Defying the Lycan King (Kira and Derek) novel Chapter 173

Chapter 173: It’s a Bit Weird

The knife was still raised toward Brian’s throat, steady in Kira’s grip.

He had not moved since he stepped back, hands half-lifted, but his eyes were doing something she did not like. Searching hers. Studying her face like he was looking for something buried underneath all that hatred.

"Really?" he asked softly.

Kira said nothing.

"Come to me, Kira." His voice had lost its mocking edge now, gone low and almost pleading. "It isn’t too late, you know. Not yet. Come to me now, while the door is still open, and I’ll keep you safe from all of it. We will leave all of this."

Kira raised the knife further as he made a move to come closer. "Don’t try me, Brian. I can tell the entire pack I killed you out of self-defense."

"I’m trying to save you," he almost yelled. "Derek doesn’t even love you. If you come with me, I’ll tell you everything."

Kira’s mouth opened, a sharp answer already loaded on her tongue.

Someone cleared their throat.

Her head snapped toward the sound, and there, standing at the far end of the hedge, was Alpha Braxton, hands clasped behind his back, his expression blank.

"Forgive me," he said evenly. "Am I interrupting anything?"

Kira quickly lowered the knife, slipping it back into its hidden sheath.

"No," she said quickly, smoothing her face into something composed. "Not at all. We were finished."

Brian took several unhurried steps backward, that easy smile sliding right back onto his face as though it had never left.

He smoothed down the front of his jacket, gave Kira a small, mocking little bow, and turned and walked away into the dark without another word.

Kira watched him go for a beat, then turned back to Braxton and offered him a smile, working very hard to look a great deal calmer than she felt.

"Alpha Braxton. Long time no see."

"My Queen." Braxton inclined his head in a respectful bow.

And there it was. That tug.

The same strange, warm pull she felt every single time she came near this man, blooming somewhere deep in her chest as she stepped closer to him.

It made no sense to her. She had felt it from the very first time they met, this odd, instinctive sense of safety, like coming in from the cold to a fire. He smiled at her, and the warmth of it settled something in her she could not name.

"You really don’t need to be so formal," she said. "Not with me. All this bowing and ’My Queen’ business is a bit much between the two of us, don’t you think?"

"We need to observe protocol, Your Highness," Braxton replied, the corner of his mouth tilting. "Especially tonight, of all nights."

They fell into step together, drifting slowly along the moonlit path away from the hedges.

"Congratulations," he said as they walked. "On the crown. For what little my word is worth, I think you’ll make a fine queen. A good one. The kind this part of the world hasn’t seen in a long time."

"Thank you," Kira said, ducking her head, trying to stay humble under the weight of it. "That means more than you know."

They walked on a few paces more.

Then, quite suddenly, Braxton stopped.

He turned to face her fully, and Kira was startled to see that the calm, composed Alpha looked, for the first time since she had known him, genuinely flustered.

There was a tightness around his eyes, a hesitation in the set of his shoulders, as though some great weight was pressing up against the back of his teeth, trying to get out.

Kira frowned, thrown by the change in him.

"What is it?" she asked. "What’s the matter?"

Braxton drew a breath. "There’s something I need to tell you," he said. "Something I should have told you a long time ago."

Kira stared at him, her confusion deepening. "What is it?" she pressed gently.

His throat worked. "I—"

"Kira, dear."

Nana’s voice cut clean through the night.

Kira’s head turned away from Braxton at once, and her gaze went past his shoulder to where Nana stood a little way down the path. And beside Nana, tall and still and silent, stood Derek.

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