I kneel in the crowded throne room, the Queen's axe a steel promise of death only inches away from my neck. When San's earth-shattering Alpha's Command brings everyone to the ground.
"YOU WILL NOT HURT HER."
His words rock even me to my core and send every single shifter careening to their knees.
You: What?
It's only when the axe falls on the floor in front of me that I realize I'm still alive.
San was able to…get his Alpha's Command back.
And out of the sea of crushed, submissive wolves, my Alpha rises.
"You will not take her life. Now, or ever. Because I love her."
San's words pour over me, unlocking something within me that I never knew I possessed.
He…loves me?
I look up at San. His silver eyes meet yours in a blaze of fierce determination. Everything in them tells you the truth.
"(Y/N). I love you."
"San—"
But I am cut off as the Queen's thick nails dig into my neck, yanking me back.
"You think an excuse like 'love' will stop me?"
The Queen grabs the axe. San moves to run for me, but three guards jump on him, Yeosang and my father, clamping harsh collars around their necks.
"What?"
"A spoil of Dimitri's war. Rumor has it they block the powers of an Alpha?"
San fights to remove the collar, but it's locked in place. The Queen laughs.
"Your pathetic attempts to remove it tell me I'm right. Go ahead and throw the keys in the fire, guards."
No. I need to try to stop this.
As hard as I can, I dig my nails into Roslyn's flesh. She screams and loosens her grip on me. I throw myself at the guard, but he is faster. The keys fall into the pit of fire, melting away to nothing.
"No…" My father says.
"We're…"
Bang Chan and Yeosang hit their knees, completely at a loss. But San grits his teeth, balling his hands into fists.
"You fucking—!"
He launches himself at the Queen, his claws outstretched. Right before they make contact with her smug face, he is tackled by a dozen men.
"GET OFF OF ME!"
"Oh, San. You've been a burden since the day your mother squeezed you out between her whore legs."
The Queen stands, sauntering over to him with a smile that does not meet her eyes.
"Your little bastard face was always a reminder of my husband's infidelity. And your strange, silver eyes…"
She grabs his chin, wrenching him up. He is helpless beneath the collar and the weight of the guards.
"I knew those eyes were trouble. I should have had them plucked from your skull. But it's too late for that. You've already turned my precious son into a living corpse."
Her nails dig into his cheeks, drawing blood.
"No…you're a monster!"
"You haven't seen the half of it. Speaking of, where were we…"
She snaps her fingers and the executioner takes up his axe again, stepping toward me. Yeosang, I.N and my father all fight like mad as the executioner holds his deadly blade high, aiming to cut me clean in half.
"KILL ME INSTEAD."
San's words rocket through the room, causing everyone to freeze.
"San…shut your mouth." I shout.
Ignoring me, San throws a few guards from his body, and grabs the Queen's skirt.
"You know you want to. You know it's what you've always wanted. So, do it. Take my life. In exchange for hers."
Everyone in the room goes quiet. I don't dare breathe, praying that the Queen keeps her sights set on me. But slowly, a maniacal smile stretches across her wrinkled face.
"Very well."
"No. NO!"
I reach for the Queen, for a weapon, for anything that will help San. He is shoved into the ground, and the executioner steps forward.
"BROTHER!"
"It's okay, Yeosang." San tells him.
San tries to smile beneath the crushing weight of the guards, but the Queen digs her foot into his head, shoving his face down.
"No last words for you, bastard. Do us all a favor and leave this world quickly. A world you should have never entered to begin with."
My heart plummets as the executioner raises his axe.
"NO!"
With a last stitch of strength, I throw myself on Roslyn, shoving her into the axe's deadly path.
"Ahhh!! STOP, STOP!"
The executioner pulls back, but not before slicing down into the Queen's arm. She shrieks.
"How DARE YOU!"
She rounds on me, murder in her eyes. But I glare right back.
