Defying the Lycan King

The ballroom was still buzzing with conversation. Kings, Alphas, Betas and Lunas stood in small groups, laughing too loudly, shaking hands, and pretending they had always liked one another. Glasses clinked. Someone near the window was already telling the same war story for the third time.

In the middle of all that polite noise, Valerie spotted her daughter and moved like a woman on a mission. She caught her daughter by the wrist and hauled her behind a pillar.

"Mum!" Alicia nearly tripped over her own shoes. "What on earth—"

"Keep your voice down."

"You nearly took my arm off."

Valerie’s eyes were bright with that dangerous look Alicia knew too well.

"Listen carefully. Tonight we fix this mess." Valerie glanced past her at the room. "I need you to do something for me tonight, and I need you to do it without making a face about it."

"Do something for you? What’s that?"

Valerie leaned in and lowered her voice with a fixed smile, because two Lunas from the eastern territories were standing eight feet away.

By the end of it, Alicia’s mouth had fallen open. "You want me to what?"

"I want you in that room with him. That’s all."

"That’s all?" Alicia’s voice went up and she pulled it back down. "His wedding is in six days, Mother. Six. I am not going to be the person who ruins it. That’s just— no."

Valerie’s smile did not reach her eyes. "Alicia."

"I’m not going to be the woman who ruins somebody’s wedding! Do you have any idea what they’d say about me? I’d never be able to walk into a room in the four regions again—"

"You will do exactly as I say." Valerie said. "Angelica stole what should have been mine years ago. I was supposed to be Luna of Crescent Moon Pack. If that man had married me instead of her, you would already be next in line."

She stepped closer. "I have waited patiently for years, and I did it because I knew my daughter would take that seat one day and it would all come right. And now some random werewolf girl from nowhere thinks she can take the seat?"

Alicia stared at her. "Have you even considered that Kai and Jessica are soul-bonded?"

Valerie waved a hand.

"You can’t wave that away! It’s not a seating arrangement, it’s a bond." Alicia’s voice cracked. "He doesn’t look at me, Mum. Do you understand that? I am not going to stand in a corner and fight for the attention of a man who doesn’t want me."

"You’ll do as you’re told."

"Or what?"

"Or you can find out what your life looks like without my name attached to it."

Alicia went very still. "You wouldn’t."

"I would do it before breakfast." Valerie’s smile did not shift. "Kai is next in line for that seat. Tan is not walking properly again and everybody in this room knows it, even if they’re too polite to say so tonight. That house is coming to Kai, and I have not spent my entire life waiting for this only to have my own daughter go weak on me at the finish."

Alicia’s face went pale. She looked at her mother as if she had never seen her before.

Valerie raised an eyebrow. "Besides," she said. "Let’s not pretend."

"Pretend what?"

"I hear you." Valerie tilted her head. "Every night, you cry yourself to sleep over that man, and then you come down to breakfast and tell me you’ve moved on."

Alicia’s face went scarlet.

"And," Valerie added, entirely pleasantly, "you’re ovulating."

"MUM."

"Keep your voice down."

"How do you even—"

"I have a calendar and a nose." Valerie took her daughter’s chin between two fingers and turned her face towards the light. "Now listen to me. You are my daughter. No daughter of mine is going to be a weakling."

Alicia sighed. "I truly love him and if he is happy with someone else, then I will bear it. I’m not weak."

"No. You’re not." Something almost warm crossed Valerie’s face. "You’ll never win anything with that kind of love. You have a head, and a woman who knows how to use hers can conquer nations without ever raising her voice."

She let go. "Now follow my lead."

She turned and walked off into the crowd, and Alicia stood behind the pillar for a long moment with her heart going like a drum.

Valerie found a servant near the doors.

"There you are." She lifted the glass she had spiked and set it neatly onto his tray. "Master Kai has been asking for a drink for a while now, and nobody has thought to bring him anything. Take that over to him."

The servant bowed and hurried off.

Across the room Kai stood with a small group of men who were still congratulating him on the coming wedding and on his potential new position as the Alpha of his pack.

They laughed, clapped him on the shoulder hard enough to rattle his teeth, and finally, mercifully, wandered off towards the food.

Kai let out a long breath.

"Hello, Kai."

He turned, polite as always. Alicia stood there with her hands folded in front of her, smiling.

"Alicia." He inclined his head politely. "You’re well?"

"Very. It’s a beautiful evening." She glanced around the room. "Congratulations. On the wedding, I mean. Six days."

"So everyone keeps reminding me."

"You must be nervous."

"I’m terrified," Kai said cheerfully. "But mostly of the constant reminder."

Alicia laughed, and it sounded almost real. "I’m happy for you."

"Thank you, Licia," Kai said with a smile.

Alicia nodded, smiling too. "And afterwards? What comes next for you?"

"I’m actually looking at opening a branch of the company in Aethewulf Centralis," he said, clearly trying to keep the conversation on safe ground.

"Aethewulf? That’s human territory."

"Half human. That’s the point. It should create proper jobs for both humans and werewolves. Something useful."

Alicia nodded and kept smiling even though her stomach felt like it was trying to climb out of her body. The servant arrived right on cue and offered the glass. Kai took it without thinking and thanked the boy.

He looked at Alicia again, softer this time. "I’m sorry things didn’t work out between us."

"Kai, you don’t—"

"I do, actually. And I hope you find someone who loves you and looks after you and thinks you’re worth the trouble, because you are. I mean that."

Alicia nodded. Her throat had gone tight, and not entirely for the reasons her mother would have liked.

"Thank you," she managed.

Kai smiled and raised the glass to his lips.

Alicia watched it go. Her pulse was hammering in her ears now, and some part of her, some small and innocent part, was screaming at her to knock it out of his hand.

The glass touched his lip.

And somebody slammed into Kai’s back so hard he pitched forward, the wine leaving the glass entirely and going down the front of his shirt in a long red splash.

"What in the—" Kai spun round, wiping at his chest.

Maya stood there, expression completely blank, as if shoving future Alphas was just another normal everyday activity.

"Maya," he said slowly. "Are you all right?"

Valerie appeared so fast she might have teleported. Her face had gone the colour of ripe tomatoes.

"YOU CLUMSY LITTLE—" she shouted, loud enough for half the ballroom to hear. "Watch where you’re going! Do you know how expensive that jacket is? Where is your mother? Somebody find whoever is responsible for this child. Who brought a teen to a adult party!"

"Aunty, that’s fine. I’m sure it’s a mistake," Kai said.

As Valerie kept scolding Maya, Alicia closed her eyes for a second, opened them, rolled them hard, and let out a long, relieved sigh that said everything words could not.

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