Four

Four

Daisy

The clearing had gone so quiet I could hear my own pulse in my ears.

“I want her.” Even in a million years,I never thought I'd hear those words,not from Nathan, and definitely not from the Greek god in human form; Caspian.

His voice didn’t need to be loud. It carried anyway, low, controlled, and absolute. It rolled across the Blood Moon clearing and pressed every wolf to their knees without him lifting a finger.

My knees almost followed, but Nathan stepped in front of me instead.

“No.” His voice cracked with fury. I'd always known Nathan to be hot headed and blindsided by rage. Sometimes it pushed him to do stupid things, but right now, even I was shocked by his audacity. “You don’t get to walk into my territory and demand what’s mine.”

Mine. The word hit harder than the morning air. It was funny because he'd rejected me in front of the whole pack, and yet, he had the guts to lay claim on me?

“What are you doing?” Alpha Blackwood shot his son a warning look, his stern voice pulling back to the present. “Nathan. Stand down.”

But Nathan was already shaking, the veins in his neck standing out, his wolf too close to the surface.

“She belongs to this pack,” he snarled. “She belongs to me.”

Caspian didn’t even glance at him at first. His golden eyes stayed on my face, steady and unreadable.

“Belongs?” he repeated softly, like he was tasting the word and finding it bitter.

“Yes.” Nathan took a step forward. “She’s my rejected mate. She will serve this pack as I see fit.”

A ripple of murmurs spread through the warriors still kneeling in the dirt and when Caspian’s gaze finally shifted to Nathan, the emotion I saw in his eyes wasn't anger. It was assessment, with a hint of amusement flickering in his dark orbs.

“Alpha Blackwood,” Caspian said calmly, as if Nathan hadn’t spoken at all, “your pack owes the Crown a century settlement. Land, tribute, submission, and gold.”

“The terms,” he continued, voice smooth as polished steel, “have changed.”

My stomach dropped then.

“What?” Alpha Blackwood went pale. “Your Majesty, that's all we have to…”

“The debt will be settled through union.” Caspian cut him off, and the words fell like an executioner’s blade.

Silence. Complete, devastating and absolute silence echoed all around us.

“You can’t be serious,” Nathan barked. “This is outrageous.”

Caspian finally looked at him fully. “I am.”

“You don’t even know her,” Nathan snapped. “She’s wolfless. She’s nothing.”

“Nothing?”Caspian’s lip twitched as he murmured.

Slowly, he started walking toward us. Every step felt deliberate, as the gravel crunched beneath his polished shoes, the sound unbearably loud. The warriors pressed their foreheads deeper into the earth as he passed. Power radiated off him in suffocating waves and when stopped directly in front of me, for a heartbeat, the world disappeared.

Up close, he looked even more dangerous in daylight, in his tailored charcoal suit, and the dark ink winding up his throat like something alive beneath his skin. His golden eyes searched mine, not my body.

Me.

Then, instead of grabbing me like Nathan had moments ago, he asked quietly,

“Did he hurt you?”

The question was so unexpected I forgot how to breathe.

“Oh please.” Nathan let out a disbelieving laugh. “Don’t pretend you care….”

Nathan never got to finish before Caspian moved. I didn’t even see it happen. One second Nathan was standing, and the next, he was flat on his back in the dirt with Caspian’s hand wrapped around his throat.

Caspian hadn’t shifted, but Nathan had.

Fur burst across Nathan’s skin mid lunge, claws tearing through air,but Caspian caught him effortlessly, slamming him down hard enough to crack the stone beneath, like he weighed nothing.

Gasps erupted across the clearing, but no one dared to move, not even Nathan's father.

Nathan snarled, half wolf, half.man, thrashing beneath him, but Caspian didn’t strain.

He didn't pant, nor did he even look winded.

Didn’t even look winded.

“You dare,” Caspian said softly, tightening his grip, “to attack a reigning King on your knees?”

Nathan clawed at his wrist, choking.

“You speak of owning what you could not even protect,” Caspian continued, pressing his knee into Nathan’s chest. “You reek of entitlement and weakness.”

