Chapter 32
Augustin’s POV
I lay stretched across my bed, the yellowed paper crushed between my white–knuckled fingers. Eleven years had passed since I’d last held it, but the words remained seared into my memory.
My dearest Augustin,
By the time you read this, I’ll be gone from Clifflands to Fireland. This the hardest letter I’ve ever had to write.
*I know we planned to spend our lives together. Every dream I’ve ever had has been wrapped around us. I still remember the day you promised we’d build our future together, how your eyes shone with certainty when you said it.
But three months ago, my brother found his fated mate. You should have seen the devastation in his girlfriend’s eyes—a woman he’d loved for four years, cast aside in an instant. She’s still broken, Augustin. The look in her eyes haunts me.*
Your eighteenth birthday is coming soon, and I’m terrified. Terrified that fate will take you from me just as cruelly. The thought of watching you find your true mate–someone who isn’t me–is a pain I don’t have the strength to bear. I couldn’t stand in a corner and watch as you’re drawn to another.
So I’m taking the coward’s way out. I’m following my parents to Fireland. Please don’t try to find me–this is hard enough as it is. The thought of leaving you is tearing me apart, but staying would destroy me completely.
I will always love you, Augustin. But sometimes love isn’t enough against the power of fate. I hope you find your fated mate and wish you all the happiness this world can offer. You deserve nothing less.
Forever yours in heart,
Cassandra
veins. Cassandra had been my entire fucking world. The letter crackled as my grip tightened, a surge of rage pulsing through my We’d planned every detail of our future together, I’d take my father’s place with her shining at my side. I’d sworn to her–blood oath and all–that if my fated mate wasn’t her, I’d reject them without hesitation. I’d risk becoming weaker, just to keep her.
She hadn’t believed me. Her fear had won, and she’d run, leaving nothing but this pathetic excuse of a goodbye.
The days after she left were a descent into hell. I’d shattered, and finally frozen into something hollow and numb. I swore on my life I’d never let myself feel that raw, exposed agony again, so I slammed my heart shut and threw away the key. No woman caught even a flicker of my interest after her.
warm
Then my father was assassinated, and I was thrust into the role of Alpha King. For a while, I kept a harem of lovers, women my bed but never penetrate the ice around my heart. At twenty–six, sent them all away with a wave of my hand, replacing them with tributes I never touched, never even looked at twice.
I kept them as living shields to prevent anyone from getting ideas of hopes. To make it damn clear I didn’t want or need anyone.
Until Juno crashed into my world.
The attack from Forestvale was an insult I couldn’t fucking ignore. I had no intention of taking over their pathetic territory, but they needed a warning branded into their flesh. My blood sang with satisfaction when they got my message.
When the tributes arrived, I expected everything to proceed as usual I’d distribute them among my men like party favors, and life would continue in its predictable, empty rhythm.
1/2
Chapter 32
I was dead wrong.
The moment I saw those blue–green eyes, something primal inside me roared to life. That fearless gaze cut straight through to my soul like a silver blade, and I had to physically fight to control my reaction. My wolf Fenris howled and clawed beneath my skin, desperate to claim what he recognized instantly. She was strong, brave, defiant–a true Luna in every sense of the word. And every cell in my body screamed that she was mine.
She’d sacrificed herself to save the others, walking into the lion’s den with her head high, uncertain what fate awaited her. But June hadn’t just caught my attention–she’d sunk her claws into me, dragging me from the comfortable numbness Fd built around myself Her hold was tight, powerful, terrifying.
After Cassandra’s betrayal, love had become a pathetic joké, a weakness I’d purged from my system. Relationships were nothing but transactions with expiration dates. But standing before Jino, I knew with bone–deep certainty that I would shatter every rule I’d created, for this red–haired warrior. I only prayed to gods I didn’t believe in that she wouldn’t become the weakness that finally destroyed me.
When she called herself “secondhand goods,” rage exploded behind my heart. To me, she was like the rarest wine–complex, intoxicating, more powerful with each passing year. Absolutely fucking priceless. Devastatingly perfect.
Who would have thought I’d find a woman who could bring the Alpha King to his knees with nothing but a glance? The intensity of my desire to possess her completely shocked even me. I didn’t just want her–I needed to make her mine. Only mine.
For the past two weeks, I’d forced myself to give Juno time to heal before claiming her as mine. She needed space to grieve and accept her new reality. Only when she was ready would I make my move. But I made my intentions crystal clear to everyone with eyes to see–any man who so much as looked at her would lose those eyes.
I insisted she dine beside me each night, my possessive gaze warning others to keep their distance. I personally ensured the humiliating rules for other tributes didn’t touch her. She was free to do as she pleased, a queen in waiting rather than a prisoner.
In the evenings, we talked about life, about books, about everything and nothing. And fuck me, she didn’t disappoint. Her intelligence cut like a blade, her wit sharper than any I’d encountered. Each night I left her room burning with the need to claim not just her body but her brilliant mind.
My wolf, Fenris, paced restlessly within me, drawn to her like iron to a magnet, howling and snarling whenever she left my sight. He urged I formalize our relationship, sink my teeth into her flesh and replace that other male’s claim. The mark on her neck drove mé to madness, the scent of another man on what should be mine made my skin crawl with rage. But for her sake, I chained my fury, swallowed my pride. If Matthew Harrington continued to defy me by leaving his mark on her, I wouldn’t just end him—I’d tear him to pieces with my bare hands and take what was rightfully mine.
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