Bound to the Ruthless Lycan king

Chapter three

Yara’S POV

The moment Rowan looked at me, I knew something was wrong.

Not just the usual cold distance and the quiet way he ignored me like I didn’t matter.

No.

This was different this time, he was looking at me and somehow, that felt worse.

My steps slowed as I moved through the crowd.

The laughter around me felt too loud and sharp now, like broken glass scraping against my ears.

People were whispering and I could feel it.

Their eyes followed me.but their voices dropped when I passed.

Something had changed and I didn’t know what.

My heart began to race, “Why is everyone staring?” I whispered to myself.

I forced my shoulders back and lifted my chin.

I had learned this, to pretend and act like nothing was wrong even when everything was.

I stopped a few steps away from Rowan.

Seraphine stood beside him, glowing under the golden lights, her hand still resting lightly on his arm like she belonged there and I didn’t.

Rowan’s gaze didn’t soften when it landed on me, rather, it hardened.

“Where were you?” he asked without greeting and without concern.

Just a cold and sharp question like I had done something wrong.

“I… I stepped outside,” I answered quietly and his jaw tightened.

“For how long?”

I blinked. “I don’t know, a few minutes”

“A few minutes?” he repeated, his voice rising slightly.

The room seemed to grow quieter because people were listening now.

My chest tightened, “Yes,” I said softly.

Seraphine’s lips curved into a small unkind smile.

“Rowan,” she said gently, placing her hand on his arm again, “maybe she just needed some air.”

Her voice sounded sweet but her eyes were watching me like I was something unpleasant and like I had done something dirty.

Rowan didn’t look at her because his eyes stayed locked on mine.

“Did you meet someone outside?”

The question hit me like a slap.

My breath caught.

“What?”

His gaze sharpened.

“Answer me, Yara.”

My heart started pounding.

Did he know?

No, that wasn’t possible because no one saw us and besides , no one could have.

“I… no,” I said quickly and his eyes narrowed.

“You’re lying.”

My stomach dropped.

“I’m not”

“Enough.”

His voice cut through mine like a blade and I flinched.

The room had gone silent now, everyone was watching, judging and waiting.

Rowan took a step closer and his presence felt overwhelming, it was heavy

like a storm about to break.

“I can smell him on you,” My blood ran cold.

Smell, of course, Wolves could smell everything, even things we tried to hide.

My fingers curled into my dress.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I whispered another weak and fragile lie.

Seraphine let out a soft, thoughtful hum.

“Strange” she murmured. “Because I thought I caught it too.”

My head snapped toward her and she smiled slowly but carefully this time like she was enjoying this.

“Caught what?” Rowan asked.

Her gaze stayed on me.

“A scent,” she said. “Something unfamiliar.”

My heart hammered against my ribs.

No, no, no, “That’s ridiculous,” I said, my voice trembling now. “I was just outside. Maybe it’s the forest”

“Don’t.”

Rowan’s voice dropped low but dangerous.

“Don’t insult me, Yara.”

Tears burned behind my eyes.

“I’m not”

“Who was he?”

The question shattered through me unavoidably loud.

The entire room held its breath and I felt their attention, curiosity and their hunger for drama.

I shook my head, “There was no one”

Before I could finish, Rowan grabbed my arm very hard and I gasped

.

“Don’t lie to me!”

Pain shot through my arm and my eyes widened.

“I’m not lying!”

But I didn't even believe in myself anymore because something inside me still remembered Damian.

The way he looked at me, touched me and the way he said you are mine.

My heart skipped and that was my mistake.

Rowan saw that small flicker, that tiny hesitation and tightened his grips.

“There was someone,” he said slowly.

Not a question this time but a statement of truth.

“No”

“Enough!”

His voice echoed through the hall and I flinched again.

The sound of it felt like thunder cracking above my head.

Seraphine stepped closer, “Rowan, please,” she said softly. “Everyone is watching.”

Of course she would say that, not to help me but to make it worse because now I was not just wrong, I was embarrassed.

