I Bought A Male Escort, Turns Out He's The Lycan King (by lg savage) novel Chapter 169

Chapter 169

KAT

“What do you mean, Father? You’re stronger than he is.”

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Although looking at him now, I knew that wasn’t true. My father could barely push himself back up to his chair, his movements slow and strained, as if effort alone cost him precious strength.

My voice echoed too loudly in the stillness, and Mother stirred on the bed. I moved to her side quickly, dread pooling in my stomach, and shock rippled through me. I’d thought Father was bad, but Mother was much worse. Her skin was almost the colour of her silky white sheets. Her hair was dry and lifeless, framing her almost skeletal face.

How had she got like this so quickly?

Her eyes opened and immediately locked onto me. Mother sucked in a breath as she raised a trembling hand towards me. I took it quickly as I sat beside her, making sure Nathan’s jacket remained buttoned.

Guilt ate at me. I’d assumed Mother would be fine after a rest—we were werewolves. We were strong and resilient. But while I’d been busy losing my head in Hunter’s bed, she’d been suffering. Fading.

“What happened to you?” I whispered, grasping her hand against my chest.

“Zachary said it’s the prophecy,” Father whispered. “But I believe she’s suffering from a broken heart.”

The prophecy. I’d been ready to fight to the death to prove it wasn’t real, but Mother’s frail body looked like proof. And now the bond that would have protected me from the supposed killer was also gone. Were we all really doomed, then?

Still, even faced with all this, something in me refused to give Kostas a chance. It burned deep in my chest. That made me the selfish, spoilt brat Nathan had accused me of being.

My tears fell as I gently brushed Mother’s hair from her face.

‘You shouldn’t have come back, you silly girl, Mother said in the mindlink. Even there, her voice was frail. The woman who’d valued etiquette above everything else, the one who’d told me to do my duty at all costs, was gone.

‘Look at you. What has he done to you?’

My rampage flashed through my mind. The blood, the screams, the way I’d lost myself. I shoved everything away.

‘Don’t worry about me right now, Mother,” I said. ‘What did Kostas do?’

‘I didn’t think he would be like this,’ she whispered in my head. ‘The little boy I raised is gone. And it’s my fault.’

‘How could the choices a grown man makes be your fault?’ I asked. My body shook all over because of the multiple blows I’d received. Time was running out, and everyone I cared about looked like they were on the brink of death.

“He interfered many times with the selection of candidates on my lists,” Mother said. Her voice was so quiet I had to strain my ears to hear her above the frantic pacing of my wolf. “I thought nothing of it until I realised he was sabotaging it. When it became clear that we would not find your true mate, I should have acted. I should have grabbed the first suitable person and had your father command him to protect you. Instead, I chose the backup plan.”

“We decided together, Maria,” Father said.

“But I already knew he would do anything to keep her to himself,” Mother whispered. “I knew how he felt.”

The room tilted. Hearing them speak so plainly about something I’d never even suspected made my skin crawl. How long had my brother carried that obsession?

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Chapter 169

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“But all I could think about was that I didn’t want my baby to die,” Mother whispered. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. This was possibly the most informal conversation I’d ever had with Mother. Why couldn’t they have been open with me from the beginning?

“We chose the wrong person. We couldn’t have foreseen that he would be the one…”

My father’s voice trailed off, but his words struck me.

“Wait.” My breath hitched. “What do you mean? You think Kostas is the one who will kill me?”

Father looked away, and I looked to my mother instead.

“He’s not who I thought he was,” Mother said.

Then she winced. A loud, hacking cough tore out of her, and she brought a handkerchief to her mouth. I helped her sit up. rubbing her back, panic tightening my chest. When she pulled the handkerchief away, it was stained red.

“Mother!”

She sagged back against the pillows, every breath rattling.

“I’m fine,” she whispered after a moment. “You need to go. Kostas is close.”

Only then did I feel it. Dark auras were approaching very quickly.

I turned to Father, but my plea for him to suppress Kostas died on my lips. He looked worse than when I’d come in.

“What’s happening?” I asked. “Why are you so weak? Why do you smell like…” Like death.

“Your mother and I are true mates, princess,” Father said. “Our fates are bound.”

I sucked in a breath. How could I have forgotten? True mates were linked, even in death. Grief crushed down on me, made worse by the pull of the moon. I was losing everything.

No.

No, I wouldn’t let this end like this.

I rose, wiping my face as I calmed my mind, focusing on what mattered. Surviving. I’d hidden long enough.

“Hunter’s infected,” I said. “You have to find a way to save him. He might be our only hope.”

My father’s expression hardened, anger burning away the sorrow.

“I’ll never help that vile, egocentric-”

“He’s my mate,

Father.”

Silence descended on the room. And then their anger bloomed in the air.

“Mate? That… thing?” Father hissed. “How could you? After everything he’s done, how could you let the Lycan K―”

“There’s no time to argue,” I interrupted, already moving towards the bedroom door. I understood why they feared Hunter after what I witnessed him do to Elijah. “If your health is tied to this prophecy, then I’m going to fix it.”

I’d already weighed it in my head. Kostas, or Hunter and my parents. As much as it pained me, I would fight Kostas to the

end.

I closed the bedroom door, praying for the Goddess to buy me enough time to save all of them. By the time I’d run through

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Chapter 169

my parents’ quarters and out into their hallway, Kostas stood on the other end.

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His eyes were more red than brown, and when they flashed, his wolf’s eyes were barely visible. The red ooze was darker. pressing into me even from that distance.

The smell was even stronger.

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