"How dare I? How dare you. How dare you take any of our lives when we helped save your worthless life from Dimitri."
"You committed a crime against our very way of life—"
"And you killed the King! Who is more worthy of tasting that axe's metal?"
The room erupts in hushed whispers as the shifters of the court begin to side with me. The Queen tenses.
"You really do have a death with, girl."
"You barely won the last war, Roslyn. Do you want to start another one by killing the child of True Mates?"
Bang Chan rises to his feet, glaring beneath his thick collar. I.N rises with him.
"Make no mistake. Our pack will come for you. And we won't be as nice as Dimitri was."
Roslyn's demeanor changes then, feeling the weight of the threat as well as the many eyes of her subjects.
"Perhaps we can find…another solution."
She turns to face me, a renewed glint in her eye.
"I will let you and your gang of traitors live, (Y/N). If you go through with our original agreement. And marry Jongho."
"What?"
Jongho looks at his mother and at me, completely dumbfounded.
"I Can do that. For San."
"Excellent."
The Queen claps and two guards lift me off the ground, dragging me from the room.
"(Y/N)…"
San's sweet-slick, anguished face is the last thing I see before I am pulled upstairs. The guards throw me on my bed in the prison-like chamber. I move to fight them—
"Don't even think about it."
The Queen steps forward, something gold and frilly in her spider-like arms.
"We wouldn't want you all bruised up on the day of your wedding."
"Wait. You want me to marry him…today?"
"Within the hour, (Y/N)."
"That is so typical of you."
"I'm nothing if not consistent, dear."
The Queen waves her hand and the guards begin ripping your clothes from your body without ceremony. You try to fight them, but it's no use. When you are in your underwear, they force the gown the Queen holds down over you.
Roslyn: Look at you. Adorned in the very dress I wore when I married the King.
"This things was…yours?"
My stomach turns as the Queen adjusts the gaudy bows and fluffs the skirt. My nose is filled with the smell of her on the fabric.
"Yes. I wore this before submitting to the power of the Alpha King. And now you will, too."
"But Jongho is not the Alpha King."
"The same blood runs in his veins. And his brother has fallen beneath his station thanks to you. I'm sure one night in your bed, and your True Mate power will make up for any talent my dear second-born lacks."
"Jongho doesn't want this."
"You're not wrong about that."
Roslyn and I both turn to find Jongho standing in the door, his arms crossed.
"She doesn't mean that, my boy. You'll—"
"Mother, this is as much a shock to me as it is for (Y/N). Can you give us a minute alone?"
The Queen looks from Jongho to me, hesitating.
"Please. Before we submit to your will and change our lives forever."
"…Fine."
She and her guards move to the door, looking back at me with one last sneer.
"See you at the altar, dear."
With that, she disappears, leaving me alone with the bookish brother I barely know.
"(Y/N)—"
"What do you want?"
"Why the icy greeting?"
"You know why."
I round on him with fire in my eyes.
"You told me you were my ally when I arrived here. Remember? And yet you stood in the throne room and said nothing when I asked for help."
Jongho hangs his head shamefully.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't think of what to say or do."
"You need to grow a pair. Right now."
"I'm trying to make it right. As best I can."
With a heavy sigh, I turn toward the window.
"Any chance we could run away from this?"
"I think you know the answer to that. But I do have something that could help you."
"If it isn't a solution that will save your brothers and my family, I'm not interested in—"
"Do you want to wear that hideous dress?"
"What?"
I turn back to Jongho, and he unfolds his arms. From within his coat, two silken fabrics fall.
"Nothing will piss my mother off more than seeing you discard her dress and wear the colors of one of my brothers."
I step closer, staring at the ruby silk and silver brocade in his arms. Two dresses fit for a wedding.
"Neither of these colors are yours though. Don't you care?"
"(Y/N), this wedding is being forced on me as much as it is being forced on you. At the very least I'd like us to get one jab in on my mother before she wins this battle. So please. Wear one of these. For me, for my brothers…and for yourself."