I lowered my head, “I didn’t do anything,” I whispered and my voice broke.

“I swear”

But Rowan didn’t believe me.

I could see it in his eyes, cold and unforgiving.

“You’ve already done enough.”

My chest tightened painfully.

“What does that mean?” He didn’t answer.

Instead, he let go of my arm so suddenly and I stumbled back.

“You will not leave the house again without permission,” he said and my eyes widened.

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“That’s not fair”

“Fair?” he repeated, his voice sharp. “You’re talking about fair?”

Tears slipped down my cheeks.

“I didn’t do anything wrong”

“You dishonored me.”

The words hit harder than anything else like I was something shameful and dirty.

“I didn’t”

“You will stay inside,” he continued coldly. “You will do your duties and you will remember your place.”

My place, my heart cracked.

“And what place is that?” I asked quietly.

I didn’t mean to ask it, it just slipped out, but the moment it did, the room froze.

Rowan stared at me like he couldn’t believe I said that.

Like I had crossed a line I wasn’t allowed to cross.

Seraphine’s smile faded just a little because now, this wasn’t just humiliation but defiance.

Rowan took a slow step forward.

“You are not Luna tonight,” he said.

Each word fell like a heavy stone.

“Seraphine is.”

A deep and crushing silence filled the hall and something inside me broke, not loudly or suddenly but quietly like glass cracking under pressure.

“I understand,” I whispered, because what else could I say or do?

I was already invisible and replaced.

Rowan turned away like the conversation was over and like I didn’t matter enough to continue.

“Go,” he said without looking at me. “Do your job.”

My hands trembled at my sides but I didn’t argue, I didn’t fight or cry loudly, I just turned and walked away because that’s what I had learned.

To disappear again and again but this time as I walked through the hall, something inside me felt different.

Not stronger yet but shifting and changing because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t forget Damian’s voice.

You won’t be invisible with me, my chest tightened and for the first time, i wondered what if he was right?

I didn’t go back to the main hall, I couldn't.

Not after being torn apart in front of everyone.

Instead, I walked down the quiet corridor toward the servant’s wing.

My feet moved slowly and my body was heavy like I was carrying something I couldn’t put down. It was something worse than shame and pain.

I pushed open the small wooden door and stepped inside, the air here was different, it was a colder and quieter air.

It was real without pretense and no fake smiles, just silence and I leaned against the wall and finally, I let myself breathe.

A shaky breath left my lips, then another and another until my chest started to ache.

Suddenly, tears fell freely now, I didn't stop them and I didn't hide them because there was no one here to see and judge.

“I didn’t do anything wrong” I whispered but the words felt empty because it didn’t matter, and nothing I did ever mattered to Rowan or to anyone in this house.

My knees gave out and I slid down the wall and hugged myself tightly, trying to hold together the pieces that kept breaking.

“I’m so tired”

My voice cracked, so tired of trying and being nothing.

I closed my eyes and for a moment, I wished I could just disappear completely like I never existed.

But then, the memory of a low and rough voice but dangerous, you are mine, flashed back at me, immediately, my eyes snapped open and my heart skipped.

“No,” I whispered.

Why was I thinking about him?

Why now?

Why did it feel like he was still here?

Like something had changed inside me?

I pressed my hand against my chest and my heartbeat was too fast and strong.

And for the first time in a long time, it didn’t feel like pain, it felt like something else, something dangerous and something new.

Something that whispered you don’t belong here anymore and my breath hitched.

“No…”

But the thought wouldn’t leave because deep down, I knew tonight, something I couldn't stop had started.

And no matter how much I tried to stay the same, I wouldn’t be able to because I had been seen, truly seen and once that happens, you can never go back to being invisible again.

And somewhere in the dark, beyond the walls of the pack and beyond the safety I thought I had, a pair of eyes watched me patiently because he already knew I would come back.

“I would come back.”

The words echoed in my mind like a promise I didn’t remember making.

