The Ruthless Lycan King Fell For His Slave Mate novel Chapter 28

“What do you want?” Zero demanded as soon as he and Julian were far away from the premises of the school.

Julian scoffed and turned on him. “What do I want?” he questioned ridiculously. “How about you keep your filthy hands to yourself and off my mate?”

“Oh, so you care?” Zero asked. “I thought you wanted nothing to do with her.”

“What I do with her is none of your business,” Julian snapped. “She is my mate, not yours. If you are so starved for a female’s attention, get it somewhere else. If you are doing this to cross me, I advise you to think again.”

“Why would I do that?” Zero demanded. “Just admit it, you have feelings for her but keep acting like an asshole because you are too proud to accept it. If you don’t want to claim her, why does it bother you so much when someone else pays attention to her?”

“Attention?” Julian scoffed. “The kind of attention where you kiss her in front of everybody? What are you trying to prove?”

“Forget about me and think about Lyra,” Zero told him. “If you don’t acknowledge her as your mate, she’s going to be killed by other high-ranking wolves like your new fiancée. Everybody was ganging up against her before you got there. She is an Omega, she cannot protect herself. If as his mate you don’t want to do it, don’t be sour when other people step in.”

Julian ground his teeth and glared at his cousin. Damn it. Why did he have to be right? Julian already knew that Crystal was targeting Lyra. Without doubt, she would rally the other werewolves at the Academy to do the same. If he did nothing about it, Lyra would be in danger.

But to acknowledge her? Hell no. Powerful packs had been sniffing around his throne for years because he had no mate. If everybody knew that he had an Omega mate? They would be even more aggressive about it.

“So what?” he retorted. “Do you want me to go out there and tell everyone that I found my mate, and she just happens to be a cheating Omega whore? Right, that’s going to be such good news for the kingdom.”

Zero was usually restrained. Even though he never kept quiet in the face of injustice, he always went about it in a civil manner. But it was getting increasingly hard to stand there and listen to Julian call Lyra names and be a grade one asshole.

He folded his hand into a fist and swung his arm, punching Julian in his jaw. “You are a fucking disgrace,” he snarled as Julian looked at him in disbelief. “What’s the use of being the Lycan King if you cannot protect your own mate? Not to mention that you are the one enacting the law about Alphas not rejecting their mates. But you, as king, cannot even uphold that. If that’s what you want to do, do it already and set her free! You are worse for it by not taking responsibility but keeping her tied to you!”

Julian did not try to get Zero back for the punch. Maybe he deserved it. And, maybe Zero was right. He was the worst. But if the curse did not exist, he would have rejected Lyra from the moment he found out she was his mate. He would have set her free and forgotten about her. Sure, he would have gone against his rules, but it would have been for the good of the kingdom.

She was too weak to be the queen. She could not withstand internal threats, let alone external dangers. She had nothing to offer the kingdom, and he would not risk the stability of his kingdom because of one female. If Zero could not understand that, there was nothing more to say.

His own wolf, Nolan, was urging him to back down. Provoking a stronger male regarding his mate was like digging one’s own grave, and Nolan knew Zero was fearless enough to do it.

Zero did not resist when the guards started leading him away. But that did not mean that he was backing down, at all. He was determined to be there for Lyra, and no one, not even the Lycan King, could stop him.

Julian cursed and raked his hands through his hair. With Zero gone, he could feel his anger abating. He hated that he had no control over the possessiveness that had consumed him. Lyra was his mate, and hence he was possessive over her.

If Zero did not stay away from her, Julian could not promise that he would not do something more drastic. That was just the nature of werewolves. Even if he wanted nothing to do with her, the thought of her being with another male made him see red.

“If you don’t want anyone else to get his hands on her, then you better not leave her alone tonight,” Yuri told him. “It’s full moon night.”

Yuri’s words brought Julian’s mind to a grinding halt. Shit. Yuri was right. The thought of the horrors Lyra would go through if left alone that night made a chill run through his spine.

No, he could not leave her alone.