Chapter 8

(Sienna’s POV)

A full orchestra plays music designed to evoke tangled two-by-two movements.

Strings bend to the will of those playing them in a serenely intimate cacophony that drowns out the existence of the others on the dance floor or the onlookers.

For a short time, it doesn’t feel like a Royal or political event. I even temporarily forget that I am here with this man by contractual force…for a heartbeat, he feels like mine.

And my wolf…she feels like she’s found her way home.

I feel Arthur’s heartbeat as we dance; his heat radiates through me. His hand in mine fits like a glove, and the other one on my waist stirs sensations low in my belly.

All we're doing is dancing. I'm not interested in this man or any sort of relationship. Sure, physically he’s handsome, but he’s also domineering, arrogant, and obsessed with control and his own power, I remind myself.

It doesn’t matter if his body makes mine react in unnatural ways. Snap back to reality, Sienna, I tell myself.

Still, my eyes flutter closed, and I let myself get lost in our movements on the dance floor.

Suddenly, my wolf stirs within me. She’s nervous. The skin on the back of my neck prickles. A flush spreads across my cheeks. My senses urge me to look over my shoulder. I’m being watched.

I’m not surprised to see Landon and Brianna at the banquet; however, judging by the looks on their faces, they seem shocked to see me.

Standing side by side with wide eyes and mouths open, they stare at us.

Landon’s gaze trails up my body to where Arthur’s arms wrap around my waist. A snarl forms between his mouth and eyes, distorting his typically handsome features.

I can’t even hide the smile that sight brings to my lips, nor can I help myself from fueling Landon’s rage. I decide to intentionally act closer to Arthur, first by leaning into his muscular body, then by standing on my tiptoes to kiss his chiseled jaw.

My belly flutters at the contact.

My smile broadens involuntarily when I realize that I’ve managed to catch Arthur off guard. I’m not sure how I thought he would react to my kiss. To be honest, I did that without thinking about it at all…almost on instinct.

I expected him to tense up or shift his position, but he surprises me by going along with it. He pulls me closer, tighter than we already are, and keeps his gaze locked on mine. Steel-obsidian eyes stare at my lips just a heartbeat longer, making me forget that Landon is watching.

Arthur spins me around with his right hand in mine, then seamlessly dips me with his left. I feel his bicep flex as he holds me there for just a moment.

My leg instinctively wraps around his hip, the slit in my gown opens as fresh, cool air hits my bare thigh, and Arthur’s free hand moves to grip it, feeling like forever and not enough at the same time.

I tilt my head back, exposing my throat to him. As he presses his lips to my clavicle, his low moan sends a shock through me like an electric jolt.

Arthur's eyes close in concentration only briefly before they reopen, and he returns me to standing.

Tensions between Arthur, Landon, Brianna, and me are palpable, reaching a peak as Landon witnesses our public displays of affection. Landon’s snarl turns into a growl.

The growl is low enough that only Arthur and I notice it, but loud enough to cause a full, brutal scene for public consumption.

“Tramp,” Brianna mutters. “Classic Sienna…lowly wolfless, powerless whore…the only way you get ahead in life is seducing powerful men,” she says.

Against my will, my mind wanders back in time to a delivery room…a crying baby…and Landon’s promises to me, his actual mate. For five years, I watched another woman hold my place…with the life that should have been mine.

Brianna stole my place. She shared my bed with my mate. Then, my own child called me his nanny.

Once he learned to talk, they forced me to watch him call Brianna "mommy."

This flashy, slutty, toxic, mate-stealing she-wolf has the audacity to call me a tramp?

I hold my head up high and look her straight in the eye as I speak. “I’m nothing of the sort. I don’t slink around stealing men from the beds of other women; you can’t say the same.”

She scoffs mockingly, “Have you no shame, Sienna…climbing the Alpha King like a tree you have a claim to.”

Arthur gently pulls me behind him. “Luna, Brianna…” he begins. “A wise leader knows which hunts lead to a feast and which lead to certain death with a shallow grave. You and your Alpha are chasing a scent in my territory that I and I alone have claim to. I suggest you take your man and get him out of here while you still can. I’d hate to see your pack lose its leaders.”

Landon growls and begins to lunge toward us. Brianna’s face flushes, then turns ghostly white.

“No, Landon…Let’s go now,” she says, paling further and dragging him out.

(Arthur’s POV)

Her scent is a mixture of the ocean and lavender. It fills my nostrils as I’m drawn to her throat when I dip her. If I’m being honest, it’s intoxicating. I got carried away for a moment. Or my wolf took over.

My lips on her throat is a reflex. My wolf wants to take the opportunity to mark her, while my lips beg to descend further down her dress. My tongue aches to taste her.

I forget for a moment that we are at a political function, that she and I are acting for the crowd.

She is here by force under contract to save her wolf from death and her agency from that sorry excuse for an Alpha, Landon, I remind myself sternly. And I don’t want her or any other woman, nor do I need a mate.

I don’t hide the smirk of satisfaction as I watch Landon’s date drag him out of the banquet hall with his tail tucked between his legs.

This isn’t the first time I’ve witnessed these two fucking with Sienna just for the sake of humiliating or controlling her.

And damn, if it doesn’t impress me to watch her consistently hold her own, especially given her background and withering wolf.

There is a magnetic draw to her that I don’t understand. I sense her wolf’s improvement; it only makes Sienna more confident.

This pleases me, though I don’t know why. In order for me to keep my seat as King and protect our Kingdom, I must appease my family…that is all.

I don’t want a mate. This woman is merely convenient. However, if I must be linked to someone, at least she’s tolerable. In fact, the more I see her interact with others, the more I respect her. That will make this three-year contract manageable. The pleasure of her body in my hands is a bonus.

The realization that all noise has come to a halt and everyone in the room’s eyes are on Sienna and I.

“Come,” I tell her while keeping my hand on the small of her back. “Let’s get a drink.”