CHAPTER ONE: KILL HIM

CHAPTER ONE

KILL HIM

“Kill him before he reaches the throne.”

Elias Vale heard the command clearly despite the music still playing throughout the royal hall. The words came from one of the guards standing near the entrance, spoken in a low voice that was meant to remain unheard, but the crowded ballroom had suddenly become so quiet that even a whisper could travel across the marble floor. Elias stopped in the middle of the aisle, his fingers tightening around the edge of his sleeve as he looked toward the enormous black throne at the far end of the room.

King Cassian Draven was sitting there, surrounded by his royal council and the most powerful Alphas in the kingdom. He looked exactly as Elias had imagined him from the portraits that hung throughout the capital: imposing, beautiful, and completely untouchable. His dark hair was swept away from his forehead, his broad shoulders were covered by a black ceremonial coat decorated with silver wolves, and the crown resting on his head seemed almost insignificant compared with the authority in his eyes. Cassian had ruled the kingdom for seven years, and during that time, his reputation had become almost legendary. He was ruthless when challenged, merciless toward traitors, and powerful enough that even older Alphas lowered their heads when he entered a room.

Elias had never expected to stand within the same hall as him.

He certainly had never expected the king to order his death.

His heart began pounding as another guard moved into his path. The warrior’s hand rested against the hilt of his sword, and the meaning was impossible to misunderstand. Elias glanced around the hall, searching for a familiar face among the hundreds of nobles gathered for the Moon Ascension Ceremony, but the people he knew were deliberately looking away. His father stood near the western columns with several members of the Vale family, yet the older man appeared just as frightened as everyone else. His mother was nowhere in sight.

“Your Majesty,” Elias called, forcing himself to remain calm. “I was summoned here by the royal palace. If I have committed some offense, I deserve to know what it is before you order my execution.”

Cassian’s gaze settled on him.

The king did not answer immediately, and that silence made Elias more nervous than the command itself. There was something strange about the way Cassian was looking at him. It wasn’t simple hatred, and it wasn’t the cold indifference Elias had expected from a ruler who barely knew his name. Cassian looked almost disturbed by his presence, as though seeing Elias had brought back a memory he desperately wanted to forget.

“You should never have come here,” Cassian finally said.

Elias swallowed and tried to keep his voice steady. “I didn’t come here by choice. The palace sent a carriage to collect me this afternoon, and the royal invitation carried your seal. If you didn’t want me here, why was I summoned?”

A murmur passed through the court, but Cassian’s attention never left him. The king slowly rose from his throne, and the movement alone was enough to make the room fall completely silent. Elias suddenly became aware of how exposed he was. He was an Omega standing alone in the center of a hall filled with Alphas, and every instinct inside him was telling him that something was terribly wrong.

Cassian descended the three steps from his throne and stopped several feet away. The closer he came, the more unsettled Elias became because a strange scent had begun filling the air around him. It was faint at first, but with every breath, it grew stronger. Cedarwood mixed with cold rain and something darker that Elias couldn’t identify. His heart began racing for an entirely different reason, and his wolf, which had always been quiet and obedient, suddenly stirred violently inside him.

Mine.

The sensation struck him so suddenly that Elias nearly stumbled.

He stared at Cassian.

The king had gone completely still.

For the first time since entering the hall, the controlled mask on Cassian’s face cracked. His eyes widened slightly, and his shoulders stiffened as though his own body had betrayed him. Elias could feel his wolf reacting too. Something ancient and instinctive had awakened between them, something neither man had summoned and neither could control.

The realization came slowly, followed by a rush of disbelief that made Elias’s stomach twist.

The Alpha King was his mate.

The words echoed through his mind while whispers exploded around the ballroom. Several Omegas covered their mouths in shock, while the older Alphas exchanged stunned glances. Everyone knew what was happening. The Moon Goddess had chosen the king’s mate, and somehow, impossibly, that mate was Elias Vale.

Elias’s eyes filled with tears before he could stop them, but they weren’t tears of sadness. They were tears of relief, happiness, and the overwhelming realization that perhaps his life had finally changed. He had spent years being told that he was an ordinary Omega from a declining noble family, someone who would eventually be married off to strengthen his family’s position. Now the Moon Goddess herself had chosen him for the most powerful Alpha alive.

He looked at Cassian with trembling hope. “Your Majesty, I think the bond has”

“I know what the bond is.”

Cassian’s voice was harsh enough to silence him.

The king’s expression hardened almost immediately, as though he had forced himself to bury whatever emotion had appeared moments earlier. He turned toward the royal council, then looked back at Elias with an expression that Elias could not understand.

“You are not my mate.”

The words made Elias blink.

“But I can feel it,” he whispered. “You can feel it too.”

“I said you are not my mate.”

The king’s denial only made the whispers louder. Elias could feel his wolf pushing desperately against his consciousness, confused by Cassian’s rejection of something both wolves recognized as undeniable. He took a hesitant step forward, hoping that perhaps the king was frightened or confused, but Cassian immediately stepped backward.

That movement hurt more than Elias expected.

He had not even known Cassian for an hour, yet being pushed away by his destined mate felt like something inside his chest had been ripped apart.

“Why are you doing this?” Elias asked, his voice trembling despite his attempt to remain composed. “If you don’t want me, I can accept that, but why are you pretending you don’t feel what I feel?”

Cassian’s eyes darkened. “Because you are a threat to this kingdom.”

Elias stared at him in confusion. “I’m an Omega. I have no army, no political influence, and no claim to your throne. How could I possibly threaten you?”

Something flickered across Cassian’s face at the mention of the throne, but it disappeared before Elias could understand it. The king looked toward the guards and gave a cold command. “Take him to the eastern chambers.”

Elias’s relief lasted only a moment.

The guards moved toward him, and he immediately realized that they were not taking him somewhere as a guest. Their hands closed around his arms, and the mate bond screamed inside him as he was pulled away from Cassian.

“Your Majesty, please,” Elias pleaded, looking back at him. “If I’ve done something wrong, tell me. Don’t punish me without giving me a chance to defend myself.”

Cassian’s expression remained cold, but his eyes betrayed him. There was pain there, buried beneath layers of anger and restraint.

Then he said something that Elias would never forget.

“I am giving you a chance to live. Leave the capital tonight, and never return.”

Elias felt his heart break.

The king had recognized him as his mate, feared him for reasons Elias didn’t understand, and was now sending him away as though their bond meant nothing.

Before the guards could take him through the doors, Elias looked over his shoulder one last time. “If you truly don’t want me, Your Majesty, then why are you afraid to look at me?”

Cassian’s face changed.

For a moment, neither man spoke.

Then Cassian turned away.

Elias was dragged from the hall, but he didn’t see the king’s hand close tightly around the armrest of his throne. He didn’t hear the low growl that escaped Cassian’s throat when the doors slammed shut behind him, nor did he know that the Alpha King’s wolf was fighting violently against its master’s command.

Cassian had not rejected Elias because he didn’t want him.

He had rejected him because, twenty-three years earlier, the royal family had sworn that if the last heir of the ancient bloodline ever returned, the king’s mate would have to die.