Claimed by the Fallen King

When Evelyn eagerly looks forward to her mate ceremony, she is betrayed by both her mate and her best friend. Not only does she lose her mate, but she is also offered as a gift to the infamous, ruthless Lycan King—Alexander. After losing his fated mate, Alexander’s wolf begins to spiral out of control, turning him into the tyrant everyone fears. His rare ability to hear others’ thoughts only drives his wolf further into madness—except when it comes to Evelyn. For some reason, he cannot hear her thoughts, and yet she alone can calm his raging wolf. Still, Alexander isn’t sure if Evelyn is truly the luna he has been searching for. All Evelyn wants is to go home. But when she tries to escape and is caught, she is sentenced to death—only to discover, in that very moment, that the brutal Lycan King is in fact her second chance mate. Chapter 1 Evelyn "Lily is late," I complain to my soon-to-be husband, Lucas. For some reason, he seems a little distracted. "She's my maid of honor, and the wedding is in ten minutes. She won't have enough time to get ready—" I stop mid-sentence as Lily appears. Her makeup is a thousand times more flawless than mine, and her dress—well, it’s nothing like the bridesmaid dress I prepared for her. She looks like the bride, and I feel like a mere background character at my own wedding. As much as she has always needed to be in the spotlight, I never thought my best friend woud embarrass me like this. "Lily," I snap, but she walks right past me, completely ignoring my presence as if I were invisible. "The test results are confirmed," she tells Lucas, pulling out a report. "What test results?" I ask. Lily looks at me like I’m an idiot. "I'm pregnant. With Lucas’ pup." "He never told you we slept together a month ago?" Lily glances between the two of us with amusement. "It was amazing.” My supposed best friend links arms with my fiancé, gazing at him greedily even as her cutting words are directed at me. “He said you were a stupid fool, still clinging to your 'no sex before marriage' nonsense." I stare at Lucas in disbelief, but he averts his eyes. I freeze as he refuses to meet my gaze. For a heartbeat, I can’t even process Lily’s words. I look back and forth between them, wondering if this is some sort of sick joke. When neither of them breaks into laughter, their heartless expressions unmoving as they wait impatiently for me to accept this new reality, the full force of their revelation threatens to crack my chest open. My fated mate and my best friend. The two people I trusted most have turned against me. Lily, an Omega, has always been under my protection. From that first day on the playground, we’ve been best friends. As we grew older and became aware of the werewolf hierarchy, I learned that she was fated to get the short end of the stick due to being an Omega. As the daughter of a Beta, my influence has always been second to that of Alphas. But I’ve done my best to help and protect Lily at every opportunity. We’ve always had each other’s backs. Then there was me and Lucas, always considered the blessed pair: the Alpha’s son and the Beta’s daughter. Before either of us even turned eighteen, everyone assumed we would end up as fated mates. After I introduced them, Lucas did start looking out for her, but I always assumed it was out of loyalty to me. That he was using his influence as an Alpha’s son to protect the Omega who meant so much to me. I never imagined there could be more. I would have known about their betrayal if Lucas and I were bonded. But, as Lily so cruelly pointed out, I wanted to wait until the mate ceremony, to let everything happen the way it was meant to. And since Lucas and I haven’t slept together, he has yet to mark me. "So,” Lily turns to smirk in my direction, “the real star of this wedding? It’s not you. It’s me." I grab Lily in a fit of anger. "You’re supposed to be my best friend. How could you—" Lucas shoves me to the ground, growling, "What the hell do you think you're doing?! Don't threaten my pup." I push Lucas off me, but he doesn’t relent, shaking a warning finger in my face. “You will not touch her,” Lucas commands. “You will not hurt Lily.” I stare at Lucas, at my mate, in disbelief. He’s supposed to care for me, love me, protect me. Not that we exactly got around to promising as much to each other in front of all our friends and family. Instead, he’s positioning himself in front of Lily to protect her. And yet they are the ones who betrayed me. Lucas’ expression softens in response to mine. “You have to understand, Evie.” My knees nearly buckle at the sound of the nickname only he calls me. “For the sake of my pup,” he goes on, “I have to cancel our mate ceremony. I have to choose Lily. I can’t let her be sacrificed, not when she’s pregnant with my pup.” Time seems to slow as his next words somehow turn my world upside down even more than he already has. “You’ll take her place as the