TRADING MY CHEATING HUSBAND FOR THE LYCAN KING novel Chapter 69

CHAPTER 42: A KNOCK FROM REALITY

EMBER’S POV

I pant down at him, triumphant. “Ha.”

“I let you do that.”

“Sure you did.”

His grin is slow and wicked. “Want to know why I let you do that?”

“Because you’re a gentleman?”

“Because I like this view.” His eyes drag down my body-the shirt riding up my thighs, my chest heaving,

my hair a disaster around my face. “Definitely worth losing on purpose for.”

“You’re such a liar.” But I’m grinning too, and my heart is racing, and everything feels bright and alive in a

way I’ve never experienced before. “Admit it. I bested you.”

“You bested me,” he agrees solemnly. “The Lycan King, defeated by an omega in his own bed. The

scandal.”

“I’ll be merciful.” I lean down and kiss him, soft and sweet, a contrast to all the playful violence.

His hands settle on my waist, warm and possessive, and for a moment we just breathe together

Foreheads touching. Hearts beating in the same rhythm.

“Payback,” I whisper against his lips.

Then I slide down his body with a wicked grin.

His groan when I wrap my hand around him is deeply satisfying.

He’s hard and thick and already leaking, and the knowledge that I did this to him-that all it takes ven

his shirt, laughing in his bed-makes me feel powerful in ways ye never felt before

“Ember.” His voice is rough. Strained. “You don’t have to-

“I want to.” I look up at him through my lashes, making sure he’s watching I want to make the Lavan kung

beg

His pupils blow wide “Fuck”

“That’s the idea

I take my time with him Kiss a trail down his abs, feel the muscles jump beneath my tips ink that

sensitive line where his hip meets his thigh, hear his breath catch

Nuzzle against the base of his c**k let him feel my breath hot against his skin whire he fewifi hem wh

anticipation

CHAPTER 42 KNOCK FROM REALITY

“You’re evil,” he grits out.

“You love it.”

“I do. Fuck, I really do.”

+25 ints

When I finally take him in my mouth, his hand flies to the headboard and grips hard enough that I hear

He pulls on pants while I wrap myself in a robe, both of us moving with the efficiency of people who’ve been interrupted too many times.

CHAPTER 42 KNOCK FROM REALITY

+25% ints

The robe swallows me whole, falling to mid-thigh, and I probably look ridiculous but I’m too focused on

the tension in Knox’s shoulders to care.

Nathaniel Reid is on the other side of the door, his expression tight with the kind of controlled urgency that makes my stomach drop.

“Council meeting in three hours,” he says by way of greeting, stepping past Knox without waiting for an invitation. His eyes flick to me-sex-mussed hair, oversized robe, obviously just-fucked glow-and he doesn’t react beyond a slight raise of his eyebrow. “We need to talk strategy, and we need to talk it now.”

Knox closes the door. “What’s the situation?”

“Worse than we thought.” Nathaniel settles onto one of the leather couches and pulls out a tablet, swiping through documents with practiced efficiency. “Gale’s team has been busy. The charges they’re bringing are serious-violation of the marriage bond, abuse of power, conduct/unbecoming a Lycan King. They’re going

for the throat.”

I sink onto the edge of another couch, pulling the robe tighter around myself. The playful warmth from minutes ago feels like it happened to different people.

“Walk me through the charges,” Knox says, moving toward the kitchen. “And the council composition.” “Elder James is presiding, which is bad news. He’s old guard, traditional values, very much a painn in the ass. Not sympathetic to anything that looks like rule-breaking, regardless of the circumstances.” Nathaniel accepts the coffee Knox hands him without pausing his briefing. “Elder Rothschild is more neutral-he’s the one who called you yesterday, so you know where he stands. Cautious but not hostile. Elder Catherine is the omega representative, which could work in our favor, but she’s unpredictable. She might sympathize with Ember’s situation or she might see this whole thing as an embarrassment to omega-kind. Hard to tell which way she’ll break.”

Knox presses a coffee cup into my hands. The gesture is so automatic, so thoughtful, that it makes my

chest ache.

“What’s Gale’s angle? His pack?” Knox asks.

“Total character assassination.” Nathaniel swipes to another document “They’re painting you as a power-drunk lycan who used his position to steal another man’s mate. Ember gets cast as either a manipulative seductress or a confused omega who was coerced-they’ll probably play both angles depending on what’s more useful in the moment Logan Reeves is backing them with money, connections, legal resources. Whatever they’re planning, they’ve got the firepower to make it hurt

I think about Logan’s offer from the Welcome Dinner The way he slid that letter to me like it was a clear solution. How much lower can he go?

“If they win,” I say quietly, “what happens?”