Auctioned to the Cruel King - Chapter 47: Chapter 47

Kayla’s POV
I was being violated again. Trapped beneath something massive, muscle and fur and rage. Heat and scent and pain.
The thick, iron-wrought weight of him smothered me into the bed, claws curling around the sheets like they were prey, like I was prey. His growl reverberated into my bones, shaking me apart. There was no face. Just glowing yellow eyes, and a beast’s snarl dripping with lust and fury.
“Mine,” the voice rasped, no longer human.
No, no, not again.
I twisted beneath him, but the more I moved, the more I felt it—him. The sharp press of something impossibly large nudged at the most vulnerable part of me.
“Stop,” I tried to scream, but it came out a whisper.
“You’re mine—every fucking inch of you. Meant to be on your knees, on your back, taking me until your legs shake and your body remembers who you belong to. I’ll fuck you until you're stretched open and aching, ruined for anyone but me. You were made to beg for this cock and it’s only ever going to be mine."
Shame and terror rushed down my spine. My body convulsed with helplessness.
I felt it.
The searing pressure, the stretch, the—
I woke up gasping.
Sweat glued my silken nightgown to my skin. My limbs trembled, especially my thighs, pulsing as if the memory had carved itself into the marrow of my bones. It wasn’t the first night.
It was the second.
Two nights of this—this violation looping itself through my mind like a curse.
My bedroom was silent. The early morning sun mercifully hadn't filtered through the thick curtains. My body, on the other hand, was anything but at peace.
I curled onto my side, drawing my knees to my chest. My hand pressed against my forehead, my skin clammy. The soft off-white of my nightgown shimmered faintly. It looked delicate. Deceptive. Like me.
Why am I still here?
The question struck like a shard of ice. I pressed my face into the headrest, curling tighter.
Why am I still in this palace?
I couldn't answer. Not really. I was beginning to forget the reason. My circumstance. My resolve. The very self I’d tried to protect.
A sad laugh fluttered from my lips, dry and bitter. I’d never thought I’d be terrified of sex. My wolf was somewhere in the back of my mind now… A shame I couldn't make use of Alpha Kane’s card here hence my plan would fail immediately, but how was I supposed to work myself out of this palace without being caught?
A sound outside my door interrupted the silence. Soft voices. Then footsteps.
Just go away…please. Whoever it was.
The door creaked open.
“I’m sorry, Luna,” Moira said gently. “I couldn’t stop him.”
I didn’t answer. I stayed curled up, hiding from them both. It wasn't like she was more loyal to me than the king. Saying those words was more a gesture than an obligation. And I didn't mind at all.
She hesitated. Then I heard the click of her heels retreating.
Then nothing but him.
The air thickened. My skin prickled. I didn’t have to look to know it was Lance.
King of my nightmares.
“I see,” he said finally, tone unreadable. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
He’d asked Moira to call me for dinner but I never did go. I couldn't bring myself to actually face him. Still, I said nothing. I couldn’t speak to the man who haunted my nights now.
He began moving through the room. His steps were slow. He stopped by the window and pulled the curtains open with a sharp flick of his wrist. Light poured in, sharp and unforgiving.
“Stop!” I cried, my voice muffled by the cushion I still buried myself into. “Close it, damn you!”
He didn’t.
He opened the windowpane instead. Fresh air rolled into the room—too fresh and cold and sharp. I hated it. I hated him.
“Come on,” he said. “Get up. You shouldn’t still be in bed.”
I didn’t move.
“I know you must have questions,” he went on, quieter now. “I get it. I do. But—”
“You don’t,” I muttered, my voice muffled still.
“What?”
He came closer.
“I said—” I sat up suddenly, throwing the headrest aside. My hair was wild, clinging to my cheeks, my throat dry and my eyes burning. “You don’t understand. I have nothing to say to you. No questions. Your business is your business, and mine is surviving whatever this is.”
His eyes narrowed slightly and I trembled at the sight.
“Can we just talk?”
I shuddered. “Talk?” I laughed—short, bitter. “Talk about what, Lance? That time you almost killed me? Or the fact that I was there, in that tunnel, when your beast took over and decided I wasn’t mate, not woman, not even human—but prey?”
His jaw tightened.
I stood, slow and shaking. My knees didn’t trust me yet, but I stood anyway.
“I understand the shift. I do. I’m a wolf after all. But you? You weren’t just Lycan, you were feral and wild and… I only wanted to be there. I felt your pain, your rage, and still, I followed that thread between us. I walked into the dark thinking it would anchor us.” My voice cracked. “But I was wrong.”
His mouth opened like he wanted to explain, but I didn’t let him.
“You tore through me like I was nothing. And now you stand here, asking me to talk?”
“Alaric was supposed to be guarding that tunnel,” he said instead, his voice colder. “How did you get past him?”
I scoffed, stepping back. “That’s what you’re worried about?”
“You weren’t supposed to be there.”
“No,” I said, shaking. “I wasn’t. But even now—standing in front of you—I’m still afraid. You terrify me, Lance. Please. Leave.”
He watched me for a beat too long.
Then he turned. Walked toward the door.
I exhaled shakily, finally. Relief began to settle. But before he opened it, I whispered—stupid, loud, but enough. I should’ve let him go while I deal with my fears, but, “No apology. No wonder they fear you.”
He stilled. One hand on the door.
His knuckles whitened around the handle.
“Spoken,” he said, his voice a quiet thunder, “like a woman who thinks she had a choice.”
I froze.
He turned slowly, eyes gleaming like burnished steel. “I see now,” he said, each word precise and measured, “that I’ve been far too lenient. I thought I could be… understanding. That I could balance the monster and the man. But keeping a secret like that from me, Kayla…”
He stepped forward, and I couldn’t stop myself from flinching.
“…about your infertility.”
My breath caught.
I stared at him, throat dry, heart aching.
“So what use are you to me now?” he continued. “You can’t give me an heir. You serve no purpose but to drain my patience. You breathe my air, you walk under my protection, and for what? You leech from a kingdom that was never meant for you and you accused me of being the bad one?”
Tears blurred my vision. But I forced myself to meet his eyes.
The fact she’d tried not to think about what had happened before Lance’s shift, that the council had outed her secret and Lance now knows it…
Of course, she was hanging on a thread before this.
Curse her life for being so messed up!
“I didn’t mean to hide it from you,” I said, voice breaking. “I just didn’t know when—how. I was going to tell you, Lance. I swear it.”
“When?” His voice rose, sharp. “After we fucked a hundred times? After I had you marked and wearing my crest? Was I supposed to find out when my advisors whispered it behind my back?”
“I was scared,” I whispered.
“Killing you,” he said, “would be a mercy.”
I flinched.
“But no,” he went on. “Mercy is a gift I’ve grown tired of giving. From this moment on, your life here will change. No more roaming the palace. You’ll go nowhere alone. You’ll speak to no one without reporting your conversations.”
My stomach turned.
“You’ll get three hours outside during the day. Then back here. You will answer when I call. You will come when I say. Since it’s come to this…” He stared at me with something dark and vicious swirling behind his eyes. “…You’re nothing more than a fuck tool now.”
The words felt like poison.
My legs nearly gave out, breath punched from my lungs. He didn’t wait for me to speak. Didn’t wait to see the devastation settle into my bones. He turned.
Then he was gone.
And I shattered.