I pressed my palm harder against my chest, trying to calm the strange rhythm of my heart.

“No,” I whispered again but even I could hear the weakness in my voice because something inside me already knew that a man called Damian wasn’t someone you simply can walk away from.

A sharp knock on the door made me jump and my head snapped toward it before I could respond, the door swung open.

A maid stood there, her expression tight.

“You’re needed,” she said flatly. I know I will be looked for, not as a Luna or as a wife, but as something useful.

“What is it?” I asked quietly, forcing myself to stand.

“Alpha Rowan wants you in the main hall now.

I nodded, “I’m coming.”

The walk back felt longer and heavier this time, like each step was dragging me deeper into something I couldn’t escape.

The moment I reached the hall, the noise from the music, laughter and voices returned.

But it all faded the second I saw him.

Rowan stood at the center again but this time, everyone was watching and gathered around him waiting.

My heart dropped, something was wrong,

very wrong.

“Yara,” Rowan called and my name echoed across the hall for the second time tonight.

Everyone turned to look at me and my chest tightened.

I stepped forward slowly, “What is it?” I asked, keeping my voice steady.

Rowan’s gaze was cold and unreadable.

“Come here.”

I obeyed because I always did.

When I reached him, I stopped a few steps away.

Seraphine stood beside him again.

Always where I was supposed to be.

Rowan gestured toward the crowd and said, “Repeat what you told me earlier.”

My brows furrowed.

“What?”

His eyes hardened.

“Repeat it.”

Confusion filled me.

“I don’t understand”

“You said you didn’t meet anyone outside.”

My breath caught and the room went quiet again.

Too quiet like the walls themselves were listening.

“Yes,” I said slowly. “Because I didn’t.”

“Say it again.”

My heart started racing, something about this felt wrong, like a trap I didn’t see.

“I didn’t meet anyone,” I repeated.

My voice was softer this time but less certain.

Rowan studied me for a long moment, then, he turned to the guards.

“Bring him.”

My stomach dropped, bring who?

Heavy and deliberate footsteps echoed from the entrance and then a man was dragged into the hall, bruised, bleeding and barely able to stand.

My eyes widened, I didn’t recognize him but something about him was the way he smelled and the way the guards held him.

My heart began to pound wildly.

“He was found near the forest,” Rowan said calmly, my throat went dry.

“He claims he saw you.”

The world tilted, “No,” I whispered, then the man lifted his head weakly and his eyes landed on me, fear filled them.

“She… she was there” he stuttered.

“I saw her talking to someone”.

Gasps rippled through the crowd and my chest tightened painfully.

“I wasn’t”

“Silence.”

Rowan’s voice cut me off.

He stepped closer to the man and asked,

“Who was she talking to?”

The man hesitated and his body trembled.

“I… I don’t know” he said quickly. “I couldn’t see his face.”

Rowan grabbed his collar hard.

“But you smelled him.”

The man froze.

“Yes”

My heart stopped immediately.

“What did he smell like?” Rowan demanded.

The man swallowed hard.

“Strong” he whispered, “Not like a wolf, something else”

The room grew colder and heeavier than before.

“Say it,” Rowan growled and the man’s voice broke.

“A Lycan”.

Silence exploded across the hall and my blood ran cold.

Everyone knew what and who that meant.

“No….” I shook my head quickly, “That’s not true.”

Rowan turned to me slowly, “You expect me to believe this is a coincidence?”

“I didn’t do anything!” I cried but my voice sounded small, weak and useless.

Seraphine sighed softly, “So disappointing” she murmured.

I looked at her, feeling hurt and angry.

“What are you implying?”

She tilted her head, “I’m not implying anything, Yara. I’m simply observing.”

Her eyes gleamed.

“You disappear and suddenly a Lycan is nearby.”

My chest heaved, but “That has nothing to do with me!”

“Doesn’t it?” she asked softly and my hands clenched.

“I didn’t call him!”

The moment the words left my mouth, I froze because I realized that sounded worse.

