All Chapters of Property of the King’s: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

The journey from the Hollow had been a nightmare of anticipation. Every rustle in the trees, every scent carried on the wind, convinced me a Lycan patrol or a Werewolf scout was about to find me and drag me into the shadows. I pulled the cart through the dusty territory we shared, my heart a dull, terrified drum against my ribs.I kept my head low, the scent of pine and something musky and primal growing stronger.When the trees finally thinned, I saw it. The Werewolf border checkpoint. It wasn’t just a line in the dirt; it was a fortress carved from dark stone, sharp and unforgiving. Guards, massive in their black and grey uniforms, stood at attention. Their eyes, a chilling yellow, scanned the area, missing nothing. They looked like creatures built for war, not peace.I stopped, gulping air. The fear in my throat tasted like copper. I reached up, checking the scarf wound tightly around my wrist. The shame-mark was hidden.Just deliver the cart. Don’t speak unless spoken to. Don’t ma

A week passed in a blur of velvet curtains and cold stone. It felt like a lifetime. The highest tower room, once so grand, had become the physical definition of my dread.My life had shrunk to a small, suffocating routine. Aura, my kind Fae handmaid, was my only constant. She brought my meals, helped me bathe, and listened patiently to my mumbled worries about Silas. She was gentle and spoke often of the Ghetto, a connection I desperately needed, even if Maria's earlier, fleeting warning about "stillness" kept a tiny knot of caution tight in my belly.Riccardo, the Alpha King, was still terrifying. After his initial, soul-crushing rejection, I hadn’t seen him. I ate, slept, and breathed under the unseen weight of his ownership, but I never heard his voice or smelled his clean, mountain-rain scent near my door. He kept his distance, a deliberate, political cruelty meant to starve the mate bond he hated.But the bond wouldn’t starve. Every night, the Wolf’s Head mark on my chest pulsed