INICIAR SESIÓNDAMIENBryce delivered the report at sunset.He stood in the doorway of my study with the paper in his hand and a look on his face that told me everything before he opened his mouth."Just say it" I said.He swallowed. "The mating ceremony took place this afternoon. Full marking. Public witnesses. The bond has been sealed."The words entered my ears and traveled through my body like poison.Sealed.His mark on her neck. His teeth in her skin. His scent mixed with hers permanently. Irreversibly. The bond I had spent four years building with her was gone. Replaced by something new. Something that belonged to another man.A man who had known her for weeks. Who had bought her like property at an auction. Who had no right to touch her. To hold her. To mark what was mine."Get out" I sa
MAYAWe walked back to the palace in silence.Not the comfortable silence we had shared on balconies and in corridors. This was different. This was the silence of two people who had just been turned inside out and were still trying to figure out which parts belonged to whom.The bond was alive. Fully awake. A living breathing thing that pulsed between us with every step. I could feel Asher beside me without looking. Not just his physical presence. His emotional presence. Every thought that crossed his mind sent a ripple through my chest.He was overwhelmed. I could feel it. A controlled structured man who had spent his entire life compartmentalizing every emotion was now drowning in the flood of two souls merged without warning.He felt everything I felt. And I felt everything he felt. Simultaneously. Constantly. Without pause or filter or mercy.
MAYAThe dress was simple. White silk that fell to the floor in a single clean line. No embroidery. No jewels. No crown. Just fabric against skin and bare feet on cold stone.I chose it myself. In a kingdom full of people who thought I did not belong I refused to dress like I was trying to convince them otherwise. They would accept me as I was or not at all.Nora helped me with my hair. Loose. Down past my shoulders. The way my mother used to wear hers on important occasions."You look beautiful" Nora whispered as she stepped back.I looked at my reflection. The woman in the mirror did not look like a girl who was sold at an auction. She looked like someone worth standing beside a king.I hoped that was true.The walk to the great hall took three minutes. The longest three minutes of my life. Every step echoed through the
MAYASleep was not coming. Not tonight.I lay in bed staring at the ceiling. The moonlight cut through the window and painted silver lines across the stone above me. My mind raced in circles that led nowhere and everywhere at the same time.Tomorrow Asher Baxton would put his mark on my neck. His teeth would pierce my skin. His wolf would bind to mine. And everything we had both been hiding would be laid bare.Everything.I pressed my palm against my chest. My heart was beating too fast. It had been beating too fast for three days. Ever since he touched my chin in the garden and looked at me like I was the answer to a question he had been asking his entire life.It will mean everything.His words played on repeat in my head. A loop I could not break. Did he mean what I thought he meant? Or was I reading too much into the
MAYAThe council meeting was a battlefield without weapons.I sat at the far end of the table because Kael insisted the discussion concerned kingdom security and my presence was a courtesy not a right. I let him have the small victory. I was saving my energy for the larger war.Every council member was present. Kael at his usual seat. Lord Harlen to his left. Lady Voss to his right. General Maddox at the far end studying the table like it contained military secrets. Two other members whose names I had learned but whose loyalties I had not yet mapped.And Asher. At the head. Silver eyes fixed on the letter spread before him like it was a declaration of war.Which it was."The challenge is legally sound" Kael began. His voice was measured. Almost sympathetic. The tone of a man delivering bad news he had been praying for. "The ancient laws regar
ASHERThe message arrived at dawn carried by a uniformed courier who rode through our gates under a white flag.Formal. Official. Stamped with the Crescent Moon pack seal and addressed not just to me but to every major Alpha and pack leader within a thousand miles.Damien had made it public. Deliberately. Strategically. He wanted the entire world watching when I opened this envelope.Ethan brought it to me in the war room. He set it on the table without a word. His jaw was tight which told me he had already read it.I broke the seal and unfolded the letter.To His Majesty the Lycan King Asher Baxton.I Alpha Damien of the Crescent Moon pack hereby issue a formal challenge to the legitimacy of the union between yourself and Maya Stone formerly of the Blue Moon pack.The rejection of our mate bond was p







