The 5-time Rejected Gamma & the Lycan King novel Chapter 11

Chapter 11

To Xandar’s and Christian’s relief, Greg didn’t show up for tea or dinner. Lucianne continued t o introduce pack members to the King and his second-in-command as they both took note of what each pack was asking for. The wolves were surprised and grateful for the chance to be heard. Whenever Lucianne stood to take some food or drink alone, pack members she had never met would walk up to her with a problem that their pack is facing. They felt more at ease to meet her alone first before being introduced to the King himself.

She felt honored to bridge the packs with their King. The part she minded was having to risk meeting conceited pack leaders. In these situations, she will ask them a simple ‘so, can you tell me the kind of aid that your pack requires?’ before deciding whether she wanted to continue the conversation. Some Alphas and Gammas whom she had never met introduced themselves simply because they wanted to meet her. The conversations were appropriate so she took an interest in getting to know those she had yet to meet.

Somewhere in the middle of dinner, Xandar and Christian were discussing the aid the Moonhowl Pack was asking for after rogues destroyed their borders. Seeing that the pack members no longer needed encouragement to speak to Xandar, Lucianne got up for a second refill of wine. After filling her glass, she leaned against the refreshments table for a momentt o take a sip, taking a quiet moment to herself.

Suddenly, a warm breath graced her ear with a hushed, “Hey.”

She jumped to the side because she recognized that voice. Some of the wine from her glass splashed on the floor but thankfully the floor was dark-colored carpet so it didn’t make much of a mess.

“I’m so sorry. Are you okay, Lucianne?” Sebastian asked guiltily.

“Excuse me, there are people I need to speak to.” Lucianne said flatly, and tried to turn to leave.

Sebastian dashed to block her way. “I just want to talk.”

“You have no right to make demands.” Lucianne spat.

Sebastian looked uncomfortably at the floor as he muttered, “I know. There’s not a day that goes by that I wish I did differently, that I wish I did better by you. You were a gift, and I was a fool not to see that.”

Lucianne listened and said indifferently, “Noted, thank you.”

She tried to walk around him but he stopped her again. He said, “I know that I don’t deserve your forgiveness. I was a scum.” He chuckled sadly, “I’m a Lycan but what I did was low for any species, and I’m going to keep apologizing until you forgive me. I don’t care how long it’ll take.”

She rolled her eyes and said, “Save your breath, Cummings. I’ve already forgiven you. I forgave you for myself so that I could move on. If you think I did it for you or that I would ever do it for you, you’re dead wrong.”

She only took one step to her side when he blocked her again, hurt evident in his eyes when h e said, “Just… here.” He lifted up a book she didn’t see him holding and continued, “I got you this. I remember you mentioning your interest in learning about the psychology behind becoming a better warrior. I thought of you when I saw this. Just think of it as a gift from a friend.”

She looked at the book. If they were still mates, and if he hadn’t cheated on her or lied to her, this gift would’ve made her heart melt. Now, she didn’t feel anything. She took note of the title and the author’s name so that she could order it by herself later on and said, “We’re not friends. Now, step aside.”

“Just take it, Lucianne. You don’t even have to think that it was from me, please.” Sebastian pleaded.

From her peripheral vision, she saw Xandar’s figure approaching in quick steps. From the way he was pacing, it was clear that he was angry. Lucianne spoke in a low voice, “Sebastian Cummings, if you have the slightest shred of intelligence and wisdom left, you will step aside now. You don’t want to get hurt.”

He clearly didn’t know that Xandar was coming, which made him say, “I was already hurt when you rejected me, Lucianne.”

“Interesting choice of words.” Xandar’s voice came from the side as he slid an arm around Lucianne’s waist and held her close to his body. “Given that you were the one who gave Lucianne more than enough reason to do what she did.”

Sebastian was gritting his teeth after hearing Xandar’s words. Before either of them could say anything to each other, Lucianne prompted Sebastian, “You should go.”

Sebastian smiled meekly and longingly at Lucianne as he nodded before walking away. Xandar kissed her temple and asked in concern, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be? So, is the Moonhowl Pack going to be alright?” Lucianne asked.

Xandar smiled. “They’ll be fine, sweetheart. I’m more concerned about you. You don’t have to shove your troubles aside just to take care of people all the time, you know.”

She rolled her eyes and said, “I have seen and felt pack problems. Compared to what they have to go through, my troubles are nothing.”

“No. I will not let you think that. It’s my job to make sure that you don’t have to bear with your troubles alone.” Xandar said firmly as he held her by her arms.

Despite being moved by his words, Lucianne was in the mood to be cheeky. She cocked her head to one side and asked with a small smile, “That’s in the King’s job description along with

his long list of royal duties? Wow. Sounds very taxing.” Xandar smiled and played along, “It is taxing. Why do you think I need you as my Queen?” Lucianne showed a mock look of realization and went on, “Ah, so you just needed another helper to do the work. And to think I was something special to you. Gosh, this is quite embarrassing, your Highness.”

“Mmm…” Xandar was still in a mood to play. “Looks like I‘ve misled you.”

“That, you did.”

He smirked and uttered in his husky voice by her ear, “Maybe you should consider punishing me, my love. What will you have me do?” His warm breath tickled her ear, and that was when she smelled his arousal. Her cheeky mood was gone.

