LOGINDraven pov
They call me the Ruthless Rogue Alpha King.
The Butcher,
The Devil of the Rogue Kingdom's
The monster who laughs while kingdoms burn If only they knew the truth that monsters don't remember every innocent soul they've failed to save.
Monsters don't wake in the middle of the night hearing the screams of women they couldn't protect and monsters certainly don't pray for death.
I do, Every single day.
The wind howled beyond the towering windows of Blackthorn Keep as I stood overlooking my kingdom.
Thousands of lights flickered below, scattered across the Rogue Territory.
How long will I protect them?
They had no idea I was the greatest threat they would ever face.
"Your father grows weaker." The voice slithered through my mind Ancient and Cruel, The beast it self.
"Soon his heartbeat will cease..and when it does the blessing dies with him." My jaw tightened.
"I know." As a low laugh echoed inside my skull.
"Do you?"
"Then why do you hesitate?" Pain exploded beneath my ribs my fingers curled against the cold stone windowsill until cracks spread through the marble as Black veins crawled beneath my skin as every breath felt like swallowing shattered glass.
The curse was reminding me who held the power as it crushed my bones from inside.
"A Luna......Bring me a Luna."
"The kingdom demands a queen and Your dying father demands an heir and I..." The voice lowered into something almost pleased.
"I demand blood "
I shut my eyes, For generations, the Rogue bloodline had carried this curse bonded to their souls as every king before me had obeyed, had sacrificed but I refused.
For years, I had refused as the curse answered with suffering.
Every act of defiance came with a price my people had to pay instead of me and that was the cruelest part. It never punished only me.
"You grow weak, little king."
"I am not your king."
"No..." It laughed.
"You are merely my vessel....." A sharp knock interrupted the silence.
"My King." Kael's voice carried through the chamber doors.
"The girl has arrived." The pain beneath my skin eased as Simply retreated. The curse became strangely quiet.
"What is that scent?" I frowned even before the doors opened...
Sunflowers and Fresh rain.It didn't belong inside a fortress built on blood.
"I dislike it."
"So do I." That was a lie because something about it made the constant pressure inside my head ease only slightly but enough for me to notice.
The doors opened as Footsteps echoed across the chamber floor.
I didn't turn.
"Leave us." Kael hesitated only a second before bowing as the doors closed behind her the Silence settled between us.
I could hear the tremble in her breathing, The rapid beat of her heart as if fear kept people alive.
"What is your name?" I asked, keeping my eyes on the kingdom beyond the window.
"Ashina Crawford." Her voice was softer than I expected.
"I expect you to be afraid of me?" A brief silence.
"Should I be?" The corner of my mouth almost moved because everyone who entered this room either begged or lied.
I slowly turned as my Silver met hers as she looked frightened as her chin remained lifted despite the fear swimming in her eyes.
A brave mask one that wouldn't survive long in my world. I held her gaze while I walked towardsher.
"Prepare yourself." She frowned.
"For what?" I didn't stop walking.
"Your Bonding ceremony." The room fell silent.
"You'll marry me before sunset."
