Mated to the Alpha: Sold to the King novel Chapter 47

Chapter 47: 0047

Kaelen POV

My usually calm and composed Beta looked like he could kill with a single glance.

He barely gave the old man enough time to recover or wipe the blood from his chin before pulling back his fist to deliver another heavy punch.

To think, Darius didn’t even know the full story of what Hawke had done. All he knew was that a maid had nearly been stripped and whipped, and that alone had pushed him into this state.

"Hold on," I said, raising a hand.

Darius’s bloodied fist froze in midair.

With a sigh, I turned my full attention to Hawke.

"You said she stole from me, is that right?" I asked, keeping my voice low and precise.

Hawke nodded frantically as he wiped away a fresh smear of blood from his mouth.

"We found a gold ring hidden beneath the mattress in her room. Remember, Alpha, she is a rogue and a thief. These are the petty, greedy things they do. Don’t let her sweet face deceive you."

Usually, I would have believed every word without a second thought.

I probably would have even apologized to Hawke for the inconvenience.

After all, the man had served this pack faithfully for years. He often went out of his way to track down and capture female criminals when we were desperately short-staffed.

For all of his hard work, I had always made sure he was rewarded generously for every rogue he brought in.

There had never been a reason to doubt him.

Except now.

Slowly, I stepped out from behind my desk and approached him until I was standing directly in front of his kneeling, trembling form.

"Are you talking about the heavy gold ring with the obsidian crescent stone set in the center?" I asked, describing my so-called family heirloom in detail.

Hawke nodded even harder, and a look of triumph flashed across his battered face.

"Yes! Yes, Alpha, that exact one!" he said eagerly. "I know it has been in your family for generations. A crime like that deserves the highest form of execution!"

And ordinarily, he would have been right.

An heirloom like that was both valuable and sacred to our bloodline. Stealing it would have been more than enough justification for severe punishment.

The only downside to Hawke’s perfect little story was one tiny, undeniable fact.

That specific ring had been locked securely inside my safe the morning Ella had run off after our night together. She had never been anywhere near it.

"Funny," I said slowly, leaning down just enough for him to see the complete lack of warmth in my eyes. "Because the last time I checked, I took that ring out of the safe and threw it away myself. So tell me, Hawke... how exactly was it stolen?"

Within seconds, all the color drained from his face.

The smug, self-assured confidence he had been carrying completely vanished, leaving him looking hollow and trapped.

"What... how... why would you throw something as precious as that, Alpha?" he asked, his voice cracking as he struggled to process the massive hole that had just been blown through his accusation.

I shrugged.

"I got tired of it," I said simply. "Can’t a man get tired of things?"

The truth was, I had always hated that piece of jewelry.

It had belonged to my father and was supposed to be passed down to my brother, Jacob.

The night I took the throne, I had personally cut that ring off my father’s hand, with his fingers still attached to it, purely out of spite.

But that morning, after waking up to an empty bed and the lingering scent of the woman I had slept with, I had simply gotten tired of looking at it.

It carried too much old blood and too many useless memories.

So I threw it away without a second thought.

Who would have guessed that one petty whim would end up getting an innocent woman punished?

"So why did you lie, Hawke?" I asked, my voice dropping into a dangerously quiet tone. "You know how much I despise liars."

Hawke stammered immediately. His bloody lips trembled as he swallowed hard, and his eyes darted around the room as if searching for an escape that didn’t exist.

"I didn’t... I thought..." he whispered, desperation creeping into his voice. "When I heard it was in her room, I just assumed. With her reputation, I thought she had stolen it. This was my mistake. I made a mistake. Please, Alpha. Spare me this once."

With that, he began repeatedly slamming his head against the floor.

His forehead cracked against the stone with sickening thuds, each impact harder than the last, until fresh blood smeared across the polished surface beneath him.

"Enough!" I barked.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify