Desired by Kings
1461 Words
Chapter 22: Desired by Kings
Peace did not arrive.
It simply changed shape.
*****
Cassandra
Three weeks after the sky closed, the world looked normal again.
The streets of New York pulsed with traffic. Hospitals reopened. Pack borders quieted. News outlets blamed the mountain battle on a chemical explosion, military exercises, mass hysteria, anything but truth.
But Cassandra knew better.
Nothing was normal.
She felt everything now.
The emotions in crowded rooms.
The pulse of storms before clouds formed.
The ache in strangers.
The hunger in wolves.
And the desire in men who looked at her too long.
Especially those closest to her.
She stood at the balcony of Bosco’s penthouse, city lights glittering below, wind lifting her hair.
Jay slept inside.
For the first time in years, he slept without nightmares.
That should have brought peace.
Instead, Cassandra felt restless.
Changed.
Watched.
Wanted.
A warm voice came behind her.
“You disappear whenever you think too much.”
She smiled faintly without turning.
“Then I should be invisible by now.”
Jason stepped beside her, hands in his pockets, shirt sleeves rolled to his forearms. He looked tired, handsome, dangerous in the effortless way only he could.
“You’ve been avoiding me,” he said.
“I’ve been breathing.”
“That’s not an answer.”
She turned then, eyes lifting to his.
“It’s the only one you’re getting tonight.”
Jason stared at her mouth for one reckless second too long.
His wolf stirred instantly.
She felt it.
And blushed.
*****
Jason
He was losing control.
Not in battle.
Not in leadership.
With her.
Since the mountain, Cassandra had become impossible to ignore. She moved through rooms like gravity itself. Stronger. Softer. More mysterious. Every glance from another man made something savage rise in him.
And the worst part?
He had no right to feel possessive.
Not yet.
“Come to dinner with me tomorrow,” he said.
She arched a brow. “That sounded like an order.”
“It was a request wearing expensive shoes.”
A laugh escaped her.
God, he’d missed that sound.
Before she could answer, the penthouse doors opened.
Maxwell entered.
Tall, composed, expensive coat over broad shoulders, carrying the calm confidence Jason wanted to punch on sight.
“I hope I’m not interrupting,” Maxwell said pleasantly.
“You are,” Jason replied.
Maxwell ignored him and looked at Cassandra.
“You forgot your appointment tomorrow morning.”
She blinked. “I did?”
“You’re scheduled to assist in surgery. Unless Dr. Jason plans to steal staff now too.”
Cassandra sighed.
“Why do both of you sound territorial?”
Because we are, Jason thought.
*****
Maxwell
He had been patient.
Too patient.
While Jason relied on history and longing, Maxwell relied on presence. Consistency. Respect. He had been there for Cassandra when she rebuilt herself. He knew her strengths, moods, silences.
And lately, he knew she felt something too.
Not fully admitted.
But there.
“You need rest,” Maxwell said gently. “You’ve overextended your senses all week.”
Jason scoffed. “She doesn’t need a caretaker.”
Maxwell’s gaze cooled. “And she doesn’t need obsession.”
The air sharpened.
Cassandra stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Both men fell silent immediately.
That amused her more than it should have.
Then the elevator chimed again.
Bosco stepped out first, expression dark.
And behind him was a stranger.
*****
The Prince Arrives
Every instinct in the room shifted.
He was tall. Taller than Jason, broader than Maxwell, with silver-black hair falling to his collar and eyes like molten amber. Beautiful in the dangerous way of sharpened blades.
He wore no visible weapon.
He didn’t need one.
Power rolled off him in waves.
Bosco looked disgusted.
“This,” Bosco said flatly, “is Prince Lucien Varik.”
The stranger’s gaze found Cassandra instantly.
And stayed there.
For several seconds too long.
Then he smiled.
So slowly it felt like a hand sliding down bare skin.
“At last,” he murmured.
Jason stiffened.
Maxwell’s jaw hardened.
Cassandra frowned.
“At last… what?”
Lucien stepped forward and bowed. Not mockingly, but with old-world elegance.
“The woman who broke the sky.”
*****
Cassandra
Something about him unsettled her.
Not because he was hostile.
Because he was certain.
