The Throne’s Craving

The new Luna of the Vorn exuded expensive perfume and disdain. Callista Raye — heiress to na industrial dynasty that manufactured weapons for northern clans — strode through the mansion halls in tight dresses and a glassy smile. She was beautiful, indeed, but it was the kind of beauty born from vanity, not essence. Her gaze slid past Kael as if he were a servant, and when she was with Rhaek, he grew even colder.

The pack noticed. No look of love, no real bond between the Alpha and his Luna. Just alliances, appearances, business.

Callista despised everything that wasn’t luxury. The mansion’s dark corridors, the pack’s rituals, the traditions of blood and honor — to her, it was all outdated folklore. “We’re in a new era,” she said with her affected voice. “It’s time to civilize the instincts.”

But there were things no gold in the world could contain.

The growing tension between her and Rhaek was one of them.

One night, after returning from a meeting with eastern alphas, Rhaek didn’t enter the conjugal chambers. He crossed the foyer with heavy shoulders and a tense face. Callista tried to reach him, questioning his absence. He didn’t even look at her. That alone deepened the rift.

That’s when Callista began digging.

First, documents. Then digital records, statements, hidden movements of the house. And finally — the folder locked in Rhaek’s personal safe, where she found something that should never have been uncovered.

A name.

Narelle Nox.

And medical exams.

Secret transfers.

Callista realized she had been used as a façade. She wasn’t the Alpha’s true mate. Just a contract.

Consumed by wounded pride, she confronted Kael on a freezing morning, in the center of the training courtyard. As always, he remained impassive. But his silence came at a cost.

“You knew, didn’t you?” she spat. “About the bitch. And my husband.”

Kael raised his eyes slowly. For a moment, the two measured each other, as if the very air around them trembled.

“I know many things, Callista,” he finally said, his voice low but firm. “Including what you’re capable of when you feel inferior.”

She smiled, but it was a venomous smile.

“Then underestimate me, Beta. It’ll be your last mistake.”

Little did Callista know, Kael’s greatest secret wasn’t protecting Narelle...

But that, deep down, he had never been loyal to his brother.

Since youth, Kael knew Rhaek was born to dominate, but he — he was born to scheme. And in his plan, the Alpha’s fall had long been foreseen.

The love he felt for Narelle was real. Silent, discreet, but fierce.

And if Callista thought money could buy everything, she would soon learn that the heart of a betrayed she-wolf, and that of a strategist wolf, aren’t for sale.

They strike.

The city skyline stretched before Narelle’s eyes like a tapestry of glass and steel — cold, calculated, perfect for hiding monsters in expensive suits. The new VornTech headquarters towered over the horizon with its opaque mirrors, reflecting the gray sky and the days to come. There, she would be announced as the new majority shareholder, a name reclaimed from obscurity, shrouded in mystery and strategy.

But not even the power she now held erased the ghosts.

She felt the memories like bites beneath her skin. The dawns when she was summoned, naked under the mist of the suspended gardens, walking barefoot among the sleeping flowers, while Rhaek watched from the balconies — beastly eyes, breath restrained. She felt violated before he even touched her. Every step, every movement was devoured by his hunger.

Narelle never forgot the feeling of being wanted like prey — and the insane conflict it triggered in her own body. Even young, she felt the heat rising between her thighs, the pulsing ache that left her confused, ashamed… and aroused.

Now, years later, with a mature body and a mind forged by pain and the studies Kael had silently funded, she finally returned. With power, with a name, with weapons. But still carrying the echoes.

The sound of the doorbell cut the tension like a blade.

She opened the door. Kael stepped in with measured steps, the same black coat over his broad shoulders, his eyes attentive to her every inch.

“Are you ready?” he asked softly.

Narelle didn’t answer. Her gaze lingered on his lips — and something pushed her beyond reason.

When he leaned in to kiss her cheek, near her mouth, she turned her head suddenly. Her lips met his in a raw, hungry kiss — more scream than affection. Kael responded instantly. He had waited for that moment forever. His hands touched her with firmness and precision, as if they knew exactly where she kept her desire and her rage.

Clothes were torn off without gentleness. Shirt, skirt, boots — everything fell onto the silent floor. And there, on the natural fiber rug, her wolf emerged.

Narelle climbed on top of him like a beast, digging her nails into his chest, biting his shoulders as she rode him hard, demanding pleasure. She screamed in silence, as if trying to tear Rhaek’s marks from her skin with every deep thrust Kael gave. He led her to ecstasy like one who understands the war of body and mind. He touched her with reverence and savagery, alternating dominance and surrender — until she exploded in a convulsive climax, panting like a wolf at dawn.

And then… silence.

She stood up. Pulled on her fallen skirt, fixed her sweat-drenched hair. Her eyes burned, but not with love.

“I need to be alone,” she said coldly, not looking at him.

Kael only nodded. He knew this wasn’t the end. It was the beginning of the most dangerous game: hers.

He dressed in silence and left. Narelle stood still, her chest still rising and falling. Now, More than ever, she was ready to take the chair beside Rhaek — or tear it out from beneath him.

Minutes later,Narelle recomposed herself, applied a satin red lipstick, and no longer resembled the naive she-wolf who once endured the scorn of her Alpha’s lovers. Her inner wolf howled with terrifying fury — she thirsted

to ignite a war like no other.

Rhaek would end up humiliated.On the ground.