The King's Ultimatum

Valerie’s POV

My heart nearly hammered its way out of my chest. I dragged my feet down the long, dimly lit corridor. The walk to the boardroom felt like a march to the executioner's block. My mother's warning echoed in my ears, making my palms slick with cold sweat. What could the Lycan King possibly want with me? What was he going to do? I stood before the heavy double doors, swallowing the hard lump of terror in my throat, and raised a trembling fist to knock.

"Enter."

The single word rumbled through the thick wood. It carried an unnatural, terrifying weight. I pushed the door open.

The massive room was dead silent. Alpha Corbin, Elder Falkner, my mother, and the rest of the pack's leadership sat around the long oak table. They looked like terrified prey trapped in a cage. At the head of the table sat King Maverick. His broad shoulders filled the space. His piercing blue eyes locked onto mine the second I crossed the threshold.

"Sit." He tapped the high-backed leather chair right next to him.

I kept my eyes on the floor and walked over. I grabbed the armrest and tried to slide the heavy chair a few feet away from him to create a sliver of breathing room. I sank into the cushion. Before I could even settle, King Maverick gripped the base of my chair. He yanked it effortlessly across the thick carpet.

The wood screeched loudly. I gasped, grabbing the table edge as my chair slammed flush against his. His massive frame radiated a searing heat. The sharp, intoxicating scent of pine and raw power wrapped around my throat like a physical hand.

"Relax, Valerie." He leaned his head toward me.

His low, menacing voice scraped against my ear. How could I relax? His proximity was suffocating. The sheer force of his Lycan aura made the air in the room dangerously thin. I felt his piercing gaze boring straight through my skin.

Elder Falkner cleared his throat. The old man looked like he was about to pass out from the pressure. "Your Majesty, perhaps we should begin the meeting?"

King Maverick did not look away from me. He gave a curt nod. "Very well. Valerie, I summoned you here for a reason."

I clenched my damp hands together in my lap. "What reason?"

King Maverick leaned back in his chair. He studied my face with cold, calculating eyes. "Your Alpha and I were just discussing your worth."

I snapped my gaze toward Corbin. My Alpha flinched and looked down at his polished shoes, avoiding my eyes. I turned back to the Lycan King, my chest tightening with a rising panic. "I am sorry. I do not understand."

King Maverick leaned forward. He closed the distance until his face was mere inches from mine. "I want to own you. What does it take for me to own you?"

The room started spinning. My lungs forgot how to pull in air. I stared into his burning blue eyes, searching for a punchline to a sick joke that did not exist.

"Own me?" I whispered the words out into the suffocating silence.

King Maverick held my gaze with unwavering certainty. "Yes, Valerie. State your price, and I will make the arrangements."

A hot flash of outrage pierced through my fear. I pushed myself back against the chair, trying to escape his intense stare. "You cannot put a price on a person."

A terrifying, cold smile stretched across his handsome face. "Well said. But I feel the need to."

The mask of the stoic king vanished. The monster beneath the surface bared its teeth. He was calculating his kill.

"After all, I could have done anything to you that night in the alley." He let his words hang in the air, thick and menacing. "I could have marked you. I could have made you mine right then and there. No one would dare question me. Yet here I am, attempting to negotiate."

I shook my head, my jaw clenching. "This is not a negotiation. I am well aware of that. Because whether or not I agree to go with you, you would still take me either way."

His smile died. A glacial chill settled over his striking features. "You are not wrong, though."

My mother shifted in her seat across the table. Her voice shook hard. "Your Majesty, please. Is there not anything else you are interested in?"

King Maverick did not spare her a single glance. "Unfortunately, no."

He turned his full, crushing attention back to me. "I will give you a choice, Valerie."

My heart pounded a frantic rhythm against my ribs. "What choice?"

King Maverick steepled his large fingers together. "Either you accept my offer and become mine. Or your pack suffers the consequences."

