Claimed And Sold At The Lycan King's Ball

The Bond Between us

CHAPTER 6

AVA'S POV

I stirred awake to gentle sunlight drifting through heavy curtains. Cold sea air poured through the balcony, filling the room with a calm, serene atmosphere.

My shoulder still throbbed. My fingers ached from climbing the stone wall last night. My eyes drifted around the intimidating space of the royal suite expecting him to have gone back to his throne. But he hadn't.

Draken was still sitting exactly where he had been when I fell asleep. My breath hitched at the sight of his injured arm. It was still stained with a damp circle of dried blood. My blood. The wound the mate bond had transferred into his arm hadn't healed. The ruthless mask of the Lycan King had slipped off revealing an exhausted man.

“You didn't sleep.” I whispered, my voice sounding small in the quiet room.

“Neither did you.” he rumbled. His voice was lower than usual.

I took a gentle breath pulling the heavy silk blanket tighter around my chest, but the fabric shifted against my skin.

I froze.

The silver silk slip the servants had forced me into last night was gone. I was wearing a soft, black oversized cotton cloth that smelled of him.

Heat rushed up my neck. I gripped the edges of the tunic, my eyes snapping to Draken. “Who changed my clothes?”

Draken didn't blink. “I did.”

“You what?” My voice cracked, my face instantly burning with a mix of embarrassment and rage. I shifted backward against the headboard, completely ignoring the sharp protest from my wounded shoulder. “Who gave you the right to touch me while I was unconscious? Are you completely out of your mind?”

“You were shivering, little wolf,” Draken said, his voice entirely calm, unbothered by my outburst. “The silk the servants had worn you wasn't doing much with the cold. your fever was spiking, and your wolf was whimpering through the bond. I changed you into something warm.”

“You should have called Maya! Or any of the other servants. ” I slammed my good hand against the mattress. “You don't just strip a woman while she's asleep! I don't care if you bought me from my stepmother, Draken, you do not have permission to treat my body like your personal property.”

Draken’s jaw clenched, his eyes narrowed. “You think I did it out of wickedness? I “You were freezing, Ava. Fenris was losing his damn mind feeling your pain through the bond.”

“I don't care about your wolf's sanity.” I screamed back, tears of frustration falling down my eyes. “I care about my dignity. Every single person in this palace looks at me like a stray dog, and you just reinforce it by taking away my choices. You bit me without asking. You bought me without a word to me. And now this? You are a monster.”

I shifted my weight aggressively, pulling myself further away from him.

The moment ache flared in my chest, a low, vibration rumbled deep in Draken's torso. Fenris was pacing inside him, reacting violently to the absolute rejection in my heart. I watched in a mix of horror and fascination as Draken’s knuckles turned white against his thighs. He was physically fighting his own instincts.

Intentional or not, I was testing the bond. Every time I tensed my muscles, his shoulders locked. When a wave of panic hit me His chest rose and fell unevenly. I couldn't even suffer in private.

“Stop doing that,” I whispered, exhaustion settled in. “Stop feeling what I feel. It's suffocating. And get a healer to treat that wound.”

Draken forced Fenris down, his breath uneven.

“A healer cannot scrub out what the Moon Goddess writes into the flesh, Ava,” Draken said, his voice dropping to a rough whisper. He looked at his own bleeding shoulder, then back to mine. “The wound on my shoulder will close when the tear in yours stops weeping. You understand nothing of what a Lycan bond means.”

“Then explain it to me,” I challenged, my chest heaving as I looked at him. I didn't want to scream anymore. I just wanted answers. “Because all I see is a golden cage. All I see is another man deciding where I belong.”

Draken stood. He looked at his hands, then back to me, speaking with a raw honesty I hadn't expected.

“I have waited for long, Ava,” he said softly, “For years, I watched Alphas find their mates while I ruled an empty court. I watched generations pass, and I believed the Moon Goddess had cursed me to walk in the dark alone until my wolf finally lost its sanity. I do not understand 'gentle love.' I do not know how to woo a female with soft words or patience. I am a Lycan. I only know how to protect what is mine, and I will burn this entire kingdom to ash before I let anyone take you away.”

I swallowed hard, my throat tightening as the weight of his words sank in. He wasn't acting out of cruelty; he was just trained for war, completely incapable of understanding a world where his fated mate could look at him and want to run.

“And what about what I want?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper. “Jax broke my trust and threw me away the second he saw a stronger pack. He made me feel completely worthless. Then Lydia turned around and sold me for Woods and Cattles. My entire life, I have been treated like a piece of trash. Now I come here, and you control where I sleep, what I wear, and who touches me. You tell me it's protection, but to me, it just feels like another transaction.”

Draken looked at me, a flicker of something resembling regret crossing his features before his expression hardened back into control. “You are the other half of my soul.”

Determined to break the sudden, suffocating intimacy pulling at the air, I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. “I need some air.”

“Ava, sit back down—”

The moment my feet touched the floor and I rose, the room tilted. The blood rushed from my head. My knees went numb.

Before I could hit the floor, Draken caught my waist, pulling me against his chest. The heat radiating off his body sent a spark across my skin.

I didn't pull away. My hand rested against his broad, tattooed chest. I felt his heart beat beneath my palms. I hesitated, my own breath hitching as Ash let out a deep, contented purr in the back of my mind.

Draken froze. His grip on my waist tightened, his golden eyes dropping to my face, searching my expression. He noticed the tiny hesitation. He felt the exact moment I stopped fighting his hold, and the silence between us stretched until it felt like a wire pulled to its breaking point.

Then, the latch of the outer door clicked.

I freed myself from his arms, stumbling back onto the edge of the bed as my cheeks burned with a sudden heat. Draken stepped back, his face instantly locking back into a cold mask of stone.

“I have business with the Council,” he rumbled, his voice turning formal as he looked toward the door. “Do not test the garden walls again, Little wolf. I will know.”

Without another word, he strode toward the main doors and vanished into the corridor, leaving the scent of dark honey behind.