“What the hell are you doing here?!” was the first thing Orion wanted to shout out at Cory. But Cory had already inherited the title of the Kingdom’s Alpha. He was his superior. It would be disrespectful to say that.
Suppressing all the anger in his chest, Orion just addressed Cory dryly, “Alpha.” Eleanor pressed her lips and said nothing while staring at this young man who had just broken her daughter’s heart. And tears started to run out of Elena’s eyes again. Slowly, Cory walked in front of the three of them. His handsome face was covered with painful guilt. His voice was also in anguish. “Could you please give us a minute, Madam and Sir?” He asked Orion and Eleanor in agony, afraid of looking at Elena. Eleanor changed a look with Orion. She didn’t want to leave Elena in Cory’s hands again. He might cause her more misery, but it’s not her decision to make.“Do you want us to leave, sweetie?” She asked Elena softly.Elena’s eyes had been fixed on Cory since the moment he appeared. Hearing her mother’s voice, she nodded her head randomly. Tears just wouldn’t stop.Eleanor let out a heavy sigh, and then walked to her husband. She put her hand on his arm, suggesting him to leave. Orion hesitated but eventually left with his wife. After their footsteps disappeared at the entrance, Cory finally got the courage to look at Elena. Seeing her swollen eyes and haggard face. Guilt drowned him all over again. “I am sorry, L,” he whispered, standing at a faraway place from those bars. He sneaked into the prison to visit Elena two minutes before Orion and Eleanor arrived. He hid his footsteps when he walked in. Elena was too sad to notice him. Elena responded to him with silence. She lowered her head, letting the tears stream down her cheeks. She wanted to shout at Cory, to scream and to question how he could do those things to her. But it was just not her. She was never good at expressing her disappointment or anger.“What are you doing here?” After a few moments, she finally spoke. Her vocal cords were bruised by all those cries. Her words were almost too light to hear.It made Cory feel more guilty. He didn’t hesitate too much when he decided to propose to that dragon princess. But it didn’t mean he had stopped loving Elena. It was just the sacrifice he had to make as the Kingdom’s Alpha.“I am here to check on you,” he spoke to her softly, taking two steps forward. “Are you alright?”“You tell me,” Elena couldn’t help but smirk. He had just dumped her in front of almost everyone in the kingdom and put her in prison. How could he ever ask her that question?“I am sorry, L,” Cory apologized painfully. His heart was literally bleeding. “You know my father and you know me. If I don’t marry Lennie…” He didn’t finish that sentence. But Elena knew what he meant.“You could have called me, you know,” she said. “If you had explained to me on the phone; if you had informed me in advance. I would have already accepted your rejection. No need to humiliate me like that in public.”“But I don’t want to reject you, L,” Cory explained hastily. “Lennie was just being childish. I assure you of that. Once she finds out what a great person you are, she will let you stay. I swear.”Lennie. He called that name so naturally and intimately, sounded like he had already known her. Elena couldn’t help but wonder whether there was someone for/ce Cory to marry Lennie or not.Anger and pain started surging in Elena’s chest. She tried hard not to scream.“Stay as what?” She asked. Throughout the entire time with Cory, she had never felt so disappointed and betrayed. What he had just said was more difficult for her to process than a rejection. “A mistress of yours? The third person in your marriage? Or do you want me to be the s*ex toy of yours?”“That’s not what I meant!” Cory hurried to explain, but he couldn’t find a proper explanation. Because that was exactly what he meant. He couldn’t give up his dragon fiancée. And he didn’t want to lose his mate. He wanted them both and he couldn’t see anything wrong with that.“I am the Alpha here, L, and the King,” he defended himself, “Kings are entitled to multiple wives, you know it. There were precedents in history.” “Only because the King had multiple mates himself!”“You could be my multiple mates!” he said. “You are my fated mate, and Lennie is my chosen one. So I have two mates. What’s wrong with that?”“Everything is wrong with that!” Elena yelled powerlessly. She couldn’t believe she was having this conversation.There were cases of multiple mates in the kingdom, but very rare, and only happened in twins or triplets. She always got goosebumps hearing instances like that. She wasn’t biased or prejudiced. She just couldn’t stand the idea of sharing her mate with others. She couldn’t even picture that. Her education, and the things she had learned and seen, told her that it was unacceptable to share her man with another woman, whether he was the King or not. This idea of being Cory’s one of two mates was purely crazy, and disgusting.