sacrifice, Evelyn.” My mind reels at the mention of the Lycan King Sacrifice. I’ll never see my family again. I could even lose my life. Because in this country, every unmated girl becomes just that: a sacrifice to the lycan king. Rumor has it that the lycan king lost control of his wolf because he couldn’t find his true Luna, turning him into a tyrant feared by everyone. In an attempt to calm the lycan king and find his mythical true Luna, unmated women are sent to him every year. Many die, and only a few make it out of the royal palace alive, leading to the colloquially used name for the women sent to his palace: a Lycan King Sacrifice. And with Lily effectively stealing my mate right out from under me just before the sacrifices are rounded up to be sent to the royal palace, she is sealing my fate. I study Lucas and his protective stance in front of Lily. I’ve heard of this before: werewolves turning their backs on their mates for the sake of an heir. I just never thought it would happen to me. “I could die,” I say, stating the fact as I wait for his answer. Obviously, I didn’t want my best friend to be sacrificed either, but the idea that her way out of such a terrible fate is to betray me, the only person who has always had her back, breaks my heart. “I have to protect my pup,” is Lucas’ only answer. He folds his hands calmly in front of him like I’ve seen him do a thousand times. “As of this moment, I officially reject you as my mate,” he states coldly, as if completely detached from the life we’ve been building together up until this moment. Intense pain seeps into me, as if the blood flowing through my veins is on fire. I shake in fury and agony, trying to fight the torturous rejection of our mate bond. I realize in a panic that there’s nothing I can do. If I don’t accept Lucas’ rejection, it will kill me. I wonder for a moment if it’s any better to die at the hands of the lycan king. But at least that way, I’ll get to say goodbye to my parents. I curl up on the ground in anguish. Even accepting the rejection hurts. I can feel my wolf receding, falling into a deep slumber to escape the agony searing my bones. I wish I could follow her as she escapes this new, cruel reality. But I’m stuck here. I hear the rhythmic footfalls of guards, and I realize that Lucas and Lily invited them. They had no intent of negotiating what would happen here. Their minds were already made up. “I’ll give you a few final days with your family,” Lucas says lowly. “I know how close you are to them.” I hear Lucas as he instructs the guards. “Watch her closely over the next few days. She’s allowed to spend time with her family to say goodbye, but make sure she doesn’t escape.” The guards roughly pin me down and drag me aside. I try to resist, but it only causes me more pain than I’m already experiencing. Lucas doesn’t spare me another glance, his eyes locked on Lily as if she’s the love of his life. Lily gives me a smug smile, and I realize then that she’s been waiting for this day all along. Chapter 2 Evelyn I thought a few days with my family would be a mercy, but it turns out that accepting a rejection from one’s mate results in a few days of agony as the body and mind adjust to the new reality. Instead of a few days more of making memories with my parents, it’s been a few days bedridden while my parents cry over both my current state and the future I can’t escape. I lay in my bed, shuddering in pain, shivering beneath a mountain of blankets even as I sweat through the first few layers. It’s as if my body no longer knows how to regulate itself. I doubt Lucas knew this would happen. Rejections are so uncommon, especially among werewolves who are typically banded together against lycans. My mother had to call a healer after the first day for fear that I was dying. It was the healer who informed us that the symptoms would pass in three days. I’d be wishing for day four, for the symptoms to pass, if day four wasn’t also the day I’ll be taken to the lycan king as his sacrifice. “We’ll leave, all three of us,” Mom murmurs from where she sits at my bedside. Tears track down both our cheeks – mine in pain, hers in concern. “Mom,” I groan in pain and annoyance. We’ve had this conversation so many times over the last seventy-two hours. My parents keep offering to leave the pack, to escape this terrible fate with me. But a werewolf without pack affiliation is vulnerable to lycan cruelty. After the war, werewolves learned to survive through community, through coming together against a common enemy. We protect each other. Without the protection of a pack, we would become rogues. Then all three of us would be in danger instead of just me. I won’t implicate them. “Then you go,” she sniffles. “Anything has to be better than certain death at the hands of an uncontrollable tyrant. At least you’ll have a chance.” I shake my head slowly, hating how the movement causes the room to spin. “They’ll interrogate you to find me.” “Don’t