Alpha's Forbidden Mate.

Kael pov

I watched her face crumble the moment she heard her sister's voice .

Elara.

It was like watching a carefully crafted mask crack in slow motion.

Selene's breath hitched. Her lips parted in disbelief, and for the first time in days, her eyes weren't empty...they were wide with shock, pain... betrayal.

And I don't know why, but I loved it.

I loved watching that calm, defiant façade unravel. Maybe because she's always so composed. Maybe because no matter how much I bend the world to my will, she refuses to yield.

And that makes me want her more.

But also... it infuriates me.

"How?" she whispered, her voice fragile and broken. "I don't understand..."

Her eyes locked on her sister, full of hurt and confusion. "You died. They couldn't find your body. I searched for you." Her voice cracked. "I was branded a traitor for you."

The tears came fast now, streaking her cheeks as she took a step back, pointing a trembling finger at Elara. "You were alive all these years... and you knew?"

I felt something stir in me at the sight...guilt, maybe. But I shoved it down, buried it beneath the anger and desire that always seemed to burn hotter around her.

"You see, sister," Elera said softly, her voice measured, "after you left me for dead, I truly thought I was dead."

Selene flinched.

"I was found by passersby...kind people who took me in, raised me like I was one of their own." She looked down for a second, pain evident in her voice .

"But I didn't leave you," Selene cried out. "I never did! We didn't even go out that day. We were supposed to...supposed to stay inside. I-"

"Enough." My voice cut through the room like a whip.

"She is going to be my concubine," I said, letting my voice ring through the hall, calm and deliberate. "And if she proves more useful to me than you, Selene..."

My gaze found hers...

"She will be crowned my Luna. You will remain nothing more than my mate in name."

The crowd froze. A breathless silence swept through the hall, but I kept my focus solely on her.

She staggered.

Just a single step back, but it was enough. Her face paled, and for the first time in a long time, her mask slipped. The strength she always wore like armor faltered.

Her lips parted, trembling. She didn't speak at first. Just stood there crushed by words I delivered with ruthless calm.

Her voice finally came, soft and broken. "So why did I have to suffer all these years?"

She wasn't asking the crowd. She wasn't even asking Elara.

She was asking me.

I didn't say anything, just staring at her coldly.

She turned and ran bolting from the hall like the ground had burned her.

I didn't hesitate.

Ignoring the stares of my subjects, ignoring Elara's voice calling after me, I followed her. My focus was her.

She was fast,,,desperation to get away from me fueling her steps...but I was faster.

Before she could slam her door shut, I shoved it open and stepped into the room she had turned into her sanctuary. Her prison. Her fortress.

She spun around, eyes wide, chest rising and falling as though every breath was a battle.

"Leave me alone, Kael," she said, her voice hoarse. She backed away from me like I was something dangerous.

Maybe I was.

I took a step toward her anyway.

Every muscle in me burned. My wolf surged forward, clawing beneath my skin, demanding what it had been denied for far too long. It wanted to claim. To complete the bond. To make her mine in the most primal way.

But this wasn't just instinct. It was something else. Something more twisted.

She looked at me like I'd already broken her. Like I was the monster in her story, and she had finally stopped pretending I could be anything else.

And yet... I still moved closer.

"I said leave me alone, Kael," she snapped, her voice cracking with raw emotion.

But I couldn't. I wouldn't.

I closed the distance between us in two strides. Her chest rose and fell, panic flashing in her eyes as I reached for her.

I grabbed her wrists

"Don't run from me," I said through clenched teeth.

She struggled, twisting against my grip, but I was stronger. I always had been.

In one swift movement, I spun her around and pinned her to the bed. Her back hit the mattress, her eyes wide with fury and pain. I hovered over her, breathing hard, every part of me humming with the pull of the bond.

I clawed her underwear away then lowered my head between her thighs, burying my mouth deep in her wet cunt.

The taste of her made my wolf growl with possessive hunger, and I held her hips firmly as she arched off the bed, a broken sound slipping from her lips.

"Kael..." she whispered, breathless.

I parted her legs wider, forcing her open for me completely, and utterly exposed.

My control slipped as my wolf pushed closer to the surface, clawing at the inside of my skin. I let him through, just enough to darken my senses, to make my tongue move with feral hunger as I dove back in.

I could feel her cumming...again and again against my tongue, her thighs trembling violently around my head.

I held her down, one arm wrapped around her hips, locking her in place as her back arched, her breath shattered into desperate cries.

She tried to pull away but I wasn't done.

My tongue moved faster, more deliberately now, flicking and circling that sweet, swollen spot with a ruthless rhythm that had her crying out again, her body writhing uncontrollably beneath me.

Her hands clawed at the sheets. Her head tossed side to side. She was falling apart unraveling beautifully under my mouth.

"Kael-please," she gasped,"But I didn't stop.

Because I wanted her undone.

I didn't stop until her voice went hoarse, until her cries dissolved into breathless sobs of pleasure, until her legs gave out entirely until she melted under me, limp and wet and shaking.

Only then did I lift my head, my breath ragged, chin glistening with her juices .My eyes locked on hers.

my wolf clawed at the inside of my chest, demanding I finish it ...claim her. Mark her. Sink my dick into her and make her mine in every way.

But I didn't.

Instead, I leaned in close, brushing my lips against the shell of her ear. She shivered, barely able to move.

My voice was low, rough, and unrelenting.

"If you want me..." I whispered, "...fight for me."