After the reception at the banquet hall, Crystal asked Julian to show her around the palace, which he agreed to.As far as anyone was concerned, it was normal for them to spend time together alone after Julian’s announcement. Crystal also thought it was a good opportunity to get to know each other better, but Julian’s intentions were different. His main objective was to obtain information from Crystal concerning the Blacksword pack.He could not directly interrogate her without arousing suspicion, so he had to put up with her chatter. It turned out that she had a whole lot of ideas about what she would do as queen, almost as if she had expected Julian to choose her.While she had made the excuse of getting to know each other to ask him to show her around, she barely asked anything concerning him. He was not really interested in her either–he knew everything he needed to know.To him, all the Alpha females wanting to be his queen were one and the same–they wanted to be the queen, perio
Lyra stumbled into the table from the force of the slap, causing a glass to fall to the ground and shatter.She covered her cheek with her hand as pain spread through her face and tears sprung in her eyes. She bit down on her trembling lip and turned her head to face Julian in disbelief. His face was a dark mask of anger as he looked at her like she was the person he hated the most in the world.She dropped her gaze to the ground, a heavy weight settling over her chest. He really must hate her so much.Had she really expected that he would take time to listen to her side of the story? From the moment they met, he never cared about that. She was evil and scheming in his eyes, and she was stupid to expect any kind of warmth or consideration from him.Something streaked through Julian, piercing through his cloud of anger and melting it to nothing, bringing him back to the present. He looked down at his hand that he just used to slap Lyra and found it shaking.Fuck.What have I done?His
After finding out that the Queen Mother’s birthday was only one week away on the next Saturday, Lyra used every minute of free time she could scrape up to think of a suitable performance.It was a short time frame, but she was determined to formulate something. She did not want to let the opportunity go to waste, and even if she was not successful, she would know that she at least tried.Fortunately, she did not have to come up with something alone. Zero always joined her whenever she had the time to go exploring in the forest around the palace. The kind of performances presented to the Queen Mother ranged from combat skills to magic tricks and everything in between. So, even if Lyra was an Omega, she had a chance. All she had to do was find something that could amuse the Queen Mother.During the day, she worked as diligently as she could. She turned a deaf ear to the other maids’ insults and took care to not get into any trouble. The last thing she wanted was to get thrown into the d
When Lyra left the banquet hall after the ceremony, Crystal waylaid her. Like Julian, Crystal had not bothered her after that first day, and Lyra had been hoping that it would keep on like that. But as it looked, her luck had run out.“What do you think you are doing?” Crystal asked, crossing her arms over her chest and watching Lyra with suspicious eyes.“What do you mean?” Lyra asked, truly confused. What had she done?Crystal scoffed and stepped close enough to her that all Lyra could smell was her perfume. “An Omega at the royal raining camp?” She huffed. “Is that what you wanted all along? Do you think it’ll keep you close to Julian?”No, what I wanted was to get the hell out of here so I never have to see your stupid face again.“If you have a problem with that,” Lyra told her flatly, “you can take it up with the Queen Mother.”Crystal snickered. She had been happy when she heard Lyra’s request to Isla, only for Julian to ruin everything. She couldn’t get it, why did he care whe
Crystal stepped back and shrugged. “Unfortunately, the king cannot come to you, so you’ll have to do with me. I’m the only one here who can represent the king, as his fiance, and I say you get gone.”The others cheered while Drake grinned maniacally. “I guess that means you are all mine now.”The others parted way, making it easier for Drake to drag Lyra towards the door. Not one single person stepped in to help her, but she was not surprised. She was an eyesore to them, and there weren’t many high ranked werewolves who treated Omegas with kindness like Zero did.She wished her mate, who was more than capable of protecting her, would appear and stop them. Too bad the reality was the opposite of that. Even if he showed up, she couldn’t put it past him to watch and enjoy while they tormented her. After all, he couldn’t risk others knowing that a lowly slave like her was his mate.Her mind was beginning to race with panic when a familiar voice filled the classroom, “What do you think you
After his run-in with Lyra, Julian met with Thea in his office. Thea wanted to know about the details concerning the engagement party. After Julian’s announcement at the banquet, everyone was waiting for the day of the official engagement between him and Crystal.Thea wanted to get a heads up so she could start preparing as early as possible, wanting to make sure that the ceremony was up to standard. But Julian did not seem all that concerned about it.“Forget about it for now,” he told her, half of his brain still stuck on the conversation–if one could call it that–he just had with Lyra. “We might never get to that part.”That’s what he hoped. If he could find the information he wanted as quickly as possible, there would be no formal engagement.“Oh, alright,” Thea said. She did not have to inquire any further. Right away, she could tell that Julian must have an ulterior motive for making the announcement about Crystal becoming the future queen. She had lived long enough in the palac
