All Chapters of My Alpha Lost Me To The Lycan King : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

King AlaricI had been eight hundred years old, by the reckoning of my bloodline's oldest histories, before I ever believed the stories about mates were anything more than convenient myths designed to keep restless kings in line.That wasn't true, of course. I was only thirty-two. But something about the weight of ruling the North Moon since I was twenty-three had aged me in ways that had nothing to do with years.My father used to say that a king who mated early was a king who ruled poorly — distracted, softened, vulnerable through the one person he couldn't bear to lose. He'd waited until he was well past forty to claim my mother, and even then, theirs had been a match built more on alliance than fate. I'd grown up watching two people who respected each other, governed well together, and felt, I suspected, very little of what the old songs described.So when my own wolf began to grow restless in my twenties, pacing at the edges of my mind every time we passed through a crowded room,

EliseThe words hit me like ice water down my spine.*Alpha Elliott Draven is demanding entry. He says he's here for his mate.*"No." The word tore out of me before I could stop it. My legs felt suddenly unsteady, and Alaric's hand shot out to grip my elbow, steadying me without hesitation."He has no claim here," Alaric said, his voice dropping into something low and lethal, a register I hadn't heard from him before. Whatever gentleness he'd shown me in this palace vanished, replaced by the cold authority of a king assessing a threat at his gates."He'll say I'm still his," I whispered, panic clawing up my throat. "He'll say the pup is his. He'll—""He'll say nothing that matters," Alaric cut in, turning to the guard. "Hold him at the checkpoint. He does not cross into palace grounds.""Your Majesty, he's insisting—""I don't care what he's insisting." Alaric's tone left no room for argument. "He is not permitted past the outer gate until I say otherwise."The guard bowed and disappe

ElliottThe words landed like a fist to the gut."Say that again," I said, stopping dead in the gravel drive, the convoy's headlights casting long shadows across Tyler's grim face."Lucia's father," Tyler repeated carefully, "has had access to Elise's bloodline records for three years. Since before you and Elise were even mated."My mind reeled, trying to force the pieces into some shape that made sense. "That's impossible. Those records were sealed the day my father died. Only pack elders and the healers who attended Elise's family had clearance.""Which is exactly why this doesn't sit right," Tyler said. "Someone with elder-level access authorized the transfer. I found the requisition order buried in the archive's oldest filing cabinet, misfiled under agricultural reports, like someone wanted it forgotten rather than destroyed.""Whose seal is on it?"Tyler's silence stretched a beat too long."Tyler.""Shadow Fang's mark," he said finally. "Alpha Ashgrave's personal seal. Lucia's f

King AlaricThe guard's words seemed to suck all the warmth from the room."Enough to suggest this isn't a border dispute," he'd said, and every instinct honed over years of ruling told me to move immediately—rally the war council, deploy scouts, prepare for the worst.But something in the report nagged at me, a wrongness I couldn't quite name."How many scouts confirmed this?" I asked.The guard hesitated. "One patrol, Your Majesty. They reported movement and retreated to relay the message rather than risk engagement.""One patrol," I repeated. "In darkness. At distance.""Yes, Your Majesty."I felt Elise tense beside me, her hand tightening where it rested near her stomach, and I forced my voice into something steadier than the alarm clawing up my spine."Send a second patrol," I said. "Larger. I want visual confirmation of troop numbers, formation, and intent before we assume anything beyond posturing.""Yes, Your Majesty." The guard bowed and disappeared, and I turned back to find

**King Alaric**Four people.Myself. My seneschal, Corwin, who had served my father before me and had never once given me cause to doubt him. My personal guard captain, Reyes, who stood before me now with dread written across his face. And Elder Maeve.I refused to believe it was her. I refused to believe it was any of them, and yet the ward logs didn't lie, and neither did the cold, sinking certainty settling into my chest."Show me," I said.Reyes led us to my study at a pace just short of running, Elise keeping stride beside me despite my earlier order for her to rest. I'd stopped arguing the point. Some battles weren't worth losing twice in one night.The study looked untouched. Papers stacked neatly where I'd left them that morning, the fire banked low, nothing disturbed. But the ward panel embedded in the wall behind my desk—a small, unassuming crystal lattice most visitors would mistake for decoration—glowed with a faint residual heat that hadn't been there in months."It was k