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The banquet continued in full swing as the circle converged on different tales.

Elise found relief in Tazmin’s stories and world adventures while Kaide watched and added a few bits and pieces to the story, which made her laugh.

She didn’t shy away from Taz’s advances, especially the moment he tucked her hair behind her ears. She found relief in his distraction.

Meanwhile, Rygan, on the other hand, looked like his chair was too uncomfortable to keep sitting down, as he tried hard not to look in their direction.

Alvira was busy explaining that she had talked to the elders, who were willing to have the mating date set at any time, but Rygan was half-listening at this point and was more focused on Elise’s voice.

Especially when he saw Taz’s hands on Elise, she didn’t pull away; he tore himself to control and contain his pheromones seething with anger and irritation as much as he

could.

He wondered if Kaide had noticed but looked away, not bearing to look at his third in command and seeing a suspicious look from him.

Kaide instead had pushed off his chair, reaching out a hand to Elise, who had turned to him and said, “Will you have this dance with me?” The handsome beta asks.

His calm demeanor was like a drug that put Elise at ease; she let her hands slide into his. He led her down the platform and to the middle of the room, where most of the wolves were sitting and talking.

But the room seemed to quiet down when Elise and Kaide came to the center, hands sliding around her waist while her hands held onto his shoulder, and their other

his hands were upright with their palms touching.

The strum of the strings began as the drum followed, with Kaide leading her in gentle steps. Elise couldn’t help but feel a gaze directed at her as she looked up to meet Rygan’s stare; her spine locked up instantly.

But Kaide had other plans as he spun her, her attention immediately taken away from the alpha and back to him, caught off guard by the beta, who she looked at perplexed. “I’d like a warning,” she said to Kaide, who smirked as he bent to whisper in her ear.

“At least quit staring before my dear cousin Alvira notices. You know, do you want everyone to know you are pining over a betrothed alpha?” Kaide says with an easy

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smile, but Elise is turned to silence.

“How did-‘

“You can’t have him; Rygan and Alvira’s relationship is far deeper than what meets the surface-a promised oath between families.” He explains, “Something happened back at the night park, didn’t it?” he asks Elise, whose heart drops.

“It’s not like that.”

She wondered if he knew about his mark on her or about his bonding. A cool touch to her back had her body tingle with sensual intrigue as she looked up at Kaide’s hazel

eyes.

“Do you need a distraction? I can be a distraction; you can use me to forget about him,” he tells Elise, spinning her the second time as their chests collide again.

What game was he playing? Could she trust him? He has been nothing but nice and kind to her since she entered this pack; of course, he was offering to give himself to her, a kind male who wanted her, a male she wasn’t forced on.

“Just think about it, yeah?” He says in a whisper that moments had passed before Taz had come to interrupt them.

Taz takes her hand and says it is his turn to dance with Elise, with his endless flirting and jokes, and Elise is entertained till the end of the dance. This time, Alvira was perched on Rygan’s lap, her lips to his ears, whispering to him while his hands were on her waist.

They went back to their seats, Rygan this time not even sparing her a glance. She took a full

cup of wine and gulped it down her throat; she needed a distraction, and she might have just found her solution in a cup of wine.

She had drunk till she felt tipsy. Kaide’s face scrunched up in a worried stare, while Taz looked amused. “I need to clear my head for a bit,” she announces as she takes a step out of the hall.

There was another exit door that led into a greenhouse. She sighed out in relief to find no one there as she took a seat on the bench. “Kaide is right; I’m such a fool; he is never going to be with me,” she whispered to herself.

She hears clusters of sounds and slow footsteps. She gasps when she sees an older male, his suit elegant and clean. From his form, he was of high standing, probably one of the children of the elders.

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“Hello, I’m Emmett: I noticed you since you came into the ball, and I’ve been admiring you. Too bad that you were preoccupied with conversations with the two high betas of our pack. That means you know how to please betas in bed if you have their attention captured like that,” he says, and Elise is immediately irritated by his words.

