Sold to the Alpha Who Ruined Me

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Weight of the Crown

LUCIEN

I had asked my P.A to get information on Aria for me. Some things weren’t adding up. The reports sat on my desk like accusations.

I had read them a dozen times. Maybe more. The words never changed and yet something about them felt wrong in a way I could not name.

~ Correspondence between Alpha Wren and the rogue leader. Dates. Times. Locations.

Three wolves died because of the information he sold.

I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my eyes. It was past midnight and the pack house had gone quiet. Everyone was asleep except me.

Except for me and the ghost of a girl with defiant eyes who refused to bow.

Aria Wren.

She should cower. The guilty always did. They begged, they pleaded, they broke themselves open trying to prove their innocence, but not her.

She looked me in the eye like she had nothing to hide. Like I was the one who should be ashamed.

It bothered me more than it should.

I pushed the reports aside and stood. My wolf paced beneath my skin and growled low in my chest. He didn’t like this. He didn’t like the doubt creeping in nor the way her scent lingered in my mind.

Honey and wildflowers.

I shook my head and walked to the window. The grounds stretched out below and the moon hung heavy and full overhead. Somewhere out there my wolves slept safely because I kept them that way. Because I made the hard choices. Because I did what needed to be done.

Even when it meant punishing the daughter of a traitor.

The memory surfaced before I could stop it.

The attack.

My border patrol returned with two dead and one dying. Blood everywhere, claw marks, and bite wounds.

"They knew where we would be," the survivor had gasped. "They knew exactly where we would be."

I had called Logan immediately and demanded answers.

"We have intelligence," he had said. His voice was calm. Always calm. "It came from the Wren pack. Alpha Wren has been feeding information to the rogues for months."

"Are you certain?"

"I have the correspondence. I have the proof."

And he had. Letters. Coded messages. Everything I needed to condemn a man I had once called an ally.

I turned away from the window and the memory faded. Logan had never steered me wrong. He was my Beta. My second in command. The one I trusted above all others.

So why did this feel different?

The door to my office opened without a knock.

Katherine stepped inside and closed the door behind her. She wore a silk robe that clung to her curves and left little to the imagination. Her dark hair fell loose over her shoulders and her lips curved into a smile that promised things I used to want.

"You're still awake," she said.

"So are you."

She crossed the room and perched on the edge of my desk. Her fingers traced the wood grain and then moved to my arm.

"You've been distracted all night," she said. "Ever since the gathering."

"I have a lot on my mind."

"The Wren girl?"

I did not answer.

Katherine's hand slid up my arm to my shoulder. "She's nothing, Lucien. A traitor's daughter paying for her father's sins. That's all."

"I know."

"Do you?" Her fingers moved to the back of my neck and she leaned closer. "Because it seems like you're spending an awful lot of time thinking about her."

Her breath was warm against my skin. Her scent surrounded me. Jasmine and vanilla. But my mind was somewhere else.

My mind was on bruises shaped like my fingers, on a pulse that raced beneath my grip, and her eyes that refused to look away even when they should.

Katherine's lips brushed my jaw and I pulled back.

"Not tonight," I said.

Her smile faltered. "Lucien..."

"I said not tonight."

She stared at me for a long moment and then slid off the desk. The silk robe whispered as she moved and when she reached the door she paused.

"She's going to be a problem," Katherine said without turning around. "If you let her."

Then she left.

I sank back into my chair and dragged a hand through my hair. My wolf snarled and snapped and I did not blame him. Nothing about this felt right.

A knock interrupted my thoughts.

"Come in."

Theo Hartley stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He looked too comfortable. Too relaxed. Like he owned the place.

"Burning the midnight oil?" he asked.

"What are you doing here by this time, Theo?"

He dropped into the chair across from me and stretched his legs out. "I couldn't sleep. We still haven't had our alliance treaty discussion. Though I have to say, the entertainment tonight was far more interesting than border negotiations."

I had invited him. Two weeks ago. Before Aria Wren arrived and turned everything upside down.

"The treaty can wait until morning," I said.

"Can it?" Theo's smile widened. "Or are you just eager to get rid of me so you can brood in peace?"

“I can arrange another guest room for you in my quarters if you are not comfortable with the current one."

“No need for that, I just thought I would check in. See how you're holding up with your new guest."

"She's not a guest."

"Right. She's a prisoner. My mistake."

I glared at him.

Theo smiled. "I've been asking around about the Wren case. Funny thing. No one outside your inner circle seems to know anything about this betrayal. Almost like it never left this building."

My jaw tightened. "What are you implying?"

"I'm not implying anything. Just making an observation."

"The evidence is solid."

"Is it?" He leaned forward. "Because from where I'm sitting, it looks like you convicted a man based on information that only a handful of people ever saw. And now his daughter is here paying the price."

"Logan verified everything."

"Logan," Theo said the name like it tasted bad. "Your Beta. The one who benefits most from keeping you isolated and paranoid."

I stood. "Get out."

Theo rose too but he did not look intimidated. "Just think about it, Lucien. That's all I'm asking."

He left before I could respond.

I stood there in the silence and let his words sink in. Think about it. As if I had not been thinking about it since the moment Aria Wren walked into my throne room and refused to bow.

My wolf surged and I knew what I needed to do even if I did not want to admit why.

I needed to check on her.

“Security”, I told myself. “I’m just making sure she's where she's supposed to be.”

I left my office and made my way through the dark halls to the servants' quarters. Her door was at the end of the corridor and when I reached it I stopped.

Listened.

Nothing.

I opened the door.

The room was empty. The window stood open and the bars I had ordered installed lay bent and broken on the floor.

My wolf exploded.

Panic shot through me like lightning and I could not rationalize it. She was a prisoner. A traitor's daughter. If she ran it would only prove her guilt.

But the panic did not care about logic.

I shifted and my clothes tore away as fur replaced my skin. My wolf took over and I leaped through the window into the night.

Her scent was easy to follow. Honey and wildflowers.

I ran through the gardens. Past the training grounds. Into the forest that bordered the pack lands.

Her scent grew stronger and then I saw her.

She knelt by a stream with her back to me. Her shoulders shook and even from a distance I could hear the sounds she was making.

I shifted back to human form and stood there watching her. She did not hear me. She just cried like the world had ended and she was the only one left to mourn it.

For a moment I did not see the daughter of a traitor.

I saw a woman whose life had been stolen. Whose father had been taken. Whose future had been ripped away and replaced with chains and bruises and a monster who enjoyed the chase.

I saw her.

Just her.

Then she looked up.

Tears streaked her cheeks and her eyes were red and swollen. She stared at me and for a moment neither of us moved.

"I know you'll never believe me," she whispered. "But my father was murdered for what he knew. And you're next."