"Are you mute?"
His voice was calm but cold, like a winter breeze that could cut through skin and settle in your bones.
However, it didn't sound like he was mocking me. It felt more like a genuine question, like he was simply trying to understand.
Most men would have already let their eyes drift to my breast, especially with me wearing a low-cut dress like this.
But not him.
He kept his gaze locked on my eyes.
There were a few moments when his pupils dropped slightly, but he always brought them right back up.
Like he respected boundaries that others didn't even see anymore.
That should've been normal.
But in a world full of wandering eyes and perverted stares, his behavior felt like fresh air.
"When I ask you something, I expect an answer," he said, his voice turning colder now, firmer, more commanding. "You're not deaf, are you? If you can't speak, just nod."
I wanted to roll my eyes.
What if I was deaf? How exactly was I supposed to answer that question then?
Eventually, I gave him a short answer. "I'm not."
I didn't know anything about him yet.
I didn't even know if he was the kind of king who sentenced people to death for being rude, or just threw them into the dungeon.
Technically, I couldn't die.
But that didn't mean I wanted to feel pain.
The sting of being tossed around by ocean waves was still fresh in my memory, let alone something like being hanged or burned alive.
So, maybe it was better not to push him too far, at least not until I found a way to escape this place.
"So you can speak." He lifted his chin slightly, his tone sharp enough to remind me he was used to being obeyed. "Then tell me your name."
His eyes narrowed, watching me closely, like he was trying to memorize every line of my face.
Not in a way that felt creepy, but almost like … longing?
It felt like he'd been waiting a long time to find me, and now that he had, he didn't know what to do with me.
But that didn't make sense, did it?
As far as I could remember, we'd never met before.
"No name?" he asked again, this time sounding like his patience was wearing thin.
Just as he was about to speak again, I cut in, "To know someone's name," I said calmly, "wouldn't it be more polite to offer yours first …?"
I paused, then added awkwardly, "… Your Majesty?"
His lips twitched slightly. It was clear he was annoyed by my words.
For a moment, he didn't say anything. He just stared at me with those golden eyes like he was trying to read the meaning behind every syllable I spoke.
Then finally, he said, "Theron." He continued, "My name is Theron Vaelaris, King of Valedorn."
He didn't say it like a threat or a title meant to impress.
He said it like a simple fact, like it was something I deserved to know.
Theron.
His name sounded completely unfamiliar, and yet somehow … It felt like something I'd been waiting my whole life to hear.
How could that make sense?
I'd never heard that name before, never met this man until now, and yet the moment he said it, something inside me settled.
Like a piece of me I didn't know was missing had suddenly clicked into place.
"That's because he's your mate," my inner wolf said firmly. "Tell him your name."
I clenched my jaw.
No.
I wasn't going to let some wolf instinct decide something that belonged to me.
I didn't even know him.
And names … names were sacred.
They were the one thing I'd always had when everything else was taken, burned, broken, or buried, my name was the only thing that belonged to me.
It was the only part of myself I kept safe.
But as I stood there, trying to hold my silence, something inside me pushed forward.
Not from Theron, but from her.
The wolf inside me nudged at my mind, growling like she'd claw her way through if I kept ignoring her.
"Say it," she whispered. "He needs to hear it. We need to say it."
I took a deep breath. "I'm …" The word stuck on my tongue, fighting to stay inside me. "… Evelyn Seris."
As soon as I said it, my eyes widened. My heart began to pound faster and louder until I could actually hear it in my ears.
Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.
It hurt.
Like someone had shot a thousand arrows straight into my chest.
"You want him," my wolf murmured. "We want him."
Ridiculous.
I'd walked this world for fifty years without finding a mate. Therefore, I'd assumed I didn't have one.
But now, out of nowhere, he appears?
"A mate?" My wolf laugh loudly in my mind. "Oh, my dear Evie … you don't have one mate."
"You have five. Theron is only the first."
Five?!
Did she really say five or did I just hallucinate that?!
How could anyone have five mates?!
One mate already sounded like a massive headache. But five?! That sounded like a full-blown disaster.
Theron started walking toward me, still mumbling my name like he was trying to commit it to memory.
"Evelyn …"
I took a step back, only to bump into the cold wall behind me.
Oh, fuck.
I had celebrated my freedom from the mate bond for fifty years, and now fate had the audacity to shove me into one—no, five?
I'd always thought the whole mate system was ridiculous anyway.
What if I didn't like my fated mate?
What if he wasn't good for me?
What if my mate was the one who ended up hurting me the most?
Wouldn't I be a fool to stay with someone who kept breaking me and hurting me?
"You'll be in pain if he rejects you," my wolf whispered.
Pain?
I'd known pain my whole life, it didn't scare me anymore.
And honestly, what was so wrong with an Alpha who rejected his mate?
What if I just wasn't his type? Why did fate have to throw such a tantrum about it?
Theron's voice pulled me back. "From the moment I saw you," he said as he took another step closer, "I felt it. You're my mate … my Luna. But how?"
I had the same question.
How could I be someone like him's mate?
Surely, he'd be disappointed.
Surely, fate had made a mistake.
Only the most unfortunate souls ended up on the same path as mine.
Maybe … it would be better to reject him before he rejected me.
"NO!!!" My wolf's scream exploded in my head so loud it made my temples throb.
Was she really that desperate for a mate?
"HE WILL DIE IF YOU REJECT HIM!"