I pull on the silver gown with Jongho's help, feeling it slip over me like an embrace.
"Wow."
"Thank you, I'm going to stick with this."
"It's perfect."
"You'll give that old croon a heart attack in that, (Y/N)."
I whip around to find San standing in the doorway, clutching his bruised and battered body.
"San. How are you—?"
"I smuggled him here. But you'll only have a few minutes."
"Jongho, that was really kind of you. Thank you."
"You're welcome, (Y/N). I'll give you two some time alone."
Jongho slips out of the room, leaving me alone with San. He stares at me. The few feet of space between us might as well be miles. And the words he spoke separate us even further.
"San, what you said—"
"Are you ready?"
His words are stiffer than before. As though it's hard to speak them.
"Ready?"
"To marry my brother."
"I'll never be ready for this."
"That makes two of us."
"Why are you upset about this?"
"I'm not."
"Don't lie to me. I know you better than that."
"There's no part of this situation that isn't upsetting."
"Yeah but you're upset with me. And I want to know why. Why are you—"
"Because you won't just save yourself!"
His words ring through the room with all the fury of a storm.
"You couldn't just let me go and ensure your own safety. Do you know how frustrating that is when all I want is for you to live? Did my words mean nothing to you?!"
I stare at San, unable to move. Unable to speak. He closes the gap between us and takes my face in his hands.
"Does the fact that I love you mean nothing?"
"San…I love you too."
San's mouth falls open on my confession. His hands flinch against my cheeks.
"What?"
"I said I love you, too. So it's not fair to make me choose myself over you. Not when I can't live a full life without you in it."
San doesn't say anything. I feel my hulking Alpha tremble against me.
"Are you still angry?"
"Angry? No."
Finally able to move again, San pulls me into his arms, digging his hands into my hair as he whispers.
"I'm the opposite of angry."
He breathes into my flesh, his lips practically kisses my neck as he speaks.
"I never thought you'd feel that way about me. Never."
"Why?"
"I couldn't let myself believe that you – the most beautiful, powerful, brave, and sure woman I've ever met – could see anything in me. But that couldn't stop me from falling for you. I never stood a chance."
"San. I think the world of you. You have overcome worse pain and loss than anyone I've ever known. And after all that, you still have room in your heart for others."
I part my lips, and San leans down to meet them.
"My heart only belongs to you."
San's lips meet mine. My hands move fast, sliding up through his hair and pulling him tighter against me. My tongue plunges into his mouth, tangling with his. A low hum vibrates through his core.
"(Y/N)…"
San kisses me again as he lifts me and carries me to the table, setting me down on it and pulling the skirt of my gown up. I lose myself in the feeling of him pressed against me, this man that loves me with pure, unadulterated passion. He kisses my neck, his hands traveling up until he meets the parting of my legs.
"I'm not ready to let you go. I'm not ready for anyone else to have you."
His voice, low and tender, makes my heart pound. He kisses his way up my neck, until his extraordinary silver eyes bore into mine.
"Don't make me go. Not yet."
"Don't go."
San smiles. He carefully removes my panties and parts my legs.
"I'll stay as long as I can."
"You promise?"
He releases his hot, hard shaft and strokes it over my slick entrance, feeding a fire within me.
"Cross my heart."
San sinks into me slowly. I arch my back and gasp, pressing against him to take him as deep as possible.
"God. (Y/N)."
He grabs my ass and rolls his hips, taking me past my limit, deeper than I thought possible. He pulls me to him, taking me ever so slowly, over and over. And with each mind-melting thrust, he says again:
"I love you, (Y/N)."
"I love you, too. So much."
San presses me down until I am flat against the table. His incredible body pins me there, taking me with full control.
"Don't leave me. Don't fucking go."
He pulls out and thrusts into me again, his fullness rippling through my core.
"I can't let you go. I won't."