She gasped in shock at how far they went with their charade. Xandar’s lips were still by her ear, where she felt him smirk as he asked cockily, “What’s wrong, my dear? Still embarrassed?” He started inhaling deeply, taking her scent from her neck.

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Not wanting to allow this to go any further in the eyes of so many people in the hall, she took his head into her hands, and gently pushed it back as she took a step back herself. His eyes were still looking at her coyly. The smell of his arousal was getting stronger, and Lucianne knew she had to do something before everyone in the dining hall looked their way.

Lucianne smirked and said, “Embarrassed? Oh please, your Highness. I was just thinking about your punishment.” She let go of his head after saying that and crossed her arms. Perhaps the lack of skin contact between them would stop his arousing thoughts, she thought

“Mm.. Is that so?” He reached for both sides of her waist and pulled her closer to him, still smirking as he was doing it. “And what have you decided, my Queen?”

Lucianne tried to ignore her discomfort in being called a Queen when she clearly wasn’t one, then said, “Perhaps staying away from each other for a day would do us some good.”

All humor was drained from his eyes. His arousal was put to a sudden stop. He looked like a child who had a toy snatched away from him as he abruptly pressed her body into his, and pleaded desperately into her ear, “No, don’t go. I’ll be good, I promise. Don’t keep us apart, Lucianne, please.”

She pulled away and didn’t say another word as she led him in the direction of their table by his hand. He asked in worry, “You’re not really going to stay away from me tomorrow, are

you?”

She snorted at how seriously he took her. “No, Xandar. But you really need to control your arousal. We’re around your subjects, for goodness sake. I just hope that I was the only one who smelled it.”

Xandar glanced behind them before he said apologetically, “From the grins the werewolves

are throwing our way, I would say they smelled it too.”

“Oh, Goddess.” Lucianne covered her face with both hands in embarrassment.

“To be fair, this was your fault. You were the one who started to play ignorant.” Xandar

accused.

“Me?!” Lucianne stopped in her steps and whisper-yelled, “I wasn’t the one who couldn’t control my arousal.”

Xandar, with both hands raised to chest-level like he was shielding himself, then said, “In my defense, it’s very hard to not be aroused by you.”

“How is that even a defense?!” Lucianne asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion and disbelief,

“When you looked at me like that and spoke like that, it just… turned me on.” Xandar explained innocently.

Lucianne narrowed her eyes. “I was speaking to you in direct language. You were the one who twisted the conversation when you started having inappropriate thoughts. How I spoke to you was perfectly normal”

Xandar couldn’t stop his lips from curling upwards. He kissed Lucianne on her forehead briefly before he whispered with a slight shake of his head, “No, it wasn’t ” He took her hand and said sweetly, “I’ll control it. I can’t make any promises but I’ll try to control it.”

Lucianne groaned in frustration, and shook her head in disapproval before moving towards the table to take her seat. The members of Moonhowl had already left, so it was just Xandar, Christian and Lucianne.

Before Xandar sat, Christian looked at Lucianne and explained, “Don’t blame him, my Queen Just as Alphas have a heightened level of sexual drive compared to the ordinary wolf, a Lycan King experiences the same thing compared to the ordinary Lycan. It’s common knowledge. I’m sure you know it. I don’t even know why I’m explaining it to you. And uh, cuz …” he looked at Xandar who had just sat and said, “It was your fault. Unlike Alphas, Lycan Kings are supposed to be able to exercise better control over their arousal.”

Xandar glared playfully at Christian. “Did you even want to be on my side when you asked the Queen not to blame me?”

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Dramatically, Christian placed a hand on Xandar’s shoulder and said, “I am on the side of truth and justice, your Highness.” And ended his act with a bow.

Lucianne chuckled from the side. Xandar gazed at her profile, and gently pushed her hair over her shoulder to the back to see her full face as he asked, “Nothing to say, my dear?”

OT

She smirked, “I’m not taking that risk again, my King.” He smiled in a daze as his fingers traced her hair down her back lovingly.

“That’s probably the wise thing to do for tonight, my Queen.” He smirked.

“Am I allowed to ask why she’s like that?” Christian whispered in Xandar’s direction.

Xandar then looked back at his cousin and childhood friend as he muttered, “I can’t give you the details. That’s for her to share. But I can tell you what is already general knowledge: she went through five rejections before we met. I’m her sixth-chance mate.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It’s just…wow.” He composed himself before questioning aloud, “How is she still alive, let alone helping her people survive? From her energy and grace, I didn’t think she was bonded to anyone before you. But I guess it explains her strong sense of self-control.”

• Xandar was confused. “What do you mean? What self-control?”

“Yes.” Xandar nodded as he recalled smelling her neck when they were in his villa, and he tried to do it again in the car and back at the refreshments table before she stopped him.

“Were you aroused when you did?”

Then it hit Xandar. Christian got his answer from his cousin’s distraught expression, but it wasn’t the answer they both wanted. She wasn’t as attracted to him as he was to her. Her body was not responding at the intensity that his body already was just by smelling her. The thought pained Xandar. Would she always be out of his reach? What could he do to be more sexually desirable to his mate?

Christian cocked his head slightly and said, “She seems quite warmed up to you though. And you‘ve only met when? Two nights ago?” Xandar smiled at the memory of the first time he caught her scent and laid eyes on her. It was like living in a dream but he had never felt more alive before that night.