Semua Bab The Alpha's Wife, The Lycan King's Obsession : Bab 1 - Bab 10

Chapter TwoShe was having the best dream of her life.She didn't know what it was about – just that it was warm, and she was laughing, and nothing hurt.Then she felt eyes on her.Gianna's eyes snapped open.A man was sitting in the chair right beside her bed, close enough that she could see the individual lines of his frown, the set of his jaw, the way he was looking at her like she was something deeply, personally offensive to him.She screamed and scrambled back against the headboard so fast the blankets twisted around her legs, heart slamming, one hand flying out looking for something – anything – to grab."Who are you?" She was already breathing hard. "How dare you come into Luna's room – who let you in here, I'll have you thrown out, I'll have the guards –""You don't even know who I am."He said it like an accusation, his eyes fixed on her with something that curdled between anger and disbelief.Gianna stopped and really looked at him. He had the Valemont crest on his ring.

Chapter FourCyrus and Pietra said goodbye at the door for four full minutes.Gianna watched from inside the carriage through the small window, arms crossed, expression blank.Pietra had both of Cyrus's hands in hers. She was looking up at him saying something – Gianna couldn't hear it and honestly, she didn't want to – and Cyrus was looking back at her with a softness on his face that Gianna was fairly certain she had never once been on the receiving end of.This is the man I threatened to starve myself for, she thought. Past me had genuinely terrible taste.She looked away from the window.She was going to get out of this marriage. She didn't know how yet – the King's involvement complicated things significantly – but she was going to find a way. She would go back to Highmoon, back to her father and back to a life that was actually hers.The carriage dipped as Cyrus climbed in.He sat across from her and said nothing.Gianna said nothing back.It was the most peaceful four minutes

Chapter SixThe table was silent.Every Alpha, every Beta, every carefully dressed wolf in that banquet hall was looking at their plate, their glass, the middle distance – anywhere except at Cyrus, or at Gianna, or at the head of the table where Nolan sat with his hand resting flat on the cloth and his face expressionless. Gianna watched him.She had been watching him since Cyrus finished speaking. Trying to read something – anything – in the set of his jaw, the angle of his eyes. A king who'd had a marriage arranged under his authority had just been told, in front of a full hall, that the Alpha in question wanted to alter those terms to include a second wife.She genuinely could not tell what was coming.Nolan turned his head to her, "Gianna." He said, his voice low. "What's your account of this?"Every eye in the room moved to her.Gianna set down her fork.She took exactly one breath. Then she looked at Nolan directly "I understand Cyrus's happiness," she said. "Finding your

Gianna moved through the corridor on silent feet. The temple's restricted section was darker and narrower than the main hall. Nolan was twenty paces ahead. His hood was still up. He walked quickly despite the unsteadiness she'd noticed earlier. She kept to the shadows, pressing herself against the wall whenever his head turned. This was dangerous. She knew that. If she was caught following the Lycan King through a restricted part of the temple, there would be real consequences. But IsaGianna wouldn't settle. The pull was stronger here, insistent, like her wolf was trying to tell her something she couldn't understand. So she followed. Nolan turned a corner. Gianna counted to three, then followed. The hallway split ahead, left and right. Both directions looked identical. She stopped. Nolan was gone. She listened. Footsteps echoed from somewhere but she couldn't tell which direction. The stone walls made everything bounce. Gianna chose left, following the twisted co

Gianna's mind was still spinning when Nolan moved.He stood up and stepped back, putting distance between them.His eyes left her face and dropped to the blood on the floor. He stared at it for a long moment. Then he looked away, jaw tight."If you don't want to do this," he said quietly, "leave."Gianna blinked."I'm not going to beg." His voice was flat. "If you want to walk out of here and pretend you saw nothing, do it now."But he was still looking at the blood. His hands had curled into fists at his sides.He was speaking from pride, the same place that made him refuse to search for his fated mate. The same stubbornness that was going to kill him.Gianna's thoughts shifted.The Moon Goddess had answered her prayer. It was not the way she expected, but answered it all the same.She'd knelt in the temple and begged for freedom, for a way out of her marriage and now here she was, holding the one thing the Lycan King needed to survive.The old Gianna would have agreed immediately.