LOGIN[Author’s Note: This chapter contains sp.an.king, power play. Reader’s discretion is advised]SIGRUNI made a run for it.With a sudden burst of adrenaline, I slammed both of my palms against his bare, tattooed chest. It was like pushing against a mountain, but the unexpected audacity of the move was enough to throw him off balance for a split second.I scrambled out of the bed and kicked free of the plush dark furs. I tumbled off the edge of the mattress, my bare feet hitting the cold stone floor, and I bolted.As I sprinted toward the massive oak doors, a fleeting, suspicious thought crossed my mind. That was too easy. There was absolutely no way a human-speed scramble should have caught an Alpha wolf off guard. He had let me slip away, deliberately giving me a head start just to see what I would do.I reached the door, my hands trembling as I grabbed the heavy iron bolt. I fumbled, trying to slide it back. I barely managed to crack the door open before—Slam.The heavy wood of the d
[Author's Note: The next few chapters contain ex.pli.cit, high-steam light B.D*SM elements, including delayed or.ga.sm (edging), spa.nk*ing, and light bo*ndage. Please, skip if any of these elements might be triggering to you.] SIGRUN If you called me stubborn, you wouldn't be wrong. Actually, you’d be entirely spot-on. Because after my little library encounter with Varul—right before he had to run off to attend to some urgent pack business—he had made me promise, in no uncertain terms, that I would stop avoiding him. He’d made me look him in the eye and agree to sleep in his chambers tonight. And I had agreed. I’d nodded, murmured my assent, and let him think he’d won. But here I was, standing in the middle of my own chambers, totally planning to sleep alone for the fourth night since we last had s.ex. “Are ye sure you do not wish for me to bring ye some warm milk, Yer Highness?” Conny asked, her small hands busy as she helped me prepare for the night. She was carefu
SIGRUN If the fortress’s library had a search bar, I would have typed How to not accidentally trigger natural disasters with your vâgina into it. Instead, I was perched six feet in the air on a wooden ladder, swallowing mouthfuls of centuries-old dust. This universe desperately needed to invent Gôo.gle. I pulled a massive, iron-bound tome from the top shelf, squinting at the faded silver lettering on the spine. Disinterested, I slammed it back into its slot, nearly losing my balance as the ladder groaned beneath my satin slippers. Not what I was looking for. Not even close. Any book that could explain what the hell I was supposed to do with the ticking time bomb of magic inside my marrow would be fantastic, thank you very much. But so far? The selection was a literal horror show. The only texts that even mentioned the word magic were terrifyingly detailed logs of public torture, trials, and executions compiled by the Northern High Council. I had spent the last two h
PRINCESS SIGRUN OF WINDSMOOR [The Night Before the Wedding…] The drop from my bedchamber window was forty feet of jagged, moonlit limestone. The height had stopped terrifying me months ago. For the past three months, my mother had stationed four royal guards directly outside my chamber’s oak doors, always watching my every move. It was though she was worried I would try to play a fast one and ruin her high and mighty treaty-marriage-for-realm-peace plans. It was laughable really, seeing as they all thought they had me caged. They thought a human princess, soft from silk sheets and courtly banquets, would never dare look at the deadly sheer drop of the castle's western facade. But they didn't know about the iron sconces. For the past three months, my life had been a carefully constructed lie. The day my mother dropped the devastating news of my engagement to the Alpha King, something inside me had violently snapped. The helplessness of being a political pawn—dangled
PRINCESS SIGRUN OF WINDSMOOR[Three months ago…]“WHAT?” I screeched. “Mother, you cannot be serious!”“Compose yourself, Sigrun. A princess does not raise her voice like a common tavern wench,” Queen Astrid said, her voice dropping like a heavy sheet of ice.She didn't look up from her ledger. Her dip-pen continued its steady scratch-scratch across the parchment. Her calmness was driving me mad. "I am entirely serious," she continued, her tone so devoid of emotion it made my chest ache. “The old treaties must be renewed.""By giving me to them?" I stormed forward, my satin slippers clicking frantically against the polished wood floor. I gripped the edge of her heavy mahogany desk, leaning in. “You are sending me to the den of the beast that slaughtered his own parents, mother! Varul is a savage. They say he painted the walls of his own council chamber with the blood of his kin."Queen Astrid finally stopped writing. She set her pen down with deliberate slowness, then lifted her gaz
PRINCESS SIGRUN OF WINDSMOOR[Five Years Ago...]"Take a deep breath, yer highness. Yer wound tighter than a fresh-strung bow, and it’s doing no favors for yer skin," Rita's warm, scratchy voice murmured behind me.She bent into my field of vision through the reflection of the vanity mirror, her weathered hands smelling faintly of lavender and the heavy lard soap used in the palace scullery.She was a round, comforting shape in a sea of rigid Southern aristocrats—a woman who had wiped my running nose when I was a toddler and held my head when the palace fevers took me at ten. She didn't possess a drop of noble blood, but she possessed the only maternal warmth I had ever known in the cold, hyper-political expanse of the Windsmoor court."I am perfectly fine, Rita," I lied, my voice tightening as I forced my chin upward, aiming for the imperial dignity my mother, Queen Astrid, expected."Aye, and I’m the high priestess of the sun," Rita countered softly, a rueful, maternal smile tugging
SIGRUNThe morning air carried a sharp bite that made my nose tingle as I stepped out into the courtyard.A stable hand was already waiting beside my mare.The sight of her immediately improved my mood. Never thought there’d come a day where I missed a horse, but here we were. She lifted her head
I stopped just inside the doorway.And stared.“Oh.”It was all I had.Because apparently the North had looked at the concept of subtlety and collectively decided against it.The entrance hall was enormous.I’m talking cathedral enormous.My entire apartment building back in Brooklyn could have fit
The distant thunder of hooves was what pulled me out of my thoughts. The sound built gradually, rolling in from somewhere beyond the high stone walls like approaching weather. Rhythmic. Heavy. A lot of it. Conny, who had been fussing with something in the wooden chest behind me, froze. Then she s
Affecting a posture of regret, I bowed briefly. “I'm sorry for running away. I will make sure that doesn't happen again…” I couldn't help but add, “In the foreseeable future…Mother.” The queen narrowed her eyes at me, but she seemed to be satisfied with my reply because she raised her chin and nod







