After the Wolf King Brought Me Back to His Nest - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

He picked me up in the middle of a blizzard.

That day, the merchant caravan had scattered.

The guards were dead, the horses had bolted, and I was fleeing north alone, clutching half a bag of dry rations. Behind me, three Snow Beasts were tracking the scent of blood. My foot slipped, and I tumbled into an ice pit, scraping my palms raw.

I knew I was finished.

Blood was the one thing you never wanted to see on the snowfields.

As soon as it appeared, those brutes went blood-mad.

I had just scrambled to my feet when the lead beast lunged at me. In the next heartbeat, a dark shadow crashed down through the wind. Talons swept out, and the Snow Beast’s throat was torn open on the spot.

Hot blood splashed across my face.

I looked up and saw a pair of golden eyes.

A man stood in the wind and snow. His black wolf furs almost merged with the night. He was tall with broad shoulders and a sharp brow, his pointed ears partially visible. He looked as though he had just stepped out from the deepest reaches of the snowy peaks.

The way he looked at me wasn’t the way one looks at a person.

It was the way one looks at prey.

It was also the way one looks at an old possession that had been lost for many years and finally recovered.

His gaze made my skin crawl. I turned, wanting to run.

But my leg was badly injured. I had barely taken half a step back when he seized my wrist. His hand was scalding and hard, like iron.

I gasped in pain. “Let go!”

He ignored me.

Instead, he leaned down and caught my scent near my neck.

In that instant, I clearly felt his breath hitch.

The surrounding wind seemed to go still for a beat.

When he looked up again, his eyes had darkened terrifyingly.

“It really is you.”

I didn’t understand what he meant.

In the next second, I was scooped up by the waist.

He hoisted me over his shoulder. Hanging upside down, I kicked wildly in a rage. “Are you crazy? I don’t even know you!”

The man pinned my legs with one hand, his voice low and cold.

“I know you.”

After saying that, he carried me through the blizzard and straight into the territory of the Wolf Clan.

By the time he set me down, I was no longer on the snow, but on a stone platform outside the King’s Nest.

The area was crowded with members of the Wolf Clan.

They stared at me with shock, scrutiny, and excitement, as if they were looking at some rare specimen.

“The King brought a human back?”

“A female, no less.”

“After all these years, there’s finally going to be a living soul in the King’s Nest.”

“What do you know? The King didn’t bring back a ‘living soul.’ He brought back a mate.”

“A mate? Her?”

“Humans have narrow waists. They’re good for raising pups.”

My scalp prickled with dread.

But the man holding me didn’t offer a single word of rebuttal.

He simply looked up, his gaze sweeping over them indifferently.

The crowd, which had been buzzing a moment ago, fell silent instantly.

Only then did I realize that this man was no ordinary figure here.

He was the true King of the wolves.

As he carried me into the deepest part of the Stone Nest, I heard someone behind us call out in a hushed voice.

“Greetings, Your Majesty.”

My heart sank to the pit of my stomach.

It was at that moment I realized I hadn’t just stumbled into some ordinary wolf’s den.

This was the King’s Nest.