Bought by the Beast King (Katerina and hunter) novel Chapter 159

Chapter 159

HUNTER

42

10 vouchers

The throne room decor was loud and shiny, as ostentatious as the rest of the castle and the man who owned it. Gold, silver, luxurious fabrics, jewels embedded in useless things. A waste. He could have sold even one thing in the room to feed his pack and keep them going. Instead, he’d let the pack suffer, let even weaker packs attack them. The Lordswood Pack had lost their untouchable reputation.

The coward held on to things that never belonged to him in the first place.

I crossed my legs and rested my arms on the adorned armrests. The throne sat on a pedestal, so from my vantage point, I was looking down on everyone. I almost snorted.

Kostas clasped the blanket around him, glaring at me. The Lordswoods put too much significance on this glorified seat, as if we were still in ancient times. What was left to protect?

Once we got past the threat of the coven and their prophecy, once Kitty was safe, I was coming to destroy all this shit.

“What is the meaning of this?”

Christos’ voice was weak as he opened the door to the throne room. I’d never seen him open his own doors before. Dressed in striped blue pyjamas and a robe, the full extent of his decline was visible. Boney shoulders, muscle loss, a pale, sickly face, and dull blue eyes. He struggled to push the thick oak doors wide enough for him to walk through.

O

The man who opened the door walked in behind him. Not a guard in sight. I was willing to bet even his shadow guards weren’t as reliable, either.

“The sun isn’t even up,” Christos grumbled.

His steps were slower, almost as if his feet were too heavy to lift. My nostrils flared as I caught something in the air. The stench of decay. It was faint, probably not noticeable to the people around him. My beast snarled in my head. I would not let anyone or anything else drag this coward to hell. It would be by my hands.

“Do I need to report to you when I want to visit my subjects?” I growled.

The werewolf king’s shoulders tensed. I saw the exact moment he remembered who he was talking to.

“Of course not, Your Majesty,” he said quietly. “I apologise.”

The Lycans had won that bloody war. My father had earned the right to be their king, but respect had not come with the title. It was good enough for me, because I didn’t need their fake deference.

“Where’s your Luna?” I asked, leaning back again.

“She’s been of poor health since…”

Since the night he’d tried to force Kitty into a mating. I’d barely registered anything when I’d gone after Kostas, but I read Tanner’s report. Even the castle doctor had failed to revive Maria, they’d waited three days for her to wake up. I could only imagine how frail the Lordswood Luna was now.

It explained Christos’ appearance. True mates were reliant on each other’s survival in a way chosen mates were not. And ,because of that, I was grateful that Kitty wasn’t my true mate. The last thing I wanted was to tie her fate to mine so

completely.

“She just wants to see Katerina,” Kostas said. “You won’t deny her that, would you?”

“If she survives past the full moon, I might consider allowing Katerina to visit.”

14:27 Tue, Jan 20

Chapter 159

10 vouchers

A spark of rage crossed Kostas’s eyes before he lowered his gaze. I’d expected a bigger reaction from him. I crossed my arms and studied father and adopted son. Maybe Christos was indeed too sick to be involved, but that tang of deception was heavy in the air now.

I’d already beaten Kostas in his almost manic state-what gave him the confidence to try to trap me? I inhaled again while I expanded the rest of my senses. There were no new auras, certainly nothing that could be considered a trap. There wasn’t even a hint of magic in the air.

“Your pack has fallen,” I said. “You can’t even protect yourselves, but you want the princess here to die with you.”

Christos flinched, perhaps because of the truth of my words. He’d known his days were numbered long before I wore my father’s crown.

“The Lordswood blood will never fall,” Kostas growled. “We will rise again, and our land will thrive. Fate has decreed it.”

“Big talk from someone who will never be a real Lordswood,” I said. Kostas’s shoulders stiffened. “But then again. If you were, and you had such a boner for your sister, that would be insane.”

“I’m done playing games, Your Majesty,” Kostas said through his teeth.

There it was. The trap I’d willingly walked into. It was time to see what trick Prince Lordswood had up his sleeves.

“Oh?” I asked calmly. “What can you do? From what I hear, you’re an Ironclaw wolf in name only.”

Christos snapped his head around to Kostas, and his anger swelled in the air. From his stillness, I knew he was mindlinking the younger man. Which part was secret? That he was Ironclaw, or he didn’t have the magic of his ancestors.

I knew what that magic felt like now. Rivers was full of it.

“You have no magic, and your wolf can’t stand against mine even on my worst day,” I added. “So how are you going to stop me, Kostas?”

I sensed it too late.

Magic crackled in the air, and seconds later, people appeared in the throne room, from the shadows, out of thin air.

Like Elijah.

My fists clenched as I watched them line up the walls, forming a circle around me. If Elijah had access to their magic, then were they the people I was looking for? The coven that had turned him so dark. The one even Elijah had told me of, who would send me to the afterlife.

Zachary and his son appeared in the middle of the room, next to Kostas and the wolf king. With their hands clasped in front, long black robes hiding every inch of them except their faces, they looked more imposing than they had at the cabin. Even the magic that pressed against me was different.

It was stronger, Heavier.

“Alpha Sterling, forgive us for being so rude,” Zachary said. “But we have much to prepare, and we’ve run out of time.”

So they were going to kill me so they could take Kitty for themselves? I’d monitored their communications closely, so I’d assumed no one from the coven had been in touch with the castle. But I should have remembered the coven’s disappearing

act.

Still, this was good. I could kill them all before they got their hands on Kitty.

“You’ve taken something which does not belong to you,” Randall said. “You’re not worthy. For that, we can’t allow you to live.”

་་-་

Jail SU

C

3.42

Chapter 159

10 vouchers

Zachary pulled that smooth pendant from beneath his robes and chanted a few words. It began to glow, and the magic around me intensified. It slid over my skin, wrapped around me, and seeped into my pores. My beast surged, already fighting the invasion.

“In this room, let all bear witness,” Zachary called out, his voice echoing. “The bond between the vessel and the princess shall be broken.”

Vessel?

And then pain sliced through every cell in my body, shredding all my thoughts as I fell from the throne to the floor.