CHAPTER FIVE - ADRIEL

This has to be a joke. Did the Council set this up? Or did they just wake up and decide to fly halfway across the damned country to insult me?

I can’t hide the glare as I sit down on my throne.

They’re all here. Every Alpha. All of them accompanied by daughters, nieces, sisters even.

Did they set this up? Did they all have a little conversation behind my back about how to deal with my lost mate problem?

Gods, Lia isn’t even cold in her grave, if she even has a grave, and already they’re trying to slide some new She-Wolf into my bed.

I glance at my mother. She’s stood to the side, I know all these Alpha’s always fuck with her head, that her own mate-bond reacts to their presence because she’s a Sullivan. And more than that, I know she’s uneasy, that that old fear is stirring. She’s the only woman in the world who can create Lycan’s. What if one of these Alpha’s decided to steal her away when I decided their chosen bride wasn’t to my liking? If my fathers were here she wouldn’t have to put up with this. If my fathers were here she would be safe, in her rooms, while they backed me up.

No. I don’t need them to back me up. They might be Alphas too. But I am the Alpha King. I am fully capable of holding my own.

And perhaps this will be a good demonstration of that. A good lesson for these Wolves to learn. Because of my age they see me as malleable, mouldable. They’re about to find out I am anything but.

“What is the meaning of this?” I growl.

“Your Grace,” Alpha Elwood says, “We came to pay our respects.”

“Respects?” I repeat. By displaying all these She-Wolves in front of me? That’s meant to be respectful is it?

“With the Aurora Pack gone…” Alpha Kian says carefully.

I shake my head getting up and prowl towards them. Half the women duck their heads like that’s what I’m after, a mate, a partner who’s too scared to look me in the face. One or two have the balls to stare my down and I’ll give them the credit where that is due.

I’m not an easy Wolf to look at. I’m almost twice the size of every man in this room. My Lycan genes have made me this way. My muscles are more pronounced, my body is stronger, faster, far more domineering than a simple Wolf. That’s another reason why I needed my mate. Because she was matched to me. Her body could handle me.

Oh, I’ve fucked She-Wolves. I’ve had my share. Afterall, we’re not known to be saints, waiting patiently as virgins until our mate arrives. No, I’ve enjoyed my time being single, just as my fathers did before they found my mother. I don’t doubt Lia has done the same, hell I want her to have. To have lived and enjoyed herself before she dedicated her life to me.

That stops me. That thought. Lia is dead. If she did fuck anyone, if she died a virgin, well, none of it makes any difference now. She’s gone. My mate is gone. I’ll never even lay eyes on her.

I clench my fists in fury as that thought sinks in and mingles with the doubt in my head still whispering that my mate can’t be dead. She just can’t be.

My eyes cast once more of the twenty or so women. If I choose one, if I decided to forget my anger and lose myself in the delights of their body, I know it would only be temporary. That the pleasure wouldn’t last because it never does.

I’ve always had to hold back, had to keep myself from entirely giving in to my partner. I’ve never been able to fuck the way I truly wanted because I know deep down any other than my mate cannot handle it. Their body is too fragile, too weak.

And now I will never have that. I will never get that.

“This is my daughter, Francesca,” Alpha Elwood says and I realise I’ve been staring at her. My eyes practically boring into her.

She’s pretty, with a long auburn hair not unlike my mothers, a wide soft face and bright blue eyes that look almost like jewels. She drops a curtsey, giving me a glimpse of her pert breasts in the slinky dress she has on.

Alpha Elwood’s family have ruled his pack for almost a thousand years. They’re a strong pack, a pack with history, legacy, loyalty too. Yeah, she’d made a good mate. A fine partner.

Just not for me.

“I’m busy.” Is all I can get out.

Her face drops. Her smile dies instantly. Maybe I am a brute, maybe the death of my mate is a punishment from the Moon Goddess herself for my bad manners but I don’t care.

I’m not going to entertain this, I’m not going to allow this insult to continue.

I walk out, leaving them all stood, staring at my back dumbfounded.