Chapter 7 – Outgrowing the Cage

                The atmosphere in the room shifted instantly.

                It became thick with the suffocating scent of aggression. Silas stood at the center, his chest puffed out, his Alpha aura flared to its maximum capacity. It was an impressive display for a werewolf, but next to Romani, it felt like a guttering candle trying to compete with a raging forest fire.

                Axel was stupid enough to be the first to react.

                His eyes raked over me, possessive and hungry, ignoring the man standing beside me entirely.

                "You found her," he hissed with a low, gravelly snarl. "About damn time. I hope you didn't damage the merchandise, stranger. Hand her over, and we might let you leave this territory with your limbs intact."

                I felt Romani stiffen beside me.

                 The air temperature seemed to plummet ten degrees in a heartbeat. The casual, teasing Prince was gone, in his place was something primordial and terrifying.

                "Axel, silence!" Alpha Silas commanded, though his own eyes were fixed on Romani with a mixture of suspicion and greed. He stepped forward, accessing the situation.

                "I am Alpha Silas. You are on Moonlight Walker land. You’ve brought back my son's promised mate, a girl who has caused this pack a great deal of embarrassment. State your name and your price for the 'recovery' service. We pay well for the return of lost property."

                Romani didn't move.

                He didn't even flinch. He just stood there, hands tucked casually into his pockets, looking like he was bored by a particularly dull school play. The silence stretched, becoming agonizingly heavy, until Romani finally spoke.

                "My name," he began, his voice smooth as silk and twice as sharp, "is Prince Romani of the Lycan Throne. Second in line to the High Crown, Protector of the Northern Reaches, and apparently, the only person in this room with a shred of manners."

                The blood drained from Silas’s face so fast I thought he might faint.

                Luna Elara gasped, her hand flying to her throat as she took a half-step back. Even the two warriors seemed to shrink an inch. Axel, however, was too blinded by his own ego to be afraid. He let out a sharp, mocking bark of a laugh.

                "A Prince? Please," the idiot mocked, stepping forward into Romani’s personal space, a move so suicidal I almost wanted to look away. "You're just a drifter in a nice car with a few party tricks. Ana is mine. We have a contract. Her parents signed her over to me. She’s been promised to my bed since she turned eighteen."

                Romani finally looked at Axel.

                It wasn't a look of anger, it was the look a deity gives an insect before he decides whether or not to step on it.

                "Contracts of men are written in ink and greed. Fated bonds are written in blood and stars by the Moon Goddess herself. I am not here to return a runaway, Axel. I am here to inform you that Ana is my mate. My fated mate."

                The silence that followed was deafening. I could hear the clock ticking on the wall and the heavy, ragged breathing of Silas. The Alpha’s jaw worked, his face turning a mottled shade of purple that matched his necktie.

                "Mate?" Silas hissed, the word sounding like a curse. "Impossible! She was tested by our pack healers. She has no mate. She is a hybrid tool, a biological asset for this pack’s expansion. I don't care who you claim to be, 'Prince.' You can't just walk in here and steal what belongs to the Moonlight Walkers. She is the cornerstone of our future."

                "She is not a stone, and she is certainly not your property," Romani’s voice dropped into that low, dangerous Lycan growl that made the very floorboards vibrate beneath our feet. I felt it in my marrow.

                "She is my Princess. I am taking her with me today. Right now. The mating ceremony will be held at the Royal Court, with the dignity she deserves. Out of respect for... whatever this backwater pack is... I will send a dowry once the mark is settled. Consider it a gift to compensate for your 'loss' and the time you wasted feeding her."

                But the Alpha was still pushing it.

                "A gift?!" Silas roared, finally losing his grip on his professional facade. "You come into my packhouse, insult my lineage, and try to buy off a blood-alliance with a few gold coins? I don't give a damn about your title! In this pack, my word is law. Guards, seize her! Take this stranger to the cells!"

                The warriors took one hesitant step forward, but they stopped instantly when Romani let his power explode.

                It wasn't a physical blow, but it felt like one. A shockwave of pure, predatory Lycan energy slammed through the hall. The glass in the decorative lamps overhead shattered, raining tiny crystals onto the rug. Silas was forced back three steps, his heels skidding on the marble. Axel actually stumbled, his knees hitting the floor with a painful thud.

                "Careful, Alpha," Romani hissed, his eyes now glowing a terrifying, hellish red that seemed to swallow the light in the room. "I was trying to be a gentleman for Ana’s sake. But if you insist on disrespecting a Prince of the Blood, I will be forced to remind you why werewolves bow to Lycans. Your authority ends where my shadow begins. Do you really want to see how short your life becomes if I decide you’re an enemy of the Crown?"

                Luna Elara grabbed Silas’s arm, her voice trembling with genuine terror.

                "Silas, stop! Look at him! He’s a Royal. You'll bring the whole Lycan army down on us! We'll be slaughtered before the sun sets!"

                "Let him try," Romani challenged, reaching out to wrap a possessive, heavy arm around my waist.

                He pulled me flush against his side, and for the first time in my life, I felt like I was standing behind a mountain. The heat of him was a shield against the cold venom in the room.

                Then I noticed my parents standing, hovering in the shadows of the hallway, looking ashamed and terrified. I felt nothing for them. No pity, no love. Just the cold realization that I had finally outgrown them.