“Why are you here?” she asked.
Lucien straightened.
“To court you.”
Silence detonated across the penthouse.
Jason moved first.
“No.”
Maxwell second.
“Absolutely not.”
Bosco third.
“I preferred him when he was outside.”
Lucien ignored them all.
His eyes never left Cassandra.
“In the Northern Lycan Dominion,” he said smoothly, “we honor power. Beauty. Blood. Fate. You possess all three.”
“I’m not an auction item,” Cassandra replied coolly.
His smile deepened.
“Good. I dislike bidding.”
Against all logic, she almost laughed.
*****
Jason
He hated this man instantly.
The confidence.
The accent.
The way Cassandra’s pulse had jumped, not in fear, but awareness.
“What dominion?” Jason asked sharply.
Lucien glanced at him lazily.
“The territories your Council pretended no longer mattered.”
“Then go back to them.”
“I might,” Lucien said. “With her.”
Jason took one step forward.
Bosco caught his arm.
“Not yet.”
*****
Maxwell
Maxwell studied Lucien clinically.
Predatory posture.
Controlled breathing.
No wasted motion.
Used to winning.
Used to being desired.
Which meant one thing: he wouldn’t stop until stopped.
“Cassandra has no obligation to entertain this,” Maxwell said.
Lucien nodded once.
“Correct. Which is why I came to ask.”
Then he looked at her.
“Dinner tomorrow.”
Jason snapped, “She’s busy.”
Lucien raised a brow. “Did I ask you?”
Maxwell almost smiled.
*****
Bosco
Bosco poured himself whiskey.
He needed it.
“I allowed him in because refusing a Lycan Prince creates six diplomatic problems,” he muttered.
“Allowing him in created seven personal ones,” Jason said.
Bosco drank.
“True.”
Then he looked at Cassandra carefully.
“What do you want?”
Everyone fell quiet.
Her answer mattered more than any of theirs.
*****
Cassandra
Three men watched her.
Jason with history, heat, unfinished love.
Maxwell with stability, tenderness, growing desire.
Lucien possessed of danger, novelty, challenge.
And Bosco, protective with fury disguised as indifference.
She folded her arms.
“I want one week,” she said.
Jason blinked. “For what?”
“To think.”
Lucien smiled. “Reasonable.”
Jason looked betrayed.
Maxwell looked thoughtful.
Bosco looked entertained for the first time all night.
“And during that week,” Cassandra continued, “none of you will claim me, corner me, threaten each other, or make decisions for me.”
Lucien placed a hand over his heart. “I adore impossible rules.”
Jason muttered something unprintable.
Maxwell sighed.
Bosco said, “I’ll prepare body bags.”
*****
Later That Night
Cassandra stood alone in the kitchen pouring water when Lucien appeared silently in the doorway.
“You move like a stalker,” she said.
“You sense me before I arrive. That ruins the fun.”
She turned.
“What do you really want?”
His expression shifted subtly.
Less playful.
More honest.
“You.”
“That’s not enough.”
“No,” he agreed. “Then the truth?”
She waited.
Lucien stepped closer.
“In my lands, they believe an ancient female power has risen.”
“And?”
“They also believe whoever bonds with her will rule the next age.”
Cassandra’s eyes hardened.
“So I’m political after all.”
He smiled sadly.
“That is what they believe.”
“And you?”
His gaze lowered briefly to her lips, then rose again.
“I think I’ve wanted you since the moment I walked in.”
Her pulse betrayed her.
He noticed.
Of course he did.
*****
From the hallway came a growl.
Low.
Real.
Jason stood there, eyes blazing.
“Step away from her.”
Lucien turned slowly, amused.
“Or?”
Maxwell appeared behind Jason.
“Or both of us.”
Lucien’s smile sharpened.
Cassandra closed her eyes.
“This week is going badly already.”
Then, every light in the penthouse exploded at once.
Glass shattered.
The city below went dark block by block.
And in the sudden blackness, a female voice echoed through the apartment.
“If Cassandra will not choose…”
A pause.
“…then I will choose for her.”
The emergency lights flickered on.
Lyra stood in the broken doorway.
With Julie beside her.
And behind them was an army of armed rogue wolves.
- Writer