tell us where you’re going.” She wipes at her tears. “Easy solution.” “They’ll torture you,” I argue. She knows I’m right, and she cries harder. Not because she’s afraid of being tortured, but because she knows I won’t risk her safety to protect myself. “Here we are.” Dad nudges my bedroom door open with his shoulder as he brings in a tray holding three bowls of steaming soup. Tears come faster as the scent hits me. Chicken dumpling soup. My favorite. This is it. The past three days have been me, a mess in bed, Mom, unable to leave my side, and Dad, unable to keep still. Both of them trying desperately to find some way to help me. I listen to every idea, every option, express gratitude for every gift and kindness, even if I’ve already accepted my fate. So I enjoy these last moments with them, as much as I can while consumed by the dual torment of physical and mental agony. The next morning, I wake without chills or sweats or despair, just like the healer promised. And lycan soldiers knock on the door at the break of dawn, just like Lucas promised. I can hear them downstairs, demanding that I leave immediately. Mom, who slept in the armchair next to my bed, wakes in a panic, wrapping me in a defeated hug. She whispers final words to me while we listen to my father leading the soldiers up the stairs. “Survive,” she demands. “Find a way to escape the lycan king. Find a way home to us.” Then the lycan soldiers are gripping my shoulders roughly, dragging me away while my mother shrieks and cries into my father’s protective embrace. The soldiers add me to a carriage packed with other unmated women, all of us sent in batches to the lycan royal palace. I study the women around me, noting that most of them seem filled with despair for their future, clearly understanding the likelihood of death. To my surprise though, some women are as well coifed and made up as I was on the day of my mate ceremony. They’re ambitious. Hoping to become the lycan king’s Luna. I have heard rumors. Years ago, King Alexander of the lycans conquered the werewolves in a long-forgotten war and became king of these lands. The position of his Luna though has always remained vacant. It’s said that the king lost control of his wolf because he hasn’t found his true Luna. As his wolf became gradually uncontrollable, King Alexander turned into a cruel tyrant. Now no one can defeat the out-of-control lycan king. And the only way to find the elusive true Luna is through the annual sacrificial ceremony, in search of someone nearly impossible to identify, except by the lycan king. As we enter the gates of the royal palace, I watch with the other women in the carriage as thirty or so bodies are carried out the same entrance. All their necks are snapped. A few of the women gasp in shock, my stomach dropping as I twist away from the horrific sight. “Quiet in there!” a lycan soldier orders of us from outside the carriage. The carriage stops soon after, and the soldiers unload us, guiding us inside like sheep. If the lycan king is so terrifying as to snap thirty necks at the drop of a hat, then avoiding him has to be the best possibility of surviving. I keep my head down, trying to keep a low profile as I quietly follow the group. We’re shepherded to a sort of dormitory within the palace where a Beta is already waiting for us. He announces that three women will be selected each night to accompany the king for the evening. A few women puff up at this news, smoothing out the fabric of their dresses and positioning the curls of their hair just so. I merely stand there, trying to make myself as invisible as possible, praying that my name won’t be called. I know it will be eventually, but the longer I have before I’m thrust upon the unruly king, the higher a chance I’ll find a way to escape before I’m forced into his murderous grasp. “Marcella!” the Beta announces, and one of the women enthusiastic about meeting the king struts forward. A few women clap for her as if she’s won a price instead of having a nail hammered into her coffin. My chest tightens in anticipation. I didn’t have enough time with my parents, enough time to memorize their faces and laughs. I didn’t have enough time to appreciate the feel of sunshine on my face or the brilliance of the moon among the stars. “Sarah!” the Beta announces, and a sullen woman steps forward, shaking as she does, clearly understanding the full extent of her immediate future. Two out of three names have been called. The chances that I’ll be the third are low. My time with my parents is gone, possibly forever, but maybe I’ll get one more night and one more day alive before the oppressive lycan king snaps my neck, too. “Evelyn!” Or maybe not. Chapter 3 Evelyn My mind goes blank. Then my mother’s face flashes in my mind. Survive, she begged, her words echoing in my skull. I have to do something. Maybe I can claim some incurable illness that will make the lycan king recoil at the sight of