chapter 3
1007 Words
I was dressed in a purple gown that hugged my skin, showing off my curves. My face was further covered with a tiny veil that stretched from the bridge of my nose down to my jaw.
In the meeting hall sat Leo on the second-largest chair, positioned in the middle of a long table draped in black cloth. Annastasia was seated beside him. To his right, twelve chairs were occupied by the pack elders, while on his left side, another row of chairs lined the table. Eleven of them were filled, leaving the largest chair at the far end of the table empty, with a smaller one placed beside it.
This was my first time attending a meeting in years, ever since the death of my father—the former alpha.
All eyes shifted to me as soon as I entered. I could hear murmurs and see the confusion etched on the men's faces as they glanced at one another, searching for answers.
I walked forward timidly, my legs trembling like jelly, heading toward Leo, only to be intercepted by Benson.
“Your place is by that corner,” Benson whispered. His eyes glistened with something that confused me. Was I imagining things, or did I see a worried look on his face?
Don’t get ahead of yourself, Ember, I scolded inwardly. Have you forgotten what he did to you? He’s a monster. He rejected you without batting an eyelid. Why would he be worried about you now?
Benson pointed toward the dark corners of the hall. Standing there with her back to the wall was Lily. Her eyes were even more swollen and red than they had been this morning, and my heart broke at the sight of her.
Why did they invited her? What is Leo up to?
Keeping my gaze fixed on the floor, I took my place beside her.
“Isn’t she the daughter of that alpha’s mistress? The witch,” one of the elders spat.
“Yeah, her mother bewitched the former alpha, thinking she’d bear him a son to take over as the next alpha,” another said.
“Poor Alpha Luca,” a third voice chimed in, dripping with disdain. “He died because of his ill-fated affair with that witch. Look at her purple eyes. It’s easy to tell she’s cursed.”
My heart shattered into pieces, a level of pain I hadn’t thought possible. My legs grew too weak to hold me, and the room seemed to shrink around me. I struggled to breathe, tears choking me.
I wished I could silence them. I wished I really were a witch so I could lay a curse on them—a curse to render their tongues useless. In fact, I’d turn the entire pack mute.
I thought I had grown thick skin to their verbal abuse, but my heart always betrays me.
Leo sat tall and unbothered, his face buried in the papers before him. Annastasia, however, wore a smug, mocking smirk as she stared at me. And Benson? He didn’t lift a finger to stop them, let alone his voice. He stood at the back of Leo’s chair, a silent bodyguard.
“I heard she even tried to compete with the Luna,” another elder sneered. “Forced her way into the beta’s bed. What a slut!
I collapsed to my knees, my head bowing to my thighs as I clamped my hands over my ears, desperate to block out their voices. But my heightened senses cursed me; their words slipped through my fingers as though I hadn’t covered my ears at all.
“How shameless of her to still stay at the alpha’s home,” someone muttered. “She caused her father’s death.”
This was the breaking point. I didn’t killed him. I swear I didn't.
Blurred memories clouded my mind, as i felt a sharp piercing pain in my head.
I sobbed loudly, my tears soaking through the veil as the insults kept coming. Beside me, Lily sniffled, but I was too consumed by my own agony to comfort her.
“Queens don’t cry,” a deep baritone voice said beside me.
Startled, I looked up through tear-blurred eyes. A wide hand, veined and powerful, was extended toward me. I followed the hand up to its owner and froze.
He was the very definition of huge. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the table where everyone now stood like soldiers at attention—except their mouths hung open in shock.
I shifted my gaze back to him and immediately understood why they were both awed and terrified. His aura suffocated the room, forcing every wolf to bow their heads in submission.
He stood tall and broad-shouldered,I felt like an ant before an elephant. His silver hair catching the glimpse of moonlight. And those piercing icy-blue eyes, framed by long white lashes, stared straight through me.
Like a tidal wave, it hit me. My heightened senses caught his scent—a faint trace of pine mixed with something richer and intoxicating. It curled into my nostrils, seeping into my soul.
No. It couldn’t be.
It wasn’t his dominance that paralyzed me; it was the realization that this man—this larger than life figure,was my second-chance mate.
My wolf stirred violently within me, howling in recognition. But it was impossible. I didn’t have a wolf. I had never had one. And yet, there it was, clawing at me, desperate to claim him.
Who is he? Does he feel it too? Does he know I’m his mate?
A thousand questions flashed through my mind.
"It the Lycan King Drake" Someone dared to whispered and my ears caught it.
The Lycan King？I gasped, my mouth left opened.
As if to push my limits further, he smiled a breathtaking, disarming smile, then turned his attention to Leo and the elders.
With a nod and the most endearing voice I had ever heard, he said, “Those elders are cowards. You agree with me, don’t you?”
- Writer
