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.
“I will bring your rejected mate with me after the banquet,” Julian announced later after he, his Beta, and Devon retreated into a conference room.Devon frowned, but only for a second before he cleared his expression. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty, I don’t understand.”Why would the Lycan King want to bring a worthless Omega with him? He was sure there were enough slaves at the palace. Besides, Julian had looked thoroughly disgusted earlier while observing Lyra. Why would he want her anywhere near him?“It’s not your business to understand the king’s mind,” Julian’s Beta Asher groused.Devon was aware that infuriating the king would do him no good. But he could not let Lyra go with him. What if she revealed Devon’s abuse to the king towards her? His entire plan would go to waste, and he would suffer the king’s wrath.“I apologise,” he said. “I’m only worried that she is not worthy to accompany Your Majesty. A whore like her would only tarnish the king’s reputation if seen anywhere around
"Strip off all your clothes, slave," Ardan commanded Lyra.Lyra was stunned, but she had to obey. No one dared defy the King's orders. Until she removed her last undergarment, Ardan approached her. His large hands started trailing down her collarbone, stopping at her nipples. He pinched and twisted them with his fingers.Lyra's body began to tremble uncontrollably."Mmm..." A moan escaped Lyra's lips. "Please, don't do this, my King...""Don't you like this, my slave?" Ardan paused, sneering coldly."This is all a misunderstanding," Lyra tried to explain."Enough!" Ardan roared. "I won't believe the excuses of a shameless whore who dared betray her mate!"Tears streamed down Lyra's face. The Moon Goddess gave her the best, but also the worst fate."Reject me, my King," Lyra demanded stubbornly."No, I won't," Ardan flung her to the ground. In the cruelest tone, he said, "You will endure far worse treatment than this, my slave."After Ardan left, his beta Arthur came in and took her to
Lyra was so shocked at the sight of the Lycan King with his head between her legs that for a moment, she did nothing. It all seemed like a dream–a deeply disturbing one. Earlier, the king had been too disgusted to look at her, let alone touch her. What did he mean by this?Her body jolted as Julian used his tongue to lick her entrance, the tip diving a little inside her. Supporting herself on one hand, she used the other to push his shoulder. “Stop!”Her voice sounded weak and faraway, as if it didn’t belong to her. Instead of stopping, Julian bit the skin on the inside of her thigh. Lyra felt herself go dizzy as the scent she had sensed earlier after Devon rejected her filled her nostrils.Her body recognised it, her wolf recognised it, and she did too, and as she quickly found out, it rendered her powerless. A mate’s scent was like a powerful drug, and she was getting intoxicated fast.“Get on your back,” Julian commanded, his warm breath brushing against her exposed pussy.Lyra’s c
When Lyra woke up the next morning, she found herself staring at a strange female’s face. The face was pinched, regarding Lyra with unquestionable disdain.“You must think you are on a vacation to still be sleeping at this hour,” the female said, her lips twisting in scorn.Lyra blinked and sat up, her brain quickly catching her up on what was going on. She was at the palace. The events of the previous night streaked through her brain. Just as quick, she shut them out.“What’s the time?” she asked, looking at the female servant standing over her.The servant scoffed, then threw something at Lyra. It was a maid’s uniform. “Time to get your lazy ass out of bed and get working, princess.”The servant was Thea, a servant who had worked at the palace for many years. She had taken care of Julian since childhood, and carried herself with a sense of self-importance.“Sorry, I did not know about the schedule,” Lyra said. The last thing she wanted was to make enemies here. Even if nothing else
Julian was vaguely aware of his Gamma, Kyle, rambling on and on about the latest financial report of the royal pack. But his mind was elsewhere, lingering on what happened the previous night with Lyra.He could remember her scent, how she tasted…and it was causing a stir in his loins. It had been so many hours since then, but he could swear he could still taste her on his tongue.Why on earth was he still thinking about it? She was nothing special. He had had his share of sweet, great pussy before. Better than that of a whoring Omega…“Wonder if that’s because she is your mate,” his wolf Yuri said sarcastically. “Just be true to yourself, you want to devour her.”Julian ground his teeth together and said nothing. It did not matter whether she was his mate or not. Fine. He could not deny that the experience last night had been out of this world. In fact, it had been perfect.When he first met her, he had thought he would not soil his hands by touching a dirty whore like her. She was be
