Lycan who?

Aria’s pov

My heart dropped, alpha Eros was my mate? The most feared and deadly lycan king was now my mate?

 I had thought that my rebirth was going to be better than my former life, but standing here in this stupid wedding dress and staring at death itself as my mate didn't feel like an afterlife. 

It felt like another type of pain.

 But whatever it was, the difference was that I wasn’t that naive girl that couldn’t speak for herself anymore, I was now a weapon. 

“Dad,” I said, turning to my father. “I’m your daughter and the heir to this pack. I’m sorry for hurting you like this but I don’t want to be with a man that’s not in my class.”  

Gasps scattered through the crowd like ripples. Darren’s face went pale, his mouth parting slightly as if he couldn’t believe I’d just tossed him aside in front of the entire Northern Council.

I didn’t wait for anyone’s response. I lifted my dress and walked down the aisle, my head high, heart racing.

But my back?

It was straight and unbent. My father didn’t say anything, but I knew he was disappointed but later he’ll understand why. Darren watched with his mouth wide open, Elara was shocked, her eyes almost bulging out of its sockets. It was like they had just received the biggest shock of their lives, but I didn’t care. 

The wind outside slapped against my face the moment I stepped into it, but the cold did nothing to dull the memory that suddenly hit me.

It was on the night of my wedding that my father was killed in my previous life, I might have uttered fate by rejecting him. But what if he still goes after my father?

I could remember it like yesterday, I had smiled through the ceremony, held Darren’s hand as we were paraded through the streets, kissed him like a fool under the moonlight.

Then at night they killed my father.

While I was in bed with my new husband, drunk on fake love and fairy tales, they’d suffocated him and staged it like a rogue attack.

And I had believed it, but definitely not his time.

That evening, I took no chances. I installed hidden cameras in my father’s room, the hallways, the east wing, and even outside his office since I couldn’t trust any pack beta to look after him. I kept the security discreet but tight, I wanted to see every step Darren and his accomplices made. 

But just as I returned to my chambers, halfway into changing out of the wedding dress I never wanted to wear again, Lila, one of the maids, burst in.

Her face was pale, her voice barely above a whisper.

“The Lycan King… he’s come to claim you.” She said, 

and my stomach dropped, “What!”

“They’re in the council chamber,” she continued, “Your father, the elders… they’ve already accepted.”

I ran straight to the council chamber and When I burst through the doors, they all turned to me.

Eros stood there like a shadow in the light, tall, and commanding. His eyes found mine instantly.

“I won’t go,” I said, locking eyes with my father. “You can’t send me away like that, at least not tonight.” I said seriously, even though I didn’t want to go with Eros, but more so I didn’t want to go because of my plan to expose Darren that night. 

He didn’t meet my gaze.

“Aria… This is ancient, I don’t have a choice. And neither do you.”

“No one will protect you if I leave,” I said quickly, stepping forward. “You need me here. Please—”

“I’ve agreed, Aria. He’s your mate. You’ll be safer in his kingdom.”

He already told them that he was my mate?

How dare he!

I turned to Eros, searching his face for any hint of softness. “You can’t take me.” I said, trying to control the rage in my heart. 

He didn’t flinch, “I’m not asking,” he said quietly. “I’m commanding.”

The way he said it, firm, but not cruel, made my skin burn.

He stepped toward me, close enough that I could feel the heat rolling off him.

His scent hit me again, dark pine and everything in me tightened.

“You’re mine,” he said. “And I won’t leave you here, not with them. As a matter of fact, I won’t leave this pack without you.”

“I can take care of myself.” I said, hugging myself. 

“I believe you,” he said. “But I still won’t risk it.”

I hated the part of me that responded to that, the part that wanted to trust him. The part that remembered the way he’d looked at me at the altar, not with desire, but with recognition. 

And when his hand brushed my elbow, just slightly, my wolf shivered.

Mate.

I swallowed hard, refusing to listen to my wolf. 

My father was already walking away, trusting me to the Lycan King and this tall man that he was with like some debt paid off.

I could either fight this, or I could go… and plan my revenge from the most protected territory in the north, with an alpha who had no idea he’d just taken home a ticking bomb.

 I tried to convince him otherwise but he didn’t listen, his mind was already made up. But not mine. 

“I’d like to change into something more suitable for a lycan king.” I said seductively, running a hand on his chest but he didn’t even flinch. 

As much as that disgusted me so much, it was the only thing I could think of to make him give me some space. But instead of him falling for my trap, he grabbed my hands, held my waist, pulling me closer to him. 

“I know what you’re trying to do. I think I need to remind you that you’re standing in front of the lycan king,” he winked and that annoyed me the most. 

Who the hell does he think he is? And why was he even her in the first place? How did he know it was my wedding!

He stared at me intensely, as though he realized I was lost in my own thoughts. 

“I’ll let you change up, if that’s what you want. But Ronan and I will go with you,”

Eros must be sick to think I’ll give him the opportunity to extort me to my chambers! Can someone tell this alpha that I’m not interested in this drama he was displaying?

The only thing in my mind was to find proof that’ll send Darren, Elara and those two-faced betas to prison. I didn’t come back here to have a mate, talk more of to be told what to do by some alpha. 

I needed to see Marv and Kallen, I needed to know what they were up to as I hadn’t seen them since my wedding. But instead here I was. 

I freed myself from his grip, but before I could say another word, we heard a loud shout from Darren's chambers and we rushed to his room. 

But when I got there, I was shocked by the sight in front of me. 

Darren laid on the floor, blood dripping from his stomach and a small knife was lying beside him. The moment he saw me, tears walked from his cheeks. 

“Please don’t leave me, Maria. I can’t survive without you.”

Eros and Ronan rushed in, carrying him up. 

“Call the pack herbalist now!” Eros streamed.

“No. No. Let me die, if I can’t be with her I’d rather kill myself. She’s my life.” Darren cried, slipping back to the floor. 

I just stood there completely frozen. At this point I wasn’t sure if he was pretending or if this was just another of his plans. 

I rushed to his side, but what I saw under his bed completely shattered me.