Chapter 2 Two

Killian Ravenscroft stood on the dais, staring at the doors through which Kora had disappeared.

The music had started again. Guests were returning to their conversations, and servants were already clearing the broken crystal from the marble floor. To everyone else, the scandal was over.

But inside him, something was tearing him apart.

MINE.

The word slammed through his head again.

His wolf was not calming down. It was pacing inside him, snarling and throwing itself against the walls of his control.

MINE. MINE. MINE.

Killian clenched his jaw.

He had rejected the wolfless handmaid in front of the entire realm. He had made his decision clear. There was nothing left to discuss.

So why did his chest feel as though someone had driven a blade through it?

The broken bond throbbed inside him. Every heartbeat brought another wave of pain, sharp enough to make his fingers twitch. He had rejected women before. He had dismissed offers of marriage and ignored countless unmated she-wolves who wanted to stand beside him.

None of them had made him feel like this.

Then Kora's scent reached him again.

Moonflowers after rain. Wild honey. Beneath them lay something darker, something old and powerful that stirred a strange feeling deep inside his bones.

His wolf lifted its head.

Find her.

Killian's fingers curled.

"Your Majesty?"

Vivienne's voice pulled him from his thoughts.

Her hand was still wrapped around his forearm. Her perfume, a heavy mixture of lilies and something sweet, clung to him. Normally, he would not have noticed it. Tonight, it made him want to push her away.

"The introductions are waiting," she whispered. "We should continue before the guests begin to wonder."

He looked down at her hand.

She followed his gaze and smiled.

"Everyone understands what happened. You did what was necessary."

Necessary.

His wolf snarled.

Killian slowly removed her hand from his arm.

"Excuse me."

Vivienne's smile stiffened, but she recovered quickly. She turned toward a nearby Alpha and greeted him as if nothing had happened.

Killian did not wait for another word.

He left the dais and entered the side corridor.

The moment the ballroom doors closed behind him, his control began to slip.

His claws pushed through his fingertips. He dug them into his palms until blood ran down his hands, but the pain barely distracted him.

His wolf wanted to hunt.

It wanted to find Kora, drag her back to the palace, and make certain she never disappeared from his sight again.

Killian refused to listen.

He was the Alpha King. No woman, no matter what the Moon Goddess had decided, would control him.

He reached his private chambers and slammed the door behind him.

The frame cracked.

A guard outside immediately straightened.

"Your Majesty, is everything-"

"Leave."

The guard fell silent.

Killian crossed the dim room. A low fire burned in the hearth, and moonlight poured through the tall windows. He gripped the mantel and stared at his reflection in the silver mirror above it.

His eyes were half-shifted. His pupils had swallowed most of the silver, and his canines were longer than normal.

He looked like a man fighting to keep a beast inside him.

That was exactly what he was doing.

He pressed a hand against his chest.

Pain answered him.

"Damn it."

He had smelled thousands of she-wolves throughout his life. Beautiful women had approached him from every corner of the realm, hoping to catch his attention. Their scents had never affected him beyond a passing interest.

But Kora's scent remained in his nose even though she was somewhere outside his chambers.

He could still remember the way she had looked at him before he rejected her. Her storm-gray eyes had been wide with hope.

Then he had destroyed that hope.

For one brief moment, he remembered the blood dripping from her nose onto the broken crystal.

His fingers tightened against the mantel.

He did not care.

He could not care.

A knock sounded at the door.

"Enter."

Beta Callum stepped inside and closed the door carefully behind him. He took one look at Killian's face before stopping several feet away.

"The ball is proceeding as planned," he reported. "Princess Vivienne is handling the guests. The visiting Alphas have agreed to remain for the night."

Killian said nothing.

Callum hesitated.

"Should I send guards after the handmaid?"

"No."

The answer came too quickly.

Callum raised an eyebrow.

Killian turned away from him.

"She has been banished from the hall for tonight. That is enough. Let her sulk wherever she wishes."

"Of course, Your Majesty."

Callum did not sound convinced.

Killian could feel his Beta studying him, searching for a question he was too loyal to ask.