Hidden behind Zero, Lyra gulped. Why was Julian suddenly there? Had he heard her silent plea? That happened with mates, so maybe…She cut that thought off. It was just a delusion. He did not recognise her as his mate, and he did not care what happened to her. The sooner she got rid of that part that kept expecting him to behave like a proper mate, the better. She knew better.“Yes!” Rae cheered.“What?” Lyra questioned, confused at what her wolf was excited about. Julian looked like he wanted to murder Zero.“Can’t you see? He is jealous,” Rae pointed out. “If he didn’t care at all, why would he be jealous?”Lyra could think of a thousand reasons why. A male like Julian would not take it kindly to another male touching their mate-whether they accepted her or not. She was his property, and it did not matter that he did not want her. Seeing someone else pay attention to her would still make him act all territorial and possessive.He did not care about her, but he wanted to control her a
“What do you want?” Zero demanded as soon as he and Julian were far away from the premises of the school.Julian scoffed and turned on him. “What do I want?” he questioned ridiculously. “How about you keep your filthy hands to yourself and off my mate?”“Oh, so you care?” Zero asked. “I thought you wanted nothing to do with her.”“What I do with her is none of your business,” Julian snapped. “She is my mate, not yours. If you are so starved for a female’s attention, get it somewhere else. If you are doing this to cross me, I advise you to think again.”“Why would I do that?” Zero demanded. “Just admit it, you have feelings for her but keep acting like an asshole because you are too proud to accept it. If you don’t want to claim her, why does it bother you so much when someone else pays attention to her?”“Attention?” Julian scoffed. “The kind of attention where you kiss her in front of everybody? What are you trying to prove?”“Forget about me and think about Lyra,” Zero told him. “If
“Why aren’t you back yet?” Julian’s worried voice came across the phone when Lyra received his call.“I’m on my way,” Lyra told him. “I’ll be back soon.”“If you run into any problem, tell me,” he told her. “I know how Alpha Lucian can be. If he is giving you a hard time, I’ll teach him a lesson.”“Don’t worry, I can handle Lucian by myself,” she told him. “I’ve settled everything and I’ll be at the palace soon.”“Okay, I’m waiting for you,” he told her.Lyra hung up with a smile. Earlier, she had left on a trip to the Luminous Pack for the grand opening of a werewolf academy that would welcome students from all over the kingdom.Julian had been worried that Alpha Lucian would give her a hard time and wanted to go with her, but he had other official duties to attend to. Even though no werewolf in the kingdom could stand up to her, his first instinct was to protect her, whether from mortal danger or rude Alphas.“He really has no idea, does he?” Anna asked.Lyra shook her head. “Nope.”
Many days later, Lyra woke up in the palace. Julian was lying next to her, sleeping peacefully. She smiled as she looked at him, a warm feeling blooming in her chest. She fought the urge to touch his face, afraid to wake him.However, when she turned to leave the bed, his arm shot out and hooked around her waist. “Don’t go,” he murmured sleepily.Lyra’s smile widened in amusement as she looked back at him. “You are awake?”He shook his head, his eyes still closed. “No.”She laughed and tapped his hand. “Get up, Your Majesty,” she teased. “We have a kingdom to run.”He tightened his hold around her, pulling her to him. “They can survive a few hours without us. It’s not like an evil witch is going to fly in and blast us all to hell.”“Haha,” Lyra laughed dryly. “I’m glad you can joke about that.”Julian opened his eyes and smiled. “Me too.”They both burst laughing, with Lyra falling back to his side. Julian reached for her face and kissed her. Lyra kissed him back, getting lost in the
Deciding to attack together, Julian and Lyra ran towards the altar. While they were midway, Valeria waved her hand, sending a wave of energy their way.They braced themselves, but it turned out to be nothing like the attacks they had faced from the other witches. The energy was so forceful that it knocked them off their feet and sent them flying backwards before they crashed into the floor.As they collected themselves from the floor, Valeria’s laugh filled the room. “Did you think you could come here and do whatever you wanted? Prepare for your death!”Just when they had gotten back on their feet, she hit them with another blast of energy. This time, they both crashed into the wall before falling to the ground.“How is she so strong?” Lyra asked Julian through their mindlink. It was impressive that she could knock both of them around like that at the same time.“She is too powerful,” Julian replied. “We can’t let her wear us out. I’ll go all in, and when she is distracted with me, yo
