The Gilded Cage
The massive iron gates of the Bloodbane Pack loomed ahead like the jaws of a beast.
Four years ago, I was dragged through these very gates in heavy iron chains, a terrified prisoner of war. Today, I was sitting in the back of an armored SUV, holding the Alpha King's secret heir in my lap.
The courtyard was swarming with massive, heavily armed guards.
The moment Kade's vehicle stopped, absolute silence fell over the pack.
They could smell me. The runaway captive.
But more shockingly, they could smell the pure, concentrated Alpha bloodline radiating from the four-year-old boy hiding his face in my neck.
Kade got out first. He didn't wait for his Beta to open my door. He did it himself.
"Come," Kade said, his voice a low, rough rumble. He held out his massive hand to help me.
I completely ignored it. I shifted Asher in my arms, stepping out of the vehicle on my own. The freezing wind bit at my cheeks, but I kept my chin held high. I expected him to lead us down to the cold, damp dungeons where I had spent my first week as his prisoner.
Instead, Kade placed a large, possessive hand on the small of my back, guiding me up the grand stone steps of the main packhouse.
"Don't touch me," I hissed softly, trying to pull away.
"I am protecting you," Kade growled back, his golden eyes scanning the stunned crowd of wolves watching us. "My pack is terrified and dying of the plague. They don't know who you are yet. Stay close."
He didn't take us to the dungeons. He didn't take us to the guest wing. He led us up three flights of stairs, past layers of elite security, and pushed open a set of massive, double oak doors.
The Alpha Suite. His bedroom.
It was enormous, decorated in dark mahogany and deep crimson silk.
A massive fire was already roaring in the stone hearth.
But the most overwhelming part was the scent.
The heavy, intoxicating smell of dark pine, smoke, and pure Alpha pheromones hit me like a physical wall.
It made my dormant inner wolf whine with a confusing mix of anxiety and longing.
"You will stay here," Kade commanded, locking the heavy doors behind us. "It's the safest room in the territory. No one gets in or out without my blood-seal."
"A gilded cage is still a cage, Kade," I said coldly, setting a very nervous Asher down on the edge of the massive king-sized bed. "When do I start working on the cure? I want to get this over with."
Kade's jaw tightened. "You don't touch the sick wolves until tomorrow. You've been traveling for hours. You need to eat."
He walked over to a silver tray that had been left on the heavy oak desk by the staff. It was piled high with roasted meat, fresh bread, and warm milk. He picked up a plate, his massive hands looking almost comical holding the delicate porcelain, and walked slowly toward the bed.
He didn't look at me. His glowing golden eyes were fixed entirely on Asher.
The ruthless, terrifying Alpha King practically tiptoed, terrified of scaring the tiny boy. Kade slowly lowered his massive frame, dropping to one knee beside the bed so he wouldn't tower over him.
"Are you hungry, little one?" Kade asked, his voice dropping to a impossibly gentle, gravelly whisper. He held out a piece of warm bread. "It's safe. I promise."
Asher pressed his back against the headboard, his golden eyes wide with fear. He looked at the bread, his little stomach giving a loud, betraying rumble, but he stubbornly shook his head.
"No," Asher whimpered, his lower lip trembling. "I don't take food from bad guys."
Kade physically flinched. The words hit him harder than a silver bullet.
"I'm not a bad guy, Asher," Kade choked out, the absolute devastation bleeding into his voice. The tears were welling in his fierce golden eyes again. "I'm... I'm your family."
"You yelled at Mommy," Asher cried, burying his face in my arm. "You made her cry! Go away!"
The silence in the room was deafening. Kade stared at his son, his hand holding the bread trembling violently. The sheer agony of his punishment—being hated by his own flesh and blood—was written in every harsh line of his scarred face.
Before Kade could say another word, the heavy oak doors of the suite suddenly clicked, the blood-seal magically unlocking from the outside.
Kade snapped his head around, his fangs instantly extending, a feral snarl ripping from his throat at the intrusion.
The doors swung open, and a woman stepped inside.
She was breathtakingly beautiful, dressed in a luxurious white fur coat and a designer dress. Her platinum blonde hair was perfectly styled. But the arrogant, entitled smirk on her face completely ruined her beauty.
"Kade, darling!" the woman practically purred, completely ignoring the tension in the room. "The guards said you brought an enemy healer from the woods? Really, Kade, you should have consulted me before bringing filthy rogues into our packhouse. The scent in here is absolutely revolting."
My blood ran ice cold.
Princess Vivienne of the North. The woman Kade was supposed to marry four years ago. The woman whose political alliance was supposed to be built on the execution of my pack.
She was here. She was living in his packhouse.
A sickening, burning wave of pure, undeniable jealousy exploded in my chest, making my claws prick the tips of my fingers.
He lied to me in the car. He didn't protect me. He kept her.
Vivienne finally looked past Kade, her blue eyes landing on me, and then dropping to the little boy sitting on the bed.
Vivienne gasped, her face twisting in absolute disgust. "What is that... that mutt doing on your bed, Kade? Get it out of here!"
The air in the room didn't just turn cold. It completely froze.
Kade slowly stood up from his knees. The broken, weeping father vanished completely. The monster returned.
He didn't just walk toward Vivienne. He moved like a shadow of absolute death. Before she could even take a breath, Kade's massive hand shot out, wrapping securely around her throat. He didn't crush her windpipe, but he lifted her entirely off the floor, her expensive heels dangling in the air.
"K-Kade!" Vivienne choked, her eyes wide with absolute, primal terror as she clawed at his massive arm.
"Listen to me very carefully, Vivienne," Kade whispered. His voice wasn't a roar. It was a dark, demonic promise of violence that made the windows rattle. "The woman sitting on that bed is the only Luna this pack will ever have. And the boy you just insulted is my biological heir."
Vivienne's eyes bulged in shock, her face turning purple.
"You are not my mate. You are not my Luna.
You are a political parasite," Kade snarled, his golden eyes glowing with lethal intent.
"If you ever disrespect the mother of my child again, or look at my son with anything less than absolute worship.
.. I will rip your head from your shoulders and mail it back to the North in a box. "
He violently threw her out into the hallway. Vivienne crashed onto the marble floor, gasping and sobbing for air in a humiliating heap.
"Pack your bags," Kade ordered her, his voice echoing down the corridor for all the guards to hear. "The alliance is dead. If you are not out of my territory in one hour, my guards will hunt you for sport."
Kade slammed the heavy oak doors shut, sealing them with a vicious swipe of his blood.
He stood with his back to us for a long moment, his massive chest heaving as he tried to control the murderous rage of his inner wolf.
I sat frozen on the bed, my heart hammering against my ribs. He had just started a war with the North. He had thrown away a massive political alliance in five seconds, all because she called Asher a mutt.
Slowly, Kade turned around to face me. The violent anger in his eyes faded, replaced by that same, desperate yearning.
"I never touched her, Freya," Kade vowed, his voice a hoarse, broken whisper as he looked at me. "I never marked her. I let her stay for the treaty, to keep the Council off my back while I searched for you. But I swear to you on my life... there was never a wedding."
He looked completely exhausted, like a King who had just burned his own castle down to save the only treasure that mattered.
"Eat," Kade whispered, gesturing to the tray of food. He didn't try to approach Asher again. "I will sleep in the hallway. No one will hurt you here."
He turned and walked toward the door, leaving me alone in his room with my son, and a heart that was dangerously close to shattering all over again.