The Alpha King's Forbidden Bride

The Queen's Curse

ZYLIA

The designer dress felt like armor made of silk and lies. Midnight blue that matched my eyes or what my eyes used to be before they turned that impossible gold.

Ridley had delivered it at dawn along with a team of stylists who transformed me from rejected Luna to potential Queen in under two hours.

"Stop fidgeting." Lorcan's fingers found mine as our car pulled up to the Council building. "You look perfect."

"I look like I'm playing dress-up." My voice came out steadier than I felt. "What if they see right through me?"

"They won't." His thumb traced circles on my palm, sending electricity up my arm.

"Because you're not pretending, Zylia. You're exactly what you were born to be."

What I was born to be. If only I knew what that meant.

The Council Chamber reeked of power and politics, fifty-plus Alpha leaders gathered around a table that could seat an army.

Ancient banners hung from stone walls, each representing territories spanning the continent. The combined Alpha energy pressed against my skin like a living thing.

"Alphas of the Continental Council," Lorcan's voice cut through the low murmur of conversation. "I present my Luna Queen, Zylia Callahan, formerly of the Noble Stone Pack."

Whispers rippled through the crowd. Some curious, others calculating. A few openly hostile. My wolf stirred restlessly, wanting to show them exactly why they should bow their heads.

"A rushed marriage." The voice belonged to a woman with steel-gray hair and eyes like winter frost. "How... convenient, Your Majesty. After refusing suitable matches for twenty years."

"Alpha Selena." Lorcan's tone could have frozen flame. "Are you questioning my judgment?"

"I'm questioning your timing." She stood, flanked by Betas who looked like they ate smaller wolves for breakfast. "Few days ago, this woman was rejected by your own brother...."

My wolf snarled, pressing against my consciousness with violent intent.

The urge to shift, to show this b***h exactly what a rejected Luna could do, nearly overwhelmed me.

"Careful." The warning came from the head of the table, a man carved from granite and authority, with silver hair and eyes like chips of ice. Elder Bennett, the Council's leader for over a decade. "You speak of the Alpha King's chosen mate."

"Of course, Elder." Selena's smile held poison. "I meant no disrespect."

"What you meant," Elder Bennett replied, rising slowly, "is irrelevant. We have pressing matters to discuss." His gaze swept the room like a predator seeking prey. "Alpha Devon of the Eastern Territories has issued a formal challenge."

The chamber doors burst open.

He entered like death personified; tall, broad-shouldered, with pale green eyes that seemed to see straight through flesh to the soul beneath.

Dark hair fell across his forehead, and when he smiled, I saw too many teeth.

Power rolled off him in waves, making the air thick and hard to breathe. Every instinct I possessed screamed danger.

"Lorcan." His voice carried an accent I couldn't place, cultured and cold. "Still playing king, I see."

"Devon." Lorcan stepped protectively in front of me. "You're early."

"I wanted to meet your new... acquisition." Those pale eyes fixed on me with predatory hunger. "So, you're the little Luna who forced two Alphas to submission. How deliciously... unexpected."

"More unexpected than your recent territorial failures," I replied, letting ice creep into my voice. "I hear three Canadian packs have rejected your leadership this month."

His smile sharpened like a blade.

"Spirited. I do so enjoy breaking spirited things." He began circling us slowly, and my skin crawled. "Tell me, little Queen, what do you know about your heritage?"

"Enough."

The lie tasted bitter.

"Do you?" He stopped directly in front of me, close enough that his scent, pine and metal and something fundamentally wrong, made my stomach turn. "Do you know why your scent is so achingly familiar?"

Elder Bennett went perfectly still. "What did you say?"

"Her scent." Devon inhaled deeply, his nostrils flaring. "Moonflower and winter rain. I've encountered that combination only once before, in ancient texts about extinct bloodlines."

"Impossible." Elder Bennett moved closer, his own nostrils twitching as he caught my scent.

Color drained from his face. "The Moon bloodline died out two centuries ago. The last Alpha Queen was executed for treason against the Crown."

"Was she?" Devon's grin turned feral. "Or did she simply vanish? Hide her bloodline? Start fresh far from royal eyes?"

My chest constricted. What the hell were they talking about?

"This changes nothing," Lorcan growled, but uncertainty crept into his voice.

"On the contrary." Devon produced an official scroll, wax seals gleaming like drops of blood. "I hereby invoke ancient law. Trial by combat for the right to rule North American territories."

The chamber erupted; voices raised in excitement, concern, political calculation.

Through the chaos, Devon's next words hit me like physical blows:

"When I win, I claim the lady as my Luna. Royal blood belongs with royal blood, after all."

"Over my dead body," Lorcan snarled.

Devon's smile widened. "That's precisely the plan."

**

We sat in Lorcan's private study, the death match hanging between us like an executioner's axe, even though they were to meet again in two days for the official date of the match.

I could not ignore all I had heard from the meeting. Lorcan seemed too busy to explain to me too. What the hell was happening?!

"You could run," I whispered for the dozenth time. "We could disappear..."

"And spend eternity looking over our shoulders?" He poured whiskey with steady hands, but tension coiled in his shoulders like a spring. "No. This ends in two days."

"What if you lose?"

"I won't."

"Lorcan..."

"I won't." He crossed to me, cupping my face with gentle hands. "I've been waiting lifetimes for you, Zylia. Twenty years of refusing other matches, other alliances, because somewhere deep down, I knew you were coming."

"You couldn't have known..."

"Couldn't I?" His golden eyes held secrets that made my breath catch. "There's so much you don't understand about my family. About why I needed you specifically."

Before I could ask what he meant, his mouth was on mine, desperate, hungry, like he was memorizing my taste.

When we broke apart, his forehead rested against mine.

"I should tell you everything," he whispered. "Before tomorrow. In case..."

"No." I pressed my fingers to his lips.

"Tell me after the council decides."

That's when I noticed the envelope on his desk. Yellowed with age, my name written in achingly familiar handwriting.

Grandmother's handwriting.

"What's that?" My voice barely worked.

Lorcan followed my gaze, frowning.

"Ridley found it among your personal effects from the pack house ruins. Said it was hidden in a secret compartment."

My hands shook as I broke the wax seal that had kept Grandmother's secrets locked away. Inside, pages covered in her careful script. I began reading, and the world tilted sideways.

My dearest Zylia,

If you're reading this, your true mate has found you at last. The golden eyes have manifested, and you've discovered the truth we've hidden for generations. You are the last daughter of the Moon Queens, heir to a throne stolen from us centuries ago.

But my precious girl, our royal blood carries a terrible curse. Every Alpha Queen of our line dies in childbirth. Every single one. It is our punishment, our price for ancient sins.

The contract your husband signed, the requirement for an heir within nineteen months...he doesn't know he just signed your death warrant.

There is a way to break the curse, but the cost is beyond imagining. You must choose between your life and his power, between love and duty.

The ritual requires...

The letter slipped from my numb fingers, fluttering to the floor like a dying butterfly.

Lorcan would fight for his life.

And if he won...fulfilling our contract would kill me