Chapter 2: The Price of a King

The silence in the ballroom did not fade; it deepened, wrapping around me until it felt impossible to breathe.

Derek’s hand rested firmly on my waist, his body close enough that I could feel the steady rhythm of his heartbeat against my back. It was calm, controlled, and completely at odds with the chaos rising inside me. The bond between us pulsed beneath my skin, sharp and alive, as though something ancient had just awakened and refused to be ignored. It was nothing like what I had felt with Drail. That had been soft, almost comforting.

This felt consuming.

Drail stared at us as though reality had shifted without his permission. The confidence he carried shattered in plain sight, leaving him pale and unsteady.

“That’s impossible,” he said, his voice strained. “Raya is my mate. The bond—”

“The bond was never yours to claim,” Derek replied, his voice quiet but absolute.

His fingers tightened slightly, pulling me closer in a way that felt deliberate, possessive, and impossible to resist. My breath caught as the heat between us intensified, drawing attention even without words.

“You mistook proximity for destiny,” Derek continued calmly. “Now step aside, because you are standing in something that no longer belongs to you.”

Sienna let out a sharp, disbelieving laugh, stepping forward as her composure broke. “You speak as though you still have power here. You were cast out. You are nothing but a rogue pretending to be more.”

Derek did not even glance at her.

Instead, he turned his attention to the Council Elder. “Tate, the blood has been taken and the mark has been sealed. I want the truth, not hesitation. Is my claim valid?”

Tate swallowed hard as his gaze moved between the two brothers. Drail looked shaken, his control slipping, while Derek stood unmoved, as though the outcome had never been in question.

“The bond of a firstborn twin carries greater authority,” Tate said carefully. “If the mate is shared, it overrides the younger twin’s claim. By law, Derek is the Alpha-elect.”

The room erupted, but the noise felt distant.

All I could feel was the weight of Derek’s presence behind me and the way the bond tightened with every passing second, as though it refused to let me go.

I pulled away before I could lose myself completely.

“Raya!”

Drail’s voice followed, but I did not turn back. I moved quickly through the crowd, pushing past the curtains and into the corridor, desperate for space that did not smell like Derek or feel like him.

I barely reached the corner before pain snapped through my scalp.

My head jerked back as fingers tangled into my hair, and I was slammed against the cold wall hard enough to steal the air from my lungs.

Sienna stood in front of me, her face twisted with something raw and bitter.

“You really could not let it go,” she said, her voice trembling with anger. “You just had to come back and take everything.”

I tried to push her away, but she pressed closer, her hand flattening against my throat just enough to hold me in place.

“You are hurting me,” I managed, my voice tight.

“Hurt you?” she snapped. “I am the one you are destroying.”

Her hand drifted to her stomach as her expression shifted, carefully, deliberately.

“I am carrying his child,” she continued, her voice rising. “I am carrying the future of this pack, and you walk in here with him as if none of that matters. You are trying to take everything from my baby because you could not accept losing.”

My anger rose despite the pressure against my throat.

“You betrayed me,” I said, my voice steady despite everything. “You stood there while he humiliated me, and you said nothing.”

“Because we chose each other,” she shot back, her eyes filling with tears that came too easily to be real. “What we have is real. You and Drail were never anything but an obligation. And now you have attached yourself to a man who will destroy you just to prove a point.”

By then, people had begun to gather at the edge of the hallway.

Sienna noticed immediately.

Her posture softened, her expression breaking into something fragile as she stepped back slightly, her hand protectively over her stomach.

“How could you do this to me?” she cried, her voice carrying just enough to draw sympathy. “I trusted you. I told you I was afraid, and you still chose to marry his brother just to hurt me.”

The whispers began again, soft but sharp.

I tried to speak, but she did not give me the space.

“You have always needed to be seen,” she murmured, lowering her voice while keeping it within reach of listening ears. “And when Derek is done with you, he will throw you away.”

Her hand lifted toward my face.

This time, I did not close my eyes.

The impact never came.

Derek’s hand closed around her wrist mid-air, stopping her with a force that made her gasp.

The shift in the atmosphere was immediate.

He stepped closer, his presence overwhelming, his gaze fixed on her with a cold intensity that made even me still.

“Did you just try to strike my wife?” he asked quietly.

Sienna’s confidence broke instantly. “You are hurting me,” she cried. “I am pregnant.”

His grip did not loosen.

“That does not protect you from consequences,” he replied.

