Lila's POV
The silk of my dress clung to my curves like a second skin, deep emerald green to catch the candlelight and distract from the hollow feeling in my chest. I had spent hours in front of the mirror, weaving flowers into my long, chestnut hair and applying kohl to my warm brown eyes, trying to paint over the heartbreak with a veneer of desirability. Tonight wasn't about love. It was about survival. My father had made the ultimatum clear: find a mate to claim me, or face the executioner's blade for shaming the family.
I walked into the great hall, the air thick with the scent of mulled wine, roasting meat, and the heavy musk of unmated wolves. The music thrummed, a low, primal beat that vibrated in my chest, reminding me of the rogue’s heartbeat in the woods. I swallowed the memory down. I couldn't afford to think about him, about the way his hands had felt, the way he had needed me. I needed to find someone who would look at me and see a future, not just a warm body for the night.
Almost immediately, a tall wolf with broad shoulders stepped into my path. His eyes raked over me, not with admiration, but with a hunger that made my skin crawl.
"You look lonely, little dove," he murmured, leaning in too close, his breath hot against my ear. "My room is quiet. We could... get to know each other."
"I'm looking for a mate," I said, keeping my voice steady despite the tremor in my hands. "A bond. Not a tumble in the sheets."
He laughed, a short, dismissive sound. "Why buy the cow when the milk is free for the asking? Come on, don't play hard to get. I can smell the desperation on you."
I recoiled, stepping around him, but it was the same story wherever I turned. They saw a beautiful girl, soft curves and a gentle face, and they assumed I was easy prey. They wanted a one-night stand, a warm hole to fill, a fleeting pleasure. But I had already given away the one thing they valued most—my purity. I was ruined goods in their eyes, and yet, the irony was, the only thing I truly wanted was what they wouldn't give: someone to cherish me. Someone who would hold me through the night and stay when the sun rose, who wouldn't mind that I was broken, that I had given myself to a stranger in the dirt to save a life.
"You look pathetic, Lila."
The voice cut through the noise like a knife. I froze, turning slowly to see Clara standing there with Kael by her side. Clara was dressed in shimmering silver, her smile sharp enough to draw blood. Kael looked bored, his arm possessively wrapped around Clara's waist, but his eyes flicked over me with a sneer.
"Clara," I said, my voice tight.
"Did you think dressing like a gaudy prostitute would make you forget that no one wants you?" Clara stepped closer, lowering her voice so only the three of us could hear. "We all know you're damaged. We can smell it.
You're loose, Lila. Used."
Kael chuckled darkly. "She's right. You look desperate. It’s embarrassing. I’m glad I saw the truth in time.
Imagine being tied to you for life, knowing you let some random rogue defile you in the woods."
"Shut up, Kael," I hissed, tears stinging my eyes. "You don't know anything about it. You were too busy fucking my sister to care about me."
"And it was the best night of my life," Clara shot back, her eyes dancing with malice. "He's a real Alpha, Lila.
Not that weakling you probably spread your legs for in the Darkwood. Did he even knot you? Or was he too busy dying?"
The humiliation washed over me, hot and suffocating. I felt the eyes of the pack on me, the whispers starting as people pointed. I turned to flee, to run out of the hall and take my chances with the forest, but suddenly, the heavy oak doors at the end of the hall slammed open with a crash that shook the floorboards.
The music died instantly. The chatter stopped. A silence so absolute it rang in my ears fell over the room.
A man stood in the doorway. He was colossal, towering over every other wolf present, his frame filling the entrance with a terrifying, magnetic presence. He had dark, wind-swept hair and a jawline cut from granite, but it was his eyes that pinned me to the spot—icy, pale gray, glowing with a power that made the air in the room feel thin.
He wore the leathers of a traveler, but the aura radiating from him was undeniable. The sheer dominance, the command, the terrifying pressure of an Alpha hierarchy. It was the Alpha King. The ruler of all packs. He wasn't supposed to be here, not in our territory, not at a provincial mating dance.
He strode into the room, parting the crowd like the sea. Every wolf bowed their head in submission, including my father, who had gone pale near the dais. The King ignored them all, his head swiveling as he scanned the faces, his nose flaring as if he were hunting a specific scent.
My heart hammered against my ribs. I knew that scent. I knew the tension in his shoulders, the way he moved with a predator's grace.
He stopped in the center of the floor. "I am not here for politics," his voice boomed, deep and rough, silencing the remaining gasps. "I am here for the one who saved my life."
My breath hitched in my throat. No.
"The night of the full moon," he continued, his gray eyes sweeping the room, locking onto the crowd of trembling females. "I was dying in the Darkwood. Silver poisoning. A woman found me. She gave me her...
essence when I was at death's door. She healed me with a bond."
He took a step forward, the intensity of his gaze making my knees weak. "She is my fated mate. The Moon
Goddess has shown me her face in my dreams, but I need to see her in the flesh. I will find the woman who saved me, and I will claim her as my Queen."
A ripple of shock went through the room. Whispers exploded. The Alpha King? Looking for a mate in the
North? And she had saved him?
I shrank back against the wall, praying the shadows would hide me. I had saved him, yes. I had given him my virginity to burn out the poison. But I couldn't be his Queen. I was a disgrace, a traitor to my pack's honor.
And he was a King. He would hate me when he found out I was the daughter of a lower Alpha, that I was the one Kael had discarded.
"I know you are here," the King growled, his voice low and dangerous, vibrating in my chest. "I can smell you.
Wild daisies and rain."
My scent. My stomach dropped. I closed my eyes, terrified he would see me.
Suddenly, a gasp went up from the crowd. I opened my eyes to see Clara pushing through the mass of bodies, her face flushed, her eyes wide with calculated awe. She smoothed her silver dress and stepped forward, right into the Alpha King's path.
She reached into her bodice and pulled out a long, tattered strip of white cloth.
My blood turned to ice.
It was the blindfold. The strip of cloth I had used to tie around his eyes in the woods. The one I had left behind when I fled.
Clara held it up, her hand shaking just enough to look theatrical. "My King," she said, dropping into a curtsy that looked practiced and perfect. "I... I was so afraid you wouldn't find me."
The King’s gaze snapped to her, then to the cloth in her hand.
Clara looked up at him, tears shimmering in her eyes. "It was me. I found you in the woods that night. I saved you. I didn't want to tell anyone because... because I didn't know who you were. But this... this fell from your eyes when I left."
Liar. The word screamed in my mind, but my voice was gone.
Beside me, Kael stiffened, his eyes widening as he looked at Clara, then at the King. He looked completely blindsided, his mouth falling open in shock. He had no idea she had the blindfold. He had no idea she was planning this.
The Alpha King stared at Clara, his expression unreadable, while I stood frozen in the shadows, my heart shattering all over again.
