His Purchased Mate

The Northen Queen

My body was betraying me... this stupid, stupid bond... f**k.

I had to stop this somehow.

"Stop it! Can I at least have a shower before you borh claim me like i was a prized goat for sale? I am still covered in bruises, dressed in a sheet of black paper, and I smell disgusting!!"

Silence follwed before Kael straightened and then snapped at a werewolf guard who immediately led me into a lavish bathroom. He stepped out immediately before i could appreciate him...

After a well needed shower, I stepped out of the bathroom, completely naked to find a robe and a dress waiting for me. Someone must have dropped it while I was busy. Was is Cassian or Kael, or dammit even those three elders could decide they needed to claim me too.

I dressed up quickly into the short, simple black dress. I wished it was a different color at least. I'd had enough of black dresses to last me a lifetime.

Immediately I stepped out, Kael was there, searching my eyes and body for goddess knows what.

"Feeling better, Kitten?" He asked, slipping his hands to my waist and letting it rest there.

My body instantly jolted at the contact. Moon goddess, did tue mate bond have to react like this every f*****g time?

I turned to find Cassian rushing towards us like he was missing out on something.

His eyes darkened at the sight of what Kael was doing to me.

“Don’t you f*****g use the mate bond against her, like that” he said sharply.

“Use what?” Kael challenged.

His hand slid slowly down my waist, Stopping just above my hip. My body betrayed me instantly as always.

So much heat flooded between my thighs.

My n*****s tightened against the thin fabric of my dress.I sucked in a shaky breath. Kael felt it too, of course he always f*****g did.

“You react to me,” he whispered.

His thumb pressed lightly into my hip.

My head tilted back before I could stop myself. His lips hovered over my neck, it was so close. If he bit me now…..

My thighs pressed together instinctively.

Cassian stepped forward.

“Enough.”

Kael’s teeth grazed my pulse, not breaking my skin but Just enough pressure to make my heart slam.

“I could mark you,” he murmured. “Make every claim to you right now, irrelevant.”

My wolf purred at the idea, but my human side panicked.

“You don’t get to decide that,” I breathed.

His hand slid to my stomach, he spread it

open, it was so f*****g possessive.

“You’re already shaking,” he said softly.

I hated that he was right.

Cassian’s voice cut through the haze.

“If he marks you before the council recognizes your crown, it weakens your authority.”

Authority….The word snapped me back to myself, to my sense, immediately remembering…I am Queen, the throne, the Power. I twisted suddenly, shoving Kael’s chest. This time he let me go. both men stared at me like predators watching their prey, except I wasn’t prey anymore.

I stepped away from both of them.

“I’m not choosing anyone tonight,”

I said.

Kael’s eyes flashed...

Cassian’s jaw tightened.

“You don’t understand the urgency,” Cassian pressed.

“The North is unstable, other packs are already moving.”

“Moving how?” I demanded.

He hesitated, he gave that pause, that f*****g pause.

“Cassian,” I warned.

His gaze flicked briefly to Kael and then back to me.

“They believe you’re dead.”

Cold slid through my veins.

“What?”

“They announced your execution publicly after the attack.”

My stomach dropped.

What f*****g Execution? “But I was sold at auction.”

“Yes,” Cassian said quietly. “Privately.”

The room tilted to me.

“So the world thinks I’m dead?”

“Yes.”

Kael went very still, and I looked at him slowly.

“You knew, didn't you?” It wasn’t a question... I was stating the obvious fact.

His silence gave me the answer I needed.

“You let them believe it,”

“It kept you safer,” he replied evenly.

“Safer?”

“You erased me!” I exploded. His eyes darkened.

“I protected you, Lyra, I had to.”

“By killing my name?”

Cassian stepped in, in his usual soft way.

“Or you killed her name so you could clear the path to claim her without political interference?”

The accusation hung heavy on Kael that his gaze snapped to him.

“You think I need strategy to claim what’s mine, Prince?”

The air shifted, it became dangerous and deadly, but Cassian didn’t back down.

“She is not your conquest.”

“She is my mate.” Kael said, seething.

“And my Queen.” Cassian added, equally seething with annoyance and anger, and I just stood there with my eyes spinning.

My pulse pounded so hard, because this wasn’t about desire anymore, it was about control, power, and something wasn’t adding up.

I turned slowly to Cassian.

“If the world thinks I’m dead,” I said carefully, “then who’s ruling the North?”

Cassian’s silence was worse than Kael’s.

“Cassian...” I added...

His f*****g throat finally worked.

“There was… a temporary regent appointed.”

My eyes narrowed.

“Who?”

He hesitated again,

“Cassian!!.”

His silver gaze flickered with something I couldn’t read.

“Me.”

The word exploded in my skull like bomb.

“You,” I repeated.

“Yes.”

Rage flooded through me like wildfire.

“You’re ruling in my place?”

“Until you were ready.”

“Or until I conveniently never returned?”

I shot back.

“That’s not fair. I am here to take you back to your rightful place, remember ”

“Fair?” I laughed harshly.

“You let them think I was executed, You took my throne, and now you’re standing here telling me you’re my f*****g fiancé?”

His jaw tightened.

“I did what was necessary to stabilize the region.” Cassian said.

“By stealing my crown?” I asked even though I had just heard about the crown like one hour ago.

Kael’s low chuckle echoed beside me.

“Well,” he muttered, “that’s interesting.”

Cassian gave him a mean look.

“Don’t pretend you’re innocent in this.”

“I never claimed to be, unlike you who just could do no wrong.”

I stepped back from both of them because my chest was rising really fast.

So let me get this straight, one man bought me, the other ruled in my name, and now claiming protection and hiding the truth from me. My wolf rose inside me, not confused, not torn but furious. Since when dod my life become so messed up?

“You don’t get to decide when I’m ready,” I said coldly to Cassian.

“And you don’t get to erase me, mate bond or not” I said to Kael.

There was thick, heavy silence. And Then….A loud alarm blared through the mansion, and red lights flashed across the walls. Guards started shouting outside.

Kael’s head snapped toward the entrance, just a little to get a glimpse of what was happening.

“What the hell….”

An explosion rocked the east wing, the ground shook, glass shattered somewhere upstairs. Smoke began to creep into the hall.

Kael’s expression turned lethal as he turned towards Cassian.

“Who did you bring here!? You want to stsrt a war with me, Prince?”

"That’s not my men. I don't know what's going on. I came with elders only!”

There was another blast, closer to us this time.

A guard burst into the hall.

“Alpha! There are northern banners outside the gates!”

Northern banners….My blood ran cold.

“But I’m dead,” I whispered.

Kael looked at me slowly.

“This is why Intried to hide you away, Kitten. They’re not here for you as a ghost,” he said darkly.

Cassian’s face paled slightly.

“They’re here to finish what they started.”

My heart pounded.

“So they aren't here to save me, are they?” but neither of them answered, because it was clear, I was never the only heir, I was the obstacle.

And someone out there...didn’t want a Queen returning from the dead.