Chapter 17: Lukas

I woke with a start, my neck stiff from hours propped against the headboard. A soft groan had pulled me from sleep—a sound so quiet any human would have missed it. My eyes snapped to Amelia's face just as hers opened, emerald green clouded with pain. She winced, one hand reaching for her temple where dried blood still matted her copper hair. Then she saw me. Fear flashed across her features, her body tensing beneath the sheets as if preparing for flight or fight. The mate bond thrummed between us, carrying her panic directly to my core.

She flung herself upright, too quickly. The color drained from her face as pain caught up with her sudden movement. Her hand flew to her ribs, breath hissing through clenched teeth.

"Be careful," I said, my voice low, pitched to soothe rather than frighten. "You have a concussion and bruised ribs."

Her eyes darted around the room, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings—the massive bed with its dark sheets, the stone fireplace where flames cast dancing shadows across the walls, the heavy furniture crafted from ancient ironwood. My chambers. Our chambers now.

‘She's afraid,’ Ares whimpered in my mind, his distress at our mate's fear uncomfortable and foreign. My wolf rarely showed such vulnerability.

"I'm not going to hurt you, little luna," I said, keeping my hands where she could see them, as if approaching a wounded animal.

Her gaze returned to mine, steadier now though still wary. "You'll have to forgive me, my king," she said, the title carrying none of the respect it deserved, "but after all I witnessed yesterday—seeing you tear four men apart, knowing you killed fifteen before that, and not long after, you forced a claiming and then pinned me against a wall to mark me without consent, an act everyone seems to think I should be grateful for..." She trailed off, her message clear enough.

I studied her face, noting how the bruises from Victoria's attack had already begun to fade to yellowish green. My mark was working its magic, accelerating her healing. Good. I wanted her strong again.

"You should be grateful, little luna," I said, my tone hardening despite Ares's continued discomfort. "Any other wolf would have died in that throne room. You were given life instead. A royal life, as my mate and queen."

She shook her head, a small, defiant gesture that sent copper strands dancing across her shoulders. "Grateful to be claimed without choice? To be marked without consent? To be traded from one prison to another?" A bitter laugh escaped her. "Perhaps I should thank Victoria too, for the concussion that delayed the inevitable."

Rage flared at the mention of the she-wolf who'd dared lay hands on what was mine, but I tamped it down. Ares growled, sharing my anger at the reminder.

"The marking and claiming were inevitable from the moment our eyes met in that throne room," I said, leaning forward. "The mate bond doesn't ask permission, Amelia. It simply is. Would you have preferred I explain while twenty witnesses watched? While you stood in chains awaiting execution?"

"I would have preferred any choice at all." Her voice was quiet but carried a steel I was beginning to recognize as fundamental to her character. "Any moment to understand what was happening before being told I belong to you now."

I rose from the bed in a single fluid movement, pacing to the window where moonlight silvered the grounds below. The palace gardens stretched toward the forest's edge, territory I'd defended with blood and tooth for decades. Territory that was now hers as well, whether she accepted it yet or not.

"You have been given more choice than most," I said, turning back to face her. "More privilege. More power. There are females across the kingdom who would kill to stand where you stand."

"Then perhaps one of them should have been in that throne room yesterday," she countered, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders.

I closed the distance between us in three strides, enjoying how her eyes widened at my sudden proximity. "Fate doesn't make mistakes, little luna. You were meant to be mine as surely as the moon rises each night."

She drew herself up, shoulders squared despite her injuries. "And what of my former mate? Alexander? Was that fate's mistake?"

The name triggered a fresh wave of rage, images of the Silver Lake Beta flashing through my mind. Ares snarled. ‘He rejected what was precious.’

"He rejected you," I said flatly. "His mistake. My gain."

Something flickered behind her eyes—pain that had nothing to do with her physical injuries. "So I'm just passed from one wolf to another, with no say in the matter."

"You're the mate of the Alpha King now," I replied, allowing a hint of growl to enter my voice. "A considerable improvement, I would think."

She wrapped her arms around her knees, creating a barrier between us. Her scent changed subtly, fear mingling with something else—resignation, perhaps. "And what happens now? What does being the Alpha King's mate entail, exactly?"

"You will heal," I said, my gaze traveling over the visible bruises on her face and arms. "Then you will learn what it means to be Queen. Your duties. Your privileges. Your place in the hierarchy."

"My place," she repeated, the words hollow. "And if I don't accept this... place?"

I smiled, letting her see the predator beneath the man. "The sooner you accept your place, the easier this will be for both of us, little luna. I'd hate to have to force the issue."

She flinched as if I'd struck her, though I hadn't moved. The mate bond pulsed with her fear and something else—anger, burning bright beneath the surface.

"What's going to happen to Victoria?" she asked, abruptly changing the subject.

I allowed it, curious to see where she would take the conversation. "She laid hands on my mate, my claimed and marked Queen." I traced the line of the headboard with one finger, imagining it was Victoria's throat. "She will regret ever touching what belongs to me."