"I don't want you to."
I gasp the words as he growls, forgetting his gentleness and taking me with the desire of a feral wolf. He gently bites down on my shoulder as he reaches the precipice of pleasure. The dull pain churns with the unrelenting bliss he stokes within me, forcing an incredible storm of ecstasy to the surface. Energy electrifies the air around me as we cling to each other's bodies, not wanting to let go. Far too soon, I am forced to part. San eases me back to the ground, smoothing my gown back into place.
"You have to look the part."
"This is one role I really don't know if I can play."
San looks down at me, so much emotion churning in his star-silver eyes. He strokes a hair away from my cheek.
"(Y/N)—"
A clipping knock cuts him off. Jongho opens the door.
"I bribed the guards but they have to take you back now, San. In…these."
Jongho holds out a pair of cuffs to San. He takes them, turning them over in his hands.
"I guess this is goodbye."
I nod, staring at the cuffs. I rip the cuffs from his hands and move to throw them out the window. But Jongho stops me.
"No. We need to keep up appearances if you want to survive this."
"He's right, (Y/N)."
"…Fine."
I slap the cuffs into San's hands again. He clicks them into place.
"Thank you."
"Listen. Whatever happens…protect our families. Your brother, my father, I.N…protect them. Please."
"With my life."
With his cuffed wrists, he tips my chin up one last time, and gives me a light kiss on the mouth. Then, he and Jongho leave. A moment later, I am escorted out of the castle by a brutish guard. The walk across the ground is long and cold. But I grow even colder when I see my wedding aisle. Flanked by faceless wolves of the castle, the walk looks impossibly hard. And at the end of it, the Queen awaits. She glowers at my shining silver gown. I give her a defiant smile. To her left, like members of a wedding party, the people I care about most kneel in chains. I see San, staring at me with as much stoicism as he can muster, the pain glinting in his eyes to match my own. I take a step down the aisle, but suddenly an ice-cold hand clamps down on my wrist.
"Not so fast. Everyone knows your daddy needs to give you away."
It's like a walking nightmare. I stare in horror as Hyunjin links his arm with mine, a slimy sharp-toothed smile on his face. I pull my arm out of his grasp. But he just snickers.
"Careful. No need to ruin the mood, princess."
"What is this? Why are you here?"
"I am an unfortunate spoil of the war. Got taken prisoner helping that idiot Dimitri. But what a pleasant turn of events. The Queen asked me to walk you down the aisle."
He squeezes my arm tighter.
"Said it would be a special little reminder for you. To behave yourself."
My eyes meet the Queen's. She leers with a victorious grin plastered on her face, stroking her ruby red necklace.
"I'll die before you walk me—"
But my words are cut off by a sudden swell of music. Hyunjin pulls me so close I want to vomit.
"No runaway brides today, (Y/N). Smile for the nice people."
He drags me slowly down the aisle, and it feels more painful than a walk to my death. When my father finally sees who holds my arm, he bolts upright.
"What the hell is the meaning of this?"
"Did you miss me, Bang Chan? I missed you."
Bang Chan tries to throw himself at Hyunjin, but the guards shove him down. Furious tears prick his eyes.
"You'll die for what you've done. Morgan and I will—"
"You and your cunt wife are powerless here. Look around. They're marrying your kid off like a slab of meat. And she likes it."
He laughs openly in Bang Chan's face, pulling me close by my hair and squeezing my cheeks. With white-hot rage to match my father's, I twist out of Hyunjin's grasp and shove him at Bang Chan.
"What the—!"
"You're MINE!"
With his cuffed hands, Bang Chan slams his fists down on Hyunjin's nose, crushing him. He hits my kidnapper over and over, the metal from his cuffs slicing into Hyunjin's face like razors.
"That's for my mate! That's for my kid!"
He starts to choke him with his chains.
"And this is for me, you limp-dick coward."