A deathly silence crashed over the room. Alpha Corbin snapped his head up, his eyes wide with pure alarm.

I gripped the edge of the table until my knuckles turned white. "What consequences?"

"War." King Maverick delivered the word like a final judgment. "Destruction. Annihilation."

My breath hitched. He was dead serious. The cold steel in his voice left no room for doubt.

"What makes you think I am worth this?" I forced the words out past the lump of terror in my throat.

King Maverick narrowed his eyes. "I decide who is worth my money and who is not."

Alpha Corbin finally found a shred of courage. He leaned forward, his face pale and desperate. "Your Majesty, there are other beautiful girls in our pack. Why Valerie?"

The Lycan King snapped his head toward Corbin. His gaze turned lethal. "Why does it worry you? Do you two have something we do not know about?"

The Elders flinched back in their seats. Corbin swallowed hard and fell silent.

My mother wrung her hands together. "Your Majesty, I beg you to reconsider."

King Maverick cut her off with a sharp wave of his hand. "No."

He turned back to me. His blue eyes locked onto mine, freezing me in place. "You have forty-eight hours to decide."

The walls of the boardroom seemed to close in on me.

"Choose wisely, Valerie." He stood up from his chair. "Refuse, and your pack burns."

He showed no emotion. He offered no empathy. He was an immovable force of destruction.

I felt trapped and helpless. "What guarantee do I have?"

King Maverick looked down at me. A twisted smirk curled the corner of his mouth. "My word. And that is all you will get."

The silence left in the wake of his threat was suffocating. I looked around the table. Corbin stared at me with pleading eyes. My mother covered her mouth, her face etched with worry. The Elders looked at me with silent expectation.

"I will leave you all to ponder how much you are willing to let her go for." King Maverick adjusted his tailored suit jacket. "I know your pack is in massive debt. Consider this a prayer answered."

He turned on his heel and strode out of the boardroom. His massive guards followed closely behind him.

Every single pair of eyes in the room zeroed in on me. I saw their fear, their expectation, their silent begging.

"Fuck this shit!" I shoved my chair back with a loud crash.

I sprinted out of the boardroom. My feet pounded against the carpeted hallway as I chased after his towering figure.

"Why are you doing this?" I yelled.

King Maverick continued walking down the long corridor. He did not even bother to look back. His dismissal fueled the burning rage in my chest.

"I asked to make it up to you, but you refused! You dismissed me weeks ago!" I pushed myself to run faster, desperate for an answer. "So why are you doing this now?"

One of his massive Lycan guards stepped out of formation. The guard moved to block my path, dropping a heavy hand toward his weapon.

King Maverick raised a single finger. "Stand down."

The guard instantly stepped aside.

King Maverick stopped walking. He slowly turned around. He took one deliberate step toward me. Then another. He closed the space between us until my shoes brushed against his polished leather oxfords.

I am five foot five. I had to tilt my head far back just to look him in the eye. The physical tension between us spiked, thick and terrifying. His body heat washed over me. The intoxicating scent of his raw power scrambled my thoughts.

My chest heaved as I gasped for breath. My heart thrashed against my ribs. Being this close to him felt far too intimate. It was a brutal reminder of the wet dreams that had plagued my sleep since the alleyway. I quickly tore my gaze away from his intense blue eyes. I could not maintain the stare-down.

He stared down at me. The air grew impossibly heavy.

"If I were you, I would be saying my goodbyes." King Maverick lowered his voice to a dangerous, gravelly whisper. "Stop trying to negotiate a fate that has already been decided."

He turned his back on me and resumed his steady, powerful stride down the hall.

I stood frozen in the middle of the empty corridor. My lungs burned. A crushing wave of longing and desperation slammed into me, tangling with my outrage. I watched his broad back disappear around the corner.

His final words replayed over and over in the silence of my mind.

A fate that has already been decided.

Was I truly destined to be his?