Claimed by the Mad Lycan King

"Unfortunately, indeed," Altair replied sarcastically. "We need to know how stable you are before we return to our domain. As annoying as it sounds, we still have the obligation to put you down if you create such chaos again, Zade, and lose control of your beast. We can’t afford exposing our existence, and if you pose a threat, we need to get rid of you."

There were only a handful of Lycans with pure blood, and the rule was clear that if any of the shifters exposed their existence to humans, they would take them down, no questions asked.

Things were slightly complicated with the Lycan, since they were very strong when their beast’s blood dominated them; therefore, it would need another Lycan to do it.

"He is fine now," Seara said defensively.

"Yes, he looks fine now," Asher chimed in, sitting next to Altair, as he chewed on the apple. "But you can feel the murderous intent from him, right? I know you have lost your wolf spirit, but you will still be able to tell that he is not fine."

Seara couldn’t deny that, because it was true. She could feel agitation from Zade, and he looked as if he were walking on eggshells.

"The thing is, the riot that the three packs have committed stemmed from you. They don’t want a runt to be the Lycan king’s mate."

"That’s enough," Zade cut Asher off. He didn’t want to hide anything from Seara, but it was too much information for her.

However, it was too late for him to take it back, because Seara was already invested in knowing the rest of what Asher wanted to say.

She had been clueless all this time about what happened out there, since Zade had been shielding her. Seara wouldn’t find fault with that. She was well aware of his reason: that she was not in the right mental space in the past year.

"She needs to know so she will be aware of what she has to do next if something like this happens again." Altair cut Zade off.

And in an instant, you could feel how the murderous intent emanating from Zade thickened. His whole body was trembling as he held back his rage and his beast. He was on the verge of shifting and ripping their mouths for the comment.

"See? It is not hard to tick him off." Asher elbowed Altair, whose expression was very serious as he held Zade’s vicious gaze.

"Just so you know, Zade. Once we are done with you, we have no obligation to protect your mate. You have not marked her either. Therefore, what the other shifter would do to her is none of our business." Altair’s voice was calm, but it was enough to muddy the water.

Even without her wolf spirit, Seara could feel Zade’s rage, and with a little bit of provocation, he wouldn’t be able to hold it back.

"Stop," Seara said. They were intentionally provoking Zade. They wanted to find an excuse to attack him. "Stop that; you provoke him."

"If he can’t even hold back his urge to kill with a single word, then he is not stable enough to be here. We need to chain him back to the dungeon until he can get control of his beast." Altair’s voice was sharp; he spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. "Choose wisely, Zade. No one will protect her aside from you, and because she is a runt, the tradition still stands."

In other words, it meant Seara could be sent to the cell again, or she might be buried alive along with him.

Some shifters still held onto such tradition, and it had been proven right when they locked Seara up for years.

Some of them also thought it was justified to kill a runt.

But more importantly, they didn’t see Seara as someone who suited the role as Zade’s mate, which would cause an altercation in the future.

Right now, they were still reeling from the aftermath of what happened, but it was like gasoline; it would only need a flicker of fire to light everything up and burn it down.

Seara saw that Zade’s hand had partially shifted into his beast form. Altair and Asher saw that, too, and their bodies tensed as they prepared to shift into their own beast forms.

But then, Seara cupped her hand over his. "He will be fine. I will make sure that he is fine."

Zade was startled when Seara suddenly closed her hand around his, and instinctively, his claw recoiled. The thought that he could hurt her made him withdraw.

Of course, this small detail didn’t go unnoticed by Altair and Asher; after all, they came for this. They wanted to see how strong Zade’s self-control was when it came to his mate.

"I think I win this bet," Asher said lightly. He visibly relaxed again and continued eating his apple, but Altair was not yet done.

"What are you going to do if they come after your mate, Zade? Because that is what will happen sooner or later once the dust settles. You still can’t change the fact that she is a runt. Are you going to kill them all?"

"I will if I have to. I will take them down with me." Zade had to be careful with his emotions, because Seara was so close. If he had a slip, he would end up hurting her again, and he was holding onto that thought to keep him from attacking Altair.

It was getting harder as Altair was moving closer to Zade and Seara. He was standing at the feet of Seara’s bed, while the two of them were less than a meter away.

"Or, you can take Chloe to placate your alphas. Problem solved."

Zade let out a guttural growl; rage consumed him. But to everyone’s surprise, it was Seara who acted first.

She grabbed the glass from the side of her table and threw it at Altair. "Get out of here!"

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