“I will never accept that!” she yelled.“And I will never reject you or let you go anywhere else, ever.” Cory’s voice became harsh. Elena knew it was a sign of him being angry.Cory rarely got angry. He was the Alpha but a very amiable wolf, sometimes even too amiable, which displeased his father. She knew when he said it in that tone, he meant it. “Then what?” she smirked. “Are you going to lock me here until I agree? Or are you going to use your Alpha order on me and force me to be your mistress?”Cory clenched his fists. He knew he shouldn’t be angry with Elena, but no matter what, he would never let go of her. She was her mate. He loved her. And he wanted her, even just for his wolf. “Get some rest, L,” he said, “I will talk with Lennie. I will find a way to persuade her to forgive you, but you will go nowhere before you agree to stay as my mate.”“And your dragon wife will be on board with you?!” Elena almost shouted. She felt so angry.Cory’s deep blue eyes went dark, “Even if she disagreed, you are still my mate, L. Forget about the rejection. Whether you accept or not, I will never allow you to have a second chance mate.”The world must have gone crazy. The shock she got from the conversations with Cory was so immense, Elena didn’t even feel sad anymore. Now she knew the reason why Cory didn’t call her in advance. He wanted both her and that dragon girl, but he didn’t have the guts to talk about it with her. So he let her through that ordeal in public and then came down here to push her. Because he didn’t want to admit that he was such a greedy and stupid coward!! Rage consumed Elena’s brain. But deep inside, at the bottom of her heart, relief, even a slight gladness were immersing her. Cory had just proved he still loved her. Even though he was engaged with that dragon girl, still, he couldn’t live without her. Elena knew it was stupid and wrong to feel glad about it, but she couldn’t help it. He was her mate. Their mate bond was too tight. Even if she tried, she couldn’t resist it. She just couldn’t stop feeling happy about confirming his love.But share her mate with Lennie? No. That’s the bot
After leaving the prison, Elena went straight home with her parents.Her mother Eleanor prepared her a warm bath. Elena sank herself into the water and cried for a long time.Too many betrayals and shocks in such a short time. She just didn’t know what to do next. Her head was in such a huge mess. And she couldn’t even talk about it with her parents. What Cory asked her was so humiliating. She couldn’t even say it out of her mouth. And her father might try to murder Cory after hearing it. She didn’t want to risk her parents’ lives for that.“Then what should we do now?” Nyla asked. “He will push us again, L. I assure you.”“You tell me,” Elena cried, hugging herself in the water. “I’ve never thought he would do this to me…never…never….” She couldn’t even come up with a full sentence.They went back to painful silence.After about an hour, her mother knocked on the door and called her, “Are you finished, sweetie? Jasper is here. Your father wants you to meet him.”Jasper was Cory’s Bet
Elena was stuck in her dreams. She knew she was dreaming, and she felt her body, but she was trapped inside of it, and she couldn’t find a way to get out of it. She heard someone speaking beside her bed, “She just experienced too many shocks in a short time. It stimulated her nerves. After some proper rest, she will be okay.”It sounded like the kingdom’s doctor, Dr. Todd, but she couldn’t understand what he was doing here. Another voice in the room whispered something to him, but Elena couldn’t make out who it was. And then there were footsteps going away. But the severe headache she was suffering started getting worse. It almost felt like someone had just split her head in half. She knitted her forehead and cried out of pain. Someone took her hand and whispered to her gently, “Are you okay, L?”Elena tried to open her eyes but failed. She then called the name she trusted most, “Cory…” Tears streamed down from the corners of her eyes. Cory responded to her. He knelt beside her b