That night, Lyra lay awake in bed, unable to go to sleep. Julian’s words rang in her ears, filling her with apprehension.You need to be disciplined. And I’ll do it personally.A shiver ran down her spine the same way it did when she heard those words. They had sounded so dangerous, so sinister…and the worst part was that she had no idea what was in store for her. Would he hit her the way Devon would? Starve her? Lock her up for weeks?Her mind was tired from thinking all day, trying to figure out his mindset. He had asked for her opinion, done as she said, and then accused her of forgetting her position. Was he toying with her? Indeed, why would the Lycan King ask a slave’s opinion? Or was he just looking for an excuse to antagonise her?She had reprimanded Gloria in the heat of the moment, forgetting the consequences that could come from such an action. She should not have done something like that. But something had irked Lyra so much with the way they were all over each other, and
“I think he is different,” Rae said after Lyra had gotten back into bed.Lyra frowned into the dark, wondering if they were thinking about the same person. How exactly was he different? “If by different you mean that he is worse than Devon, then, yes.”Rae was silent for a minute. Finally, she said, “I don’t think he is as bad as Devon.”“Because he hasn’t forced me to watch him with another female yet?” Lyra said bitterly. “I’m sure that day will come soon.”Or maybe he would force her to do something way worse.Should I bring another male who is not your mate?“I just…” Rae began, then trailed off.“What?” Lyra asked.“He hates you because he thinks you have rotten behaviour,” Rae said. “If you could show him the truth–”“And how am I going to do that?” Lyra asked, feeling a little annoyed. “He thinks everything that comes out of my mouth is a lie. Plus I think he wants it that way. He does not want an Omega queen, so he’ll take any excuse to shun me.”“He could just get rid of you,
The Alpha turned his attention towards the three Omegas, who had shifted back into their human forms. They stood with their heads bowed and their hands clasped in front of them, submissive.“Alpha Zero,” they murmured in unison when he got to his feet and approached them.Zero was the Lycan King’s cousin and the Alpha of the Azure Pack. He was known all over the kingdom for his good looks and gentle disposition despite being one of the strongest Alphas in the kingdom.“What’s going on here?” he asked, his voice steely as he regarded the three shewolves. They were forbidden from shifting or fighting in the royal palace without permission, and yet they had done both.“She started it,” Claire replied. “She is new here and refused our advice on work, then she attacked me with a dagger. The others jumped in to save me.”“I did not start it,” Lyra claimed through her clenched teeth. This Alpha had shown concern when he helped her get up earlier. Would he care about the truth or believe the
Lyra left Nile’s side and went to stand beside Julian, which caused another stir among the guests.“Lyra, what are you doing?” Nile asked, pretending to be hurt and confused. “Who is he? What’s the meaning of this?”“It’s over, Nile,” Lyra said, calling him by his real name. “The real Lycan King is here.” Looking around, she addressed the guests. “That is the Rogue King who has been trying to take over the kingdom. He imprisoned His Majesty and forced me to work for him.”“How absurd!” Nile yelled. “Lyra, how could you do this to me? I trusted you despite what everyone said about you, and this is how you repay me? Have you been working for the rogues all this time?”“He could be right,” someone said. “Nobody knows anything about her background. Maybe she is a spy sent by the rogues.”“I knew something did not make sens
“Where have you been?” Nile asked when Lyra appeared at his side a while later. After separating with Julian, Lyra had gone to her room to freshen up to get rid of any scent that would give away the fact that she had been with Julian.“I went on a walk with some of the guests and we wandered around the palace,” she told him. “Was I gone for long?”“Yes,” he said, his voice tinged with displeasure. “Stay by my side from now on.”“Of course,” she agreed, giving him a smile.“There are some important guests you haven’t met,” he said, steering her towards a group of guests. “They are from the Northern Packs Alliance. You know what to do.”Lyra knew of the Northern Packs Alliance. It was a group of three packs–Sky, Northern, and Ferun. The northern part of the kingdom had once been overrun by rogues, but the three packs came together and defeated
“It worked,” Julian said in awe, lifting his hands in front of his face. He could feel his wolf’s power surging through him, potent and unrestricted.“Really?” Lyra asked, rising on her elbow. They were lying side by side on the examination table after a frantic lovemaking session that left their bodies slick with sweat and out of breath.“Yes,” Julian confirmed. “He is fully restored.”“Great!” Lyra exclaimed, feeling thrilled. Leaning towards him, she gave him a kiss. He sunk his hand into her hair and held her in place, deepening the kiss. When they pulled apart, there was an amused smile on Julian’s face.“What is it?” she asked him, curious.“Yuri is impatient to tear that bastard into pieces,” he revealed.Lyra nodded. “That makes four of us.”Rae was also excited and already urging Lyra to get out there and ruin Nile’s grand plan. With Yuri by her side, she felt invincible. Lyra felt the same way about having Julian with her, but she knew it was crucial to have a good plan befo