There was something in his voice that made my pulse quicken, not from fear, but from something far more complicated.

“If you ever raise your hand against her again, you will not recover from it.”

He released her without another word.

She collapsed, clutching her arm, her composure gone as she cried out.

Drail appeared moments later, his expression shifting from confusion to alarm. “Sienna, what happened?”

Derek moved slightly, placing himself between us without hesitation.

“Take her and leave,” he said calmly. “Before I decide that you should not.”

Drail hesitated, but only for a moment. He helped Sienna up, his grip tight as he led her away, though his eyes lingered on me with something bitter and unresolved.

When they were gone, the silence returned again.

This time, it felt different.

My body trembled as the adrenaline faded, leaving me unsteady.

Derek turned to me, his hands settling on my shoulders, grounding me before I could step away.

“Look at me,” he said.

I did.

Up close, his presence felt even stronger, his gaze steady and unyielding.

“Did she hurt you?” he asked.

“No,” I answered softly.

His thumb brushed along my jaw, slow and deliberate, and the simple touch sent a strange warmth through me.

“That is not something I will allow,” he said.

There was no hesitation in his voice.

“The bond,” I said quietly, unable to ignore it any longer. “What happened in there… was it real?”

He did not answer immediately.

Instead, he leaned closer, his breath warm against my neck as he paused just long enough to make my pulse race.

When he inhaled, it was slow, deliberate, as though he was memorizing me.

“You feel it,” he murmured. “You know it is not something that can be faked.”

My breath caught.

When he pulled back, his gaze locked onto mine, darker now, more intense.

“I do not deal in lies,” he said. “I deal in certainty.”

My heart pounded harder.

“And you,” he added, his voice lowering, “are mine in every way that matters.”

The words should have unsettled me, but instead they settled somewhere deep inside me, anchoring something I did not fully understand.

He reached into his pocket and placed a heavy iron key into my palm, his fingers lingering just a moment longer than necessary.

“Go to the master suite,” he said. “Third floor. Do not open the door for anyone but me.”

“Where are you going?” I asked, unable to stop myself.

“To finish this,” he replied, a faint edge to his tone.

I caught his sleeve before he could turn away.

“Derek… tell me the truth,” I said, my voice softer now. “Am I just part of your plan?”

He was in front of me again before I could process the movement.

His hands found my waist, pulling me closer until there was no space left between us.

“If you were only part of a plan,” he said quietly, “I would not be standing this close trying to control myself.”

My breath faltered.

His gaze dropped briefly to my lips before returning to my eyes.

“There are easier ways to win power,” he continued. “None of them involve losing control.”

The tension between us shifted, deepening into something heavier, something that pulled at me just as strongly as it held me in place.

“Go,” he said finally, his voice lower now, strained in a way that made my pulse jump. “Before I forget that this is not the place for what I want.”

I did not argue.

I turned and made my way upstairs, my thoughts racing as much as my heartbeat.

By the time I reached the master suite, my fingers were trembling slightly as I slid the key into the lock.

The door opened slowly.

Someone was already there, He sat on the edge of the bed, completely at ease, as though he had been waiting for me.

My breath caught as I took him in.

The same eyes.

But there was blood on him, dark and fresh, and a jagged scar across his face that had not been there before.

“Finally,” he said, rising to his feet.

His voice sounded like Derek’s, but there was something off about it, something colder.

“Derek?” I asked, my grip tightening on the door.

He smiled slowly, and the expression sent a chill down my spine.

“Derek is downstairs claiming a throne,” he said. “I prefer… different things.”

He stepped closer, and instinctively, I stepped back.

“I am the one he does not introduce,” he continued. “The one who does not follow rules.”

The door slammed shut behind me.

I flinched.

He was closer now, close enough that I could feel the heat of him, close enough that the air shifted.

“Tell me,” he murmured, his gaze fixed on mine, “did he explain everything before sending you here?”

My throat tightened. “Explain what?”

His smile deepened, slow and dangerous.

“That there are two of us,” he said softly.

He leaned closer, his voice dropping just enough to make every word feel deliberate.

“And only one of us knows how to break you properly.”

My breath hitched.

His hand lifted, not touching me yet, just hovering close enough to make the anticipation unbearable.

“So tell me, Raya,” he continued, his eyes dark with something I could not read, “when he kissed you… did it feel like this?”

And just before his fingers finally brushed my skin—

The lights went out.