IN BED WITH THE WRONG ALPHA

11

ROBYN

I kissed him.

Not because I meant to feel anything. It was a test. Nothing more. I wanted to see what it would do to him.

I watched.

For one full second, Kane didn't move at all. Then his eyes narrowed, before he shut it down so fast I almost convinced myself I'd imagined it. He gritted his teeth, taking my arm.

"Come on," his voice came out rougher.

I let him lead me right into the main event.

The ballroom swallowed us whole the second we stepped back in — a wall of silk and jewels and old, watchful eyes. Dignitaries from all four packs converged on him one after another, murmuring congratulations, studying me over the rims of their champagne glasses like I was a puzzle they hadn't decided whether to solve or discard.

"Alpha Kane. A pleasure." An older man in Green Thorne colors bowed his head, his gaze sliding to me for half a second too long. "And this must be Miss Ford. The nation's been... talking."

"I imagine they have," Kane said smoothly, and moved us on before it could go further.

A hand touched his shoulder from behind — one of the stewards, murmuring something about the toast. Kane's brows hardened instantly.

"I have to get up there," he told me. "Stay close to the wine stand. Don't have too many — I still need you sober for the night."

Then he was gone, swallowed into the crowd toward the raised dais at the far end of the room, and I was left standing alone in a sea of people who'd already decided what they thought of me.

I grabbed a glass of wine, mostly for something to do with my hands, and found a quiet spot near a pillar where I could watch without being watched.

He looked unbearably composed up there. Every inch the ruler they'd spent his whole life training him to be — shoulders back, voice carrying without needing to be raised, the whole room falling silent the moment he lifted a hand.

"Two nights from now, I will stand before this nation and accept the mantle left behind by my father," he said. "I don't intend to carry it the way he did. I intend to do it better, because there's no better way to honor a great king than to surpass him as his son."

A murmur of approval rippled through the crowd. Someone near me lifted their glass.

"To the new Alpha Supreme," Kane said, raising his own. "May the packs stand united beneath him."

Glasses rose all around me. I lifted mine too, a beat too late, feeling entirely out of place doing it.

The whispers started up again the second he stepped off the stage.

"...can't believe he chose her, of all people..."

"...Ford-Dane blood, though. That family's cursed, if you ask me..."

"...still. Have you seen her skin? Goddess, no wonder he can't keep his hands off her—"

Dane was my maternal lineage. They were talking about them, because my father was a respected warrior. The Ford name held honor. I stared into my glass and pretended not to hear any of it. Pretended it didn't matter that half the room thought I was beneath him, and the other half only tolerated me because I happened to be pretty enough to justify it.

Kane made his way back toward me, weaving through congratulations he barely paused for, when Elias appeared at his elbow and murmured against his ear.

His face changed instantly, his hands curling into fists.

"I'll be right back," he told me, and disappeared through a side door with Elias close behind.

I waited. Five minutes. Ten. The wine in my glass had gone warm, and the weight of being watched by a room full of strangers who all had opinions about me finally became too much.

I slipped away, following the direction Kane had gone, telling myself I only wanted air.

Voices reached me before I turned the corner. They came from a set of half-open double doors. I recognized Elder Vincent's voice first. His voice was always on the news, loud and infuriating, hard to miss.

"...an embarrassment, Kane! You assaulted a member of the press in front of the entire nation, two nights before your coronation. What do you think your father would have said?"

"He put his hands on her." Kane's voice came out flat. Then it rose. "Unwanted. Unprovoked. What would you have had me do? Stand there and watch?"

"I would have you remember that you are about to become the most powerful Alpha this nation has ever known, and powerful men do not brawl over—"

"Over a woman being assaulted?" Kane cut in, then scoffed. "A reporter grabbed her arm hard enough to bruise it. That is assault, Vincent, whether it happens to a noble or a servant. Protecting someone from that isn't a scandal. It's the job. It is, in fact, the entire point of what you're about to crown me for."

The room fell silent.

"And my father," Kane went on, "would be proud of the man I have become."

Another elder started speaking. "Alpha, we—"

"Unless there is an actual matter of state to discuss, do not summon me again to relitigate a decision I would make again in a heartbeat."

I heard chairs scraping, and the low grumble of men who weren't used to being dismissed. I backed away fast, heart pounding too hard, and ducked into a bathroom just off the hall as the doors swung open.

I pressed my back to the door, breath held, listening through the gap.

"I know you're frustrated with them," Elias was saying, voice pitched low as their footsteps passed. "But you have to consider how this looks now, Alpha. The council isn't going to let this go quietly. If you keep giving them reasons to talk, they're not going to give you a choice in the matter. They'll force you to marry, or release her before the coronation, so the throne isn't standing on unstable ground."

My breath went still.

"You need to think about whether this ruse is doing more damage than good," Elias pressed. "To both of you."

"Enough!" Kane's voice came out irritated. "If that is the case, I will marry her. It's been four days. No other candidate has come forward. She's one of three. At this point, she's the only real option I have."

What?