Chapter 11

Jules  POV

His eyes were cold, unblinking, as if he were staring through Gunner, seeing not the alpha of the Ravenstone Pack but merely a man unworthy of his time.

Gunner, however, didn’t flinch. He met Lucian’s eyes with a calculating smile, seemingly unbothered by the refusal. He was used to having everything at his disposal, used to being in control. His hands were clasped tightly together, his fingers intertwined as he stood lost in thought.

“You misunderstand, Lucian,” Gunner said smoothly, his tone laced with mock sympathy. “This is not a matter of buying or selling. This is a business proposition. You get what you want, and I get what I want.”

He leaned forward slightly, the gleam in his eyes growing sharper. “Ten thousand talons is a fair price for a slave like him. You know the value of such things. But for you… I’m willing to make it better.”

He waved his hand dismissively as he stepped back clearly not expecting Lucian to back down. “Fifty thousand talons,” Gunner said, his voice oozing confidence. “More than enough to make up for whatever price you place on him. 

The crowd seemed to stir at the increased offer, murmurs rippling through the room. Lucian, however, remained stone-faced. His refusal was absolute, the quiet power in his silence louder than any words could be.

“I don’t need your gold,” Lucian replied with an icy calmness, his voice growing colder with each word. “And I will not sell him, not for anything. He is not a possession, Gunner. Not even for ten million talons.” His eyes burned with the fierceness of his conviction, as if the very idea of selling him was beneath him. "You think your wealth can buy everything, but it can’t buy him freedom."

Gunner’s smile faded, though the challenge in his eyes only sharpened. “You doubt me, Lucian,” he said again, his tone growing more insistent. “You’ve always been difficult. Very well. Seventy five thousand talons. A fair price, don’t you think?”

Lucian’s jaw tightened, his gaze unwavering. He’d had enough. He didn’t even look at the pile of gold that had now accumulated in front of Gunner, growing with each new offer. His refusal didn’t waver, not for a single second.

“No price is worth what you’re asking,” Lucian’s voice was a harsh whisper now, filled with conviction and resolve. “Not for him. 

And just then, in my mind, I thought, If I were to go back with Lucian to his pack, I might lose my life. King Gunner, if he found out the truth, if he discovered I was a girl, he would likely kill me without a second thought. But... I don’t care. With this amount of gold, I could do anything I wanted. I could start a new life, one where I wasn’t someone’s pawn. Maybe I could escape this twisted world of power struggles, of men fighting over me like I was nothing more than a prize to be claimed.

The decision weighed heavily on me, but it felt oddly freeing. There were whispers in the crowd that faded to white noise as I began to find sense in the disorder. All I could now hear was myself ringing against the silence.

"I will accept the 75,000 talons," I said, my voice assured, while the storm that was rumbling within me.

The room erupted immediately. Some gasped, some cursed under their breath, but everybody was watching me, their eyes wide and lips parted, like they couldn’t believe what they had just witnessed. The weight in the room deepened, everyone was hanging on my every word, wondering what the hell I was thinking.

Gunner's smile widened, clearly satisfied, and his men shuffled to the one side, anticipating the exchange. Even Gunner's victory could not shake the stunned disbelief in the atmosphere.

Lucian, however, felt stone still frozen in place. It was as if he had, in that one second, realized how swiftly I had fallen into this scheme of manipulation and greed.

He took a steadying breath and stepped forward, rigid in form and attitude; the atmosphere shifted. Lucian's glare was fierce as if he was looking at me, desperately attempting to reassemble the debris of my decision. And in that glare, I thought I saw something resembling... possession. It made my spine tingle, and involuntarily, my throat tightened, suffocating me in its grip.

I could nearly hear the silent questions of that glare projected in the space between us. What have you done?

But his stillness was far more terrifying. In sight of the chaos surrounding us, Lucian was comparably still, his gaze focused, his body tight. He looked at me like I had made some terrible mistake that would lead to my undoing, and somewhere in my mind, I distinctly acknowledged the same.

The small crowd hushed as they waited to see how, or even if, Lucian would react to me, but I could see his attention was somehow tunnelled to me. Every part of him was all but ready to explode as if he wished he could rip that decision away from me. I felt like I was teetering on the edge of a cliff.

And then, without a word, Lucian shifted his gaze to Gunner and tension escalated in the room.

Lucian's voice echoed across the room, strong and rich, the authority behind his tone a palpable physical presence in my chest. "You have no right to a say in this," he snarled, the wintry chill in voice crested like ice. "I own you, and you have no options." 