"Is there anything else?" Killian demanded.

"No, Your Majesty."

"Then leave."

Callum bowed and walked out.

The door clicked shut.

Killian remained still for three heartbeats.

One.

Two.

Three.

"Guards!"

The door opened almost immediately.

A royal guard entered and bowed. "Your Majesty?"

"Find the wolfless handmaid. Bring her to my chambers quietly."

The guard hesitated for only a second.

"At once."

Killian dismissed him and turned toward the window.

He should not have done that.

He had already rejected Kora. Calling her back would only complicate matters. He could have left her alone, allowed the bond to fade, and returned to his duties.

Instead, he stood there, waiting.

Ten minutes later, the guard returned.

"The handmaid is here, Your Majesty."

"Send her in."

The guard stepped aside.

Kora entered alone.

Killian's wolf lunged so violently that he nearly shifted.

She wore the same gray dress from the ballroom. Champagne stains covered the front, and her hair had come loose around her face. Tear tracks marked her cheeks. Dried blood remained beneath her nose, and her bare feet left wet prints on the rug.

She looked exhausted.

She also looked at him as if she expected another blow.

That should have satisfied him. She had seen what happened when someone challenged him. Yet the sight of her lowered head made something twist painfully inside his chest.

"Look at me," he ordered.

Kora's shoulders stiffened.

For a moment, she did not move. Then she slowly raised her head.

Her eyes were red from crying, but their gray color was clear beneath the tears. Her face was delicate, her lips slightly swollen from where she had bitten them, and her beauty struck him with an unexpected force.

How had he never noticed her before?

He had seen her in the palace. He must have passed her countless times. Yet he had never looked closely enough to remember her face.

Now he could not look away.

The bond was broken, but the pull remained.

His wolf pressed against him, desperate to reach her.

Killian stepped closer.

Kora held her ground, although he saw her fingers curl at her sides.

"I rejected you as my Luna," he began. "That decision will not change."

Her expression tightened.

"But there are other arrangements we can make."

She stared at him, waiting.

"I can make you my private mistress."

The silence that followed was almost insulting.

Killian continued before she could answer.

"You will have a private suite, fine clothes, and anything you need. No one will be permitted to touch you. You will have my protection, and no one in this palace will dare mistreat you again."

He watched her face.

"In return, you will come when I call you. Our arrangement will remain secret. You will have no crown and no title, but you will want for nothing."

He reached toward her, stopping just short of her waist.

"Think carefully, Kora. I can give you a life most women would beg for."

His wolf growled at the distance between them.

Killian lowered his voice.

"I could take what I want by force. I am the king, and you have no power to stop me."

Kora went pale.

For the first time, he hated the words coming from his own mouth.

"But I won't," he added, his jaw tightening. "My wolf refuses to let me hurt you."

He did not understand it. He wanted her close, yet something inside him demanded that he be careful with her. It was an unfamiliar feeling, and he resented it.

He reached out and brushed his thumb against the side of her neck.

Kora shivered.

His wolf quieted for one precious second.

Then she stepped away.

"No."

Killian stared at her.

"What did you say?"

"No." Her voice shook, but she did not lower her eyes. "I will not be your secret. I will not be anyone's shame."

The words struck him harder than he expected.

His hand closed around her wrist.

Kora flinched, and he immediately loosened his grip.

Rage rose inside him, tangled with a hunger he could not explain. No one refused him. No one looked him in the eye and rejected an offer from their king.

Yet Kora stood before him with tears on her cheeks, refusing to surrender.

His wolf snarled.

Mine.

Killian released her and stepped back. His claws tore through the arms of a nearby chair as he gripped it, splintering the wood beneath his hands.

"Get out."

Kora looked at him for one final moment.

Then she turned and walked toward the door.

She did not beg. She did not apologize. She did not even look back when the door clicked shut behind her.

Killian stood in the middle of his chambers, breathing hard.

The ruined chair lay beside him, its wooden arms shredded beneath his claws.

He had rejected Kora before an entire ballroom. He had offered her protection and wealth, and she had refused him without hesitation.

He should have been relieved.