Crown and Shackles: The Princes Mate (Story Updated)

Beneath the Mask of Friendship

Troy’s POV:

Logan was loyal—stubbornly, painfully loyal.

He never gave me a reason to doubt him. No slip-ups. No betrayals. He loved Ally with everything he had.

But that only made me worse.

Jealousy gnawed at me like a beast, raw and relentless. Ally wasn’t just someone to me—she was mine, or at least, she should have been. I’d wanted her for as long as I could remember. To watch her love him, trust him, be his—was a pain I couldn’t bear.

And now, there was more. Logan’s baby. That fragile, helpless life tied to the woman I craved. It wasn’t the baby itself that twisted the knife—it was that Ally accepted it. That she embraced what was his, as if I’d never mattered.

I should have acted sooner. I should have taken what I wanted before it was too late.

The wolf inside me snarled, furious and sharp.

The baby isn’t yours. She should be ours. You were too slow. Too weak. Take it. Take them both.

I planned it all. Told Logan that Ally was waiting for him in a room—they wanted to spend time together. It was a lie, a trap he didn’t realize.

I arranged for someone to be there, someone to make it look like he’d broken his vow. A touch here, a whisper there. Just enough for Ally to see—and to believe.

When she did, she ran. Heartbroken.

And I? I was waiting. Ready to catch her. Because she was mine. Always had been.

But the wolf inside me wasn’t satisfied. It screamed, hot and wild.

She’s ours. She’s mine. Take her. Take the baby. Take everything.

Sam stormed in, voice sharp, cutting through the room.

“Troy!” he hissed. “What did you do?”

I kept calm, but the wolf grinned inside me, its voice slithering through my mind like poison.

Lie. Deceive. Destroy.

Then Logan appeared, storming in with fury burning in his eyes. Without a word, he grabbed me, his grip iron-tight on my collar. He lifted me effortlessly, holding me there—close enough to feel his rage, heavy and suffocating.

“Tell me,” he growled, voice low and fierce. “What did you do?”

I kept my silence, the wolf inside me biting at my thoughts, urging me to hold back, to break him.

But Logan’s grip didn’t loosen. Minutes passed, the weight of his fury pressing down on me.

“You’re going to tell me. Now.” His voice was a knife against my skin.

Finally, the wolf inside me howled, furious at my hesitation.

Tell him. Tear him down.

I let out a slow, dark smile.

“Logan wouldn’t cheat,” I said. “So I made sure Ally thought he did. Told him she was waiting. Lied to him. Set the scene perfectly. She saw it. She ran. And I was there when she needed someone.”

Henry’s voice cut through the tension. “You set him up.”

I smiled wider. “Exactly. She kissed me. She chose me.”

Logan snapped.

The wolf inside me roared, claws itching, fury crackling through my veins. As Logan lunged, I barely dodged before Sam and the King pulled him back.