CHAPTER 8 — The King’s Warning
1744 Words
The doors of the throne room slammed shut behind me with a force that made the chandeliers tremble overhead. The echo rolled through the massive hall like thunder, bouncing off carved obsidian pillars and gold-veined marble floors. For a moment, the only sound was my heartbeat—loud, uneven, betraying me.
And then my eyes found him.
The Alpha King.
He didn’t sit on his throne like a ruler basking in power. No—he stood beside it, half in shadow, half in light, arms crossed loosely, like he’d been waiting for me. Watching the door. Listening for my steps.
His eyes lifted the second I entered, locking onto mine with a heat that made my breath snag. Dark. Sharp. Too perceptive. Like he could read every thought I didn’t voice.
“Come here,” he said.
The words weren’t loud, yet they hit me like a physical pull—an invisible tether winding around my spine and tugging me forward. Something deep inside me trembled in response, and I hated it. I hated how easily his voice could stir something I didn’t understand.
Still, I forced my shoulders back. “You summoned me.”
His jaw clenched briefly. “You ran from my guards.”
“They chased me,” I snapped. “What did you expect me to do? Stay still and let them drag me?”
He didn’t move, but the energy around him shifted—like heat rolling off a barely contained fire. Not anger exactly. More like… restraint. A dangerous restraint.
He pushed off the throne and walked toward me slowly, his boots silent on the polished floor. Every step seemed calculated, controlled, but somehow that made it worse. Because I knew—instinctively—that if he lost that control, the room would not survive it.
Neither would I.
He stopped right in front of me, close enough that his scent drifted around me—dark pine, cool night air, and something warm and primal that made my pulse stutter.
“You shouldn’t have been able to outrun them,” he said.
My stomach tightened. “What does that mean?”
“No human should,” he added, lowering his voice.
I swallowed hard. “You’re implying something. Say it.”
His hand lifted, slow enough to give me time to move.
But I didn’t.
I told myself it was because I refused to show fear… but the truth was I couldn’t. Something in his presence rooted me to the spot.
His fingers brushed along my jawline.
A jolt shot through me—electric, hot, almost painful in its intensity. My breath rushed out before I could stop it.
He felt it. His eyes darkened instantly, pupils stretching wide, wolf surfacing beneath the surface of his skin like a beast pressing against a cage.
“There it is again,” he murmured. “That reaction. Your body responds to me even when your mind whispers defiance.”
Heat flared across my cheeks. I hated the way he noticed things no one else would. Hated that he could read my body better than I could understand it myself.
“I don’t respond to you,” I lied.
His thumb stroked the corner of my mouth, and a trembling exhale escaped me. His lips twitched—tiny, knowing, infuriating.
“You’re lying,” he said softly. “And I do not tolerate lies in my kingdom.”
I finally tore myself back, ripping my skin away from his touch.
“What do you want from me?”
His gaze dropped to my lips for a second—too quick for a normal person to notice, but nothing about him was normal. Then his eyes traced back up to mine, sharp, unreadable.
“Answers,” he said. “You’re not ordinary. You’re not human in the way you believe. And my wolf…”
He inhaled sharply, jaw tightening.
“My wolf reacts to you in a way he never has with anyone else.”
It felt like the ground tilted beneath me.
He couldn’t mean—
“You’re wrong,” I whispered. “You’re mistaken.”
His silence said otherwise.
“You think I don’t feel it?” His voice was low, intense. “Every time you walk past me, my senses sharpen. My instincts push. My wolf—” His eyes flickered gold for a split second. “—my wolf rises to the surface for you.”
“No,” I breathed. “That’s not possible.”
“It is,” he countered. “And you know it.”
“I don’t,” I insisted, stepping away.
He stepped forward.
I moved again.
He followed.
The chase was silent but charged—my pulse racing, his gaze locked on me with predatory focus, like a wolf stalking something it didn’t want to scare away… yet refused to lose.
“You’re afraid,” he said.
“Maybe I should be.”
He paused. The look in his eyes softened—not much, but enough to make my lungs seize.
“Fear is wise,” he murmured. “Fear keeps you alive. But fear will not keep you from the truth.”
