The Lycan Prince’s Silent Bride

Annalise POVThe carriage wheels screamed against the cobblestones, louder than my voice had ever been.I slowly pressed my hand against the glass, watching the tall black gates of my father’s mansion come into view. They hadn’t changed in the years since I had last seen them. Still towering, still cold, still promising nothing but walls. For a heartbeat, my chest tightened as if I were that little girl again—mute, unwanted, standing too small in a house too cruel.I was back home.But not really.I hadn’t been welcome here since the day my stepmother decided my silence was shame. I’d been taken to a far-off town under the pretense of “study,” but we all knew it was banishment. Out of sight. Out of mind. Out of the way of Dahlia’s glittering smile.Now, I had been summoned back, pulled into the orbit of a family that had long ago cast me aside. For what? A wedding I wasn’t part of. A sister who had always lived the life I could never touch.The gates groaned open, the sound slicing th

Alaric’s POVThe smell of wolves always sickened me. Their halls reeked of wet fur and desperation, though they’d polished every marble surface to a blinding sheen for this wedding.My wedding.I stood at the altar in my black ceremonial armor, the silver wolf sigil etched beneath the Lycan crest … a cruel mockery of unity. Wolves and Lycans could barely share a border without bloodshed, yet here I was, binding myself to one of theirs.“For politics,” Mother had said. “For power.”And power, I liked.The grand oak doors groaned open, and silence fell over the gathered nobles. The bride appeared…My bride.She was draped in ivory, her face veiled. My jaw tightened. The spoiled daughter of the Beta known as a spoilt brat.Everyone’s eyes turned to her, but mine locked instantly as her scent hit me first.A strange scent rolled towards me… not wolf, not kin, not anything I knew. It was… human. My jaw tightened. My chest burned with rage.… My nostrils flared, searching, testing the

Alarics povThe taste of wolf stench clung to the back of my throat, bitter and foul. My mother’s soldiers lined the path to our carriage, like armored shadows glinting beneath the moon.The whispers of wolves and Lycans alike trailed after us like ghosts. They weren’t cheering.. They weren’t celebrating... They were waiting.. waiting for the first sign of fracture in the fragile treaty that had been signed in blood. This was politics after all.The girl at my side moved like someone who had been walking through cages her entire life, who had learned long ago not to falter even when the bars dug into her skin and I felt oddly drawn to that.The carriage door quickly shut with a hollow thud, sealing us inside. She sat across from me, with her hands folded neatly in her lap. Those blue eyes never stopped staring. Not timidly, not defiantly, but as though she were searching for something inside me.My bride… though she wasn’t supposed to be.The instant she stepped into that hall, I k

Annalise’s povThe scent hit me first, it smelled heavenly like a blend of sandalwood and darkspices… Santal Noir as the girls back at the pack I stayed called it..I woke up with a painful jerk as the horse jumped over something but I was held tightly and firmly against a warm hard surface that rippled and vibrated each time we moved.Alaric?He held me so close to himself that despite the cold wind hitting us I felt strangely warm..I slowly raised my painful and throbbing head to see if I was dreaming or if I was actually dead only to find his caked blood face and neck.. his flaming amber eyes fixed on the darkness.Slowly, he darted his gaze to meet mine and when our eyes locked for the umpteenth time since we got married, I couldn’t help but feel mesmerized by his inhumanly beauty despite how exhausted he looked.‘Wait! Did I just.. No.. I’m sure it’s the effect of my throbbing head cause why would I think of him as handsome’Embarrassed at how I had just pictured him.. I tried t

Annalise’s POVMy head throbbed with pain, my legs were heavy, Each step I took felt like dragging chains across the ground. The pack stretched on endlessly, lined with pretty houses and cold-eyed people who watched us pass with their judgemental faces.At first, I tried to match his pace. Alaric’s stride was sharp, purposeful, like a predator with no time to waste. But my body ached as the bruises layered over my skin felt like they were on fire and exhaustion was taking over my body, a dull reminder of the ambush that still haunted me. The pounding of my heart hadn’t slowed since I came down from the horse.He noticed, of course. I caught the flicker of his gaze when my steps faltered, but his lips pressed into a thin line, as if the admission of weakness offended him. He said nothing... He didn’t have to. His silence was louder than any reprimand.‘I think I might pass out if not die by the time we actually get to his castle cause what’s all this stress’.“I don’t have the time f