Chapter 3 The king's mate

The night before the Lycan King’s visit, Lyra felt more exhausted than usual. Sure, there had been a lot of preparations to do for the ceremony to welcome the king, but she did not expect to feel so drained.

Also, her neck was throbbing with pain, as if she had been injured. Had Devon hit her there earlier? She was too tired to remember. When she got to her bed, she drifted off into a restless sleep.

The next morning when she woke up, the first thing she noticed was the male body lying next to her. For a moment, she thought she must be dreaming. But as the seconds passed and the body stirred, she realised that it was all real.

A sense of foreboding filled her as it registered that she was naked. Naked! She had not gone to bed naked. And what was a strange male doing in her bed?

She clutched the bedcover and shuffled backward, creating space between them. At that moment, the male opened his eyes. On seeing her, shock filled his face.

“What are you doing here?” Lyra demanded, looking around for a weapon. She had seen the male around at the pack before, but they were not familiar with each other.

The man looked around, appearing confused. He scrambled out of bed, which only revealed his naked body. Lyra looked away quickly, her mind racing. Her first instinct was to scream, but she knew bringing attention to herself would do her no good. It did not matter whether the man had sneaked into her room at night. She would be accused of sleeping with another male and betraying her mate.

The man looked around for his clothes. “I…I don’t know how– I swear I didn’t–”

His words were cut off by the door opening and Devon stepping into the room. Lyra’s heart thundered in her chest while her throat went dry. Just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, the Lycan King stepped into the room after Devon.

“What the hell is going on here?” Devon demanded, looking from her to the strange male.

Lyra shook her head. “I don’t know how he got into my room!”

“Is this your mate?” the king asked Devon, looking at Lyra with a look of pure disgust upon his face.

Lyra’s heart stung, as if his gaze pierced her heart. Oddly, it hurt her more than watching that damn Devon fucking other she-wolves.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Devon replied, pretending to be sad. “I’m sorry that you have to be subjected to such a sight.”

“I swear I did not do anything,” Lyra claimed, trying to clutch the king’s arms, but he immediately pushed her away. Regardless, she pleaded, “Your Majesty, please believe me. I did not betray the mate bond! I went to bed and woke up and found him here! I don’t know what happened.”

“Guards, throw this man out now!” Devon shouted angrily. The guards jumped into action and dragged the man out of the room.

“How dare you lie to His Majesty?” a feminine voice snapped, and Allison stepped from behind the Alpha and the king. “Everybody here can see what is going on. Are you taking all of us for fools?”

Devon, with a tortured expression, approached the bed. “How can you do this to me? I’m your mate! How can you be with another male right under my nose?”

Lyra stared back at him, thrown back by his expression and tone. He looked like a devout mate who had just found out that his beloved mate was cheating on him. She had to give it to him, he actually looked heartbroken.

And that was when she realised it must be a set up. While she had been looking forward to the Lycan King’s visit to set herself free, Devon had been scheming to use the visit to get permission to reject her.

“Your Majesty, please free Alpha Devon from this mate,” Allison pleaded, turning to the king with a bowed head. “He has been nothing but kind to her, despite the fact that she is a cursed Omega. And yet, this is how she treats him!”

Julian’s shrewd eyes studied Lyra, noticing that her eyes were locked on him, desperately searching for help. Julian’s wolf growled uneasily, which Julian found strange. His wolf rarely pitied lowly Omegas or the weak. But Julian silenced him. He would not help betrayers of the mate bond.

Just as Julian was about to say something, he sensed a pleasant scent emanating from the female lying on the bed. His jaw tightened. This could not be happening!

“It could be her,” his wolf said in his mind. “Our mate.”

Mate? This shameless whoring Omega? He quickly dismissed his wolf’s thought. Looking at her, she did not show any sign of recognising him as a mate. Good. He had no intention of having an Omega mate, leave alone one with such rotten morals.

“You have my permission,” he told Devon. “You can reject her.”

“He is lying,” Lyra claimed heatedly. “I do not have a lover. He is the one–”

Allison interrupted her with a slap, shutting her up. “How dare you talk back to your Alpha in front of the king, after what you have done? Have you no shame?”

Lyra held her cheek, her eyes filling with tears. “I did not do anything wrong!”

“Look at her nerve, Your Majesty,” Allison said. “Even when caught red handed, she still wants to play the victim. How can Alpha Devon lead the pack with such a female by his side?”

“Shut up!” Julian roared, levelling a cold glare at Allison. “Who gave you the right to talk to me, she-wolf.”

Fear ran through Allison’s veins, and she dropped to her knees and bowed down as the Lycan King’s aura slammed into her like a physical force.

Julian clenched his jaw, growing more irritated with every passing second. Watching Lyra’s tearful eyes made him more furious. “Claim your rejection now!” he ordered Devon in a deep voice.

Devon turned to Lyra. “I, Alpha Devon of the Red Moon Pack, reject you, Lyra Jenkins, as my mate.”

A jolt of pain shot through Lyra as the bond between them wavered. But it was nothing she hadn’t felt before. And, to make the severance faster, she said, “I, Lyra Jenkins of the Blue Night Pack, accept the rejection of Alpha Devon of the Red Moon Pack.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Julian’s eyes widened. He swallowed as a sweet mate’s scent rushed into his nostrils, stronger than what he had sensed before. How could it be?!

He turned, ready to leave and get the hell out of there, when a strange jolt coursed through his body. Not only that, but Lyra also turned towards him, a surprised expression on her face. She could feel it too!

The fleeting connection he had felt before strengthened, becoming impossible to ignore or dismiss. This female…this shameless, mannerless Omega female, was his MATE?

He looked at her in disbelief. The word ‘mate’ almost ripped through his throat. It was like an urge he could not control, but he fought against it. No way was he going to claim her in front of all these people. He never would have thought that this was who he had been looking for all these years. Was the universe toying with him?

“Let me teach her a proper lesson,” Devon’s Beta growled, stepping forward. He pulled his arm back to strike Lyra across the face.

Without thinking, Julian stepped between the two of them and hurled the Beta into the wall. He had no intention of protecting her, but his own body’s reaction had overtaken him. It was like instinct built into him. As it should be. Mates were wired to protect each other against all harm.

Everybody around the room was stunned, not having expected such a reaction from the Lycan King.