me. Maybe I can faint or make a scene before we reach him. Break a small, non-fatal rule on purpose. Anything to mark me unsuitable for the sacrifice. Anything but this. I must be visibly hesitating because one of the more ambitious women steps forward in a beautiful forest green dress. “I would be more than happy to volunteer if she’d like a night to gather her bearings at the palace.” “Yes!” another well-dressed woman exclaims, this one in a bright blue dress that brings out her eyes. “Evelyn does look a little peaked. I’d be more than happy to take her place tonight.” All eyes turn to me. And I’m not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. “By all means,” I agree, immediately offering up my spot, “be my guest.” I look to the Beta, not sure if trading places like this is even allowed with whatever system they have in place. But before he can say anything, the woman in the green dress turns to the other volunteer and says, “How very thoughtful of you to have offered yourself only after I did.” The woman in the blue dress retorts, “I was giving someone else an opportunity to speak instead of jumping down the Beta’s throat.” “Brown-noser!” “Fraud!” “Ladies!” The Beta yells to get their attention. I can’t believe they are actually fighting to meet the lycan king instead of fearing what will surely be their death. The likelihood that any of us could be his true Luna is superbly low, especially when considering that lycans are immortal. His true Luna probably hasn’t even been more yet. The Beta sighs in frustration. “I really don’t care.” He reaches for the nearest woman, the one in the blue dress, and tugs her along with Marcella and Sarah out of the dormitory to their doom. Alexander I wait for the Beta to return with a new batch of eligible women. I remember the war even though it was centuries ago. I was born centuries ago, too. My fated mate died in that war, and I haven’t had another Luna since. My wolf gradually slipped out of control without the calming presence of a mate. Each time my wolf loses control, he goes on a killing spree to avenge the death of our fated mate. I hate the slaughter. But I have absolutely no control over my wolf’s impulsive outbursts. I’m honestly lucky I’m the lycan king. Another lycan might have been put down after losing their grip on reality, but me? It makes me more of a threat, more feared, more powerful. I know the only way for my wolf to regain its sanity is to find another Luna. Despite searching for centuries now, I’ve found nothing. So I spend year after year being brought unmated werewolves and lycans from across the lands, hoping that my wolf will recognize one of them, will find peace with one of them. I groan as the approaching women’s noisy thoughts grow louder the closer they get, pushing my wolf to the brink of losing control. It has helped me immensely in ruling and conquering to be able to hear the thoughts of lower-ranking werewolves, but it only makes my wolf more agitated. Three female werewolves arrive. After seeing so many, they all seem like walking corpses. That’s what they’ll all eventually become. Either by my hand or the hand of time since werewolves are not immortal like me. My wolf roils within me, the smell of these women unpleasant to him. Their thoughts don’t do them any favors either, the best option the one in the plain, brown dress who looks like she’s about to vomit up the same color. Her heart beats so quickly, her eyes flicking about the room nervously, her panicked thoughts certain she’s about to die. My wolf likes the idea of her death. But despite the manipulative, selfish thoughts of the other two women, I don’t want to kill them. I saw enough blood shed in that one war to last me an eternity. Yet my wolf plagues us with more death at every turn. I look each of the three women directly in the eyes, unsurprised when I feel no mate bond snapping our eye contact into focus. Sometimes I fear that it’s been so long since I felt a mate bond that I won’t recognize it when I see it. Despite my memory blurred by time though, the one thing I do remember about the mate bond is that it was unavoidable and inescapable. “Leave,” I order the three women. “Before my wolf kills you all.” A woman in a bright, blue dress steps forward boldly. “Your Highness, I’m a special healer. If you would allow me the honor of staying the night with you, I assure you that I will calm your wolf.” My wolf curls his lip in disapproval. Her thoughts betray her true, ulterior intentions and her lies. She is just an ordinary werewolf like all the others. Most of them are scared shitless to meet me, and rightly so. But every now and again these ambitious ones worm their way out of the woodwork, purporting to be more than they are, promising me anything they think will win my favor. They disgust me. They infuriate my wolf. They… I loose a shaky breath as my wolf rages within me. None of these women are my true Luna, so I turn to my