Rowan’s eyes darkened.

“You didn’t call him?” he repeated slowly while I shook my head desperately, “No, I meant”

“But you admit he was there.”

My breath hitched, I had no words and no way out because the trap had already closed.

Rowan turned away from me like he couldn’t even look at me anymore.

“Take him away,” he ordered the guards.

The man was dragged out, screaming softly and begging but no one cared.

Then Rowan faced me again and this time, there was no doubt in his eyes, only anger.

“You’ve shamed this pack,” he said and my chest shattered.

“I didn’t”

“You met with my enemy.”

“I didn’t meet him!”

“You stood with him.”

The truth slammed into me and couldn’t deny that because I couldn’t erase that moment.

Damian standing in front of me and looking at me like I mattered.

“I didn’t know who he was!” I said desperately.

“That doesn’t change anything.”

His voice was cold and final.

“You will remain confined to your quarters.”

My eyes widened.

“What?”

“Until I decide what to do with you.”

The words felt like chains wrapping around me, tight and suffocating.

“That’s not fair”

“Fair?” he snapped again and his voice thundered across the hall.

“You brought a Lycan to our borders!”

“I didn’t!”

“Enough!”

The sound echoed and something inside me finally broke, not weakened nor cracked but broke completely because no matter what I said or how much I tried, he would never believe me.

He had already chosen and it wasn’t me.

I laughed softly but bitterly.

The sound surprised even me.

Rowan frowned. “What is so funny?”

I lifted my gaze and for the first time in a long time,I didn’t feel small.

“I didn’t bring him,” I said quietly.

My voice is calm now, strangely calm.

“He came on his own.”

Rowan’s jaw tightened.

“And why would he do that?”

I held his gaze, because I finally understood.

“He said I was his.”

The words fell into the room like fire.

everything froze, they were shocked and some gasped.

Rowan’s eyes darkened dangerously.

“What did you say?”

My heart pounded but I didn’t look away.

“He said,” I swallowed, “that I belong to him.”

A deep and terrifying silence was felt in the hall.

For a moment, no one moved or breathed.

Then Rowan stepped forward slowly and deadly.

“Say that again,” he said.

I didn’t because I didn’t need to.

The truth was already out and it couldn’t be taken back.

The next moment happened too fast.

His hand struck my face hard and the sound echoed loudly.

My head snapped to the side and the pain exploded across my cheek.

The room spun and gasps filled the air but no one stepped forward to stop him.

Of course they didn’t, I stumbled slightly but I didn’t fall.

Slowly, I turned my head back, my cheek burned and my eyes stung but I didn’t cry, not this time.

Rowan stared at me, breathing hard.

“You will not speak of him again,” he said coldly.

Something inside me went quiet like a storm that had finally settled.

“I didn’t choose him,” I whispered.

My voice was steady.

“But he chose me.”

That made it worse.

I could see it from the rage, jealousy and disbelief.

“You don’t belong to him,” Rowan growled.

I tilted my head slightly.

And for the first time I asked the question that had been sitting in my heart for too long.

“Then who do I belong to?”

The silence that followed was louder than anything before.

Rowan didn’t answer, he couldn’t because deep down, he knew the truth.

He had never claimed me the way a mate should.

I turned away, my cheek is still burning but my heart is strangely calm.

“Take me to my room,” I said softly.

No one argued or tried to stop me because something had changed, not just in them but in me.

As I walked away, I felt it again, that strange pull and deep connection like something was calling, watching and waiting for me.

And this time, I didn’t fight it because now I understand I had two choices.

Stay and keep breaking or leave and face something

powerful, dangerous and unknown.

And for the first time in my life, the unknown didn’t scare me as much as staying did.

That night, as I lay in my cold, empty room I stared at the ceiling and whispered into the darkness.

“If I come back”

My voice trembled slightly, “will you still be there?”

Silence answered me but deep down I already knew.

Because somewhere in the forest a king waited and he didn’t forget what belonged to him.