Mated to the Alpha: Sold to the King

Chapter 89: 0089

Kaelen POV

Three days ago>>

Before returning to the estate from that godforsaken orphanage, I had already received an urgent encrypted message informing me that my presence was required by the High Council.

More than anything, I usually tried to avoid their bureaucratic nonsense, but considering how long I had been ignoring their summons, I decided to deal with them head-on this time.

Unfortunately, that also meant dragging Darius along with me. Not because he had to, but just because.

"You’re really putting a lot of effort into making sure I don’t get a chance to talk to her," Darius muttered dryly as we walked away from the garage, his hands shoved into his pockets.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about," I replied flatly, throwing his favorite line right back at him.

He scoffed in disbelief but wisely kept his mouth shut.

The council chamber was located in a completely separate wing of the compound, detached from the residence where the Beta and I lived.

It had been designed that way for a reason.

Those old fools couldn’t be trusted.

Under no circumstances were they ever allowed to step foot inside my private residence within the empire’s estate. Whatever they chose to do outside my home was rarely any of my concern.

Unless they were plotting against me.

Which, more often than not, they were.

Walking all the way across the estate wasn’t practical given the distance, so I had already ordered one of the guards to prepare a secondary security vehicle to drive us there.

By the time the heavy double doors to the council chamber swung open, every elder was already seated around the elevated platform.

A massive circular mahogany table dominated the room, raised several feet above the floor so they could literally look down on whoever stood in the center.

It was an intentional design.

A pathetic attempt to make themselves appear more powerful than they actually were.

I walked into the center of the chamber and lifted my gaze to meet theirs without blinking.

But before I could even ask why I had been summoned, my eyes landed on a familiar, unwelcome figure seated below the dais in the far corner of the room.

Beatrice.

The second I saw that bitch, my wolf surged violently to the surface, and a dangerous growl tore from deep within my chest.

"What is she doing here?" I snarled, my voice echoing through the chamber.

Beatrice flinched immediately, shrinking back into her seat.

I remembered with absolute clarity that I had banned her from ever setting foot anywhere on this estate after the pathetic bullshit stunt she had pulled when she drugged me.

I had even warned her father, Elder Viktor, the last time she had dared to force her way into my private residence demanding to see me.

And yet, here she was again.

This time, hiding behind the council.

"Her reason for being here is exactly why you’ve been summoned, Alpha King," one of the elders spoke up, his voice dripping with fake diplomacy.

My claws instinctively slid from my fingertips, tearing through the fabric of my pockets.

Before I could lunge forward, Darius reached over and firmly gripped my shoulder.

It was a silent reminder to keep myself under control.

After all, this wasn’t the first time these old bastards had deliberately poked the beast, hoping to provoke a violent outburst they could use to question either my sanity or my right to rule.

I drew in a slow breath, forcing my claws to retract.

"Explain," I said flatly, locking my gaze on the man who had spoken.

Elder Thomas.

My late father’s loyal lapdog.

And the man who hated me more than anyone else in this room.

Especially after I had ruthlessly dismantled his largest offshore money laundering operation.

My enforcers hadn’t uncovered enough concrete evidence to publicly tie the operation directly to him, but anyone with half a brain knew he had been the one pulling the strings behind the scenes.

He hadn’t taken the financial loss well.

Ever since then, he had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to stab me in the back.

Thomas leaned forward over the elevated table, his eyes gleaming with barely concealed satisfaction.

"There have been rumors spreading throughout the empire," he began, making no effort to hide the mockery in his voice, "that our great and beloved Alpha King is not actually impotent, as we had all previously assumed."

Those words made my hands curl into tight, white-knuckled fists at my sides.

"Get to the point," I said through clenched teeth.

Thomas bit back a smirk before his expression hardened into one of practiced authority as he looked down at me.

"While we are naturally pleased and deeply relieved that the empire may finally have an heir," he began, "we are also concerned after learning that the woman you have been parading around the estate is actually a..."

He paused deliberately, allowing the silence to linger across the chamber for maximum effect.

"A what?" I demanded, my voice dropping into a dangerously quiet tone that made the air in the room feel unbearably heavy.

"A rogue," Thomas finished, his eyes gleaming with malicious satisfaction. "A common criminal. A woman with no status, no respectable pack lineage, and absolutely no legal right to stand anywhere near the throne of the Lunar Empire."

The temperature in the chamber seemed to plummet.

Beside me, I felt Darius’s hand tighten around my shoulder, a silent but desperate warning not to rip Thomas’s throat out where he sat.

"Don’t take this the wrong way, Alpha," another elder quickly spoke up.

Elder Tobias.

A spineless coward who always hid behind someone else’s opinions.

"While we may not always agree on political matters," he continued carefully, "our concern is for the sacred bloodline of this empire. An illegitimate king sitting on the throne has already left a stain on our history. Now we’re expected to accept the possibility of the next heir being born from the filthy, degraded womb of a nameless rogue."