Chapter 5- Mate?

Zephyra’s Pov

I couldn’t even swallow my own saliva.

Why did she ask me if I was still a virgin? What would the Lycan King do to me? My heart raced faster with fear. But who was I to ask questions here? I was just a slave now. Even though deep inside, I knew I wasn’t truly a slave, I didn’t have the courage to fight back.

The woman looked at me again and said, “You are beautiful. I’m sure the King will cherish you. His women are under serious punishment at the moment so he's all yours, it’s a great opportunity. Come now, follow me.”

Her words kept ringing in my ears as I walked behind her. The King’s women? How many women did this King have? And what punishment were they under? There were so many questions I wanted to ask her but I didn't dare.

We kept walking for a long time and my bare feet felt every cold tile we passed over. Soon, we reached a beautiful part of the palace. The walls here shone like polished marble, but even brighter, almost like pearls. The floor sparkled too, as if it was made of precious stones.

Guards stood everywhere and their eyes didn’t fail to follow me. Some looked curious and ready to attack if I did the wrong thing while the others just looked bored.

Finally, we stopped at a tall door with golden patterns. The woman opened it and stepped inside first before I followed her.

She turned to me and said, “Wait here and do not eat even if you are hungry. The King will come later and you will eat, only when he permits you to.” She turned to leave but paused at the door. “Do not forget what I told you earlier. Do everything he says because you’ll be better off alive and not dead…. The palace could use an extra hand in the kitchen.”

Before I could say anything, she left, closing the heavy door behind her.

I stood there, feeling my legs shake. On a low table sat a large silver tray full of food. Roasted meat, fresh bread, fruits, and a cup of water. My stomach growled, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten since… I couldn’t even remember when last I had something to eat.

As much as I wanted to fill my stomach, I couldn’t because my mind was full of worry.

Am I about to become just another whore for the King? I felt tears sting my eyes, but I blinked them back. I couldn’t cry yet, I had to stay strong even if I was deeply hurt by everything that had happened to me.

…….

Theron’s Pov

The Lycan Festival was drawing near, and with it came the kind of pressure the entire palace couldn’t afford to mishandle, not this year and definitely not under my reign.

It wasn’t just some grand celebration, it was a centuries-old tradition, one that held ancestral honor, and the pride of every bloodline tied to this kingdom. A single mistake could stain our name for decades.

That was why the noblemen, the elders, and my two younger brothers had gathered in the boardroom at dawn, to talk about the festival but they ended up turning everything into an argument.

I should’ve been part of the conversation—hell, my voice mattered more than anyone’s in this room…but I couldn’t focus on a single damn word.

My beast was pacing under my skin, restless, snarling, pushing against my control. It wouldn’t stop howling in the back of my skull.

I knew exactly what it wanted and what it demanded. It wanted a woman, it wanted to rut, it wanted me to bury myself deep inside the body of a woman until the beast was silenced.

One of the curses of being a Lycan was that if you didn’t find your mate early enough, your beast needed regular satisfaction to keep its sanity.

If it didn’t get it, it grew restless, then feral, then dangerous enough to overtake the body completely.

The last time I lost control, it had taken an entire battalion to restrain me and I lost some of my men. Even the palace still gossiped about the destruction I caused and I absolutely refused to let history repeat itself.

But I hadn’t slept with a woman in days—not because I lacked options, but because my chosen mistresses dared to disobey me. They had entered one of my private suites, the one place I had repeatedly told them to stay out of.

So, as punishment, I ordered them not to show their faces to me for two full months, that was the only way it would really sting them.

At the time, it felt justified, but now? The days felt impossibly long and every night was a slow torment. My beast threatened to break loose and it became harder to sleep.

I hated the thought of fucking a slave as it was beneath my status and standards. I had always taken well trained women from noble families that carried a certain dignity because a king does not take random servants to his bed.

But I needed the warmth of a woman’s body, I needed release and I needed it soon.

The men were still arguing when the boardroom doors opened. Jareth, my Beta, stepped inside and he paused at the threshold before meeting my gaze and speaking to me through the mind link.

