Mated to the Alpha: Sold to the King

Chapter 90: 0090

Kaelen POV

My fists clenched even tighter as I fought to keep myself under control, barely resisting the overwhelming urge to snap right then and there.

Who the fuck gave them the right to speak about her like that?

Beside me, even Darius’s grip on my shoulder changed.

This time, he wasn’t trying to calm me down.

His knuckles had turned white, and his claws had begun digging through the fabric of my jacket. He was just as close to losing it as I was, his own wolf bristling at the blatant disrespect.

"What did you just call her?" I asked.

My voice was terrifyingly calm, but the razor-sharp edge beneath it was impossible to miss.

At my question, Elder Viktor’s expression immediately hardened.

He let out a loud scoff before leaning forward over the elevated table.

"So it’s true," he said. "The great Alpha King, who shows absolutely no mercy to criminals, has welcomed one into his own bed. I find that rather hypocritical, don’t you? Especially considering this isn’t the first time you’ve abandoned your principles for the sake of a woman."

Those words were calculated.

Dragging my former mate into a conversation that had absolutely nothing to do with her was nothing more than an attempt to provoke me into losing control.

They wanted me to explode.

They wanted proof that I was unstable.

Instead of giving them what they wanted, I laughed.

A low, dark chuckle escaped my throat, echoing through the council chamber and causing the elders to shift uneasily in their seats, their expressions tightening as the sound reverberated off the high stone walls.

"Ah... Viktor, Viktor, Viktor," I said.

My laughter died as quickly as it had begun, my voice dropping into something so cold it seemed to suck the warmth from the room.

"I think you keep forgetting one very important thing. I am your King... and you are hardly a man fit to lecture anyone about morality. If you intend to preach righteousness, perhaps you should first make sure your own hands are clean."

As the last words left my mouth, my gaze slowly shifted to Beatrice.

She was still sitting below the dais, curled into herself, avoiding my eyes.

It was painfully obvious why she’d been invited here.

She had come to insert herself into this conversation.

I knew exactly what these old fools were trying to do.

They thought they could use Ella as leverage to force me into a political arrangement, to push me into Beatrice’s bed so they could "cleanse" the bloodline.

Too bad for them.

I’d rip Beatrice’s throat out before she even had the chance to take her clothes off.

"Your beloved daughter drugged me," I reminded him coldly, my voice cutting through the chamber like sharpened steel. "In my book, treason and the assault of the Alpha King are crimes punishable by death. Just because I chose to let her walk away with her head still attached doesn’t make me a fool."

I tilted my head slightly, never taking my eyes off Viktor.

"But since we’re discussing morality, Viktor, why don’t you prove your own? Put a bullet through her head. Right now."

Instantly, Viktor’s face drained of all color.

His fists clenched so tightly that the veins in his neck bulged, while Beatrice dissolved into loud, frantic sobs from her seat below the dais.

"Kaelen, that’s too..." Tobias tried to interrupt, his voice shaking.

"Alpha!" I roared.

The force of my voice thundered through the chamber, rattling the heavy glass light fixtures hanging from the ceiling.

"Alpha King Kaelen. I am your King!"

Tobias flinched so violently that he practically shrank into his chair.

"Not a single one of you old fools has any say in this matter," I continued, my voice rising as my Alpha dominance flooded every corner of the room. The crushing weight of my aura slammed into the council like a tidal wave, forcing several of the weaker elders to lower their heads against their will as strained gasps echoed throughout the chamber.

"You have spent years trying to break me. You have failed. And despite every scheme you’ve ever plotted, I still remain your King."

My gaze swept slowly across every elder seated before me.

"Who I choose to share my bed with is none of your business. Who I choose to have carry my child, your next king, the future ruler of this empire, is none of your business!"

My eyes finally settled back on Viktor.

"This will be the absolute last time I am ever summoned over something this pathetic."

As I spoke, I slowly raised a clawed finger and pointed it directly at him.

"As for you, Viktor, if your daughter ever sets foot on my estate again, she won’t be the only one paying the price. She will die, and your entire clan will be wiped from this empire for defying the Alpha King."

More than five of the elders gasped in horror, and the room plunged into petrified silence. It was the first time I had ever threatened their entire bloodlines directly to their faces.

At this point, though, I didn’t really care. I was practically vibrating with rage, so consumed by it that Darius had to step in before I tore the entire chamber apart.

"Since we’re done discussing the morality of others," Darius’s voice rang out, smooth but razor-cold, "and since Miss Beatrice is still breathing... unfortunately, we’ll take that as the final conclusion to this matter. Seeing as there’s nothing else of substance left to discuss, we’ll be taking our leave."

With that, he firmly pulled me back a step before I completely lost my mind. I shot Viktor one last glare, making sure he saw the promise of death burning in my eyes, before turning on my heel and walking out.

"You shouldn’t have reacted so strongly back there," Darius said the second the heavy doors of our vehicle clicked shut, insulating us from the council building.

"You heard what they said!" I shot back, my chest rising and falling as my wolf clawed violently at the walls of my mind. "You, of all people, should be more than furious."

"And I am. I want to kill every single one of them," Darius replied, his voice deadpan even though his jaw was clenched so tightly the muscles twitched. "But you were the one who taught me never to show my weakness to the enemy. Yet you just threatened to slaughter an entire bloodline over a rogue."

"So what if she’s a rogue?" I snapped furiously, turning my glare on Darius.

Even I couldn’t believe those words had just come out of my mouth.

He didn’t flinch. Instead, he simply stared back at me, his gray eyes completely unreadable.

"Don’t you see it?" he asked quietly after a long pause. "You just threw her straight under the bus by showing them exactly how much a... rogue affects you."

He let those words sink in before continuing.

"You know exactly what that means."

Immediately, a wave of ice-cold dread swept over me, extinguishing every trace of anger still burning in my veins.

He was right.

Fuck. He was completely right.

In my attempt to assert dominance, I had just shown the council exactly where my newest weakness lay. I had handed them a target, and they would absolutely use it against me.

Against her.

"Fuck," I muttered, dragging a hand through my hair.

*

Now, while I was still trying to figure out how to clean up the massive mess I had created with the council, the very woman who had been driving me insane for the past three days was standing in front of me, glaring accusingly over something as trivial as a mere guard.

"Why?" Ella demanded, her voice stubborn despite the way she trembled beneath my gaze.

"What did you do to him?"