“What truth?” I whispered.
He lifted a hand again—not to touch me this time, but to plant it on the wall beside my head. I didn’t realize I’d backed up until the cold stone pressed against my spine. His other hand did the same, caging me in completely.
He didn’t touch me.
But he didn’t have to.
His presence trapped me more effectively than any chain.
“Your scent changed yesterday,” he said.
My breath hitched. I hadn’t told anyone—not even myself—how my body felt… different lately. Hotter. Aware. Like something inside me was waking up.
“I noticed it first,” he continued. “Then every wolf in the corridor noticed you.”
A tremor ran through me. “Noticed me how?”
“Turned toward you,” he said. “Snapped their heads in your direction. Instincts triggered. But only I—” His throat bobbed. “Only I reacted like this.”
“Like what?” I whispered.
He leaned closer, his breath brushing my cheek. “Like I want to tear out the throat of anyone who looks at you for too long. Like my wolf wants to mark you. Like something ancient in your blood calls mine.”
I froze.
He couldn’t… He shouldn’t…
“That’s not possible,” I whispered again.
He smirked, but it wasn’t mocking. More like intrigued. Hungry.
“You keep saying that… but your body keeps proving you wrong.”
I shook my head, breath shivering. “I’m not a wolf.”
“No,” he murmured. “But you’re not human either.”
He said it so softly, but the words hit like thunder.
“What do you mean?” I demanded. “What do you think I am?”
His thumb traced the air near my cheek—like he was fighting the urge to touch me again.
“There’s a mark in your blood,” he said. “Old. Ancient. Rare. Forbidden. It hasn’t appeared in centuries.”
My heartbeat roared in my ears. “What… kind of mark?”
His expression tightened. “One that should not exist anymore.”
A cold shiver crawled down my spine.
“You’re scaring me,” I whispered.
“You should be,” he replied quietly. “Because if anyone else discovers what you are, they won’t hesitate. They’d kill you. Or worse—claim you.”
My stomach dropped. “Claim me?”
“Oh yes,” he said darkly. “Not in a bond you can escape. Not in a way you can fight. In a way that turns you into property. A weapon. A breeding tool.”
I felt sick.
His voice hardened. “And I won’t allow that.”
“Why?” I asked before I could stop myself. “Why do you care what happens to me?”
He leaned closer, so close that I could feel the heat radiating off him. “Because my wolf won’t let me look away from you.”
His words hit me in a place I didn’t expect—deep, dangerous, warm, terrifying.
“And because,” he continued, eyes pinning mine, “I can sense it in you.”
“Sense what?”
“That you are mine.”
My breath shattered in my chest.
Then, almost violently, he pulled himself back, dragging in a rough breath like he’d been too close to something forbidden.
“You’ll stay in the palace,” he said, voice sharp.
“What?” I choked. “No—absolutely not!”
“It’s not a request.”
“You can’t keep me here like—”
“You don’t understand the danger,” he cut in harshly. “You don’t understand what you are.”
“Then tell me!”
He stared at me, chest rising and falling with barely controlled breaths.
“I will,” he said finally. “But not today. Not while my wolf is this…”
His fist clenched.
“Unsteady.”
The word was too small for the chaos simmering under his skin.
“You’re not a prisoner,” he added after a long moment.
“Yes,” I hissed. “I am.”
He gave a humorless smirk. “No, sweetheart. Prisoners want to escape.”
He stepped closer again—not touching me, but close enough that his breath fanned over my lips.
“You…” he murmured, voice dropping to a dangerous whisper, “are running from something you feel.”
I froze.
“And deep down,” he whispered, “you’re terrified I’m right.”
Before I could speak, he turned abruptly and started walking away, broad shoulders tense, fists clenched as if fighting his own instincts.
At the doors, he paused without looking back.
“You’re not leaving this palace,” he said.
“Not until I understand what you are.”
Then he walked out, the doors shutting behind him with a final, echoing thud.
Leaving me in a silence so loud it drowned out everything—
Except the truth pounding inside my chest.
I wasn’t afraid of him.
I was afraid of what was happening to me.
And why my heart reacted to him like it already belonged to him.
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