Hyunjin starts to turn blue, completely incapable of overpowering Bang Chan. The Queen gasps.
"Guards! Now!"
The guards pry Hyunjin out of Bang Chan's grasp. He coughs and hacks, dragged away spitting slurs.
"That felt good."
"No kidding."
My father and I exchange a smile. The Queen cuts us off with a curt cough.
"We have a ceremony to get to. And if you don't hurry…"
Several robed wolves step forward, bringing deadly daggers to Bang Chan's throat, as well as I.N's, Yeosang's and San's.
"Roslyn, if you hurt them—"
"You don't want to test me with a silly threat, (Y/N). If you don't want them to get hurt, you'll get on with the wedding."
I tremble with fury. But a kind hand on my shoulder makes me turn.
"Come on, (Y/N). We have to do this."
I take Jongho's hand, rising slowly to my feet. Silently, we both step up to the altar together. The Queen smiles, spreading her arms wide for the crowd.
"We are joined together at this ancient altar to join our houses. Jongho of Seoul, and (Y/N) of the Far West."
The crowd applauds, and my stomach churns, bile threatening to rise.
"(Y/N). Here you will vow to honor and obey my son. As your Alpha he will have complete control. You will care for his every need, bear his children, and serve him as his loyal, Royal breed mate. Do you vow to submit?"
My Alpha and my father snarl at my back. A similar rage bubbles in my own throat.
"My Queen, I vow to make you regret this. You will feel my pain."
"That's not—"
"I know that's not what I'm suppose to say, you moronic cunt. But it is what I vow. On my parent's lives I swear it. You will regret doing this to me. With all your heart."
The crowd murmurs and a few snickers at my bravery. The Queen turns bright red.
"You horrible little—!"
She raises her hand to strike me, but Jongho catches her hand.
"Don't disgrace us any further, Mother. Let's just get on with this."
Roslyn bares her teeth, beet red with anger. After a long moment, she rips her hand from Jongho's grasp.
"Bring forth the jujubes."
An Omega servant brings a golden, two-handled goblet forward, filled with wine.
"In the Korean tradition, the bride will gift the new in-laws, jujubes as a gift. The dates and chestnuts are symbolic of the couple's future children and the bride's goodwill to create a family with her new husband."
She turns to me, hatred bright in her black eyes.
"Go head, (Y/N)."
With a high, defiant chin, I take the jujubes in my hand. Jongho places his hands over mine, and guides my hand towards the Queen. As I hand the Queen the jujubes, I close my eyes.
I will find a way out of this marriage. I'll make Roslyn pay. And—
But my silent promise is suddenly cut short as my vision blurs violently. I stumble and drop the jujubes. As I fall, San leaps to his feet.
"(Y/N)?"
I reach out to San, stumbling through the crowd to reach him. But before I can, I hit my knees.
What is…going on?
The crowd gasps as darkness swallows me completely. In the inky blackness, the voice of the young woman…the woman from the tomb…rises again.
"…(Y/N)…"
"Who are you? What do you want?"
"…Find the power to protect the power…"
That's what the old woman said before she died. What does that—
The salt spray of the ocean freckles my face, waking me. I slowly open my eyes and find myself tied to a white tree on a sheer cliff, like a sacrifice.
"What? What is this?"
"Ah, so good of you to join us, (Y/N)."
With a cruel smile I've never before seen on his face, Jongho ambles up to me.
"(Y/N)!!!"
Shackled next to the Queen, San fights his chains. Only Yeosang lies by his side, completely unconscious. And the robed wolves form a circle around me, chanting.
"jinjeonghan jjag-eulo taeeonada…Born of True Mates…"
"What's going on? I—I agreed to marry you, I—"
"Did you really think I'd marry someone like you? Adorable. No, (Y/N). We have other plans for you."
Jongho pulls a sharp dagger from his belt, and walks to me with a deadly look in his eye.
"(Y/N)!!!"