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I couldn't sleep. The weight of Cassian’s tender words and the looming threat of the council kept my mind racing.Seeking quiet, I walked out onto my private balcony, wrapping a thick velvet robe around my shoulders. The night air was cool, carrying the sharp scent of pine from the surrounding mountains."You look like you're carrying the weight of the whole kingdom, little queen."I spun around. Prince Adrian sat casually on the stone railing, swinging one leg over the edge. Cassian's younger brother offered a crooked, charming grin, though his eyes were unusually serious."Prince Adrian," I breathed, taking a quick step back. "You shouldn't be here. The guards…"" are on my payroll for the next ten minutes," Adrian interrupted, hopping smoothly off the wall. He raised his hands defensively. "Relax, Lilian. I’m not here to threaten you. I came to give you something you deserve: the truth.""The truth about what?""About Cassian
The poison in the assassin's silver blade kept Cassian bedridden for two days, but by the third morning, he had forced his way back onto his feet. The palace was on lockdown. Guards stood at every corner, and the tension in the air was so thick it felt like glass ready to shatter.I sat in the medical bay, holding a small stone vial of warm moon-tea, while Dr. Elias scanned my abdomen with a hovering silver crystal.The crystal didn't just glow it vibrated. A gentle, rhythmic pulse of pale blue light resonated through the air, humming in harmony with my own heartbeat.Dr. Elias froze. He lowered his spectacles, his hand trembling so hard the crystal rattled in his grip. "By the First Queen...""What is it?" I asked, setting the tea aside as panic surged in my chest. "Is something wrong with the baby?"Cassian pushed through the double doors, his face pale from the lingering silver poison, but his eyes razor-sharp. "Elias. Report.""S
# CHAPTER 4 — MY KING'S WOLF CHOOSES MECassian stared at the three-hundred-year-old portrait, his body locked in rigid shock. The silence between us stretched tight, heavy with the weight of an ancient truth neither of us could deny."It wasn't a coincidence," he said softly, his voice raw. He turned to me, his gaze dropping to my lips before rising back to my eyes. "The contract. The match. The mate bond. None of it was a coincidence.""Cassian, stop," I said, backing away until my shoulders touched the cold stone wall beneath the painting. "You're reacting to an ancient story and a bloodline marker. I came here under a contract to save my family. I am your surrogate, not a royal, and certainly not your queen."He bridged the distance between us in a single, fluid stride, trapping me against the wall. His broad chest blocked out the gallery light, and his heat washed over me in thick waves."Do you really think my wolf cares
The morning after eavesdropping on Lady Celeste, I was summoned to the palace's private medical wing.The air smelled strongly of crushed moon-herbs and antiseptic. Dr. Elias, an elderly man with kind, silver eyes and the refined robes of a senior supernatural healer, adjusted his gold-rimmed spectacles as he reviewed my blood samples.Cassian stood near the reinforced glass door, his arms crossed tightly over his broad chest. He hadn't spoken a word since leading me out of the conservatory last night, but his presence was a heavy, suffocating shield between me and the rest of the palace."Remarkable," Dr. Elias muttered, his fingers hovering over a glowing crystalline lens that analyzed my DNA. "Simply remarkable.""Is something wrong with the surrogate, Elias?" Cassian asked, his voice low and sharp. "Is she ill?""Ill? No, Your Majesty. She is in extraordinary health," Dr. Elias said, turning to look at me with a profound, almost reverent awe. "However, Miss Hart’s blood contains s
The air in the king’s private study crackled like a lightning strike. Cassian stared at his own palm, his chest heaving under his tailored uniform, before lifting his gaze back to mine. His eyes were still burning amber, wild and predatory, battling for control against the cold, disciplined monarch he forced himself to be."Your Majesty?" I whispered, taking an involuntary step back. My own heart was hammering against my ribs, a strange, liquid heat pooling in my blood where our skin had touched.Cassian snapped his hands behind his back, his fingers curling into tight fists. He closed his eyes, taking three long, agonizingly slow breaths until the glowing amber in his irises slowly receded, leaving behind the icy blue eyes of the Alpha King. When he opened them, the wall was back up thicker and colder than before."The quarters prepared for you on the third floor are insufficient," he said, his voice clipped and unnaturally formal, tho
At twenty-four, I had never kissed a man.Not because I was deeply religious, or because I lacked suitors in our rugged border pack, but because I was terribly, stupidly stubborn about love. I wanted trust. I wanted a connection so clear and absolute that I would never have to doubt it. In a world of wild instincts and primal instincts, holding out for genuine trust felt like asking for the stars.Then my family ran out of time, and the stars suddenly had a heavy price tag."It’s twenty million credits, Lilian," my older sister, Mira, whispered, her knuckles white where she gripped the edge of our worn kitchen table. The paper beneath her hands bore the official, terrifying crest of the Silvermoon Royal Palace. "It pays off Father’s medical debts. It buys back our pack land from the banks. It secures our family for three generations. But it means... this."I took the thick document from her trembling fingers. My eyes skimme







