She belongs here

Raiden’s POV

I knew before he opened his mouth.

The false bow. The overly polished words. The gifts spread like a bribe before my throne. Darius Blackwood was silver-tongued slime in an Alpha’s skin, and I could smell his rot from here.

And then—her.

The doors shifted and she entered, unannounced, unwilling, but there she was. My little wolf. Clean, radiant, almost otherworldly in the dress my maidens had forced upon her. Light clung to her in ways that made the rest of the hall dull by comparison.

Her gaze locked on him first. Not me. On Darius.

I didn’t like the sudden hitch in her breath. I didn’t like the way her pulse faltered when she saw him.

But I liked even less the smug curl of his lips when their eyes met.

Pathetic. He thought she was still his.

“Your Majesty,” he began, voice drenched in syrupy humility, “I come with offerings to honor your reign. One of my wolves strayed from Bloodfang. A… lost wolf. Her absence dishonors us. Allow me to return her where she belongs. She is weak, untrained, and unworthy of royal attention.”

The words slid from him like venom, practiced, purposeful. He wasn’t speaking to me. Not really. He was cutting her with every syllable.

And I saw it.

The flicker in her eyes. That faint sting. The wound he still had power to leave behind. Her head tilted down just slightly, just for a breath.

My claws twitched at my sides.

But then—she lifted her chin.

Her voice rang out, clear and sharp, cutting through the hall like steel. “I am no lost wolf, Alpha Darius. You cast me out. You made it clear I was nothing to you.”

The room went still. Even my warriors dared not breathe.

Her gaze locked on his, unwavering. “Remember this: I didn’t leave you. You threw me away. And one day, you will come begging for me.”

For a moment, silence. Then Darius laughed—ugly, hollow. “Big words, Aria. A jest, surely. You? Worthy of me begging?”

Her lips curved. Not in a smile. In defiance.

And then she did something that stole even my breath.

She turned, deliberate, toward me. The fire in her eyes was mine now, not his. Each step she took echoed with the weight of choice, until she stood before me.

And without hesitation, she claimed me.

Her hand slid around my shoulder, the other pressing against my chest. She lowered herself onto my lap, settling against me like she’d been born for the throne beside mine.

“I belong here,” she said, her voice echoing like a vow, like a brand against the air itself. Her chin lifted, her defiance aimed at Darius but her warmth pressed against me. Her fingers tightened on my chest, and she finished, steady, unshaken—

“With him.”

The hall roared with silence. My warriors froze, jaws tight, eyes wide. Darius’s face drained of color, his smirk faltering, rage bleeding through his mask.

And me?

A shiver cut through me—sharp, dangerous, alive. It had been centuries since anything made me feel this way. Her weight against me, her scent curling into my lungs, her voice binding itself into my blood.

My lips curved into something rare. Something I hadn’t allowed in a lifetime.

A smirk.

Because in that moment, she wasn’t just mine.

She chose me.

And Darius Blackwood had just lost far more than he realized.

   DARIUS POV

I felt the shift before she even touched him.

Before she crossed the floor.

Before she opened her mouth and ended me.

Aria.

Aria, who should have been bowing before me.

Aria, who should have been trembling, apologizing, crawling back.

Instead, she walked toward the Lycan King like she had fire in her blood and heaven at her back. She didn’t look at me again. Not once. Not even to see if her words had landed their blow.

And the moment she lowered herself onto his lap—

I felt something inside me snap so hard I nearly flinched.

But I didn’t.

I couldn’t.

I was Alpha.

My face remained a mask—neutral, diplomatic, polished. The same expression I’d perfected for decades. The one that hid every foul thing I felt. The one that kept my authority intact.

But inside?

Inside I was a storm tearing apart its own sky.

His hands were on her.

The King. The dangerous Lycan beast every wolf feared. His massive hand curved along her thigh like he’d done it a thousand times. Like she belonged there. Like she was his.

How long did I let her go and now this? All so soon???

And she let him.

Worse—she leaned into him. Relaxed. Comfortable.

Her fingers curled on his shoulder like she trusted him.

My jaw tightened so sharply I felt my molars grind. I swallowed it down. All of it. Rage. Shock. Disbelief. The sick twist of possessiveness I had no right to feel. The humiliation burning under my skin.

She was supposed to be weak.

She was supposed to be nothing.

I told myself that for years. I carved it into her. I made her believe it.

Yet here she sat—powerful, radiant, wanted by a king.

And I…

I was standing like a fool in the center of his hall with my mouth dry and my pride bleeding out of me.

She said I would come begging.

A joke. It had to be.

But something in her eyes when she looked at me—

That warning glint I had always ignored—

It told me she believed every word.

And that terrified me more than her defiance.

Because she had never looked at me like that before.

She had never looked at anyone like she looked at him.

I forced my breath steady. Forced my shoulders not to tense. Forced my wolf to heel when it snarled in my head, pacing, furious, demanding I drag her away from him.

But I couldn’t shift here. I couldn’t shout. I couldn’t attack.

Not in the cursed king’s fortress.

Not in front of his warriors.

Not when his claws were already itching against her thigh, like he was daring me to try something.

No.

I had to think.

I had to be smarter than my fury.

So I knelt there. Silent. Perfectly composed. My back straight, my hands clasped behind me so no one would see how tightly they trembled.

I let the humiliation sink in just enough to fuel the fire—but not enough to crack my mask.

The king smirked.

Aria stayed on him, head held high.

And the entire hall watched me with thinly veiled interest, waiting for the Alpha of Bloodfang to lose control.

I didn’t.

I bowed instead.

Slow. Controlled. A gesture that made my blood scream.

“Your Majesty,” I said, voice smooth as ice, “thank you for hearing me today.”

I felt Aria’s eyes on me.

I didn’t meet them.

Not now.

Not when I knew I would see triumph in them.

I turned as if at ease, as if nothing inside me was burning, as if her defiance hadn’t cut through me in front of an entire royal court.

But the moment my back was to them, my mind sharpened like a blade.

She wants to challenge me? Fine.
She wants to play beneath a king? Let her.
But Aria will learn.
They always learn.

And if she thought this was the end of our story—

She was painfully, beautifully wrong.

Because I wasn’t finished.

Not with her.

Not with the king.

Not with any of this.

Let them enjoy their moment.

I would make my next move soon enough.

And when I do?

The entire kingdom would feel it.