Chapter 4

YOU BELONG TO ME

The guards reacted before the sound of my slap had even faded.

Two of them rushed to me. Their hands clamped tightly around my arms, hard enough to leave bruises, and dragged me backward. My heart pounded that I thought it would burst out of my chest.

"Seize her!" one guard barked, though his voice shook because even he couldn't believe what he had just witnessed.

"Stop.” The Lycan King's voice cut into the chaos.

The guards halted instantly, although their hands were still locked around my arms, waiting for his next order. My chest heaved as I stared up at him, certain I was about to watch whatever mercy existing in this man vanish totally.

Instead, he smiled. It wasn't kind or friendly. It was slow and thoughtful, the sort a wolf gives before deciding if its prey was more useful alive than dead. A faint red mark still showed on his cheek where I had slapped him. Yet he looked pleased. As if I had impressed him instead of insulting him.

"Let her go," he ordered.

The guards released me at once and quickly moved back. The crowd burst into whispers again. I rubbed my sore arms but refused to break my gaze away from him, even though every part of me wanted to run.

"She struck you," Roderic said in disbelief. "Your Majesty, the punishment for that is…"

"It will not be given to my mate," Kael interrupted, never taking his eyes off me. "She has spirit." A faint smile touched his lips. "I like that."

"I'm not your mate," I said, trying to sound calm despite my trembling hands. "I don't know what you think happened here, but I'm not some prize you can claim in a room full of strangers."

"You felt it," he replied. It wasn't a question but a fact delivered with confidence that it made my skin prickle. “The instance our eyes met. You felt exactly what I felt.”

He was right. I had felt my chest crack open the instant his eyes found mine across that ballroom. It was warm and terrifying and impossible to explain, and I hated him a little for knowing it, for saying it out loud before everyone after everything Rowan had done to me tonight.

"I don't care what I felt," I said firmly. "I don't believe in mates. I don't believe in any of this. Love isn't real the way people pretend it is. I'm not going to let some bond decide my future with a man I've never met."

For a brief second, pain crossed his face. It was brief and gone as quickly as it came. But he didn't back down. If anything, he came closer, so that I had to tilt my head back to hold his gaze.

"The bond does not care what you believe," he said. "It exists whether you accept it or not. You can hate me. You can yell at me in the presence of the whole kingdom if it helps you feel better. But you cannot make this bond disappear by pretending it isn't there.”

"Watch me."  I said, and turned on my heel, pushing past Selene and Wren, and past the nobles who hurried aside to let me pass. I only wanted one thing. To reach those huge doors before I completely fell apart.

I barely made it ten steps when a warm hand wrapped around my wrist. The moment our skin touched, a powerful rush shot through my arm like lightning, stealing the breath right out of my lungs. My knees weakened and I stumbled but he caught me before I could hit the floor. One arm slid around my waist and pulled me closer to him. My palms landed flat on his chest, feeling his heartbeat racing as fast as mine.

"Let me go," I said through clenched teeth but the words sounded much weaker than I wanted them to.

"You're shaking," he said, his deep voice rough. "Tell me that's only fear and nothing else."

I couldn't. That was the problem. Beneath the fear and embarrassment there was a warm and unwelcome coiling feeling below my stomach. The bond drew me to him so strongly that it frightened me more than Rowan ever had. My body yearned to lean into him, betraying me in real time and I hated it, hated him, hated this awful night.

"I hate this," I said in a cracked voice. "I hate that my body is reacting to a man I don't even know. I don't want this bond. I don't want any of it."

His face softened. He seemed to understand how impossible this felt for me. His grip around my waist loosened a bit. He didn't release me, but he no longer held me like I might bolt.

"I know this is not how you wanted tonight to end," he said gently. "I know you came here for a different thing.

But I can't undo what happened when I saw you and I won't pretend this bond isn't real because it scares you."

"It doesn't scare me," I lied, lifting my chin. "I just don't want it. There's a difference."

"Is there?”

I had no answer. I stayed motionless in his arms, angry, confused and scared, undeniably aware of every place our bodies touched. I disliked that a small part of me didn't want him to let me go.

Before either of us spoke again, Selene's voice rang out.

"Your Majesty."

I turned my head, dread pooling in my stomach the second I saw the look on her face, that same calculating smile she'd worn earlier, the one that made my skin crawl. She bowed gracefully before Kael. Much more politely than she had ever treated me. Her eyes sparkled with greed.

"Please forgive my stepdaughter," she said sweetly. "She's overwhelmed, that's all. She doesn't yet understand what a great honor that is being offered to her."

"Selene," I warned. She ignored me.

"She's a good girl," she continued, speaking directly to Kael. "Loyal, and obedient when properly guided. I'm sure we can reach an agreement that benefits everyone involved."

Kael's arm tightened a little around my waist. His eyes narrowed at my stepmother.

"An agreement," he repeated slowly.

Selene's smile grew wider. A chill ran down my spine. This isn't going to be good, at all. I already knew what she was about to say and I dreaded hearing it out loud.

"I'll give her to you," she said, "for the right price.”