Following Julian’s scent, Lyra found the basement a few minutes later. It was a dank round room solely illuminated by candles.As soon as Lyra walked into the room, she was welcomed by the sound of clapping. Looking up, she saw Valeria standing on a raised altar in the middle of the room. She was the one clapping, a huge smirk on her lips.“We are all here,” Valeria said. “Perfect.”After having her plans thwarted so many times, Valeria had been scrambling to find a way to get rid of the Lycan King and the Luna Queen.She had not expected that the Rogue King would be such a useless ally. Even after she had helped him steal the Lycan King’s identity and made him powerful talismans, he had failed.As if that wasn’t bad enough, all her latest experiments failed. After finding out that the Lycan Kingdom had made significant steps in finding a weapon that could easily eliminate corrupted wolves, she had tried to make them stronger.She had succeeded in making stronger, faster, and more res
Using the tip of her dagger, Lyra pricked her fingertip. When blood pooled at the tip, she pressed it to the barrier. During her research while making the serums, Beryl had read somewhere that the Wolf Mother’s blood could be used to break magical barriers.It turned out to be true as the barrier between them and the beasts dissipated the moment Lyra touched it with her blood. As soon as the barrier was down, the beasts rushed towards them.There were all sorts of beasts, from winged creatures that were as big as horses and serpents with multiple heads. Among the beasts were also corrupted wolves.The division of the troop that had been assigned archery roles released a multitude of arrows, raining them down on the beasts. The arrows were created with special magical metal tips doused in poison, allowing them to deal critical damage to magical creatures with a single hit.The second division of the troop shifted into their wolf forms and met the beasts head on. When it was no longer p
The southern jungle covered hundreds of thousands of hectares, providing a good hiding place for rogues. However, even rogues did not venture into the deepest parts of the forest, since they were considered too dangerous.The forest was rumoured to not only be the witches’ hideout, but to also contain all sorts of magical beasts. While some of the southern packs had led expeditions into the jungle while dealing with rogues, they did not have enough information that could be used to accurately map out the witch’s lair.After hours of walking in the jungle, Lyra finally sensed magical power. Leading the way, she guided the troops deeper into the forest. The farther they got, the more ominous it became. The magical power also got stronger, and everybody could feel it.After close to an hour, they spied a castle through the trees. It was big and old, its walls almost entirely covered by vines.“This is it,” Lyra informed everybody through mindlink. “I’ve felt Valeria’s energy before, and
As soon as Julian and Lyra got back to the palace, Beryl and Spencer took the flower and started making the antidote.They had been gone less than an hour, but Zero’s condition had worsened. Even with Beryl and Spencer’s help, he would not have been able to hold on much longer without the antidote.As for Anna, she was still unconscious, but there were no signs that she was in danger. There also hadn’t been any other incidents in the palace.When Beryl administered the antidote to Zero, his condition started improving right away. As soon as he woke up, he looked around for Anna. When he did not see her, fear washed over him. Before losing consciousness, he had heard people calling for her execution.“Where is Anna?” he asked Beryl, getting down from the hospital bed. “Is she okay? It was not her fault. She is not working for the witches.”“We know,” Beryl told him. “The witch possessed her and made her do it. She is fine now, but she passed out and is in recovery. Don’t worry, she is
The snake had appeared out of nowhere and wrapped itself around Lyra so fast that Julian did not get a chance to warn her. It was long and thick, and its body was coiled around Lyra’s upper body and neck, its head poised to strike.Julian’s heart froze in fear as the gravity of the situation registered. Both of them could not use their magic or werewolf abilities. From the size and appearance of the snake, he could tell it was not a normal one. It must be a magical beast.Magical beasts normally had their own territories and attacked anyone who trespassed. However, Julian had never heard that the Deadly Swamp was territory to any magical beast.The snake had only appeared after Lyra plucked out the flower, so it was more likely that the beast was guarding the flower, not the swamp.“Throw away the flower,” he yelled at Lyra. “It’s guarding the flower. As long as you have it, it won’t let you go.”Lyra did not want to let go of the flower, but she was aware that she could not afford to
After leaving the infirmary, Julian and Lyra instructed staff around the palace to ensure all the guests were catered to, leaving Asher in supervision.They also ensured that security was beefed up around the palace and the capital city in case the witches attempted another attack.Lyra was worried that it might be too late by the time they got to the swamp, found the flower, and brought it back to Beryl and Spencer to make the antidote. The two healers could keep Zero alive with their healing powers, but the poison was powerful and would kill him if not stopped soon.“We are taking the jet, right?” Lyra asked Julian as they got ready in the weapon room, grabbing basic items that would come in handy in the swamp.“No,” Julian said.“If we drive, we’ll never get back in time,” she said.“We are not driving,” he told her. “Come, I’ll show you something.”Moving to one end of the room, he pressed his palm to a panel on the wall next to a door labelled ‘Restricted Access’. The door opened