“It is done.”

“Which maid did you choose?” I asked.

“None from the palace,” he replied. “I bought a new slave and she is very beautiful.”

My beast growled in anticipation, thrilled at the prospect of anyone who could satisfy us.

Slaves were not meant for kings and the fact that my body reacted instantly to the idea of touching her made me even more annoyed.

Still, I rose from my chair, the elders and noblemen scrambled up with me.

“I must leave now,” I announced. “Continue the planning without me.”

They bowed as I exited the room with Jareth at my side.

As we walked through the corridor, I asked him. “You seem awfully sure about her. Why do you think she would be enough to satisfy me?”

Jareth halted and turned toward me with serious eyes. “Because I just know she will be, she doesn’t even look like a slave. And frankly, does it matter? You’re starving your beast because you’re punishing those women and while your reason is valid, the cost is too high right now. You can barely sleep.”

Truthfully, my nights had been hellish, restless, drenched in sweat and filled with violent dreams of tearing something apart.

“I know you don’t want to admit it,” Jareth continued, “but the beast needs this and starving it would break even the strongest Lycan. Including you.”

“And how much did she cost?” I asked as we resumed walking.

“Thousands of gold coins.”

I stopped dead, because he couldn’t be serious. “That is an absurd amount of money for a slave, there’s no reason she should cost that much.”

I had more wealth than I could ever spend, but even I knew that many gold coins were only used for rare witches, trained concubines… or dangerous weapons.

Jareth held my gaze. “Because she is different. You’ll understand when you see her.”

We reached the guarded door. Two of my men stood in black trousers and crisp white shirts. Jareth stepped aside as they opened it for me.

“I better not regret this,” I muttered.

I stepped inside and the door closed behind me with a click.

I hadn’t even seen her yet, but I caught her scent right away. It was so captivating that it took my breath away. If I was not mistaken, it smelled like a mix of cinnamon and fresh jasmine—something I never thought could go together, but it was absolutely wonderful.

Every hair on my body stood, while my beast roared in my mind, begging for release.

She was going to destroy me completely with that scent…,What the hell was happening to me?

I looked forward and froze the minute I saw her. A young woman stood in the center of the room with brown braids resting over her shoulders.

Her skin was pale, almost glowing under the chandelier and her eyes were a deep, striking, crimson shade. They were wide with fear as she stared at me.

She had crimson eyes? Crimson eyes were rare and considered a curse. Only those born on an auspicious day carried that color.

How had someone like her survived as a slave? And why in the goddess’s name was she brought to me? Why would anyone think I would be interested in a cursed woman?

But her scent… her scent was driving my beast insane. It felt like it reached inside me and twisted something vital. My control was slipping and I wanted to ruin her, consume her, fuck her until she begged me and couldn’t stand.

“Mate!” My lycan growled inside me.

This couldn’t be fucking happening. There was no way, it couldn’t be. Thirty-five years…. For thirty-five years, I gave up on searching for my mate and built my harem to quiet the emptiness and satisfy my beast.

I convinced myself that I didn’t need fate and now my fated mate was standing in front of me?

I didn’t want a mate anymore. Not after decades of disappointment and after I built a life of pleasure without attachment.

My heartbeat pounded so loudly I could hear nothing else, but something was wrong.

I stepped closer to her but she moved back from me, shakily, like she expected me to strike her. The fear in her eyes made me furious. A mate shouldn’t fear her other half.

I also noticed how her eyes didn’t glow and how her breath wasn’t uneven with longing for me. She wasn’t restless the way a mate should be. She felt nothing.

“Why can’t she feel it?” I growled internally as rage flooded my chest.

“I don’t sense a wolf in her,” my beast answered, bitterly.

A wolfless wolf? My mate was wolfless.

Fate had given me the one thing I had waited decades for… only to twist the blade by making her incomplete and broken. The Moon Goddess had given me a mate… and then stripped her of the very thing that made her whole. That was nothing but a cruel fate.

How could the Moon Goddess bind me to someone like her and then deny her the ability to ever accept me back?