“Look around, L. We are not in our bedroom!!!”The moment she heard that, Elena suddenly sobered up from her devastating headache. She rolled up from the bed and observed, and then found that she was in a completely strange room. There were no lights on right now. She could only see some simple furniture vaguely. But she knew it wasn’t night outside. Because from the narrow window above her bed came dim daylight.“It’s a basement,” Nyla explained. “And there are silver bars blocking the window, and the door is iron. I bet we can’t open it from the inside.”Elena responded to her with nothing. She just got up from bed and then went to check the door. As Nyla had guessed, it was locked from the outside. She put her hand on the doorknob and pulled it. It wouldn’t open.“He locked us here, L,” Nyla cried. There was a rare trace of panic tinged her voice.Nyla was a competent wolf, always giving her mature advice and acting composedly. And when she started to panic, Elena knew they must ha
Cory had changed. The moment Elena saw that dangerous flash flicking through his eyes, she realized Cory had changed into a different person. Each time, when he showed up in front of her, he became more aggressive than before. Each day, the ego inside him grew bigger and bigger. His engagement with Lennie was like a demoniac key that unleashed this hidden beast inside him. Now he had gotten support from dragons. He had become powerful. He didn’t need to play by the rules anymore. And he didn’t need to pretend to be caring or ethical either.When you can get something by intimidation and threats, why bother to coax and act?The moment she saw that ice in Cory’s eyes, Elena knew she was doomed. She watched Cory walk out of the basement, and then heard him lock the door from outside. Her body went cold out of fear. Tears streamed down from the corners of her eyes. She knew she might never find a way to get out of this, but she couldn’t just give up like that. She could never share he
After Cory said that, he bent over and scooped Elena up from the floor. He carried her in between his arms in the bridal style which was very familiar to Elena. Only this time, she wasn’t looking at him, but at his neck. The lights on the roof of the hallway were very bright. It clearly presented every vein and muscle on his neck. Cory kept his head high, looking straight to the front, which exposed his artery. Elena had this strong impulse to bite it. Cory was an Alpha, but his wolf wasn’t that strong, not even half as strong as his father. Which was the main reason why he had been amiable to everyone around him before Lennie came. It was kind of the elephant in the room, the truth no one was allowed to mention in this kingdom. Elena fought him a few times during the training back when they were still teenagers. She wasn’t a feisty warrior, but she had the confidence to give him a fatal strike. As long as she sank her teeth deep enough, and shredded his neck completely when no one
The next day, when Elena woke up, she felt she had fully recovered. The dragon’s cure was very effective. She didn’t feel sick and weak anymore.Aurora and Bella brought a maid's suit to her, which was very different from the colorful but thin dresses they were wearing. Bella comforted her, “Don’t take it too personally. You attacked Lennie and tore her face. Of course, she will pick on you. The thing is, Lennie never attaches to things, neither good nor bad. She moves on very easily. As long as you play along with her, don’t go against her will, she will get bored in literally three days and forget about you. What happens next will depend on you and your king. You know what I mean.”Elena nodded her head. She knew those dragon girls would be partial to Lennie, but it didn’t really matter. Like Bella had suggested, her true enemy was Cory, not Lennie. She must escape from the kingdom and cut the connection with him.“My parents,” Elena asked, “did you get in touch with them? What did
Following all those dragon girls downstairs, Elena surprisingly found that instead of the dining hall, they went directly to the garden outside from the side door.It was late spring. The weather just started getting hot, but the plants hadn’t decided to go green yet. Withered weeds were everywhere and half of those trees were still bald. Lennie somehow found herself a place for a huge sunshade.A red carpet decorated by golden threads was under her feet, and in front of her was a long dining table for more than a dozen people. Lennie was sitting in a big luxurious armchair like she was already the Queen. Several wolf maids wearing exactly the same uniform as Elena were standing behind her with their heads lowered, waiting humbly. Ashely was the first one to step forward and saluted Lennie.“Your Highness,” she came to the side of Lennie’s chair and lifted up her thin dress along with an elegant bow.Lennie then gave her hand to Ashely for her to kiss. When their eyes connected, Ele