LITTLE FRAIL STRAY

KAI’S POV 

You’ve got to be kidding me. 

A stray. A fucking stray that had tinges of rejection all over her. To make it worse, she was wolfless. My eyes hovered all over her, and my heart boiled with a mixture of disgust. 

Why on earth would the moon goddess think she could link us to a stray as a second chance mate? 

This frail thing could’ve been part of the people who were punished for trespassing. 

My gaze landed on the crowd that had come to witness the sacrilege. The frown etched on their faces was enough to tell me what I needed to know. 

Yes, there was a curse. One that could bring us to our very knees. But this stray wasn’t the remedy we needed. 

Not her. Not her. Because I was going to make her pain for the moon goddess’s approval of the bond. 

Emrys' lips parted into a grin. “I suppose you know this is just for formalities,” she began, “You’re only a Luna on paper. And that’s as far as it goes.” Her tone was clipped, brooking no opposition. 

My wolf snickered in disapproval. His bloodstream, pumping with adrenaline. An effect of the mate bond. 

My fist clenched in rage. “What pack are you from?”

My voice, an icy whisper. 

She flinched a little, which intensified the rage I was feeling. “Riverstone—”

Emrys gasped. “What!” Her voice boomed across the hall. In that instant, the hall was filled with disapproving grunts, and jeers. 

Riverstone pack. Alpha Aiden Reynolds. 

That name tasted like bile in my throat. We had a rift, one that wouldn’t be forgiven in centuries to come. 

Our fated mate Lia had been lost at the borders of the Riverstone pack. At first, we thought it was one of her drama. Until it was clear it wasn’t. 

Lia was lost, with only her bracelet found. We buried the bracelet without a body. That asshole Alpha Reynolds didn’t care. Instead he had the balls to wage war.

I wanted to go all in, and burn his pack and everything he held dear to him to the ground. Oh, it would’ve been the greatest pleasure of my existence. 

Alpha Halil refuted it. He said he was bidding time. In his words, it wasn’t the perfect time to strike. I sulked for a couple of weeks. Then, we declared the Riverstone pack, and every of its subordinate sworn enemies of the Blackcrest pack. 

Emrys inched closer to her, raised her hands, and brought it upon her face with a smack. “How dare you try to spy?” She demanded. “You want to finish off what your Alpha started, huh?” Her voice was steady, but I could hear the unease etched in each word that rolled out of her mouth. 

She shook her head, her entire body trembling like a puppy drenched in rain. 

Dax, my wolf snarled. ‘Nobody touches my mate, not even Emrys.’ 

A nerve undid in my jaw, as I pushed him to the deepest place of my heart, and suppressed him. ‘Not now Dax. Not now.’ 

We had a fated mate that was killed on the borders of her pack. 

Then, in a swing of fate the moon goddess approved of her. She would live with this dent, as long as she remained in Blackcrest pack. And I swear by the moon goddess, I’m never going to let her walk away from this pack. 

I stared down on her, my eyes turning red with wolf. “Look at me!” I growled. The warriors went on their knees, and bowed their heads. 

Emrys rested against her walking stick, and tipped her head in a little bow. I took one heavy step towards my prey. She took a step backwards. I took another step towards her. She took a step backwards, a low moan escaped the corner of her lips when she hit her back against Halil’s chest. 

She turned around, and the minute she came face to face with Halil, she collapsed onto the ground. 

Todd charged towards her. “Todd!” I called after him. 

He stopped midway, and turned to my direction with a bow. “Yes, Alpha.” 

“Do you perhaps have a better punishment for my mate than I do?” My voice was laced in sarcasm. 

Halil grunted in response, bored to death by her weakness. “I thought we’d have fun playing with her. This is too bland for a pack that boasts of strong wolves,” his eyebrows pulled together in a tight V. “Ah! I forgot she doesn’t have a wolf.” 

Todd bowed again, and moved aside. I inched closer to her, and my veins pulsated with electricity. Ah! The last time I felt the intensity of a mate was with Lia. 

I never wanted to feel that way again. Meanwhile, the Blackcrest pack would be in shambles if either I or Halil is missing. A powerful pack like Blackcrest needed their Lycan Kings. 

She came in right in time. Even though that didn’t spare her of the torture awaiting her. 

I kneeled beside her, and took her features in, ignoring the faint thump, thump, thump of my heart. A big scar covered one side of her face, and extended to her neck. 

From the way it spread, our little frail stray seemed to have gotten into a fire accident. She looked clumsy to say the least. I wouldn’t take it from her to get into a fire even if she could avoid it. 

Wavy blonde hair that poured like a mane. Pointy nose. And her lips were distinctly outlined. Dax, my wolf purred deeply impressed by her. 

My jaw flexed. “Goddess…she’s ugly!” The words fell out of my mouth. 

Emrys cleared her throat. “I totally agree with you.” 

I snaked my hands around her waist, and lifted her in my arms, earning me a soft moan. “And where are you taking her?” 

“To her quarters on our floor!” 

Emrys snickered. “She should stay in the dungeon, she’s an enemy,” the old woman seethed beneath a pensive breath. “Alpha Kai, she should only be summoned when you both need her to ease your urges.” 

A grunt rattled my chest. Talk about an overprotective grandmother, who’d look out for us, and kill an enemy in one breath. 

“Thanks Emrys, we’ll take it up from here.” My voice was bland.