Amelia rubbed the tops of her arms, as if trying to warm herself despite the fire's heat. "I'm a person, not an object," she said softly. "Not something that belongs to anyone."

In a flash, I moved to the bed, one hand gripping her chin, turning her face to mine. Her pulse jumped beneath my fingers, her breath catching as I forced her to meet my gaze.

"What you are, little luna," I said, each word precise and measured, "is mine."

She didn't try to pull away, though her entire body trembled with the effort of remaining still. "And that means what, exactly?" she whispered.

My thumb brushed across her lower lip, feeling its softness, its slight tremble. "That means anyone foolish enough to touch you will regret it," I said. "It means you are under my protection, my authority, my rule. It means your needs, your safety, your happiness are now my concern and my responsibility."

"And my will? My choices? My freedom?"

"Secondary to your role as my mate," I replied honestly. "But not irrelevant. I am not a tyrant in my personal life, Amelia, despite what you may have seen in the throne room. I protect what is mine. I value strength and honesty above simpering obedience."

‘She is strong,’ Ares murmured in agreement. ‘Worthy of us.’

Her eyes searched mine, looking for truth or lies in my words. I saw the moment some of her tension eased, a fractional relaxing of her shoulders, a slight unclenching of her jaw.

"You killed those men," she said. "Tore them apart with your bare hands."

"I did," I acknowledged, seeing no reason to deny what she'd witnessed firsthand. "And I would do it again. They captured you, drugged you, threatened worse. They deserved what they got."

"And Victoria? What will you do to her?"

"She will stand trial for attacking the Queen," I said. "Justice will be swift and appropriate to her crime."

"Which means?"

"Death is the traditional punishment for assaulting a royal mate," I said bluntly. "Though I might be persuaded to show mercy, depending on certain... factors."

Her brow furrowed. "What factors?"

I released her chin, my hand sliding to cup the back of her neck instead, fingers tangling in copper strands still stiff with dried blood. "Your wishes, for one. Your adjustment to your new position, for another."

Confusion replaced some of her wariness. "You would spare her if I asked?"

"I would consider it," I corrected. "Though she would not escape punishment entirely. No one touches what is mine without consequences."

Before she could respond, I closed the distance between us, my mouth capturing hers in a kiss that brooked no resistance. She stiffened, hands coming up to my chest as if to push me away, but the mate bond flared between us, hot and insistent. I felt the moment she surrendered, her lips softening beneath mine, her body melting against me despite her mind's objections. My right hand cradled the back of her head, careful of her injuries even as I deepened the kiss, claiming her mouth as thoroughly as I'd claimed her throat.

When I pulled back, her cheeks were flushed, eyes wide and dark. The mate bond hummed with confused desire, fear, and something like anger. An intoxicating combination.

"Lie down," I ordered, my voice rougher than intended. "Focus on healing. I'll have food brought up."

She touched her lips with trembling fingers, then lowered herself back against the pillows, movements cautious and deliberate. "I'm not hungry," she murmured, though her stomach chose that moment to growl audibly.

"Your body disagrees," I said, rising from the bed. "The doctor left instructions. Bone broth first, then soft foods as you tolerate them."

I moved to the door, pausing with my hand on the handle. "Rest. Heal. We have much to discuss when you're stronger."

Her voice stopped me as I began to turn the handle. "And if I try to leave?"

I looked back over my shoulder, meeting her defiant gaze. "Don't."

The single word hung between us, heavy with implication. I didn't need to elaborate on what would happen if she attempted escape. We both knew I would find her. We both knew what happened to those who crossed me.

"This is your home now," I added, softening my tone slightly. "There's nowhere else for you to go, little luna. Silver Lake cast you out. The rogues who captured you are dead. You have no pack, no family, no allies but me."

Something broke in her expression—a crack in her defenses that revealed the wounded girl beneath the brave facade. The mate bond carried her despair to me, sharp enough to make Ares whine in sympathy.

"Sleep," I said, gentler still. "Food will come soon."

I slipped through the door, closing it firmly behind me. Guards stood at attention in the corridor, eyes carefully averted.

"No one enters except the servants bringing food," I instructed them. "And tell those servants—if she asks them to help her escape, they will join Victoria in the cells."

As I strode away, Ares paced restlessly in my mind. ‘She fears us still,’ he observed. ‘Resists the bond.’

"She will learn," I murmured, too low for anyone else to hear. "One way or another, she will learn what it means to be ours."

But beneath my certainty lurked something unexpected—a seed of doubt, a whisper that perhaps claiming a mate required more than simply taking what fate had marked as mine. I dismissed the thought as quickly as it formed. I was the Alpha King. I had never failed to claim what was rightfully mine, and I wouldn't start now.

Amelia would adapt. She would accept. She would become the Queen she was destined to be.

Or she would break against my will like countless others before her.