The Crown’s Chosen Mate

I was still thinking about the coming alliance when someone suddenly stepped into my path.

The girl blocking the palace road had red eyes and a stubborn expression.

“Your Highness, Owen and I are mates by choice. Please don’t tear us apart.”

At the sound of her voice, people slowed and turned to watch.

Whispers spread quickly.

“Is that Nora from the Bloodmoon Pack?”

“Is the princess trying to claim the Alpha from another woman?”

“I told you the Crown Princess was spoiled. No one believed me before.”

Nora caught the murmurs and a flicker of satisfaction passed through her eyes before she lowered her voice and spoke again, deliberately pitiful.

“Your Highness, Owen already asked you to request that His Majesty cancel the alliance. Why did you refuse?”

“You can’t abuse the power of the royal court just because you’re a princess. You can’t destroy someone else’s bond.”

For a moment I almost laughed.

Both of them had a remarkable talent for appearing at exactly the moment needed to make my life unbearable.

In my previous life, I had never actually met Nora. I had only heard Owen mention the foster sister he protected so fiercely.

I had once wondered what kind of woman could make a Lycan Alpha remember her for years.

Now I had my answer.

Someone perfectly matched to Owen.

I took a slow breath before answering, forcing down the anger rising in my chest.

“I already told Owen the Crown is not forming an alliance with him,” I said calmly. “If you like him, feel free to keep him. No one is competing with you.”

Nora clearly did not believe me.

She let out a small laugh filled with disbelief.

“Your Highness, everyone in the court knows how attentive you’ve been to Owen these past months. The gifts from the royal treasury, the invitations to the palace hunts, the private audiences.”

“You’re only saying this now because you discovered Owen’s heart belongs to me.”

“You’re jealous.”

There was no point arguing with someone who had already written their own version of the story.

I turned and walked away.

Behind me Nora suddenly cried out.

She collapsed right at my feet.

Instinctively I stepped forward to help her up.

Before I could reach her, Owen appeared.

He moved fast and struck without hesitation.

His boot slammed into my abdomen and knocked me backward.

“You call yourself the Crown Princess and this is how you treat someone weaker than you?”

Instead he knelt and gathered Nora into his arms as if she were made of glass.

“You’re already frail,” he said softly. “Why did you run all the way to the palace? Now you’ve been bullied for nothing.”

Ivy helped me to my feet.

I brushed the dust from my skirt and looked at them coldly.

“Frail?” I said. “In centuries of royal history I’ve never seen a Lycan who collapses from a gentle push.”

“If the Bloodmoon Pack produces wolves this fragile, perhaps they should start over with a stronger bloodline.”

Owen’s expression darkened with irritation.

“Selena,” he said, “if you insist on marrying me, I can accept it.”

He paused as if granting a favor.

“But there will be conditions. Nora will live with us after the alliance. Her child will be raised as my heir, and you will treat it as your own.”

I stared at him for a moment.

Then I stepped forward and brought my heel down hard on his foot.

“You must be dreaming,” I said coldly.

Without waiting for his reaction, I turned away.