His Mate. His Claim. His Mistake

Trusting the wrong mate

Lilith

“Prince Ethan, I really do not think you should go in there!” a guard cautioned outside, voice strained.

“Oh, move it! I need to borrow—”

The doors flew open with a violent bang. A figure burst in, laughing brightly, then froze the moment his eyes landed on me.

I scrambled to my feet, heart leaping into my throat. The young man looked so much like Theo it made my chest ache. Younger. Softer around the edges. But the resemblance was undeniable.

Ethan. My mate’s little brother.

“Hello, Your Grace,” I managed, voice small.

He did not answer. His mouth fell open as he looked around the room like he had stepped into a dream.

“There is a woman in my brother’s chambers,” he mouthed to the empty air. Then louder: “There is a beautiful woman in my brother’s room.”

“Hi,” I whispered, heat rushing to my cheeks.

Ethan stared for another beat before his entire face flushed scarlet. He turned on his heel and stormed out without a word.

I stood there, stunned. A second later he skidded back in, eyes locked on the floor. He lunged for a game board on the side table, grabbed it with trembling hands, risked one final wide-eyed glance at me, and bolted.

Was he going to rat me out?

Before I could process it, the bond flared, warm and insistent.

Theo.

The door opened and he stepped in. He looked tired, shoulders tight, but the moment his eyes found me the tension bled away into something soft and possessive.

“Theo!”

I launched myself into his arms. He caught me effortlessly, large hands anchoring me against his chest as he buried his face in the crook of my neck with a low growl. He carried me back to the bed without letting go.

“I just met your brother,” I told him as he settled me into the furs. “I do not think he likes me much. He ran out of here like I was a ghost.”

Theo chuckled against my skin. “He did not dislike you, kitten. He was just struck dumb. I have never seen him so flustered in my life.”

“Because you are beautiful,” he continued, eyes roaming my face with a heat that warmed my whole body. He leaned down and pressed a lingering kiss to the fresh mark on my shoulder. “He was not expecting to find a goddess in my chambers. He has been teasing me for months about never finding my mate. I will introduce the two of you properly later. Don’t worry. He won’t breathe a word. He is good at keeping my secrets.”

I flushed and hid my face against his neck.

“What did you do today? Were you bored?” he asked, a trace of guilt in his voice.

“I was,” I nodded. “It is very quiet when you are not here. I missed you.”

“I am sorry.” His thumb stroked my cheek. “It will not always be like this.” He paused, gaze sharpening as he scanned the room. “Did anything else happen? No one else bothered you, right?”

My heart shot into my throat.

“Apart from my brother,” he continued, straightening slightly, nostrils flaring as he tested the air. “There was no one else here, was there?”

My pulse spiked. Could he smell my uncle? If he knew the Regent had bypassed his security, the servants who helped would pay the price.

Acting on pure instinct, I reached up, took his face in both hands, and pulled him down into a fierce, distracting kiss. I poured everything I had into it, trying to bury the lingering scent of the secret.

“No,” I whispered against his lips. “Just me and the maids. I missed you.”

He sighed into the kiss, tension easing as he held me closer. Then he pulled back just an inch, expression turning grave.

“Doll face,” he said, voice dropping. “There is something you should know.”

---

**Theo**

My father’s stalling tactics were only a temporary bandage. Sooner or later the Council would demand their pound of flesh.

Earlier in his study I had tested the waters, asking what would happen if Ethan or I were ever mated to an Omega. The mask of the jovial King had slipped at once.

He lowered himself slowly into his chair. He suddenly looked like he had aged several years in seconds.

“The realm would descend into chaos,” he said, voice hollow. “In this life, who you marry matters to the state. But love… love matters to the soul. A mate bond is a connection that surpasses any political alliance. It is not something you can feel with anyone else.”

He chuckled then, but there was sadness in it.

“Like you and Mom?” I asked.

He looked away for a long moment.

“Yes,” he said finally. The same grief that always appeared when he spoke of mates returned to his eyes. “I’ve experienced it. The thrill. The pull. So it’s not something I could ever stand against, Theo.”

He exhaled heavily.

“I don’t think I would have the heart to stand against a person’s fated mate. But it won’t be easy, especially for you. You are to be king. Even your throne might be at risk.”

He explained it all: how the court would react, how the old bloodlines would see it as a genetic weakness, and the sheer danger my mate would face. He even warned me about the physical toll of a demi-omega bearing a pureblood Lycan Alpha heir. Pregnancy itself would be brutal on her body.

There was so much more to this than I had wanted to face.

Now, staring into Lilith’s wide, trusting eyes, all I wanted was to protect her from every one of those obstacles.

What if we never had children? I couldn’t put her through that kind of suffering. Did I even have to be king? Ethan would make a fine ruler. The throne could pass through him.

But this… this was my mate. A Lycan only got one in a lifetime.

