BOUND BY CONTRACT, CLAIMED BY THE ALPHA

His Control

The echo of the slammed door still rattled through Ember’s bones. She pressed trembling fingers to her lips, as though she could erase the memory of his kiss. But it was impossible. The bond had seared it into her, branded it into her very blood.

Her wolf prowled inside her, restless, hungry. He is ours. Ours.

“No,” Ember whispered fiercely into the empty chamber. “He is nothing to us.”

Her wolf only growled in defiance, and Ember hated how her own body betrayed her, heat simmering beneath her skin long after Lucian had stormed away.

⸻

Morning came with icy silence.

When she entered the dining hall, Lucian was already seated at the head of the table, every inch the untouchable king. His crown glinted in the morning light, his cloak draped perfectly over his broad shoulders. He didn’t look at her when she sat opposite him.

Not once.

They ate in silence, the scrape of cutlery against porcelain unbearably loud. Ember forced each bite down like it was glass, her throat tight, her chest still raw from the bond’s pull.

Finally, without lifting his gaze, Lucian spoke. His voice was deep, measured, a blade sheathed in ice.

“This bond won’t control me.”

Her hand froze around her spoon.

He lifted his head then, his obsidian eyes cutting into hers, merciless and unflinching. “I control it.”

Ember’s wolf whimpered. Ember herself narrowed her eyes. “Then perhaps you should remind your lips of that the next time you decide to—”

“Enough.” The single word cracked like thunder across the room.

The guards along the walls stiffened but kept their eyes forward. Ember felt the sting of his authority press against her bones, an Alpha’s command meant to bend, to crush.

But she was no ordinary wolf, and she would not bow.

She leaned forward slowly, her voice laced with venom. “You can lie to yourself, Lucian. But don’t lie to me. You felt it too.”

For a heartbeat, something flickered in his gaze—wild, dark, unchained. Then it was gone, buried beneath ice. He rose from his chair, his cloak sweeping behind him like a shadow.

“This bond is a curse,” he said flatly, and left her sitting in the silence he carried like a storm.

⸻

Later that day, the throne room was alive with murmurs. Nobles had come with their petitions, their gifts, their endless chatter. Ember stood at Lucian’s side, her role purely ornamental, though her presence drew as much attention as the king himself.

She could feel the weight of every stare. Some looked at her with disdain, some with pity. And some… with hunger.

Lord Kael, an Alpha from one of the outer provinces, shadowhill, the last man Lucian never wanted to see was bold enough not to hide it. His eyes lingered on her far too long, raking over her like she was meat placed on a platter.

Ember’s stomach turned, but before she could look away, a growl reverberated through the hall.

Low. Lethal. Unmistakably Lucian’s.

The room froze.

Lucian didn’t move from his throne, but the sheer force of his dominance slammed into the court like a tidal wave. .

“Eyes,” Lucian said softly, dangerously, “forward.”

The Alpha said an apology, his voice bold and confident before stumbling back into the crowd.

Whispers stirred like leaves in a storm.

Ember’s pulse thundered in her veins. She hadn’t missed it—the way Lucian’s hand had curled into a fist on the armrest, the way his gaze had burned holes into the wolf who dared to look at her.

Possession.

He had claimed her without a word.

And when his eyes cut to hers, just for an instant, the truth seared between them like fire. Mine.

Her breath caught. Her wolf howled in triumph. Ember, however, straightened her spine and looked away, refusing to give him that victory.

⸻

By nightfall, the whispers had spread like wildfire.

“The Alpha King, jealous?”

“Impossible. He feels nothing.”

“I saw it myself—he nearly killed Kael with a look.”

“Maybe the King is falling. Maybe the cursed bond has him.”

Ember heard them in the corridors, from servants, from guards, even from a pair of nobles who hadn’t realized she was within earshot. The rumors curled around her like smoke, choking, inescapable.

Part of her wanted to laugh. To see Lucian, the cold, merciless Alpha King, undone by the very bond he despised—it was almost poetic.

But another part of her… the part tied to him by blood and fate… trembled. Because if the whispers were true, if Lucian’s control was slipping, then she was caught in the storm of it.

And storms destroyed everything in their path.

⸻

She confronted him that night.

The library was dark, lit only by the glow of the fire. Lucian stood before it, one hand braced on the mantel, his cloak discarded, his shirt loose at the throat. His profile was carved from shadows, his jaw clenched, his body tense as though barely containing the beast within.

“You embarrassed me today,” she said sharply, breaking the silence.

His gaze cut to her, burning like embers in the dark. “No. I reminded them you are mine.”

Her breath hitched, but her fury held. She stalked closer, fire blazing in her chest. “Yours? You claim me when it suits you, then spit on the bond when it doesn’t. You can’t have it both ways, Lucian.”

In a blink, he was in front of her, towering, his dominance pressing down like a storm. His hand came up, not to touch but to cage her against the shelves, the heat of his presence wrapping around her like a prison.

“I can and I will,” he growled, his voice rough, dangerous. “This bond will not master me. I will not bow to fate. Do you understand me?”

Her heart pounded, her wolf whined, but Ember lifted her chin defiantly. “Then why did you nearly rip out Kael’s throat for daring to look at me?”

Lucian’s breath caught, his jaw tightening. For the first time, he had no answer.

The silence between them was a roar, their wolves clawing at the fragile walls they’d both built.

Finally, his voice came, low and guttural, each word torn from his throat.

“Because you are mine.”

The bond flared violently, fire racing through Ember’s veins. She gasped, her hand clutching her chest, her wolf howling in savage triumph.

Lucian’s gaze darkened, his control fracturing before her eyes. He was shaking with it, with fury, with denial, with want.

And then, with a guttural snarl, he tore himself back, spinning away from her, his hands raking through his hair.

“This bond will not control me,” he said again, but this time his voice cracked with the lie.

Ember’s lips curved into a bitter smile, though her heart was racing. “Keep telling yourself that, Alpha. One day, you might even believe it.”

⸻

Later, when Ember finally collapsed into her cold bed, the whispers of the court echoed in her mind.

“Maybe the King is falling.”

She closed her eyes, her wolf restless, the bond alive and burning.

And for the first time since she had been dragged into this cursed palace, Ember allowed herself a thought that was as dangerous as it was intoxicating.

If the Alpha King is falling… perhaps I will be the one to bring him down.