CHAPTER 2 — The Alpha King’s Claim
982 Words
Ember’s POV
My pulse crashed against my ribs like it was trying to escape.
Kieran stood there—
the mate who broke me,
the boy I thought I’d love forever,
the man who destroyed my Christmas with a betrayal I could still taste like blood.
He stared at me, wide-eyed, horrified—
But not the way I expected.
Not with guilt.
Not with shame.
Not even with the slightest hint of remorse.
No.
He looked horrified because I was in his father’s bed.
Magnus didn’t move.
He didn’t flinch.
He simply shifted his stance, subtly stepping between me and Kieran, like he was shielding me.
Or claiming me.
“Dad…” Kieran whispered again, voice cracking. “What is this?”
Magnus didn’t answer him.
His eyes stayed locked on me.
“Ember,” he said softly. “Breathe.”
I didn’t even know I’d stopped.
My lungs trembled back to life.
My voice didn’t.
Kieran finally tore his gaze from the ring on Magnus’s finger and snapped toward me.
“You… you slept here!?” he shouted. “With him!?”
The accusation hit like a physical slap.
I tasted humiliation. And fury.
“You lost the right to question where I sleep,” I whispered.
Kieran stiffened, jaw clenching. “I’m your mate.”
“No,” Magnus said, voice a low, lethal cut. “You rejected her.”
Kieran’s head snapped toward him. “Dad—”
“No.” Magnus’s tone dropped deeper, darker. “You threw her away. You chose another. You made your decision.”
His eyes flashed.
“Now live with it.”
The air vibrated with Alpha force.
Kieran staggered back a step, breath catching like someone had punched him.
I swallowed hard. My hands clenched in the sheets.
Kieran’s eyes darted everywhere—
my bare shoulder,
the blankets tangled around my legs,
the bruised flush on my skin…
His voice cracked.
“You slept with him.”
My throat tightened. “You don’t get to be angry. You cheated first.”
“I made a mistake!” he shouted.
Magnus’s growl rolled through the room, deep enough to shake furniture.
“A mistake,” Magnus said quietly, “is a wrong turn.
What you did was deliberate.”
Kieran paled.
“Get out,” Magnus added.
Kieran looked at me again—
hurt, furious, bewildered.
“Ember… you wouldn’t do this to me.”
My heart cracked.
The audacity.
“You did worse to me,” I whispered.
And for the first time since I’d known him…
Kieran didn’t have anything to say.
---
Magnus’s POV
My son is trembling.
Good.
He should tremble.
He should feel every ounce of the pain he put in her eyes.
Ember clutches the sheets like armor, eyes shining—not with tears, but with the strength she doesn’t realize she has.
I force myself not to touch her.
Not yet.
Not with him watching.
“Dad…” Kieran says hoarsely. “You… her—”
He swallows.
“You slept with her?”
My jaw flexes.
I don’t answer his question.
Instead, I ask my own:
“What are you doing in my wing?”
Kieran flinches. “I— I heard movement.”
“You’re lying.”
He is.
I can smell it.
“He thought I was you,” Ember whispers suddenly, voice shaking as she pushes herself upright. “He came here because… he thought I was you.”
Kieran’s eyes widen; he looks like someone stripped him bare.
I step forward, placing my hand on the bedpost—close enough to Ember that she feels my presence, far enough that I don’t break her with the heat I’m still carrying from last night.
“Kieran,” I say, calm and deadly, “you will leave now.”
“But—”
“If you don’t walk out on your own,” I continue, “I will carry you out.”
That does it.
He steps back once, twice… then turns and leaves, the door slamming behind him.
Only then do I face her fully.
Ember is trembling—
with adrenaline,
with anger,
with shock,
with something hotter she doesn’t want to acknowledge.
She holds the sheet tighter.
“I should go,” she whispers.
“No.”
Her eyes lift to mine.
“You should eat,” I say. “Then we’ll talk.”
“That was your son, Magnus.”
“Yes.”
“That was my mate.”
“No,” I correct gently.
“He was.”
She swallows hard.
“And you… you’re…”
Her voice trails off when she looks at the ring on my finger.
My chest tightens.
“You gave it to me,” I murmur. “You asked me to take it.”
Her breath stutters.
“And I did.”
I lean closer, my voice brushing her skin like a touch.
“I am not letting you walk out of my life because of his hypocrisy.”
Her heart skips.
Her lips part.
And I know—
She’s terrified of what she’s feeling.
And I’m terrified of how much I want her.
---
Ember’s POV
This is too much.
Too fast.
Too raw.
I can still feel him from last night—
his hands,
his breath,
the weight of him,
the way he said my name like it meant something.
But standing here, shaking in his bed while Kieran’s footsteps fade down the hall, one truth rises louder than everything else:
Magnus didn’t reject me.
Kieran did.
And maybe…
maybe I’m tired of breaking for people who don’t cherish me.
“Breakfast,” Magnus says, offering his hand.
I look at it.
Then at him.
Then slowly… I give him my hand.
His fingers close around mine—warm, strong, claiming.
The world shifts.
And I know this is only the beginning.
---
- Writer