Nathan’s eyes bulged.

“Nathan!” Alpha Blackwood shouted, but he didn’t move. He couldn’t. No one could.

Caspian leaned down slightly, inhaling like he was about to deal his final blow, and then his eyes flicked to me and I saw his nostrils flare.

His expression changed as the air shifted. His jaw tightened as his gaze returned to Nathan, and something primal and lethal flashed across his face.

“You touched her,” he said quietly. “Didn't you?”

Nathan’s struggles weakened, like he knew he'd gotten into more trouble than earlier.

I could see it now, the moment Caspian scented it fully. He had smelled Nathan’s hands on my skin, his grip on my shoulders, and the way he had shook me.

“How dare you?” Caspian let out a low growl that screamed bloody murder. The possessive rage that flooded Caspian’s features was not political, it was personal, and I just knew if I didn't intervene, then chances were, Nathan wasn't going to be alive to see the next second. “You'll pay for….”

“Stop.” My voice came out hoarse. Caspian didn’t move, he just froze, but only slightly.

“Stop,” I said again, louder this time, stepping forward. “You’ll kill him.”

His eyes lifted to mine, gold blazing.

“Do you want me to?” he asked.

The question was terrifying because it wasn’t rhetorical.

The pack watched me. The Alpha, the warriors, even Octavian, silent and observant near the SUVs, a faint, knowing smirk on his lips.

This was a test.

“Dont.” I swallowed. “No.”

A beat passed, and then Caspian released Nathan like he was nothing more than discarded trash.

Nathan collapsed, coughing violently, his wolf retreating under humiliation and fury.

Caspian rose smoothly, adjusting his cuffs as if he hadn’t just dismantled the future Alpha of Blood Moon without shifting.

He turned back to me.

“Do you still feel anything for him?” he asked.

The question struck deeper than I expected.

I looked at Nathan, on his knees now, gasping for air, with dirt smeared across his face. The boy who had once been my friend, the man who had called me property, who'd wanted me to be his breeder, nothing short of a pet, and then I looked at Caspian.

A King who had claimed me as settlement for a blood debt..Who terrified me and had asked if I was hurt in the same sentence

My chest tightened and I hated how I didn’t know what I felt. I felt it all at once. Anger, shame, confusion, down to heat that still lingered from last night.

“I…”

“Your Majesty.” Alpha Blackwood’s voice cut through the moment like a blade and ee all turned.

The Alpha stood rigid, pride clearly choking him, but survival winning.

“If union settles the century settlement…” he said carefully, “then Blood Moon accepts.”

The clearing erupted in shocked whispers.

“What?” Nathan’s head snapped up, shock evident in his eyes. “Father, you can’t…”

“Silence!” Alpha Blackwood roared, his authority finally cracking through. He dropped to one knee before Caspian. “We agree to the union.”

I stared at him. Just like that, I'd been given up as a trade. Except for the twins, everyone looked stunned.

Caspian did not.

Octavian stepped forward slightly, folding his hands behind his back, amusement dancing in his eyes like he had known this would happen all along.

Caspian’s gaze returned to me, and something almost satisfied flickered there.

“Good,” he said.

He extended his hand toward me, and I hesitated only a second before placing my hand in his.

His grip was warm and steady, but trust his next words to throw me off balance instantly.

“The ceremony will take place here,” he announced, his voice carrying across the clearing. “Tonight.”

A collective gasp rippled outward.

“Tonight?” someone whispered.

“No! That will not happen!” Nathan surged to his feet again, fury overtaking humiliation. “You don’t get to just take her!”

“Too bad.” Caspian didn’t even look at him this time. “I already have.”

My heart slammed against my ribs as realization hit me square in the chest.

Tonight.

I was being bound to a King before the moon rose again.

Caspian leaned closer, his lips brushing the shell of my ear, his voice too low for anyone else to hear.

“Run,” he murmured softly. “And I will burn this territory to ash before I find you.”

A shiver ran through me. Then he straightened, regal and untouchable once more.

“Prepare her,” he ordered, and for the first time in my life, the entire Blood Moon pack moved because of me.