The Lycan Prince’s Silent bride

Honeymoon

Annalise’s POV

My head throbbed with pain, my legs were heavy, Each step I took felt like dragging chains across the ground. The pack stretched on endlessly, lined with pretty houses and cold-eyed people who watched us pass with their judgemental faces.

At first, I tried to match his pace. Alaric’s stride was sharp, purposeful, like a predator with no time to waste.

But my body ached as the bruises layered over my skin felt like they were on fire and exhaustion was taking over my body, a dull reminder of the ambush that still haunted me.

The pounding of my heart hadn’t slowed since I came down from the horse.

He noticed, of course. I caught the flicker of his gaze when my steps faltered, but his lips pressed into a thin line, as if the admission of weakness offended him. He said nothing... He didn’t have to. His silence was louder than any reprimand.

‘I think I might pass out if not die by the time we actually get to his castle cause what’s all this stress’

.“I don’t have the time for this..” he growled.. Then, without any prior warning, he swept me off my feet.

Gasps and stifled giggles echoed from the crowd loitering along the path. Their whispers followed us like smoke.

“The Prince.. carrying her..”

“Look at that.. maybe she’s already pregnant ”

“It might seem that way I mean look how pale she looks..”

“Didn’t think he could be so sweet..”

Their words blurred into heat against my skin. My arms instinctively curled toward my chest, not knowing whether to hide my embarrassment or the strange thrum in my chest.

His arms around me were strong and firm, yet cold as iron or should I say ice... There was no tenderness in his grip only necessity..

I should’ve felt safer. Instead, I felt like a burden he begrudgingly chose not to drop.. yet.

When we reached the entrance of a big building, which I believed was the pack house.. the double doors opened with a groan,

“Well, well,” Ronan drawled as we got in, his voice curling around the high ceilings like smoke. His gaze flicked between us, lingering on me again, far longer than I liked. “Prince Alaric, you haven’t told me.. To what do I owe this unexpected visit?”

Alaric’s lips curved.. not into a smile, but into something sharper. “As you can see we just got married so.. We came for our honeymoon,” he said, his voice laced with venomous sarcasm.

“Though, unfortunately, my dear wife suffered a little accident along the way. So, naturally, we require… treatment.”

The building fell silent. Even the human servants paused in their duties. My face burned, though I didn’t know whether it was from his words or the stares, I really couldn’t tell.

Ronan didn’t answer immediately. He only tilted his head, those suspicious eyes narrowing not at me, but at Alaric. Finally, they slid downward, fixing on the dried blood streaked across Alaric’s torn sleeve and then on his jaw.

“And what of that?” Ronan asked softly, pointing with a flick of his hand. “Surely, that was no accident.”

My chest tightened.

Alaric’s answer came smooth, deadly, as if he’d rehearsed it a thousand times. “It’s a little bit none of your business.. now get my wife a healer.”

The silence that followed this time felt as sharp as a knife’s edge. I expected Ronan to bristle, to push further, but instead he smiled.

A dangerous, knowing smile and proceeded to nod his head in agreement .

“Very well,” he murmured, and clapped his hands. One of his women, a red-haired.. silk-draped, her eyes lowered as she stepped forward at his command.

“Take good care of our princess,” Ronan ordered.

My head quickly snapped towards Alaric, panic rushing through me.

His voice, his warning, from before echoed in my memory.. “You do not leave my side.”

Yet now, with the same hand that shielded me hours ago, he set me down. His arm slipped away like a door closing at my face, and his words were colder than the stone beneath my feet.

“Go,” he flatly spoke. “Get arranged. You should at least look normal.”

Normal. The word stung more than it should have.

I stared at him, confusion and anger buzzing through me.

’Didn’t you say..? Didn’t you warn me never to leave you? What exactly is going on here? Go with who? Why?..’

But his eyes didn’t soften. They never did. He looked past me, dismissing me as easily as one discards an item that was no longer needed.

And then I noticed Ronan again for the third time since we had arrived he was watching us.. No! He was watching me..

His gaze lingered on me with unsettling curiosity, like he was trying to peel back my skin and read what lay beneath.

‘What’s wrong with this one? Why look at me as though I were some puzzle dropped into his lap?’

Alaric caught my stare again.. Of course he did, I was no longer looking at him.

His head turned, slow and deliberate, and his gaze locked with Ronan’s. For a heartbeat, no one moved.

Then, Ronan looked away.

Although I smirked internally, the air felt heavier after that.

Alaric turned away from me without a word, his back a wall of black leather and cold shoulders. He walked away with Ronan, the two of them vanishing deeper into the castle.

I stood there, the silk-draped woman waiting at my side.

My stomach twisted. I didn’t move until his figure disappeared entirely, swallowed by the shadows of the corridor. Only then did I allow myself to breathe again, though the unease in my chest only grew heavier.

My body prickled, and the tiny hairs on my arms stood upright as goosebumps formed on my skin crawled on me like tiny spiders. Something was wrong... Something didn’t seem right.. and I could feel it, just like the throbbing ache in my head.