All Chapters of When My Mate Chose Another, the Lycan King Chose Me: Chapter 81 - Chapter 87

Natasha’s POVMy fingers hovered over the knob, though I never touched it. The knock still echoed inside me, stirring an unease I couldn’t quite shake off. My phone was warm in my hand, but Lani’s voice had already faded into nothing. The line was still alive, her muffled words somewhere in the background, but I couldn’t register them anymore. My entire focus was on the door and the presence standing behind it. Damon.I drew in a shallow breath, my throat tight. My voice wavered as I spoke, low and sharp enough to sound guarded. “What do you want from me?”For a moment, there was nothing. Just silence, broken only by the faint hum of air passing through the hall. Then his voice came, steady, warm in that way he always managed to make it, like he was speaking to calm a child rather than a woman caught between dread and suspicion.“I just wanted to talk,” he said. “It’s harmless, Natasha. That’s all. I don’t know what Lucien might have filled your head with, but I’m not your enemy. I wo

Lucien’s POVThe papers in front of me blurred until they became nothing more than smudges of ink. I had been trying to go through them since morning, the usual council requests, the endless signatures, repairs that needed immediate approval, names of men who demanded an audience they hadn’t earned. My desk had become a battlefield of parchments, yet my focus broke with the vibration of my phone.I reached for it without thought, intending to dismiss whatever it was, but when the screen lit up, my hand froze. Gavril.The message was short, sharp, not one of his usual detailed reports. Just a photograph. Natasha and Damon standing together. Her posture rigid, his expression leaning too close to her comfort. And below it, only a line: I don’t know what Damon is planning now.My heart gave a heavy thud, and before I realized what I was doing, I had pushed my chair back so hard it scraped the floor. The council documents scattered, ignored. Nothing mattered. I was already moving, abandoni

Natasha’s POV“Mom, at least eat something, please.”I pushed the bowl a little closer to her, the steam rising in soft curls from the porridge the maid had just brought. It smelt warm, faintly sweet, something that should have tempted her, but she only shifted on the bed and turned her face away.“I’m not hungry,” she muttered, her voice hoarse, carrying the same resistance it had carried for the past week.I sat on the edge of the mattress, looking at her, fighting the urge to snap. My patience had been stretched so thin that I felt it vibrating in me like a thread about to break. But this was my mother. I couldn’t break.“If you don’t eat, how then do you expect to get better?” I tried again, softer this time, almost pleading. “Your body needs food, you’ve been like this for days. Please, Mom.”Her eyes lifted to mine then, tired but sharp, the frustration there cutting deeper than I expected. “Food is not the solution to my problem, Natasha.”The words hit me like a weight. I look

Natasha’s POVThe silence that followed the introductions still pressed down on me, thick and suffocating. I thought perhaps it would end there, that the King had only wanted me to sit beside him, endure their stares, and nothing more. But Lucien leaned back in his chair, his posture sharp and commanding, and his voice cut through the quiet like a blade.“Also,” he began, his tone so calm it only made my stomach twist tighter, “I’ve called this meeting to inform everyone that there will be another event.”My chest tightened instantly.Every Elder turned their eyes toward him, the room growing even heavier. The golden light from the chandeliers seemed harsher now, bouncing off the polished wood of the long table, catching on the silver rings some of the Elders wore, reflecting in their narrowed gazes.Lucien did not flinch beneath any of it. His voice remained level, steady, merciless.“Her place here will be announced again,” he said, his hand gesturing faintly in my direction, his wo