“Omegas…” my father had admitted quietly before I left his chambers, voice thick with regret. “They are my biggest regret. And now I’m finding out I may have done them wrong for years.”

He wanted to make it right. I believed the King would accept Lilith. Still, it would not be easy, and I did not want to expose her to any of that terror yet.

I wrapped my arms tighter around her small frame. We had only just found each other.

“Theo?” she asked quietly, sensing the shift through the bond. “What’s wrong?”

I sighed and ran my fingers through her dark hair. “My father once told me leadership is lonely.”

“He said he’s made decisions he’s ashamed of. Mistakes he still carries. It got me thinking… would I become like him? Restless, pacing far into the night because of my own choices?”

She shifted against my chest. “Would you be a kind king?”

“I hope so. My dad taught me everything. He’s a kind man.”

She traced the line of my collarbone, eyes dropping. “I guess he is a good father,” she muttered. I could hear the sharp hesitation in her voice. To her, the King was still the man who had allowed her people to suffer.

She bit her lip, hesitant, but curiosity still shone in her eyes.

“Tell me more about him,” she said quietly. “About how he makes his decisions. There was a time he decided a factory wasn’t useful anymore.” She made air quotes. “It was useful to us. So very useful. But it closed down afterwards. It affected so many lives. A lot of Omegas relied on that. Why would someone make those kind of choices?”

“He doesn’t always make those choices himself,” I explained. “Most times he is simply forced to execute what the Council legislates. Trust me, he hates it. It wears on him so badly he loses sleep.”

She looked up. “He gets restless?”

I nodded. “Guilty. There are nights he goes to the private garden behind the eastern wing. No cameras. Completely secluded. He walks there, smokes his pipe, stares at the stars… and sometimes he just screams.”

“Screams?” She let out a small, surprised sound. “The King?” She giggled softly. “He looks so… so…”

“Dignified?” I offered.

She nodded, eyes bright.

“He has his moments,” I said with a sad smile. “It’s completely isolated. It’s his way of coping. The first night I saw him do it, it frightened me—to see a king unable to bear the weight of the hard choices he had to make. Becoming king… it hadn’t been something I looked forward to after that night.”

I could already imagine a world only a few years from now where I would be the one pacing those same gardens. Having sleepless nights. Screaming into the darkness because of decisions I could not avoid.

“I could imagine me being in his place,” I said. “Screaming at the moon. Howling, rather.”

She laughed softly at the image, but there was understanding in her eyes.

“Heavy is the head that wears the crown,” she whispered.

“I would be wearing that crown someday. With you beside me.” I held her gaze. That part was not negotiable.

“Is it something he does often?” she asked. “His screaming grounds?”

“Quite often,” I said, smiling despite myself. “Dad has made mistakes. That’s why he’s careful now. He asserts and reassesses his decisions before making them.”

“But some choices still hurt people,” she whispered, shifting slightly away from my chest.

“It’s never his intention.” I pulled her back gently and tilted her chin up. “A king has a council, Lilith. Sometimes you have to weigh what’s best for the majority against the—”

“The minority,” she finished softly. “Like us.”

“No. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I know,” she said, though her voice went small.

“Come here.” I kissed her, slow and deep, pouring every silent promise I had into her lips. When I pulled back I rested my forehead against hers. “There’ll be nothing like that when I reign. I’ll make everything right. I promise.”

---

“Your Grace, you’re being summoned by the King.”

It was well past midnight when the guard’s knock woke me. I carefully adjusted the heavy furs around Lilith, making sure the shift didn’t disturb her deep sleep.

Leaving her felt wrong.

But I went.

As I made my way through the dimly lit corridors toward his private study, I caught sight of a familiar figure slipping out through a hidden side door.

The Omega Regent.

He moved quickly, shoulders tense, disappearing into the servant passages.

Consultations at this hour? I frowned but kept walking.

The moment I stepped into the study, my father turned sharply.

“Son.”

He crossed the room in urgent strides, his usual composed demeanor replaced by a restless, heavy energy.

“There’s something I need you to do. You’re the only one I can trust with this.”

I straightened instinctively. “Whatever it is.”

“You’ll leave tonight, alone,” he said without preamble. “It’s vital for the Omegas.”

I didn’t flinch. I had been trained in combat, weapons, and survival strategy since I was eight years old. I might have felt unprepared for the politics of the crown, but as a soldier I was always battle-ready.

He clasped my shoulder firmly, his grip heavy and grounding.

“I know I can trust you, Theo.”

“You always can, Dad,” I replied, feeling the full force of his pride and love.

---

*I wish now, with every fiber of my being, that I had never left for that mission.*

*If I had known that this was the last time I would see my father standing on his feet, the last time I would hear his rumbling voice or feel the weight of his hand on my shoulder, I never would have walked out those doors.*

*If only I had known that the next time I laid eyes on the King, he would be lying cold in a black body bag…*

*Killed by the hands of the woman I had just claimed as my mate.*