Her head felt like it was about to implode, and she felt dizzy. “Excuse me? I am not interested,” she says as she stands up to walk away, but she is held back with aggressive strength.

“No female walked away from me; why are you acting innocent when you allowed their betas to flirt with you? I am of higher standing than them,” he argues. Pressing on her wrist till Elise let out a painful hiss from his assault.

“Please, let go of me,” she calls again, but his hand holds tighter; he does budge.

“Just look at you; even though you are beautiful, you are still strange. You should be happy that I am interested in you, even if you have weird hair and yet an alluring aura. You tried hard to hide your sweet scent, but I can smell it, and I will have claimed.

you, he

Something in her burned to life. Emmett’s face immediately changed from a smirk to a horrified look as he stiffened up.

Elise’s eyes were no longer blue but a fiery violet hue. She turned her arm, immediately gaining the upper hand and freeing herself. She landed a blow on the male, which sent him flying.

Her snarls get more deadly as she reaches forward to attack him but is stopped, her vision completely blocked by a tall shadow.

She could recognize that dark long hair and mint-cedar anywhere; his snarls echoed throughout the greenhouse as he pulled Emmett up, but without making the beat scream in agony by giving him the same taste of his medicine as he pressed his wrist.

“Leave before I f****g snap your head off, b**d.” Rygan’s voice snarled with deadly promise.

“My father will hear of this.”

“I hope he will save me the time of explaining why I need to kill a b***,” he calls to Emmett, who shuffled out of the greenhouse, leaving both Elise and Rygan.

“I can’t take my eyes off you, can I?” He called as he inspected her hand and the bruise, but Elise pulled her hand away from his hold.

I didn’t need your help, Elise argued.

“You sure as hell do, you cannot even control your powers: you could have killed him.

wouldn’t have gone that far.”

“With that ridiculous untamed strength? you would,” he says, but immediately realizes his mustake and tone.

“You see me as a monster, then, just like Kyren, you see me as cursed.”

—I don’t see you as any of those things; you know you’re driving me crazy, Elise; you believe I’d see you as a monster and still care to follow you here? You think I haven’t been out of my kind all night?”

“You have no reason to be with me when Alvira is right there; you said it yourself; we are nothing to each other, and the bond is just a false hoax that will be removed when you reject me during the next high moon,” Elise says, “so excuse me; I’ve had a lot to drink, and I wouldn’t want to hurt you with my ‘untamed’ powers; I’m leaving your

majesty.”

She called coldly as she walked past him, but she couldn’t get far as Rygan wrapped a hand around her waist and met her soft lips with a kiss.

Elise didn’t care if it was the wine or the heated atmosphere; she didn’t fight him as his tongue pushed on her lips and asked for access into her mouth, and she agreed.

Their lips met sensually, her moans and sighs reaching higher as Rygan’s hand pulled her legs, raising her thigh to wrap around her legs while his hands reached for access below her wet heat.

Their kiss had turned feverish with an aching sweetness and anticipation as Rygan’s finger dipped into her c**t. Elise let out a whimper from the sweet push; his other fingers pushed in, and Elise moaned out her moans, immediately covered with Rygan lips. “You see what you do to me?” he called.

His hands were fast and desperate, thrusting deeply and fast while watching her come undone as their lips brushed in another sensual kiss. Her undoing was like a dream to Rygan, as he watched every emotion on her face as she came into his hands.

Smack!

The alpha king’s cheeks stung as Elise pushed him away. “Stop leading me on; you are destroying me,” Elise called, wiping her tears. “Are you satisfied after having my body again? You don’t want me, Rygan, so please leave me alone.”

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She waited for him to at last prove her wrong but he let out a painful snarl as he dragged a hand through his hair. his thoughts in an internal battle.

Elise-

“Please,” she called before she walked out of the greenhouse and into the moonhouse.

Rygan slid to the wall, his hands in his head as he growled out before punching one of the potted flowers that smashed into pieces from his raw strength.

He knew he had to choose between a bl**dy promise to his family’s oath or what he wanted. He is the alpha king, but he feels so powerless to fulfill his late parents’ wishes.

What should he do?