Beta. “Expel them from the palace,” I command before I completely lose control. The Beta, recognizing the telltale signs of my unstable wolf fighting to rear his ugly head, ushers the women out urgently, disappearing behind a closed door and taking their unrelenting thoughts with them. I’ve known the signs of losing control for a long while now. The problem is that sometimes I don’t have enough time to isolate myself before I lose consciousness. I hurry now to a distant corner of the palace to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. I can feel my wolf growing more restless inside me, demanding to be let out, to avenge the love of my life. I am the most powerful creature in these lands, but the one thing I fear is losing control of my own power. I lock myself in a room far from anyone else as my wolf’s fit crescendos. I brace myself for the inevitable loss of consciousness, hoping the lock I’ve just engaged will hold against him. Then suddenly, my wolf falls quiet. I listen, waiting for the ire and rage I’ve become all too familiar with inside me. But my wolf grows increasingly calm, almost serene. My muscles relax at the sensation, and I realize how long it’s truly been since I felt this sense of peace within my wolf. Exhaustion washes over me as I realize how long I’ve been fighting this war inside me, but my wolf makes it clear this is not the time to rest. The calmness in him remains, but it adjusts, like it’s refining into something clearer, something more intentional, something with direction. Then my wolf speaks to me. It doesn’t growl or snarl or snap, it speaks to me calmly yet firmly. All he says is, “Find her.” Chapter 4 Evelyn After the Beta takes off with the three women in tow, the other women break off into groups. Some isolate themselves, others burst into tears while others rush to comfort them, and the remaining women who actually want to be here gather together as well. While they’re all broken off and distracted with gossip, I sneak out of the dormitory. My mother’s words echo in my mind. Survive. Find a way to escape the Lycan King. Find a way home to us. By the grace of the fates, I have found a way to survive the night. I will take advantage of every spare moment searching for a way out of here. Leaving tonight might not be the best option, but at least I’ll gather the information I need for when it is the right time to escape. Then again, with so many women around here, maybe no one will notice if one of us disappears. I avoid the guards as I explore the palace hallways, quietly making my way to the more remote parts of the palace. I mark every stairwell and window, every door that leads outside. I memorize different routes to every exit in case my chosen route becomes blocked. I’m making my way down a long, open hallway when I hear footsteps approaching around the corner. With no stairs to disappear up or down, I slip into a room I previously marked as a library. In my haste, I scrape against the door, closing it against myself before I’m all the way through. I stifle my own hiss to avoid giving away my location. The footsteps do not hesitate or alter, passing by my position with no suspicion at all. I’m confident they didn’t notice me, but it was a close enough call that I decide to halt my explorations for the day. I slip back into the dormitories, startled when the woman in the forest green dress who volunteered in my place corners me. “I’m Rebecca,” she offers by way of greeting. “Uh, hi, Rebecca.” I debate internally the pros and cons of sharing my name in return before I remember she probably already knows mine from when the Beta called it off his list. “Where were you just now?” she asks before I have an opportunity to formally introduce myself. “Out for a walk,” I reply smoothly. I even furrow my brows as if I’m not sure why she would be asking me such an odd question. Rebecca looks me over once appraisingly. I don’t note any suspicion on her face, though that is now two close calls tonight. “You really shouldn’t wander around the palace,” she warns. “The three women who were sent to the lycan king earlier were expelled from the palace for angering the king. No one died, but if you anger the royal family, you could get expelled, too.” I blink, hiding my shock from showing on my face. “Thanks, Rebecca,” I offer casually, then climb into one of the empty bunks to go to sleep. It’s not long after that the lights are shut off automatically, and the few remaining women milling about find an empty bed for the night, too. Expelled? I didn’t know expulsion was one of the punishments. I was sure the options were a swift death or a painful one. I can’t believe how lucky those three women are. They were handed their freedom, just like that! If I had known, I would have gone with them. Instead, I’m stuck here, trying to find a way to escape without anyone noticing. I take a deep breath, willing myself not to dwell on past decisions that I can’t do