Kael's POV
Kael carried Arin out of the ritual chamber before anyone could stop him.
She was unconscious in his arms, her body limp and shaking. Behind them, chaos exploded like a bomb.
Mira's screams cut through the noise. Raw. Furious. The kind of anger that came from having your entire future ripped away in a single moment.
"Who put her in the ritual?" Mira was shrieking. "Who sabotaged this? I demand answers. My family demands answers."
Her father's voice boomed underneath hers. "The Alpha King has been bound to a servant. A nobody. This is an insult to the Crimson Claw pack. This is an act of war."
Kael didn't slow down. He just kept moving through the palace corridors with Arin held against his chest. Guards fell in step beside him immediately. They knew better than to question him.
Behind them, Elena's voice carried down the halls. Calm. Poisonous. Whispering to council members.
"Such a shame," she was saying. "The poor girl didn't even know she was being used. Clearly someone orchestrated this to weaken the Alpha King. Look at her. Common blood. No training. She'll destroy him."
Kael's hands tightened around Arin.
He could feel her through the bond. Her fear. Her confusion. Her desperate need to wake up and understand what was happening. He could feel her mind reaching for his in the darkness and not finding what it needed.
It was worse than any physical pain.
The council chamber had erupted into full argument by the time Kael reached the main staircase. He could hear them shouting about breaking the bond. About undoing what had been done. About whether the ritual was even valid.
One of the elders was yelling that the magic could be reversed if they acted fast enough.
Kael knew the truth. He could feel it through the bond.
The magic was unbreakable. Trying to sever it would tear them both apart. It would kill them both. This bond was sealed in a way that made the council's rituals look like children's games.
He carried Arin to the royal wing.
The servants parted before him like water. Nobody questioned where he was taking her or why. Kael was the Alpha King. His word was law.
He placed her gently on the bed in the Luna's chambers. The room was massive. Gold and white and impossibly beautiful. Windows looked out over the palace gardens. There were servants' quarters connected to it. A private bathing chamber. Everything a Luna would ever need.
Everything a servant girl would be terrified of.
Kael stood over her and felt the truth of it through the bond.
She was terrified.
"Send for the healer," he said to the guard at the door. "She needs to be checked. Make sure she's unharmed."
"Yes, my king," the guard replied.
Kael turned to face him directly. "No one enters these chambers without my permission. No one. If anyone tries to harm her or even threaten her, I want to know immediately. Understood?"
"Understood, my king."
He assigned four more guards to stand outside her chambers. He instructed the servants to treat her with complete respect. He made it clear through his tone and his presence that the girl in that bed was now the Luna and would be protected with his life.
The kingdom would accept her because the Alpha King demanded it.
That was how power worked.
The palace was chaos for hours.
Kael stayed in the council chambers while Mira's family raged. While Elena whispered theories about sabotage and conspiracy. While council members debated whether the bond was even real.
He didn't argue with them. Didn't defend himself. Just sat in his father's old chair and listened to them tear apart a girl they had never even met.
"She's common blood," someone said.
"Her family was struck from the records," another pointed out.
"The Alpha King couldn't have chosen anyone more poorly if he tried," a third voice added.
Kael's hand rested on the armrest. His jaw was tight. Every muscle in his body was tensed with the effort of not standing up and removing their heads from their shoulders.
Instead, he spoke quietly.
"The bond is sealed. It cannot be broken. This is final."
The room went silent.
"If anyone questions the Luna's authority or attempts to harm her in any way, they will answer to me personally. Is that clear?"
Elena's eyes glittered. She was calculating something. Planning something. Kael could read it in the way her fingers tapped against the table.
He made a mental note to watch her very carefully.
By the time he left the council chambers, night had fallen. The palace was quieter but not peaceful. Guards moved through the halls. Servants whispered. Everyone was waiting to see what would happen next.
Kael went to the Luna's chambers.
The healer had already come and gone. The guard reported that Arin was physically unharmed but still unconscious. Still terrified even in sleep.
Kael dismissed everyone and entered the chamber alone.
She was small in the enormous bed. So small that it seemed impossible she had caused all this chaos. Her silver-blonde hair was spread across the white pillow. Her face was pale. Her hands were clenched into fists even though she was sleeping.
She was terrified.
Kael could feel it through the bond like a second heartbeat. Her fear. Her confusion. Her desperate need to go home to a place that would never want her again.
He stood in the doorway and just watched her.
For the first time in years, since his parents died, he felt something shift inside his chest. Something that had been locked down and frozen started to thaw.
He was not completely alone anymore.
Someone else was there. Inside his mind. Inside his blood. Tied to him in a way that nothing else had ever been. Another person's presence that he could feel with every breath.
It was terrifying. It was the thing he had been dreading since the moment he understood what the Alpha King's position meant. That vulnerability. That exposure. That weakness that came with loving someone.
Except he didn't love her.
He didn't even know her.
But he would burn the world down before he let anyone hurt her.
Kael touched the bond in his chest with his mind. Sent a small pulse of comfort through it. Tried to tell her without words that she was safe. That he would protect her.
Arin's fists unclenched slightly.
She stirred but didn't wake. Her breathing became less shallow. Less panicked.
She could feel him too. He realized it with a shock that made his legs almost give out. Even unconscious, even terrified, she could sense his presence through the bond.
It meant she wasn't alone either.
Kael moved to the chair by the window and sat down. He settled in to watch her sleep. To make sure nothing happened to her while she was vulnerable. To feel her presence in his mind and remember what it meant to not carry everything alone.
Hours passed.
Midnight came and went.
Kael was still sitting in the chair when the palace bells rang out in warning.
A sound that meant danger.
A sound that meant someone was attacking the palace.
His blood went cold.
He stood up and moved to the window. Below, in the palace courtyard, he could see movement. Armed figures moving through the darkness. Not palace guards. Not council members.
Assassins.
Someone had sent assassins into the palace.
And they were heading toward the royal wing.
Toward the Luna's chambers.
Toward Arin.
Kael's hand went to his sword. The bond in his chest flared with his sudden rage and protective fury. He could feel Arin stirring in her sleep. Could feel her beginning to sense the danger through their connection.
The guards outside would hold them.
But how long?
And who had sent them?
Kael moved toward the door, ready to slaughter anyone who even thought about hurting the girl he was bound to.
But first, he had to know.
He had to know if he could actually keep her safe from the kingdom that hated her.
Or if binding himself to her had just signed both their death sentences.