The sound of Draven's knees hitting stone was a death knell. I tried to scream, but the dagger had stolen my voice along with everything else. All I could do was watch through the darkening haze as the most powerful being in the realm knelt before his oldest enemy. Kieran's laugh echoed off the dungeon walls, bright and broken and terrible. "Oh, Draven. You have no idea how long I've dreamed of this." "Let her go." Draven's voice was rubble. "You have me. You've always had me. Just let her live." "Have I?" Kieran's grip on the dagger loosened slightly, and I gasped as some of the pressure eased. But the damage was done. I could feel the wolf inside me whimpering, curled into a ball of frost and fear. "Because from where I'm standing, you've spent three hundred years running from me. Building walls. Taking lovers." His eyes flicked to me, and something violent twisted his features. "Her." "Kieran…." "Silence." The word cracked like a whip. "You don't get to speak. Not until
The silver chains screamed or maybe that was me.I felt the White Wolf surge inside my chest, a furious, blinding thing. Frost exploded from my skin, cracking across the stone floor. The chains around my wrists groaned, buckling, and for one glorious heartbeat I thought I was free.Then Kieran moved.He was faster than he had any right to be. The black dagger flashed in his hand, and before I could summon another breath, he drove it into my side.Pain, terrible through me. It wasn’t like the silver. Silver burned and suppressed. This dagger drank. It sank into my flesh just beneath my ribs and pulled, dragging the White Wolf’s power out of me in a cold, spiraling rush. My knees hit the stone as my vision blurred. The frost died around me like a snuffed candle.Kieran caught me before I could fall.“There it is,” he murmured against my ear, his arm locked around my waist, hauling me back against his chest. His other hand stayed on the dagger, twisting it just enough to make me gasp. “T
The cold bit into my skin like a thousand tiny needles. The damp stone walls of the Blackwood dungeon smelled of iron, rot, and ancient magic. I tried to move, but the heavy silver chains around my wrists and ankles clanked loudly, biting into my flesh and smothering the strange warmth that always lingered beneath my skin. I was chained. Truly, utterly chained. My mind raced, spiraling back to the last time I saw Draven. The coldness in his eyes. I don't know what you are to me yet. Those words had shattered something inside me pushing me to run, to seek out the truth on my own and now because of my pride because of my foolish, stubborn heart, I was here. What if he doesn't come? The thought was a knife twisting in my chest. Why would he? I walked away. I practically told him I was nothing to him. He’s a king, He won't risk his kingdom, his life for a woman who means nothing. A low, mournful sound echoed in the dark. You are not nothing, a voice whispered from the deepest, most pr
Draven's POVI read the letter again.Then again.The words didn't change. I have your little human. The parchment trembled in my grip, though I didn't feel my hands shaking. I felt nothing but the curse alive and screaming beneath my skin, demanding release.Kieran has her.The thought circled in my mind like a wounded animal, relentless and bleeding.I stood alone in my chambers, the moonlight casting long shadows across the floor. The guards had been dismissed. The court had been told nothing. No one could know that the King was standing in his own room, paralyzed by the simple truth that a woman had been taken from him.I don't know what you are to me yet.The words tasted like ash now. I'd said them to her with such cold indifference, as if she were a puzzle I hadn't yet solved, a mystery I could set aside until convenient but now she was gone.And I couldn't breathe.I paced Five steps to the window. Five steps back. The curse writhed sensing my weakness feeding on it.Go, it wh
I barely made it ten steps down the corridor before a hand clamped over my mouth.I tried to scream, but the sound died in my throat as I was yanked backward into the shadows. My back hit something solid and cold."Hello, little dove." The voice was silk wrapped around steel. I knew that voice.Kieran.I thrashed against him, but his arm was like iron around my waist. He laughed softly, his breath brushing my ear."I wouldn't do that if I were you."I bit down on his hand. He hissed but didn't release me."Feisty," he murmured. "I like that."Before I could react, he moved. The world blurred walls, windows, moonlight and then we were outside, the night air sharp against my face.Vampire speed, I realized but the strength...I'd heard the stories. Half vampire, half wolf. The one even Draven's court whispered about with fear.He stopped at the edge of the forest as I finally got a look at him. Dark hair, sharp features, eyes that gleamed amber in the darkness wolf eyes. His smile was a
Draven's POVI had been awake long before she entered my chambers. The moment her scent crossed the threshold, the curse stirred beneath my skin enough to remind me that something was wrong. I kept my eyes closed.I wanted to know what Ashina would do if she believed I couldn't see her.Her footsteps were careful too careful for someone who had simply come to speak with me.She stopped beside the bed as I could feel her watching me as neither of us moved. I heard her breathing change.My fingers tightened against the sheets as I opened my eyes. Ashina froze immediately as the moonlight caught her face and for the first time since she had entered my kingdom, I saw something I had never seen in her before.“Were you really going to do it?” I pushed myself upright as she stepped back.“Answer me.” Her chin lifted as a bitter laugh escaped me.Even after sneaking into my chambers in the middle of the night, she still found the courage to challenge me.“What did you come here for?” I swun