His eyes of dark, brooding gold, returned to solid; slowly, agonizingly, shifting into a deep blood-red, the intensity of his eyes shining like molten lava. It was horrifying, an inimitable sign of his anger, and his power. His jaw clenched tightly, and I could see his body feeling the thrusts of other violence kept barely contained. 

The room was silent, as one could feel the sensation, the build up of energy at the moment of storm, and even the bravest in the room started to shrink back. "You are not taking the gold," he said in a low, lethal tone. "And we are leaving, NOW!"

While he spoke, his claws erupted with sickening confidence, long, sharp, and honed like blades. They burst from his fingertips at the speed of thought, the air around him charged with his primal instinct. His claws glistened, daggers exuberating enough of an aura to slice through anything in the way.

His transformation wasn’t just physical; it was the very essence of his power, the raw dominance that struck terror in the hearts of those around him. The people in the room flinched, taking a step back, the once celebratory atmosphere now replaced with fear. Even Gunner’s grin faltered for a moment, as he realized the full weight of Lucian’s wrath.

Lucian's gaze snapped back to me, his expression dark, seething with a mix of fury and possessiveness. He took a step forward, and the air around him seemed to hum with danger. 

“I said, we are leaving,” he repeated, his voice dripping with menace.

I could barely breathe. His power was suffocating, his presence overwhelming. It was like standing in front of a storm that could destroy everything in its path and all of it was directed at me. His grip on me was no longer just physical—it was a possessive force that left me powerless, trembling under the weight of his unyielding will.

Everyone was still, frozen, watching the scene unfold in stunned silence. Even alpha Gunner, usually so confident in his own power, couldn’t help but take a cautious step back. Lucian wasn’t just a king; he was a force of nature, a beast that commanded fear and respect in equal measure. And in that moment, it was clear—he was not going to let anyone take what was his.

I was his. And nothing, not even seventy five thousand talons was going to change that.

I struggled against Lucian’s hold, my hands shaking, my heart racing. The weight of his power was suffocating, but something inside me snapped—something that refused to be crushed beneath the pressure. I looked up at him, my voice cracking with a mix of defiance and desperation.

“You can’t just wake up one day and claim whoever you choose just because you’re an alpha,” I said, my voice trembling but laced with frustration. Tears welled in my eyes, and I quickly wiped them away, refusing to let him see me break. “I’m not some… possession you can just take!”

The words almost slipped from my mouth before I could stop myself, and I barely caught them. “I’m a princess,” I muttered under my breath, as if saying it aloud could somehow make it real. "I’m not a slave, or someone you can just throw around like a pawn."

The rage and hurt burned in my chest, making my thoughts spin wildly. If only things were different. If only my father hadn’t been so blind, so foolish, to let his pride lead him into this mess. If only he hadn’t failed me, leaving me to the whims of people like alpha Gunner and Lucian.

I clenched my fists, the weight of the situation crashing down on me again. My life, my identity, everything I had known was slipping away.

If only I hadn’t been born into this damned life.

Lucian's grip tightened further, his eyes dark blunt. He remained silent, but that silence held heavy. The room itself seemed to have drawn in its breath, as if the tension might break. I was aware that I was being careless, even dangerous in what I said, but the honesty of it burned within me like a fire I could not put out. 

Lucian's voice was low, guttural, and menacing, like the growl of a predator before it delivers a fatal bite. 

"I could kill you in a second. If you say one word," He spat thick with venom. His blazing red eyes bore holes into me that made my blood freeze. 

He turned his head to Gunner, seemingly unaffected by Lucian's threat, his face expressionless. 

"Thank you for your splendid hospitality." Lucian said in a low, dangerously polite tone, but the warning underneath was clear. "But I would like to return to my room now. You can continue your celebration without me."

Before I had a chance to think about anything, Lucian's big hands shot out and grabbed me with brutal precision. He swept me up onto his shoulder, my body still shocked and limp. The immediate sensation of my arms and legs being trapped in his steely grip was shocking. 

I barely had time to process what was going on before I was being carried away from the rooms, the last memory I was aware of behind me was a hazy combination of talking and laughing. The last thing I saw before the door slammed shut was Gale's smile, that cocky knowing smirk that made my stomach turn. His eyes met mine, and we shared an electric moment. He understood something that I didn't.

Why was he smiling? What was so funny about this?

I didn't know. As I was carried through the hallways by Lucian, my brain a haze of confusion and fear, I thought how despite being man-handled horrifyingly, the way he was carrying me seemed... almost possessive. I even felt like I could sense him almost wanting to show everyone that I was his but carrying me like I was something he owned to prove his point.

And then, I still couldn't stop that thought - why had Gale smiled? What was his game in all of this?