Wolf Princess Sold to the Dragon King novel Chapter 104

Chapter 104: Fated Be Damned. I Choose Her.

In hindsight, the middle finger salute was spectacular. Five stars. The aftermath was what bent him over and spanked him bare-assed in front of five hundred witnesses.

Maddox’s hand was still raised, royal-fuck-you still intact, fangs still buried.

He had never had a matebond before. But he knew enough to know that a matebond was supposed to lock in during the marking. He held. Waited. It didn’t arrive.

His dragon tore through his chest with a sound that was more grief than rage.

WRONG. We should feel her. Something is blocking.

He retracted his fangs. Blood beaded on her neck where the mark sat, fresh and gleaming. Her eyes were closed, and her body was limp beneath him.

"Guinevere."

She didn’t answer.

He said it again, quieter, his mouth against her temple. "Baby, open your eyes."

They stayed closed.

Around him, nobles were still combusting from the spectacle. But Maddox heard none of it. His entire world had narrowed to her body on the stone and the nothing coming from it.

"What the fuck did I do?" he whispered, voice wrecked.

She was never mine. The thought repeated like a war drum.

He shook his head once. No. Fated be damned. He didn’t need that stamp of approval to know she was meant for him. He would still choose her without it. And either way, his mark should have created a matebond. It didn’t. So this was something else. Something was wrong.

That’s when he remembered the mark he’d seen on the dance floor. Under makeup. Hidden behind hair. At least he thought that’s what it was. But now he wasn’t sure.

When he tilted her head to look, there was too much blood to see. His lips pressed to the wound, soft, drawing it away until the skin was clean. A gentle kiss followed.

"I’ll fix this, baby. Don’t worry."

The second he lifted his head to get another look, his body ran cold. A silver mark glowed beneath his gold one. Healed. Someone had been there first.

His attention landed on Kael like a verdict. "You. Marked. Her."

Kael was standing six feet away and didn’t seem to hear him. Every drop of color had evacuated his face. His eyes were locked on Guinevere like she was the only thing keeping him vertical.

Maddox stood without looking away from Kael. "Did you?"

Kael dragged his eyes away from her and found Maddox’s. "Are you alright?"

The question was unexpected. Aimed at him. Not the unconscious woman. The man standing upright. With a pulse. On both legs.

Maddox’s nostrils flared. "ANSWER ME. NOW."

Kael didn’t answer. He scanned his brother’s face. Nodded. "You’re fine. Good." Then punched him in the jaw. "That’s for whatever the fuck that was."

The crack echoed off the stone walls. Maddox’s head snapped sideways.

The crowd inhaled. They had thought the tackle-hump-mark-finger was the encore. This was the encore to the encore. The night refused to peak.

"So you admit it! You marked my mate!" Maddox’s fist connected with Kael’s cheekbone before the sentence finished landing.

Kael staggered back two steps, catching himself on a column.

The gallery fell silent immediately, the words traveling faster than a Draconic command. Someone in the back said what everyone was thinking. "Both of them?"

The silence that followed was so total Maddox could hear the torches burning.

A guard at the archway broke first. "Holy fuck."

Then, like a dam giving way, the women in the gallery erupted. Single. It’s complicated. Married. Widowed. All united.

"I would pay my entire dowry to be unconscious between those two."

"If she doesn’t want one of them, I’ll take the spare."

"If this is how wolves mate, I’m switching species."

"I haven’t been this aroused since my wedding night."

"Try again," Kael fired back. "Your first private interaction with her was a property dispute in your war room. Would you want to get a drink with you after that?"

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify