I Bought A Male Escort, Turns Out He's The Lycan King novel Chapter 128

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“Listen to me,” Kostas said, stepping closer. 

Desperation hung heavy in the air, tangled with that lethal edge radiating from Hunter. My muscles coiled instinctively, every nerve screaming for me to choose fight or flight. 

But my wolf was still calm. It wasn’t Hunter or his fury making me uneasy. It wasn’t Hunter making my heart race and fear inch up my spine. 

It was Kostas. 

How far would my family go to get me back behind the castle walls? A curse? If Kostas was truly the only one who could break it, why had they spent my entire life searching for my true mate? There was a reason, I’d known that for a long time, but I couldn’t accept something so far-fetched. It was too convenient. Something the old me would have feared and hidden from instantly. 

The most likely reason was that my father wanted me to stay hidden and protected in the castle for the rest of my life. I was his fragile, weak daughter. The one who’d get relentlessly bullied if I mated outside the pack. But I had Lordswood blood in my veins, blood with generations of history and strength behind it. Anyone bullying me would shame him. Maybe that was the reason for these underhanded tactics. 

But a curse? That news would have reached my ears long before now. 

“The wrong mate will rip you apart, Katerina,” he whispered, stepping closer again. “They’ll abuse you. Break you. Make you wish for death every second you breathe. And when you finally stop fighting, they’ll discard you like garbage.” 

My gaze flicked to the Lycan beside me. Capable of committing the violent acts that Kostas said? Yes. Terrifying? Absolutely. But that thing deep inside me, or perhaps my wolf’s confidence, knew with bone-deep certainty that Hunter would never hurt me. 

But could that bloodthirsty Lycan King make him do it? Such a man’s command would be hard to resist. 

If my only option was Kostas, then I didn’t want him. The night of the ceremony played in my mind again. The way Kostas had looked at me, the vile words he’d said, as if he was already imagining the consummation. I swallowed bile and glared at him. 

“I’ve already said everything I need to say,” I hissed. 

If they wanted to ignore the mark on my neck and everything I’d said, that was on them. 

“We have until the next full moon,” Kostas said, angling himself closer to Hunter, who still hadn’t moved. “After that, the prophecy becomes irreversible. You will obey, Katerina.” 

My eyes twitched at those words. I wanted to tell him what he could do with his prophecy, but my gaze snapped back to Hunter. Before my eyes, he was already shifting. The change was slow, as if it was deliberate, as if he was controlling it. Hist claws extended slowly. Muscles rolled beneath his skin, stretching his T-shirt to its limits. His shoulders broadened, and power condensed around him as if he’d pulled it from the air. 

The air stilled. Birds stopped chirping, and my ears picked up the footfalls of animals fleeing. The shadow guards faltered, some inching back, their boxes shaking slightly in their hands. Even the Lycans hiding in the woods went utterly still. 

Only Kostas remained unmoved, his attention fixed entirely on me. 

“Hunter,” I whispered. 

He still didn’t turn. The seams of his T-shirt began to tear. 

“Why are you looking at him and not me?” Kostas snarled. “I don’t want to have to force you to do anything, but the situation is critical.” 

His eyes burned that yellow that struck fear in most people. His aura hadn’t muted when he saw me, but now the pressure hit me hard, almost knocking me back. I sensed the darkness in it as it seeped into me, and the memory of how I’d suffered the other night because of it resurfaced. 

Hunter’s aura had never done this to me. 

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