His Mate His Ruin

Mine, He said

He took his time.

Gently blowing over the angry wounds lining my skin, brushing cold balm across torn flesh like he was soothing something sacred. My breath hitched as each touch of his fingers sank deeper than skin. It wasn’t just pain or tenderness, it was the mate bond.

And it clawed into my chest like a blade wrapped in silk.

Beautiful.

Unbearable.

He lowered my legs like I’d shatter if he moved too fast, and then he rose beside me—tall, steady, immovable.

A barrier between me and everyone who wanted me gone.

I forced my head up, slow and aching, locking eyes with the council that ruled this land. His parents sat rigid on their elevated thrones, every inch the royalty they were.

One thing tied them all together.

Disgust.

Judgment.

Unapologetic hate.

Then, Aiden opened his mouth. And with just one sentence, he didn’t just shake the room.

He tore the world open.

“I, Aiden Arthur Storm, will take this woman as my Luna. Your Queen. Speak now if you dare stand against me.”

Everything cracked.

Chairs screeched back. Voices erupted like thunder. Wolves in human skin lurched forward, some trembling on the edge of shifting.

Growls thickened the air. Even the walls felt too tight to contain the rage that followed.

My heart climbed into my throat as I looked up at him.

What are you doing? What the hell are you doing?!

The uproar kept building, voices overlapping like battle cries.

Guards rushed in, pushing back bodies and chaos. But it wasn’t enough. The air had turned bloody. Hungry.

They wanted my head on a stake.

“Whose w***e of a daughter is she to be our Queen?!”

The voice cracked like a whip, venom laced through every word.

My jaw locked. I could feel the weight of every eye carving into me like I didn’t even deserve to breathe.

The slur coiled around my spine like poison. My fingers curled into fists.

Aiden growled.

Low. Primal. It tore through the room like lightning, and the entire hall obeyed.

Silence dropped like a blade.

That sound didn’t just quiet them, it broke them. His wolf’s raw power cracked through the stone walls, down to the marrow of every wolf present. One by one, heads bowed. Even the furious trembled under the weight of their King.

And I felt it too.

Every ripple of his dominance.

It slammed through me, hot, electric. Sinking into my bones.

I could barely breathe. My vision blurred.

But my wolf? She was in her corner. Silent. Cold. Distant.

I was a ghost with teeth, barely conscious.

My knees buckled.

I was about to fall, face-first, in front of the throne. And then his hand touched my cheek.

Steady. Warm, and Anchoring.

A shiver ripped through me. And this time, I didn’t fight it. I let myself feel him.

He sat beside me, pulled me closer, and cradled my face.

“You have two choices,” the eldest councilman said, panting from the strain of forced submission.

“Reject the girl and kill her in the streets, as your people demand. Or step down. Hand over your crown.”

The Assembly held its breath.

Aiden’s face didn’t flicker. Not even once.

He stood up.

Tore the Siegel crest from his tuxedo.

Dropped it like ash.

“I step down,” he said.

And then, without hesitation, he picked me up again, bridal style, and walked away.

Behind the throne. Through the back passage.

Into the unknown.

Chaos exploded behind us.

But I barely heard it. Just the rhythm of his steps. The heat of his arms. The disbelief was sinking into my chest like stones in water.

He stepped down.

For me.

For someone who came here to kill him.

I stared up at him, mute.

The question sat on my tongue like a blade. I wanted to ask why. I wanted to scream. To fight. To tell him this wasn’t how it was supposed to go.

But my mouth stayed shut.

Because part of me… didn’t want to know the answer.

He is the enemy. I whispered it to myself again. And again.

But every place his skin touched mine said otherwise.

And it was getting harder to believe my lies.

***

I was here to kill the King whose father killed mine.

I came to watch him bleed.

I wanted a crown to fall, a throne to burn, and for a father to know what it felt like to lose everything, to scream the way mine did before he died. And I thought I could do it. I thought I’d be able to stab him without blinking.

But now… I don’t even know what’s happening anymore.

I’m trying not to fall for the very man I planned to kill.

Aiden is doing everything he can to make me forget the hate I carried. He hasn’t even asked who I am. Or why I came here. He just… shows up, holds me, and looks at me like I matter.

Why?

I don’t understand it.

Every day, I hear things. The maids who bathe me and doll me up, whisper that the King has been changing everything. Anyone who stood against him—gone. Fired, thrown out, or worse. Beta Edward was dragged to the dungeons just because he said something against me.

And here I am.

Alive. In his room. Locked away like something precious.

Here I thought he stepped down for me.

But apparently… he took it back.

By force. Killing whoever dared to stand in his way.

I tried to escape several times.

Tied bedsheets to the window. Searched for loose tiles, hidden doors, anything.

But he was always one step ahead. No sharp objects. No keys. No gaps in the walls. Just soft sheets, silent guards, and a door that only opened for him.

My wolf? Silent.

She’s still healing. Still pretending none of this is happening.

I’m stuck here. In a golden cage.

And every night, it gets harder to remember why I hate him.

He walks in, picks me up without saying a word, and hugs me like I belong to him. He kisses the top of my head and holds me tight, like he’s trying to protect me from something, even if it’s from myself.

We sleep tangled together every night, his body curled around mine like he’s afraid I’ll vanish if he lets go.

No touching, nothing dirty. Just… warmth. Like he needs me there to breathe.

We sleep like lovers. But I lie awake, counting the inches of space he refuses to give me.

And I try to resist. I do.

But then I breathe him in, and it all melts.

Whatever he’s doing out there… facing councils, handling wars, silencing rebellion. He always comes back to eat with me.

He never misses a meal. Never stops talking. A complete contrast to the cold, commanding Alpha King I saw in the Assembly.

With me, he smiles. Tells stories. Nonsense ones. Childhood ones. Stories about his people, his wolves, his dreams for the kingdom.

I pretend to be annoyed. I roll my eyes and stay quiet like I’m not listening.

But he knows I am.

And he keeps talking. Softly. Like he’s building something between us, one word at a time.

But when his soldiers come in. Just a knock at the door, a report, a summons. Everything changes. He straightens, hardens. His voice turns sharp, his presence terrifying again. The King returns.

But right before he leaves, he always turns back to me.

He wraps his arms around me and rests his forehead against mine.

“Wish me luck,” he says, smiling softly, like I’m his calm in the storm. Then he leaves, just like that.

Leaving me speechless.

***

One night, he held me closer than usual. His lips brushed against my ear as he whispered,

“Just a little longer. I’ve almost cleared everything for us. One more day, maybe two. Then I’ll take you out of this room as my Queen. I’m sorry for locking you in. I just… couldn’t risk losing you.”

He kissed my ear, then buried his face in my neck.

I gripped the sheets so hard I thought they’d rip. I didn’t know what to do with the way he made me feel.

I need to get out.

I need to run before I forget what I came here to do.

But no matter how he makes me feel… I still have a job to finish.