.Chapter 6-2
“Prince’s got us doing double patrols again,” one had grumbled into his ale. “Ever since the wedding announcement, he’s been paranoid as hell.”
“Can you blame him?” another had replied. “With the king gone, he’s got to handle everything himself. That’s a lot of pressure for someone so young.”
“King’s been gone for eighteen years,” the first soldier had said. “The Prince was practically raised by the council. He’s doing fine, he’s used to it.”
“Is he though?” a third voice had added quietly. “My cousin works in the castle kitchens. Says the prince has been acting strange lately. Talking to himself, giving contradictory orders.”
The second bar had been more upscale, frequented by merchants and minor nobles. Irene had charmed her way into a conversation with a group of wealthy traders who’d been gossiping about the royal family.
“Such a tragedy about the king,” one woman had said, fanning herself dramatically. “So young and handsome when he disappeared.”
“Some say he died,” her companion had whispered. “Others think he caught some disease that
deformed him so badly, he can’t show his face in public anymore.”
“1 heard he went mad,” a man at the next table had interjected. “Killed his own mother with his bare
hands and fled to the woods in shame.”
“That’s just rumors,” the bartender had said, but his voice had been shaky. “No one knows what really
happened to King Kane. One day he was there, the next he was gone. Left behind a two-year-old heir
and a kingdom in chaos.”
The third bar had been the most informative. A rough place on the outskirts of town where people drank to forget their troubles. Kenzi had gotten a group of retired soldiers talking about the old days.
“King Kane was a good man,” one grizzled veteran had said. “Took the throne at twenty when his father died, and he did right by his people. Fair, just, strong as hell in a fight.”
“So what happened to him?” Kenzi had asked innocently.
The old soldiers had exchanged glances before one leaned in closer. “There was an incident at the castle. Something with a witch and the king’s mother. Next thing we know, Queen Valeria’s dead and the king’s vanished into thin air.”
“The official story is that she died of a sudden illness,” another veteran had added. “But those of us
who were there… we saw the king carrying her body. He looked broken, man. Absolutely destroyed.”
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Chapter 6 2
“Never saw him again after that night,” the first soldier had concluded. “Prince Kellan’s been ruling
ever since, with the council’s help.”
Sitting here looking at Kane now, he didn’t seem ill or crazy. Just grumpy as hell and built for violence. But there was pain in his eyes, the kind that came from carrying guilt for years.
“You’ve been out here for eighteen years,” I said, not really a question.
He opened one of the cans, some kind of stew that smelled better than it had any right to, and
handed it to me along with a spoon. His fingers were careful not to touch mine during the exchange, I noticed.
“Why are you out here?” I asked, taking a bite of the surprisingly good food. “What do you want
from me?”
For the first time all evening, his gaze met mine directly. The impact hit me with physical force,
those green eyes boring into mine with an intensity that made my chest burn.
“I want you to eat and rest,” he said, his voice rough. “That’s all.”
Claim
That’s when it happened. Fire exploded through my chest, racing through my veins and pooling low in my belly. Every nerve ending came alive, every sense heightened to an almost painful
degree. My wolf went absolutely feral in my mind, chanting the same word over and over until I
thought I might scream.
“Mate. Mate. Mate.”
The spoon clattered from my suddenly numb fingers. My vision blurred as the bond slammed into
place with the force of a freight train, connecting me to this man in ways I’d only heard about in
stories.
Oh goddess.
The missing king of the Aerith Kingdom, my psychotic ex-fiancé’s father, the man who’d
supposedly killed his own mother and fled into exile…
He was my fated mate?!
The irony was so twisted I almost laughed. I’d come here to marry his son for political reasons, only to discover the universe had other plans. Plans that involved binding me to a man who lived in a cave and dressed in enough layers to survive an arctic winter.
“No,” I whispered, scrambling backward until my spine hit the cave wall. “No, no, no. This can’t be happening.”
Kane’s nostrils flared, and I knew he could scent the change in me.
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< Chapter 6-2
“What?” He grunted. He could probably smell the arousal and terror warring in my system. His eyes had gone completely red now, his wolf rising to the surface.
Claim
I pressed my hands to my chest, trying to contain the fire burning there. The mate bond was supposed to be beautiful, a gift from the moon goddess. Instead, it felt overwhelming, terrifying in its intensity.
This changed everything. Every plan I’d made, every strategy for survival, every hope of making it back to my pack alive, all of it was now tied to a man who’d been living as a hermit for nearly two decades.
A man who was apparently my destiny.
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