Page 34 of The Alpha King's Mate

She smiled.

“You know how quickly gossip spreads.”

I supposed it didn’t help that I’d kept her locked away, isolated from my pack. For her safety and my sanity. I had zero regrets—that time had brought us closer.

I could feel her before I saw her.

My head snapped up. She stood at the top of the stairs, all gold and glitter.

Then her scent followed her down.

With every step, light caught the dress and veil until she glowed. Ivory silk, worked over in gold—heavy embroidery at the bodice and skirt, dense with beadwork, then panels of sheer illusion fabric where nothing seemed to hold the sparkling beads but her skin itself. The gold trim at every hem caught fire under the lights. The deep brown of her complexion didn’t fight the ivory and gold; it crowned them. The dress had been made for a queen, but she was the one who made it royal.

My chest rose with pride.

Gone were the gaunt cheeks, the bones that had pressed through her skin. My mate descended those stairs with colour in her face and strength in her stride, and every step was a verdict against the people who had starved her.

Movement behind her caught my eye—Ember, adjusting the veil where it fell from the crown. An unlikely friendship, but one more proof of what I already knew: she was my true Luna. The only wolf who could rule at my side.

Beneath the crown and veil, her eyes flicked up and found mine.

Time stood still.

Black kohl rimmed her eyes, and against the gold and soft brown tones, they looked darker, wider—endless. Rouge warmed her cheeks and led me down to the deeper shade painted on her lips.

That was when dread settled in my stomach.

It hit so suddenly I had to force my smile to hold.

I had promised never to cause her harm.

My eyes dropped lower.

And for the first time in my life, I wished my dick was on the smaller side.

We can lick her better afterwards, Malakh grunted, but even he didn’t sound as confident as usual.

“I can see why you’re besotted, my King,” Marianne murmured.

I don’t like the way she’s looking at our mate, Malakh growled.

I sighed and stepped forward. I didn’t want to disturb the vision before me, so I touched nothing but her hands, raising them to kiss each one in turn.

Guests and pack members began to gather around us.

I placed her hand over my raised arm and led her outside.

We could amass all the wealth, properties, and vehicles the world offered, but bare earth and open sky were what mattered to our inner spirits. The oldest rites belonged beneath the moon’s gaze, on ground that remembered every pair the Goddess had ever bound.

Guests were seated and waiting. My officers formed a semicircle around the ceremony grounds, Rev, Talon and Jax stationed behind the altar to close the gap. As we walked down the aisle, they eased back into position.

Aliana stared out at the sea of people, her fingers digging into my arm. She’d found her family along with Alpha Grayson, his parents, his cousins. And Deeana—back straight, lips pursed, malevolence sitting openly in her gaze.

Her eyes brightened as she found her stepdaughter. She smiled, broad and gleaming. There was no sincerity in it. Only malice. Beside her, Cora was a younger portrait of her mother, both of them perverse in their cruelty. The father was another matter—head bowed, eyes on nothing. No doubt the women had turned on him since we’d relieved him of a few limbs.

The altar ahead was ancient stone. On it sat two gold goblets, the red ribbon coiled between them.

Aliana relaxed against my arm. The past was a shadow, and it would hold no power over her once she became our Luna.