Ariella’s POV
The word mine still hung in the air like smoke after a gunshot.
Everyone heard it. Everyone felt it. And Alpha Rion…poor, furious, unpredictable Rion…looked like someone had just ripped his still-beating heart out and fed it to the dogs right in front of him.
Hazel was already cackling inside my skull.
‘Oh this is delicious. Look at his face. He’s about to pop a vein all because of us. What if he marks us publicly in a fit of jealousy?’
‘Shut up,’ I hissed back mentally, even though my own lips wanted to twitch. ‘Let me enjoy this victory for two seconds.’
Because holy hell.
The Alpha King…Edric the Untouchable, Edric the Butcher…just publicly claimed me.
Me.
The mute servant girl he doesn’t even know exists beyond the last forty-eight hours.
If that isn’t the univ
