Her smile stretches. Victory in lace.

“Good. Now take your hand off me. I don’t like it.”

My fingers drop from the back of her neck instantly. Too fast. Damn it.

Her eyes widen for a second — surprised. Then something sharper slips into them. Calculation. A scheming gleam that makes dread claw up my spine.

“It would make me very happy,” she says suddenly, voice bright and innocent, “if you let me leave.”

The growl tears from my chest before I even register it. An enraged roar.

The walls tremble. The air warps with magic.

She stumbles back two steps, but I’m already there, closing the distance in a blink.

“Don’t talk about leaving again,” I snarl, voice vibrating with barely leashed rage.

“Okay, okay! Damn it — freaking lycans!” She throws her hands up, then drags one through her hair, pacing fast. “Fine. I want my own room. A big one. Far away from yours. In another wing of the palace, actually. And access to the palace library.”

She turns, finger stabbing the air like a declaration of war.

“That includes the restricted scrolls and manuscripts. And I want to speak to the High Priestess.”

She crosses her arms, chin tilted high.

“Those are my conditions.”

I nod once. Silent.

She’s plotting something — I can see it ticking behind her eyes.

She clearly just made a plan inside that beautiful head of hers to get away from me somehow.

I just need my plan to be better.