anything about now. All I can do is my best with the information I have at the time. And with that calming thought, I fall into a dreamless sleep. Only to be awoken with a start by soldiers early the next morning. “You’ve been reported for sneaking around the palace in an attempt to escape,” a soldier informs me gruffly while I’m still blinking the sleep out of my eyes. “Escape? No,” I argue, “I was just on a walk. Stretching my legs.” As I pull myself into a sitting position, I notice Rebecca behind them, somehow still looking as perfectly as she did yesterday, smirking in satisfaction. “All the way near the exit to the gardens?” the soldier asks accusatorily as he lifts a piece of torn fabric – that perfectly matches my purple dress. I furrow my brows in confusion, my mind reeling, trying to figure out when— The library. When I scraped against the door, it must have torn, and I was too distracted by whoever was approaching that I didn’t notice. I check the back of my arm where I had rubbed against the wood, and yes – there’s a missing hole perfectly matching the swatch of fabric in the soldier’s hand. “The library where we found this is nowhere near these dormitories. Much too far to be merely ‘stretching your legs.’” The soldier stares me down condescendingly like he has much better things to be doing than catching a lowly sacrifice in her lie. “Come on,” he says, almost sounding bored. “Per ordinance seventy-four, you are to be whipped twenty times as a deterrent and to set an example for the other women here.” I look around as they drag me out of the dormitory, ignoring Rebecca’s smug expression, wondering if there’s any way out of this, any way to escape my punishment. But there are three large soldiers, all gripping me tightly as they tug me roughly along to what looks like traditional execution grounds. My stomach drops, and I realize that twenty lashes is better than losing my life altogether. I’m shoved to my knees, the sound of a whip cracking on the stone beneath me causing me to flinch. Whoever’s holding the whip behind me chuckles at my reaction. I hear his sharp intake of breath, the whistle of the whip through the air as he pulls it back for my first lash. I brace myself against the incoming pain, willing myself to be strong and stoic. But the expected sting never comes. I dare a glance over my shoulder where the man with the whip trembles and falls to his knees. I think he’s having a fit until he bows his head low, practically shouting, “Your Majesty!” I whip my head over my other shoulder to find the king approaching me. I’ve never seen him before, but between the reaction of the executioner behind me and the crown perched on the bleach blond hair of the man before me, it must be the king. Gently, he takes my chin and tilts my head up. My breath shakes as I take in his handsome features. I’m so overwhelmed by his beauty that I can’t even make out which features set my heart racing. But his beauty is not enough to distract from my vulnerable position, and I wonder if the king is here to increase my punishment. His blue eyes are impossible to read. At that moment, my wolf rouses from her deep sleep that she fell into when Lucas rejected us, rushing to tell me, “He is our second chance – our mate.” Chapter 5 Alexander My wolf found a calming presence. “The purple dress,” he repeated over and over like a mantra. “The purple dress, the purple dress, the purple dress.” So I sent a Beta off last night to investigate, to see if there was a woman in the Prospective Luna dormitories in a purple dress. I’m woken early this morning with the news that there is indeed a woman there in a purple dress – but that she’s being led to the execution grounds for a punishment of twenty lashings. “Find her,” my wolf implores. “FIND HER.” I rush to the execution grounds, though I make sure to grab a shirt and my crown. Not all the staff knows what I look like, and the crown ensures they treat me with the appropriate level of respect. I’m particularly glad that I’m wearing my crown when I arrive at the execution grounds, the new executioner’s gaze flitting to me even as he pulls back the whip. I watch his eyes flick from me to my crown to my eyes as I firmly shake my head. “Protect her,” my wolf whines, and I approach the woman in the purple dress on her knees as the executioner drops the whip, kneeling to bow to me. The woman, sensing that something is amiss, peaks over one shoulder then the other until our eyes meet. I dip my fingers gently under her chin, tilting her beautiful face up toward mine. Examining her almond-shaped, hazel eyes. “What’s your name.” It’s not a question but a demand. “Evelyn,” she replies evenly, her eyes filled with surprise, not fear like so many others. I breathe sharply through my nose at the onslaught of thoughts swirling around the execution grounds. People wondering if I’m going to kill the intriguing women in front of me while others wonder if we somehow