CHAPTER 5: The King at my Door.

"Get up!" I jerked awake as my eyes adjusted to the dim room. My hand flew to my neck the mark was still there before I could examine it, my blanket was ripped away.

"Up." Alpine, my stepmother, stood beside my bed already dressed. "The elders will be here soon."

"I thought they were coming later."

"And I thought you'd have enough sense to wake yourself." She threw a pile of clothes onto the bed and turned toward the door. "Get dressed and cover your neck."

My hand went instinctively to the mark as she narrowed her eyes.

"I don't want anyone seeing it before we know what exactly you've done." She gave me a cold look before leaving.

I dressed quickly, then reached for the small vial hidden beneath my pillow. The witch's perfume. I'd paid everything I had for it a scent to mask what I truly was. One drop behind each ear, one at the base of my throat. The mark burned beneath my collar as I applied it but the perfume's magic worked instantly, burying my scent.

By the time I entered the hallway, servants rushed around in a frenzy. The entire house felt charged with electricity.

Mother Alpine waited in the foyer, her face a mask of barely controlled panic. "Whatever happens today, keep your mouth shut."

"The elders are coming to decide whether you're worth taking." The familiar humiliation burned through me as I looked away.

"My lady!" A servant rushed through the entrance. "The royal convoy has crossed the outer gates!"

Everyone froze as my heart skipped.

A second servant hurried in behind him. "The Lycan King has arrived." Immediately the room erupted into whispers.

Fenrir.

The name alone made my blood run cold. The Lycan King. The most feared ruler of all lycanthropes. I had heard stories, whispers from servants, warnings from elders. He was merciless and ruthless. A predator who had never claimed a mate.

My stepmother straightened. "Everyone to their positions."

I climbed the grand staircase quickly, desperate for a clear view of the gates from the upper balcony, I watched a line of black carriages enter the courtyard as guards surrounded them like armor. Then the largest carriage stopped as he stepped out.

He was massive not merely tall but consuming. Broad shoulders, powerful frame, dark clothing stretched across him as he moved. The guards somehow made him look even more intimidating by comparison.

Every servant in the courtyard lowered their head as Father hurried forward.

I stared as a omething about him felt familiar but that was impossible. Then he looked up as our eyes met.

Everything inside me stopped as his eyes were unlike anything I had ever seen. He had Heterochromia. The rumors hadn't done them justice. They were the eyes of something ancient, something that had seen centuries of blood and conquest. They stripped through the distance between us through the walls and every defense I had ever built.

My wolf stirred violently as she completely went silent.

I gripped the balcony railing, my breath catching. Why had she stopped? Why had she surrendered so completely?

Fenrir's expression shifted as his entire body went rigid, those mismatched eyes narrowing on me like I was something he had been searching for.

Then he looked away,  His gaze swept past me scanning the other unmated she wolves who had gathered along the balconies and hallways something flickered across his face disappointment maybe or frustration.

He was looking for someone and I wasn't her.

My stepmother appeared beside me, grabbing my arm. "What are you doing? Go downstairs. Don't make a scene."

I stumbled down the stairs, my father already greeting the king.

"Your Majesty, it is an honor"

Fenrir barely acknowledged him as his eyes were cold now, distant. The intensity from moments before had vanished replaced by something bored and detached.

My stepmother nudged me sharply. "Greet him."

I stepped forward, palms sweating up close, he was devastating.  Scars marked his skin reminders of battles won and enemies destroyed, a king who had never needed a crown to command fear.

I lowered my head and bowed deeply showing the respect owed to the most feared ruler of the lycanthropes.

"Your Majesty." His eyes flickered to me silver and gold, predator and something else entirely. 

"Rise," he said, his voice flat.

I straightened as my heart pounding. He looked at me like I was nothing like I was just another wolf in a room full of candidates.

The elders gathered around us, their robes rustling as they took their places. An elderly wolf with silver streaked fur stepped forward.

"Your Majesty, we have gathered the eligible she wolves of noble bloodlines as requested each has been verified for health, lineage, and fertility."

Fenrir nodded once, his expression unreadable. "Proceed."

One by one, the unmated she wolves were presented before him. Daughters of Alphas, cousins of Betas each one beautiful and poised. They bowed and smiled trying  to catch his eye.

He barely looked at them.

My stepmother pushed me forward. "Stand straight. Don't embarrass us."

I joined the line of women, my hands trembling. This was it.......This was what the elders had been preparing for an auction of bloodlines, a selection of vessels.

Surrogate.

The word echoed in my mind. The King needed an heir despite his true mate remained undiscovered so the council had decided he would take a surrogate instead. Someone to bear his child while he continued his search.

Someone disposable.

I glanced at Fenrir as his eyes swept over the candidates with clinical detachment. He wasn't looking for a mate, he was looking for a breeding stock and then his gaze landed on me.

I froze as his eyes narrowed slightly. He studied me the way a merchant might study livestock, assessing value, lineage, potential.

"Her," he said as The room went silent.

My blood turned to ice.

"The girl with the dark hair. She will serve."

No.

The elder nodded, making a note. "Her bloodline is acceptable. Her father is"

"I don't care who her father is." Fenrir's voice cut through the air like a blade. "Her bloodline is pure. That's all that matters."

My stepmother's face split into a smile a genuine, triumphant smile as a he gripped my arm, her nails digging in. "You've been chosen. Do you understand what an honor this is?"

I couldn't breathe.

Honor.

I was being sold, Traded like cattle. My body would bear a child for a king who couldn't even look at me with warmth and the worst part was that my wolf had gone silent again. She had obeyed him. 

Why?

My father stepped forward, his face pale. "Your Majesty, I wasn't informed of this selection. My daughter is...."

"Your daughter is honored," my stepmother interrupted, her voice sharp. "She will serve the crown."

Fenrir watched the exchange with cold indifference. He didn't care about my father's protests nor about me.

I was just a means to an end.

"The ceremony will take place at moonrise," the elder announced. "Prepare her."

As they led me away, I glanced back at Fenrir. He had already turned away, speaking in low tones with one of his guards. He didn't look at me again.

The doors closed behind me, and my stepmother's grip on my arm tightened.

"You will do exactly as you're told," she hissed. "You will give him an heir, and you will not embarrass this family. Do you understand?"

I nodded, my throat too tight to speak. Arwen would be probably enjoying her mate ceremony with Adrian now but as they prepared me for my ceremony dressing me in white silk, brushing my hair until it shone I couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong.

But for one moment when our eyes first met on that balcony, I could have sworn I saw something else.

The man from the forest couldn't be Fenrir. The man from the forest had held me like I was precious. 

Fenrir looked at me like I was a transaction but as they led me to the ceremonial chamber, I couldn't stop the thought from forming.

The doors to the chamber opened. Fenrir stood at the altar his shoulders broad and unyielding.

The elder began the rites and just before I stepped forward to bind myself to him, Fenrir turned as his mismatched eyes met mine and this time he didn't look away.