The King’s Claim

Ava's POV

The music stopped first.

Then the chatter.

Then everything.

A hush fell over the ballroom like a held breath, and I didn't need to look up to know why. I could feel it — that pressure in the air, dense and commanding, pressing down on every person in the room at once.

I looked up anyway.

Alpha Jackson walked in first, but my eyes went straight past him.

King Sebastian Reynolds.

Even his photos hadn't prepared me for this. The white hair I had studied on my phone screen was somehow more striking in person — loose, falling to his neck, sweeping across the left side of his face like it had been styled by someone who understood exactly what they were doing. His eyes were grey and cold as they swept the room, cataloguing everything with the quiet efficiency of a man who had never once felt threatened by anything in his life.

Around me, every single person had dropped to their knees.

I followed, bowing my head, grateful for any reason to look at the floor.

Even without a wolf, I felt his aura. It wasn't aggressive — it didn't need to be. It simply *existed*, vast and immovable, like standing at the edge of the ocean and being reminded of your own size.

This man was not like other men.

I kept my head down as they moved toward the front of the room. But I couldn't help it — I stole one more glance as he passed.

That was a mistake.

Because when I raised my eyes, his were already on me.

Grey and direct and completely still.

My heart stopped.

His eyes widened — just slightly, just enough — and in my peripheral vision I saw Jackson follow his gaze and land on me too.

“Move. Now.”

I began backing away slowly, keeping my mask pressed to my face, trying to melt into the crowd without drawing more attention. If I could just reach the door—

I didn't hear him coming.

One second I was moving backward. The next, a hand caught my wrist — firm and warm — and the world tilted sideways as electricity tore through my entire body from the point of contact.

"Running away from me, little wolf?"

The voice was low. Amused. Dangerously calm.

I turned slowly.

Sebastian Reynolds stood in front of me with the ghost of a smirk on his lips, close enough that I had to tilt my head back to look at him properly. Up close he was even more overwhelming — tall and broad-shouldered, smelling of something dark and warm that made my knees want to give out for an entirely different reason than grief.

"Excuse me, Your Majesty." I kept my voice steady through sheer willpower. "I was just leaving."

I tried to step back.

His grip didn't loosen.

Then Alpha Jackson appeared at his side, eyes burning red as they swept over me. Before I could move again, Sebastian's free hand came up and peeled the mask cleanly from my face.

The room went quiet in a different way.

"Ava."

Jackson's voice came out low and dangerous, his jaw locked so tight I could see the muscle jumping beneath his skin. "What the *hell* are you doing here? Didn't you understand a single word I said to you?"

His hand closed around my arm — rough, proprietary — as he began pulling me toward the exit.

"Let her go."

Two words. Quietly spoken.

Jackson froze.

The entire room froze.

Sebastian hadn't raised his voice. He hadn't needed to.

********

Sebastian's POV

I had barely settled into my seat before my Lycan stirred.

"Our mate is here."

I didn't question it. After twenty-eight years, I had learned to trust that voice absolutely. I had waited my entire life for it to say those words, and now that it had, every other thing in the room ceased to matter.

I tracked the scent to a dark-haired woman near the edge of the crowd — small, masked, head down. Trying her very best not to be seen.

When she started moving toward the exit, something primal took over.

I crossed the room before I had consciously decided to move.

When I pulled the mask from her face, the first thing I registered was her beauty — dark waves of hair, skin like polished marble, eyes that were wide and frightened and brown enough to drown in.

The second thing I registered was the fear in those eyes.

Not the ordinary nerves of someone meeting a king for the first time.

Something older. Deeper. The kind that settles into a person's bones after years of being made to feel like a burden.

My Lycan snarled.

"King Sebastian, I apologise on her behalf." Jackson stepped forward with a bow, already reaching for her arm like she was something he owned. "She is nothing but a lowly omega — she shouldn't be here. I'll remove her immediately."

I looked at him.

"An omega?" I said. "She looks nothing like an omega to me."

He opened his mouth. Closed it. Looked around for someone to rescue him from the answer.

My beta, Simon, appeared at my shoulder and pulled me aside. "My lord," he said quietly, "perhaps we don't make a scene tonight. If you want her, I'll bring her to you after the party."

I nodded once. Then I looked at her — at Ava — across the short distance between us. She was standing perfectly still, her expression unreadable, but I could see her hands trembling at her sides.

"Keep her safe until I come," I told Simon. "Make sure nothing happens to her."

"Yes, my lord."

I watched him walk to her and speak quietly near her ear. Whatever he said, it worked — she nodded and followed him out of the hall without looking back.

The rest of the party passed like background noise.

I smiled where I was supposed to smile. I spoke where I was supposed to speak. I accepted the drinks and the compliments and the careful, ambitious conversation of everyone who wanted something from me tonight.

And I watched the clock.

Two hours later, I finally excused myself.

*****

Simon led me down a quiet corridor to a small room off the main wing. She was sitting in a chair near the window when I walked in — back straight, hands folded in her lap, looking like someone who had spent years practicing how to take up as little space as possible.

The moment she heard the door, she was on her feet, head bowed.

"Please." I kept my voice soft. "Sit down, Ava."

She didn't sit, but she lifted her head slightly.

"If there's something we can assist with, Your Majesty, I'm happy to—" Jackson started from behind me.

I ignored him.

I crossed the room slowly, watching her track my movement with careful eyes — like she was calculating exactly how much danger she was in and which direction she'd run if she needed to.

I stopped a few feet away and lowered myself slightly to bring my face closer to her level.

"Are you scared of me, Ava?"

She shook her head immediately.

She was lying.

"Then raise your head."

A pause. Then, slowly, she obeyed — tilting her chin up until her eyes met mine fully for the first time.

My Lycan went quiet.

That particular stillness that came not from peace but from pain. I could see it written across every careful line of her expression — the way she held herself like someone used to being hit, the way she braced even now for something bad to happen.

Someone had done this to her.

Someone in this room.

"Why are you scared?" I asked. "Talk to me."

Her eyes moved — quickly, involuntarily — to Alpha Jackson.

That was all I needed.

"My name is Sebastian," I said, pulling her attention back to me. I kept my tone warm, deliberate. "You don't have to call me anything else."

Something in her shoulders released — barely, just a millimetre — but I caught it.

"What do you think of me?" I asked. "Honestly."

She blinked. Looked uncertain whether the question was a trap.

Then, quietly — "I've only just met you. But you're very tall." A small pause. "And your hair is really pretty."

I laughed.

A real one, pulled out of me before I could think to contain it. It startled both of us, I think.

"Anything else?" I asked, leaning in slightly. "How do I smell?"

The warmth in her expression shifted.

Something dim and sad moved through her eyes as she struggled to find the words. She opened her mouth. Closed it.

"It's alright," I said gently. "I didn't expect you to be able to tell me. Not without your wolf."

Silence.

Then Jackson's voice, sharp and defensive — "How did you know that?"

The room tightened. The pack members near the walls exchanged glances, and I felt the hostility radiating off them like heat — all of it aimed at her.

I straightened. Let my gaze move slowly around the room before settling back on Ava's face.

"I have known from the moment I saw her," I said clearly, so that every person in that room would hear it and understand.

"How could I not know — when she is my mate."

Ava's head snapped toward me.

The room erupted.