knew each other before this moment. I work to ignore them as usual, partially for my own sanity, but nowadays also to keep my wolf from losing control. Though as I push away everyone’s thoughts, I realize none of them are coming from Evelyn. I focus on her, intentionally trying to hear her thoughts – but I hear nothing at all. I release her chin, though she keeps her head raised. I really should get out of here before everyone’s thoughts drive my wolf wild. But when I check in with him, he seems completely unaffected by the cacophony of thoughts. Like Evelyn’s presence really is keeping him calm, just as he knew it would. “Release her,” I command the executioner. “She will serve as my personal maid.” “Alright,” Evelyn agrees as if she has any say in the matter. Her luscious brown hair is pulled over her shoulder in anticipation of her lashings, revealing her long, elegant neck. I pull my gaze away from it just as a voice interrupts my distraction. “Your Highness.” I turn as a woman around Evelyn’s age steps forward from the crowd of eager onlookers at the execution grounds. The deep green of her dress emphasizes her porcelain skin, and she bows deeply, intentionally revealing her low neckline. “Allow me to inform you, Your Majesty,” she continues as she rises out of her bow, “that the woman before you is suspicious. Her punishment is for sneaking around the palace. She may very well be a threat to you.” She kneels then, casting her gaze downward. “It would be my honor to serve as your personal maid instead.” But her thoughts reveal her true intentions. I’ve never heard of a personal maid to the king. Imagine the level of access, of consistent alone time I would have with him. This is surely a fast-track to becoming his Luna. And if it’s not, I will be close enough to him to turn him against any other female who gets in my way. I’ve seen so many greedy people like her before, it no longer phases me. It’s not surprising, nor is it an effort to keep my expression neutral. Because even if people like this no longer surprise me, they sure as hell piss me off. Their lack of morals is utterly disgusting. “This one,” I point a royal finger at the well-endowed woman with ulterior motives, “will receive thirty lashes, then be expelled.” I nod once to my beta, indicating that he will carry out my orders. I ignore the shocked gasps and confused stares. I turn from the surrounding thoughts, spinning theories and spiraling through confusion. And I leave the grounds without another word. Evelyn I never expected King Alexander of the Lycans to be my second chance mate. My wolf has been urging me since the moment our eyes locked to recognize our bond. I can feel every cell in my body, in my wolf’s body, propelling me toward him as if I’m biologically drawn to him. But that doesn’t change the fact that this king is an unpredictable tyrant feared by everyone. How could I ever be bonded to someone like that? All I want is to return safely home to my parents. I would rather never have another mate than be tethered to the king of the lycans. To my surprise, Alexander turns on his heel without another word. Almost as if he didn’t recognize me as his mate. When Lucas and I made eye contact for the first time, I could feel in myself the truth that he was my mate just as strongly and unquestionably as I could see that same truth resonating within him. We each instantly knew just as we could tell the other knew as well. I hesitate for a few seconds, surprised that it’s not quite the same the second time around, then I follow the king all the way to his wing of the palace. It’s farther than I ever made it while exploring yesterday. The majority of the palace makes a big circle around the Royal Gardens. I hadn’t made it farther than those hallways yesterday. At the heart of the gardens, protected on all sides by the rest of the palace, stands the grand and imposing King’s Palace. I follow him into what I assume are his private chambers, trying to keep up as I take in our luxurious surroundings. “You will assist with my bath.” I start at the command but quickly recover for fear of upsetting such a terrifying ruler who could have just as easily had me executed as rescued from my punishment. I make my way toward the door that he nods me toward, entering his grand, opulent bathing chambers. The bath, which has three steps leading up to it, could fit three people comfortably. I quickly turn on the water, ensuring it’s the ideal temperature. I look through the supplies lined along shelves, adding some soaps and scents. I even light a few candles to add to the calming ambiance – something that’s surely helpful for someone known to lose control of their temperamental wolf. Once the bath is ready, I turn to leave, but I’m blocked by Alexander as he enters the bathroom, his crown no longer atop his head. He saunters in, casually stripping off his top then his pants. Apparently, he’s not wearing anything underneath them.