Defying the Lycan King (Kira and Derek) novel Chapter 232

Chapter 232: Protecting Her From You

Connor walked into Derek’s home study to find the King pacing the length of the room like a caged animal.

Declan stood off to one side, saying something low and urgent, trying to talk him down. But the moment Derek’s eyes landed on Connor in the doorway, whatever Declan was saying no longer mattered.

Derek moved fast, crossing the room in three long strides, seized Connor by the collar, and slammed him back against the nearest wall hard enough to rattle the framed maps hanging on it.

"Explain," Derek growled, his face inches from Connor’s.

"Explain to me how, for an entire month, my wife was sitting in Crystal Moon Pack, and you stood in front of me, day after day, and told me you couldn’t find her."

Connor said nothing.

"You were in charge of the scouts I sent out to the packs," Derek went on, his grip tightening, his voice climbing.

"You visited those packs yourself. Unannounced. You had every resource I could give you. So why didn’t you find her, Connor? Or did you know? Did you know exactly where she’d been this whole time?"

Connor remained silent, but he didn’t look away. And the look in his eyes, steady, unflinching, and quietly resigned, told Derek everything the man’s mouth refused to.

Derek’s brows drew together. He stared at his most trusted gamma in dawning, bewildered disbelief.

For a second, his brain refused to process that his most loyal gamma had deceived him. Then, a hot wave of raw fury crashed over him.

"Betrayer!"

He shoved Connor away from him with brutal force.

Connor stumbled backward, crashed into a chair, and went down hard, tumbling to the floor amid the wreckage of it.

"You betrayed me?!" Derek barked, stalking toward him. "You. Of all people. You."

"Derek," Declan yelled, finally finding his voice and jumping between them with his arms raised. "Let’s just breathe for a second!"

But it was too late. Leo was already at the surface, shoving up behind Derek’s eyes, amber bleeding into them, the beast wild and snarling at the man who had hidden his soulbond from him for a month.

His soul bond had been out there, alone, grieving, carrying goddess-knew-what, and this man had known, and said nothing.

Derek easily sidestepped Declan, shoving the Beta out of his path.

He lunged and came down on top of Connor, pinning him to the floor, and drew back his fist to drive it into the gamma’s face.

"Your Grace, I only did it because you made me promise to protect her with my life!" Connor blurted out.

Derek’s fist hung frozen in the air, a mere two inches away from smashing Connor’s nose.

Connor stared up at his descending fist,

, breathing hard.

"Even from you," he said. "You told me to protect her... even if it meant protecting her from you."

Derek’s fist never landed. He stayed frozen over Connor’s body, his chest heaving up and down as his mind flashed back to that quiet night in the corridor. He recalled the exact instruction he had given his Head Gamma.

He had told Connor to guard her with his life, to ensure her safety above all else—even if the danger was Derek himself.

He had meant it as the highest trust he could place in a man. And Connor had honoured it, all the way to the end, even when it meant standing against his own King.

The rage drained out of Derek like water through a cracked cup.

He let out a long, shuddering breath, lowered his fist, and slowly pushed himself up off Connor. Without another word, he turned and walked out of the study, his shoulders bowed under the weight of it all.

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