“Julian?” Lyra whispered, an overwhelming relief washing over her.Julian jumped down from the examination table and met her halfway. Their arms went around each other. When they pulled back, her eyes were shining with tears.She raised her hands to his face and cupped his cheeks, examining his face. It felt like it had been forever since she had last seen him. This was the same face that Nile was parading around, and yet, there was such a huge difference.This was Julian. Her Julian.“Are you okay?” she asked him, lowering her hand to his chest and moving his robe aside. There was a dark mark where he was stabbed, but the wound had healed up.“I’m fine,” he told her, taking her hand. “Almost.”Feeling relieved, Lyra embraced him again, resting her face on his chest.“What about you?” Julian asked, palming her hair.“I’m alright,” she told him. “Don’t worry abut me.”He pulled her back and looked at her with a concerned frown. “Are you eating well? Where are you staying?”“I’m staying
After confining Lyra in her room for a few days, Nile arrived with news of a royal banquet.“This is your chance to show me whose side you are on,” he told her after presenting her with the gown she was to wear for the occasion. “I have invited Alphas, Lunas, and Elders from all around the kingdom. The banquet is in your honour as the future queen, so I expect you to act the part. Will you have a problem with that?”“No,” she said, eyeing the gown. It was a red gown, embellished with glimmering gems. Alongside it was a beautiful diamond tiara which Lyra recognised as being one of the royal family’s heirlooms.“Good,” he said, holding her chin and lifting her face. “If you help me get through this banquet, you'll have done your job well, and I'll make sure Julian continues getting the best medical care. But if you make a mistake…” He trailed off, moving his hand to her throat and resting it there. “...you'll pay.”“I understand,” she told him. Such a gathering could go very wrong for h
“Approximately five hundred years ago, there was a tyrant Lycan King,” Nile started his narration when Lyra agreed to hear his version of the story. “He oppressed all other packs for the benefit of the royal pack, which amassed wealth and unmatched power at the expense of others. While the royal pack lived in luxury, the rest of the kingdom was barely getting by. The king forced them to send slaves and tributes, stripping the packs of their best talents and driving many werewolves to poverty and near starvation. Nobody was brave enough to stand up to the king, but one day, the Scarlet Alpha said enough was enough.”Lyras frowned, because she had never heard of a Scarlet Alpha or a Scarlet Pack for that matter. “The Scarlet Alpha? From which pack?”“The Scarlet Pack,” Nile replied. “You wouldn't know it. It has long gone extinct, and the royal family saw to it that it was wiped from history. After long enough, most werewolves forgot anything like it ever existed.”“Did the Scarlet Alph
“What's the meaning of this?” Crystal demanded as soon as the shop attendant left the room. “Why would you pay that much for her but refuse to pay mine?”“I invited her to go shopping,” Nile replied coolly, “but I don't remember inviting you. I also did not promise to pay for your stuff at any time.”“What?” Crystal screeched. “I am your partner! How can you treat me like this, especially in front of her? You did not even punish her for attacking me that day and locking me in the secret chamber. Aren't you supposed to be on my side?”“What does that have to do with this?” Nile asked, losing his cool. “I don't have to explain what I do to you.”Crystal scoffed. “So then, you are just going to humiliate me?”“Just because we work together does not mean you are in control of me,” Nile told her. “It's not in your place to tell m
Lyra sighed for the umpteenth time as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. She reached for the hem of her skirt and tugged, but it had reached its full length, somewhere several inches above the middle of her thighs.She huffed in annoyance at the ridiculousness of the situation. Nile had come out of nowhere and announced that they were going shopping and took the liberty of choosing Lyra's outfit.He had chosen an extremely short skirt paired with a soft cashmere sweater. The outfit might have been perfect for a night out, but why on earth would she wear like this to go shopping? Forget a night out, the skirt was way too short for her liking, she felt like she would be flashing her bottom with every step she took.He had refused her attempts to choose a different outfit, so she was stuck with this. Slipping her feet into a pair of stilettos–yet another poor choice for the occasion–she left her room and went downstairs.She found Nile a
When Julian woke up, he found himself in a sterile room with white walls. It was filled with the stench of disinfectant and medicine.When he tried moving his body, he realised that his limbs were strapped to the bed, restricting his movements. He turned his head to look around, but the room was empty. He lifted his head to check his wound. His torso was wrapped with bandages, so he could not see anything.He lay back and tried to recall what had happened. The last thing he remembered was being in the dungeon with Nile and Lyra. When he recalled the deal Lyra had made with Nile, he shut his eyes in regret.A sudden sound made him open his eyes just in time to see someone walk into the room. Julian was surprised to see that it was the royal healer, Spencer.“You are finally awake,” Spencer said, moving to the bedside table and placing a metallic tray carrying various medical items there. “How are you feeling?”“Spencer?” Julian called his name in disbelief. “Do you know who you are wor