There was no sound in the great hall, though every pair of eyes appeared to be watching and listening to me as I stood next the Alpha King. I felt my heart beat in my chest, so strongly I would have sworn the whole lot heard.
His hand—big, warm, and authoritative—lay at the base of my spine. It was a demonstration of ownership to the rest of the world. To me, it was a shackle.
Mate.
The very word haunted me as I went on to think of it, and it had haunted me ever since that first time I had been trapped by his voice and in front of a crowd. The folk had shouted, the wolves had genuflected, And yet I fain would fain have been to runneth.
The eyes of King Lucian never left me. His golden eyes were flaming with hunger and pride, and as though he had been waiting all his life to have it. Stand tall, he said, almost whispering, so that only I could hear. "You belong to me now. No one will ever touch you.
My chest constricted. Mine now. As if my life, my decisions, no longer mine. I had envisioned my life being free, with a love of my own free will, rather than one predetermined by the mean whims of the Moon Goddess.
But as he laid his hand on mine, as the sparks leaped through me, I hated myself because of the shudder my shiver had been. The mating relationship was callous. I ached in my body because I had sworn not to submit to the man.
One of the elders broke in on the tension with "Your Majesty." Are we going to continue the rite to cement the relationship?
My breath was caught. Seal the bond? Binding my soul to his. No turning back. No escape.
Lucian bent his head over and stared at me. Pray, little wolf, do not look so frightened, my lips against your ear, breathe, said I. "I will not take you tonight. But remember this--you can fly away out of my reach, but you can never fly away out of fate.
His words gave me a shiver.
But, even in that moment, my heart had failed me again--it was beating quicker and harder as though it would fain have been to rest therein.