Chapter 3

Rayne's POV

I was jolted awake from my afternoon nap by the sound of Reynold barging into my room. I was beyond frightened as I sat upright on the bed with my pillow safely clutched around my chest. Different thoughts raced through my mind all at once. Reynold has never set foot in my quarters much less my room, and for the first time since we've been married over three years, he is barging into my room, and from the look on his face, I can tell he is pissed off.

"Go- good afternoon, A-alpha Reynold," I stuttered, bowing my head and avoiding his gaze, as I racked my brain trying to think of what I could have done to piss him off so much that he had to come to my room.

"What are you doing in bed you wench?!" Reynold growled pure fury in his eyes. "Don't you know we have a party to attend?!"

I stared at Reynold in utter confusion. I had no idea what he was talking about.

"What party?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper, as I feared talking too loud would only anger him more.

"What do you mean what party?!" Reynold growled and slammed his fist on the wall. "Why did the goddess pair me with such a dumb bitch?!" Reynold cussed. "You're not just ugly, but absolutely stupid too!"

While Reynold rained curses on me, I tried remembering if we had any party plans. Maybe it must have skipped my mind, but no matter how hard I thought, I couldn't think of anything.

Lost in my thoughts, Reynold suddenly dragged me out of bed, and before I could make sense of anything he slapped me hard across the face.

Wet hot years raced down my cheeks, as I held my stinging cheeks and looked up at Reynold with tear-filled eyes, but there was not a single atom of remorse, instead his eyes blazed with fury.

"Tonight's the alliance ceremony with the new Lycan king," he barked.

"N–no one told me," I stuttered, my voice barely above a whisper.

"What do you mean no one told you?!" He barked. "Sloane said she informed you, and you're going to try and act like she didn't, right?"

I parted my lips but no words came out of it as I knew no amount of explanation would make him believe a word I say, Sloane had him wrapped around her fingers.

It was obvious Sloane wanted me to incur Reynold's wrath considering how important being allies with the new Lycan king was to Reynold. But she didn't care about that, as long as I got beaten up that was all the satisfaction she needed.

A few days ago, I overheard some Pack members talking about the new Lycan king hosting an alliance ceremony for all werewolf packs. Werewolves and Lycans have signed an alliance deal with the previous Lycan king, but somehow this new one feels that the previous deals hold no importance so we're all expected to come kiss his ass. What makes this alliance ceremony so important is the fact that the Lycan King is just going to become allies with one werewolf Pack and that Pack is expected to oversee the affairs of other werewolf packs and report to the Lycan King directly.

Being a very greedy and ambitious man, it didn't come as a surprise that Reynold was acting this way. Besides, who wouldn't want to be on the good side of the new Lycan king rumored to have defeated the previous Lycan king in just a single round of fight, never has it been heard in history, at least so we're told.

Lycan's are the strongest shifter's, and unlike ordinary werewolves, their leader isn't based on some birthright, it is based on who is strong enough to challenge the sitting Lycan king and take over.

"You have an hour to get your ass off this bed and get ready!" Reynold's voice snapped me out of my train of thoughts, as he made his way out of my bed, and stormed out of my room.

"What now, Rayne?" Lisa asked as soon as Reynold left.

"We have to get ready. And pray we don't piss off Reynold more," I replied and got out of bed, then headed straight to my bathroom. An hour was more than enough for me to get ready, I take just about thirty minutes to take my bath, and since I don't apply makeup thanks to Reynold who says they make me hideous I have about thirty minutes more to get dressed.

After bathing, I got dressed in a beautiful red gown which was laid out on my bed by an omega. The dress hugged my curves perfectly and revealed just the right amount of cleavage. Without looking at myself in the mirror, I styled my hair neatly in an updo without a single strand out of place. I didn't bother taking in my appearance so much, because no matter how beautiful I am I'll still be ugly in the eyes of Reynold.

"What are you wearing?" Reynold asked, his voice nothing short of contempt, as soon as I came out of the Pack house.

"W–what do you mean?" I asked, totally confused by his reaction. I'm not asking him to compliment me, but he shouldn't act like I chose this dress myself.

"Why aren't you putting on the black gown I sent over to you?" He asked irritatedly.

"This–" I stopped mid-sentence as I immediately knew this had to be Sloane's doing. I didn't pay much attention earlier but looking at it now the person who brought the gown to my room was one of her minions.

"I'll go change," I offered.

"No need, let's get going," he said, amidst clenched teeth, and made his way towards the car that was parked out front waiting for us. "We're late already. We need to give a good first impression, but I'm not so sure how we'll achieve that when you're not dressed according to the dress code."

Sighing, I followed behind reluctantly and got into the car.

The ride to Mysticrock Pack was the longest three-hour ride of my entire life. Reynold totally ignored me like I wasn't even there and constantly texted Sloane back and forth as he giggled like a teenager in love for the first time. My only comfort was Lisa, we had little conversations about everything and nothing in particular.

On getting into Mysticrock Pack, we came across the Packhouse first. Unlike werewolves, where the Packhouse is usually inside the Pack and surrounded by other Pack members' houses, the Lycan's have a different order to things.

"This is because the sole purpose of the Lycan King is to protect his Pack members," Lisa explained.

"That makes sense," I replied.

Our car stopped abruptly, just outside the gate of Mysticrock Pack house.

"Introduce yourself," a huge man just outside the gate demanded. I suspect he'll be a warrior due to his physique.

"W– we're–" Reynold stuttered. This was the first time I'm actually seeing him feel intimidated. Well, that's expected, Lycan's are naturally huge and have an intimidating presence. An Alpha werewolf is no match for an ordinary Lycan.