Alle Kapitel von AUCTIONED TO THE LYCAN KING: Kapitel 61 – Kapitel 70

ASHERI told myself I was checking on an asset.That was the excuse I constructed as I walked through the corridors toward Maya's wing at a time when no one would see me. Late. Past midnight. When the hallways were empty and the torches burned low and the only witnesses were shadows.She had been recovering for four days. The wolfsbane had nearly taken her from me. From the kingdom. From the arrangement. That was what I meant. From the arrangement.The healer said her bloodline had burned through the poison at a rate that should not have been possible. She called it extraordinary. I called it terrifying. Because the alternative was a world where Maya Stone stopped breathing and I had to keep ruling a kingdom without her heartbeat echoing through the bond in my chest.I could not think about that alternative without my wolf trying to rip his way out of my skin.Her door was slightly open. A candle burned on the table beside her bed casting a warm glow across the room. I pushed the door

GABRIELInformation was the most valuable weapon in existence.Not armies. Not claws. Not bloodlines or ancient powers or thrones made of bone and legacy. Information. The right piece at the right time placed in the right hands could topple empires faster than any sword.And I had just received a very valuable piece.Bryce delivered the scout report at dawn. He stood in my study doorway looking nervous which was his permanent state these days. Damien's spiral into obsession was making everyone in the pack uneasy. Bryce most of all because he was close enough to see the cracks spreading through his Alpha's mind."The Lycan Kingdom conducted a rescue operation" Bryce said. "A team infiltrated a rogue trafficking compound near the southern border. They extracted twelve Blue Moon survivors and brought them inside the kingdom walls."I set my tea down carefully. "Maya led the mission?""She was part of it. Took a wolfsbane wound during the extraction. Reports say she carried one of the sur

MAYA The council meeting was a battlefield without weapons. I sat at the far end of the table because Kael insisted the discussion concerned kingdom security and my presence was a courtesy not a right. I let him have the small victory. I was saving my energy for the larger war. Every council member was present. Kael at his usual seat. Lord Harlen to his left. Lady Voss to his right. General Maddox at the far end studying the table like it contained military secrets. Two other members whose names I had learned but whose loyalties I had not yet mapped. And Asher. At the head. Silver eyes fixed on the letter spread before him like it was a declaration of war. Which it was. "The challenge is legally sound" Kael began. His voice was measured. Almost sympathetic. The tone of a man delivering bad news he had been praying for. "The ancient laws regar

MAYA The dress was simple. White silk that fell to the floor in a single clean line. No embroidery. No jewels. No crown. Just fabric against skin and bare feet on cold stone. I chose it myself. In a kingdom full of people who thought I did not belong I refused to dress like I was trying to convince them otherwise. They would accept me as I was or not at all. Nora helped me with my hair. Loose. Down past my shoulders. The way my mother used to wear hers on important occasions. "You look beautiful" Nora whispered as she stepped back. I looked at my reflection. The woman in the mirror did not look like a girl who was sold at an auction. She looked like someone worth standing beside a king. I hoped that was true. The walk to the great hall took three minutes. The longest three minutes of my life. Every step echoed through the

DAMIEN Bryce delivered the report at sunset. He stood in the doorway of my study with the paper in his hand and a look on his face that told me everything before he opened his mouth. "Just say it" I said. He swallowed. "The mating ceremony took place this afternoon. Full marking. Public witnesses. The bond has been sealed." The words entered my ears and traveled through my body like poison. Sealed. His mark on her neck. His teeth in her skin. His scent mixed with hers permanently. Irreversibly. The bond I had spent four years building with her was gone. Replaced by something new. Something that belonged to another man. A man who had known her for weeks. Who had bought her like property at an auction. Who had no right to touch her. To hold her. To mark what was mine. "Get out" I sa