I Bought A Male Escort, Turns Out He's The Lycan King (by lg savage) novel Chapter 243

Chapter 243

HUNTER

24

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The room went still after Malcolm asked the question. I felt every set of eyes turn to me before I even looked

Malcolm sat on the couch nearest to the hearth, his arms folded, and the silver markings on his skin fading back beneath the surface. Kostas slouched in a chair opposite, as if none of this concerned him, yet the only reason he would have come back to find Kitty was that he still cared more than he would admit. Rivers and April shared the last couch, both staring straight at me.

I saw the exact second the truth hit Rivers. His shoulders locked, his mouth parted, and shock rolled off him so sharply I almost scented it.

Kitty hadn’t moved since Malcolm spoke. The bond between us was damaged, frayed in places, but I still felt the cold edge of her attention. Her calculation. Her distrust. Her distance. I welcomed the cold. Cold meant she still had some fight left in her. Warmth from her lately usually came right before pain.

“Well?” Malcolm asked.

I dragged a hand down my jaw and forced myself to stay seated. My beast pushed weakly in my chest, rage still burning through him. He wanted to hunt. To rip something apart because the enemy had touched what was mine, but there was no throat available to tear out.

And I wasn’t certain who the enemy truly was.

For all I knew, the witches could turn every person in this room against us when it suited them. I wanted to trust the people here, but Tanner was about as far as my trust currently reached.

Three quick knocks sounded on the door before it opened, and my beta stepped in. He was bare-chested and barefoot, with one of the Bureau’s special weapons in his hand. His gaze swept the room, pausing briefly on Kostas, before he came to stand behind me without being asked.

“The attack eased the moment the cabin wards strengthened,” he reported. “I swept the perimeter. Our shadow teams are already moving into position. Either these witches can’t harm anyone while you’re protected in here, or they have no interest in anyone else.”

Yet.

Maybe they simply hadn’t had enough time inside us to gain what they wanted. There was no telling what methods they would use once desperation set in. Ancient magic rarely fought cleanly.

I gave Tanner a short nod, then looked at Rivers again. He still wore that stunned expression, and horror was slowly bleeding into it. It irritated me enough that I wanted to punch it off his face.

Everyone followed my gaze.

Malcolm’s eyes narrowed. “What the hell is going on?”

Rivers blinked, gathered himself, then looked down at his hands before lifting his head again. I could

14:02 Tue, May 19

Chapter 243

practically hear the thoughts grinding behind his eyes.

When he finally spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper.

“They’re fated.”

Silence hit the room. Only the crackling of the fire remained. Rivers looked directly at Malcolm.

“True mates.”

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If I’d been at full strength, I would have heard every heartbeat in the room. But even weakened, I still caught the scent threading through the air.

Fear.

Any other time, fear around me would have meant nothing. It followed me everywhere I went. But now, I measured every reaction. Would they decide to lock us away after all? Would they become the enemy?

Fated meant the prophecy wouldn’t have touched us, and all the suffering had been for nothing. But it also meant something else. Something more terrifying. Our gifts had not merely brushed against each other. They had rooted. Not just shared but absorbed. Passed into our blood.

In their eyes, I had filled their princess with darkness.

But they still had no idea where the real darkness lay.

I glanced at Kitty, then leaned back against the couch.

“Now that we’ve established the obvious,” I said, “can we continue? We still need to rest.”

Kostas let out a humourless laugh, one that sounded wrong in the small space.

“Of course,” he said, looking between us. “I should have known. Even when Zachary broke the bond, you were still connected.”

Malcolm leaned forward, his eyes widening with something close to alarm.

“Do you understand what that means?” he asked. “You’re the strongest Lycan in generations, Hunter. Outside your kingdom, no one can even begin to guess what you’re truly capable of. And now all of your power lives in Katerina, too.”

His gaze shifted to Kitty.

“If those witches manage to take hold of that…”

He didn’t need to finish. I looked at Kitty again. Her attention had moved from me to everyone else in the room as if she was also assessing them.

“We will not allow anything to happen to our queen,” Tanner said.

The room changed again.

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Chapter 243

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24

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The queen. The Lycan Queen. Would Kitty ever claim that title? I folded my arms and let my gaze move over every face present. Let them hear what he meant. Let them understand that Kitty was not alone, unguarded, or dependent on anyone’s mercy in this room.

Lycan loyalty ran deeper than most werewolves could comprehend. Even our weakest were dangerous. Our strongest rewrote battlefields.

If any plan forming in their heads involved sacrificing Kitty for the greater good, they would bleed before finishing the sentence.

“So how do we stabilise Kitty’s magic?” I asked, dragging the conversation back to the only priority that mattered.

Even if stabilising her made the witches stronger, I would still choose it. We would deal with every other consequence once Kitty’s life was secure.

“Training,” Malcolm answered first. “I’d thought it would be like training the shadows, but it isn’t.”

He looked at Kitty, and some of the severity left his face.

“I taught you everything I know,” he said. “This won’t be solved by combat drills or discipline. This is inside you now.”

“Don’t give me riddles, Mal,” Kitty said cooly, crossing one leg over the other. The gap between us on the couch had nearly disappeared without either of us acknowledging it. “Tell me how it is. Tell me exactly what I need to do.”

“You need harmony,” Malcolm said. “Your white wolf, your Lycan strength, and your shadow magic. Right now, they’re reacting separately. Competing. Defending themselves. If they do not become one force inside you, they will tear you apart when you face that magic again.”

Kitty looked at me, and the coldness in her eyes slid straight through my bones. She still had no intention of embracing the Lycan side of herself or the bond.

“Is there another way?” she asked.

I looked away, ignoring the sharp stab in my chest. There was only one way to repair what sat broken between us. The truth. The full truth.

The truth that would break her far more than letting her believe the lies she’d been fed her whole life.

Was it worth the risk?

“We need to go to the Bureau,” I said. “There are things there that will help.”

“Bronson has taken over. His people are everywhere,” Kostas said.

I smiled. No one could ever truly take over something they did not understand.

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