Chapter 9: The King's Conditon

CHAPTER 9

ALEX

I've always hated men like him.

Didn't think it'd feel this visceral until now. 

I can still feel his warmth on my skin. 

Disgusting.

“What was I thinking?!” My muscles twitch in catharsis. 

My eyes drift across the open space. I still don't know how I got here, but this definitely isn't the packhouse.

It’s too still. Too quiet.

It hums under my skin, like a warning to something I can't quite name.

Even after leaving a couple minutes back, Adrian's scent still lingers, abandoning me to the aftermath of a truth I’m still struggling to swallow.

“We didn't… do anything, did we?”

I can't even piece my thoughts together. 

For the life of me, I can't remember what happened after I kissed him.

Tch. Why am I thinking about that now?

“I need to get out here” I turn back, barely knowing my left from right. 

Every breath I take still carries the faint trace of his scent.

Smoke and pine… and something darker. 

I try to ignore it. I really do. 

But if I want to get out of here, I have to smart about it.

Unfortunate as it may be, his scent is my only lead.

I tell myself I’m not following him. 

I’m just looking for a way out.

Every step I take, every turn I make, feels like it’s leading me closer to him.

The corridors twist and stretch, lined with oil lamps and portraits of Lycans in ancient armor. 

The air smells faintly of iron and earth. 

A place built for power, not comfort.

The rumors I remember hearing on the battlefield are starting to help me fit every puzzle piece in place. 

I might have an idea of where I'm at.

But then — voices.

Faint. Muffled. From behind a set of double doors ahead.

Familiar voices. Familiar scents.

My pulse kicks.

I move closer, pressing my palm against the heavy wood, and that’s when I hear it.

Micah’s voice. Sharp. Angry.

“I’m gonna kill him” he spits. “The bastard knew he'd be doomed if he confronted me one on one. That's why he attacked from behind.”

“He's stronger than you are” another replies. Adriana's voice. “If he wanted to kill you then and there, you'd be dead.”

“Watch your mouth.”

I push the door open before I can think, and their heads snap towards me.

“A holding room?” I think to myself, piecing the details of the setting.

Thick stone walls. Just one window, letting a cold stray of light in.

“You” he growls.

Micah's figure captures my attention. 

His wrists are bound in silver restraints, his hair disheveled, eyes wild. 

Adriana’s knelt in the corner, pale, but staring darkness right through my soul.

The thread of silence is almost immediately snipped in half when his chains clash against themselves, pulling him back before can lunge for me.

“I should've killed you a long time ago!” Micah snaps. “How the hell did you get the Lycan King on your side?!”

“I—”

“Let me guess. Another lie?” He cuts in. “You went running to daddy? Said the bullies were getting mean?” He taunts. “You disgusting little—”

His words almost instantly fade into black when my gaze shifts in Adriana’s position.

She hasn't said a word. 

She's just staring. Still. Motionless.

Like she wants to rip my soul right out of my body. 

“Answer me, god damn it!” Micah hurls, the clash of his chains pulling me back into reality.

I should turn around.

I should let them rot here.

But my throat tightens. 

I… I can’t. 

“Tell your little boyfriend that this isn't over” Micah's voice bellows once more. “The minute I get out of here, he's—”

Before he can complete the sentence, the air changes.

That same electric pull washes through me.

Cold and warm all at once.

Right before a deep voice fills the doorway behind me.

“He’s what, Micah?”

I turn.

Adrian stands right at the door, framed by the faint gold light spilling from the corridor. 

His presence fills the room before his words even do. 

The two guards either side of him instantly bow their heads.

His eyes flick to me, then to the prisoners behind me. 

He walks into the room. Poised and patient.

Eyes on nothing but Micah.

“You were saying something” he stops, right in front of him. “Go on. I'd like to hear it.”

Micah sneers. 

But before he can respond, I speak up. 

“What are they doing here?” I say, my voice rough but steady. “They didn't do anyt—”

“Didn't they?” 

His expression doesn’t shift. 

He doesn't even care to glance back at me.

“A threat like that isn't something I think I can just overlook, Micah.”

Micah's gaze darkens. 

He pulls the chains, the friction between them echoing through the room. 

“Take these off. I'll show you it's much more than just a threat.”

Adrian scoffs. 

I feel his scent begin to rise once more.

But before my mind can get trapped in its haze, I steady my gaze.

“They shouldn't be here, and you know it” I say. “Let them go.”

For a moment, the room goes silent. 

Did I just… support them?

“They made mistakes. But whatever this is…” I gesture toward the room, “...it isn’t justice.” 

Adrian turns.

A faint smirk touches his lips. 

“And what would you know of justice, little warrior?”

The word little burns more than it should.

“I know what cruelty looks like. And this isn’t about me.”

“Isn’t it?” He steps closer

My heartbeat stumbles. 

“What do you mean?”

He looks at Micah. Then at Adriana. Then back at me.

“From the reports I received,” he says slowly, “you were betrayed, rejected, then left to die on neutral ground.”

I blink, startled. 

He knew all that?

“I make it a habit to know what happens in my lands,” he replies, voice low, like he heard my thoughts. “Including when one of my soldiers is thrown to a rival pack by the people she trusted.”

Wait. What?

The air between us tightens. 

I glance at Adriana, and the hatred in her eyes is too vivid to ignore.

She was behind what happened with the Clover Pack?

No. No way.

“Your report was wrong” my eyes drift back to Adrian. “Adriana wouldn't do something like—”

“Really?” 

Just a word, but it unnerves every bit of me. 

My breath hitches.

My strength staggers.

“Let them go, Adrian.”

Our eyes steady on each other. 

Then, he walks right up to me, towering over my slender figure. 

“And since when do I take orders from you, Alex?”

He studies me for a long moment.

Our eyes trade words our lips don't have the strength to.

Then, he straightens, and finally steps back.

“Fine. I’ll assume the reports were wrong,” he says at last. “Maybe I’ll even consider letting them go.”

Adriana exhales sharply. 

“But—” his gaze locks on mine “—on one condition.”

I narrow my eyes. 

“You’ll stay here,” he says simply. “In my Pack house.”

My breath catches. 

“What? Why would—”

“Until I decide otherwise” he adds, soft but definite. “I have no reason to let them go. But I'll consider it under those conditions.”

The room goes quiet again.

I know exactly what he's planning. 

I knew it from the jump.

Yet I'm right back here, unable to escape a trap I see laying right in front of me. 

I meet his eyes. 

He doesn’t blink. 

Micah glares at me. Adriana’s stare hasn't faltered.

I ball my fists, forcing myself to still. “Fine.”

A ghost of a smile touches his lips.

Slow and dangerous. 

“Good.”

He turns to the guards. 

“Release them. Escort them to the northern border. They’ll leave by sunrise.”

Then, his gaze returns to me. 

“You, on the other hand…” His tone drops an octave. “You’re stuck with this monster of a man now, aren't you?”

The air between us thickens. 

For a second, I forget to breathe.

He leans close.

Close enough for me to catch the faint scent of smoke on his skin. 

“Let’s see how long that little fire of yours can last.”

My pulse stutters. 

“You can’t just—”

“I can,” he murmurs, eyes glinting silver. “And I just did.”

Before I can respond, he walks right passed me, and out of the room.

A faint, metallic taste explodes at the back of my throat.

Heart pounding, hands shaking, and one thought echoing in my head:

Did I just save them… or doom myself.