The Wolf King

Alone without attendants or duties, Aurora wakes feeling free for the first time since her mother died. She chooses a simple brown dress from her wardrobe to appear non-threatening.

Callum arrives and compliments her. They discuss the weather and his past. He reveals that five years ago he visited the King’s City searching for his mother, who disappeared one night. Though his father believed humans took her, Callum thinks she ran away because his father was a difficult man. He never found her.

Callum produces a small black box containing a red tartan ribbon with a crimson jewel. Aurora realizes it is a collar. He explains the tradition: when an alpha is in an intimate relationship, their partner wears such an item to signal they are spoken for. This is his condition, which should ensure her safety from other wolves.

Aurora refuses to wear the collar, calling it degrading. Callum argues it is like a wedding band and insists it will grant her freedom to move about the castle under the protection of Wolf Law. The approaching full moon brings out dangerous instincts, making her unsafe without his mark. When she refuses again, a frustrated Callum repeats his ultimatum: wear it or share a room with him. As she tries to push past him, she feels his muscles and realizes this is the first time she has touched a man this way. He leaves.

Alone, Aurora explores disturbing books in her chamber, including one detailing cruel tests on wolves. Fiona arrives with breakfast sent by Callum and explains he dislikes the collar tradition too. Over the next few days, Aurora reads the macabre experiment book and anticipates Callum’s increasingly disheveled visits.

On the third night, Fiona reveals Callum will not leave to search for the missing wolves because of Aurora. Feeling guilty and wanting to investigate the castle for her own purposes, Aurora decides to wear the collar. When Callum arrives the next morning and sees it on her neck, his jaw tightens. He tells her they must establish ground rules.

Callum establishes the first rule: Aurora must obey him in public to prevent him from appearing weak, which would endanger her. He promises not to ask anything harmful or immoral and vows to protect her. Aurora is moved by his sincerity.

He explains that people will assume either he is protecting her for political reasons—which is true—or they have been intimate and she is his mate. A werewolf’s mate is chosen by the Moon Goddess, and the bond is stronger than love. To protect their secret, he says they’ll have to act like mates in public. She admits she does like him enough to do so, and he says he likes her too.

Callum takes Aurora to walk by the loch, where she wears a cloak to hide the collar. They talk about their interests until Aurora notices Blake watching from the castle wall, and both Callum and Blake suddenly stiffen. They smell approaching horses and a lot of blood. Callum identifies it as Ryan’s.

Blake heads back toward the castle. From a distance, as werewolves have heightened hearing, Callum warns him not to let Magnus—the wolf who threatened Aurora in the kennels—reveal Aurora’s identity. Callum and Aurora rush to the chaotic courtyard, where hostile wolves shout threats against Southerners. Separated from Callum in the crowd, Aurora pushes through and sees him taking a bloody, unconscious Ryan from a horse. Becky, the maid rescued from Sebastian’s castle, cries out in anguish.

A wolf notices Aurora is human and shouts an alarm. The wind exposes the collar on Aurora’s neck. Callum declares to the crowd that she is his. They carry Ryan inside, but a jealous Isla mutters an insult at her as they go.

They descend to the infirmary beneath the castle. Callum is distraught that Ryan’s wounds are not healing. Blake—who also serves as the castle’s healer—enters, and they discover Ryan’s wound is poisoned with wolfsbane.

Blake explains he is the only person in the Northlands who knows the antidote and begins preparing a potion. He pours it down Ryan’s throat, causing him to scream and convulse. Becky attacks Blake, defensive, and Callum must take Becky outside. Blake insists Aurora stay to help.

After they depart, Blake instructs her to get supplies from his case. He directs her to stitch Ryan’s wound, telling her to imagine sewing a dress. He demonstrates the first stitch, then she continues. As she works, Blake explains that wolfsbane attacks the wolf within, stopping healing and draining strength. His antidote forces the wolf to fight back.

Callum returns, and Blake announces Ryan is recovering. Blake finds a bloody envelope in Ryan’s pocket addressed to Aurora. Inside is a note from Sebastian calling the injured Ryan a betrothal gift and promising to see her soon.

That evening in Ryan’s chambers, Aurora tells Callum she should return to Sebastian to prevent further harm. Callum adamantly refuses, vowing they will find another way to obtain the Heart of the Moon.

Later, in her room, Callum offers to massage her sore muscles for medicinal purposes. Callum removes her collar, saying she does not need to wear it when they are alone. He explains his aversion to the collar tradition, revealing that his father was a possessive and abusive alpha who used the wolf as an excuse for his anger. He does not want to become like his father; the collar symbolizes the dominance he rejects. He tells her he wants to be a good man, and she replies that she believes he is one.

The massage arouses Aurora, and Callum suddenly stops. When she looks at him, his eyes have changed into those of a wolf—bright green with flecks of gold and dilated pupils.

Aurora confronts Callum with the letter opener, terrified he is about to transform. He reassures her she is safe, explaining he can only fully shift during a full moon. He tells her his eyes change when he becomes emotional. Curious, Aurora asks to see them again. She finds them beautiful. He reveals he can sense her arousal through her heartbeat and scent and implies he feels the same. The room fills with tension, and Aurora realizes she wants to kiss him. Callum stands and says he should leave, explaining it would not be right given their situation.

Flustered, Aurora pretends to dismiss him, and he departs. Alone, she feels conflicted and realizes if she were intimate with Callum, Sebastian would no longer want her. She falls asleep and dreams of Callum touching her, followed by unfamiliar wolf eyes watching her from a forest.

At breakfast, Rob makes crude comments about Aurora. Callum quietly threatens to kill him, which Rob overhears. Rob insists Aurora earn her keep, so Aurora is assigned work in the kitchen.

Over the following week, restless energy builds in the castle as the full moon approaches. Aurora works under the formidable Mrs. McDonald, who constantly scolds her incompetence. The initially hostile kitchen maid Kayleigh befriends Aurora after she tends to a cut on her hand. Callum becomes distant during the week. Fiona explains that as the full moon nears, he is suppressing his wolf instincts around Aurora, which brings out the need to hunt, kill, and mate. Aurora feels herself changing too, becoming more alive and restless.

On the day of the full moon, Fiona brings Aurora dinner with a message from Callum: She must stay in her room all night. Fiona explains the wolves hold a ritual in the forest where they drink, dance, then shift to hunt. Aurora watches the full moon rise and hears the unified howl as the wolves shift. She then hears a human scream of pain from within the castle. Fearing Ryan is in trouble, she leaves her room to investigate. Following the sounds to a dark bedchamber, she finds Blake half-dressed, covered in sweat and scars, leaning against a desk in pain. Blake turns with wolf eyes and tells her to run.

Aurora flees through the castle corridors. The wolf herds her through the castle, blocking escape routes. Aurora hurls her silver letter opener behind her and rips an oil painting off the wall to obstruct the corridor. She escapes into the wilderness and runs for the forest.

Blake continues pursuing her through the trees and traps her in a clearing against a river and a thicket of thorns. She tries to reason with him, but he attacks, knocking her to the ground. She hits him with a rock and briefly crawls free, but he drags her back and pins her beneath his weight. He taunts her by licking her face before baring his teeth. As Aurora prepares to die, a second, massive tawny wolf prowls into the clearing. Aurora recognizes Callum.