Defying the Lycan King

Three Years Later...

"Kai, it’s time to settle down with someone."

Kai looked up from the papers on his lap. His mother stood in front of him, arms fisted at her waist, wearing that particular expression she reserved for conversations he had no interest in having.

A few years ago, it would have worked on him. Now, it barely registered. He was back in Crescent Moon after three years of being away, three years of deliberately cutting contact with almost everyone, and that part of him that used to care what people thought of him had not come back with him.

It had been Tan’s email that finally did it. Three lines about rogues pushing at the pack’s borders had finally drawn him home. The place still meant something to him. That did not mean he was ready to play the part they wanted.

He let out a long breath. "Ah. This again."

"Yes, this again," Angelica said, as if the matter were settled. She folded her arms across her chest. "You’re almost thirty."

He raised an eyebrow. "I’m twenty-six, Mum. That’s nowhere near thirty."

"Your father and I were younger than that when we married." She pressed forward, undeterred. "It’s time to stop playing around and stop letting this pack look weak."

"Letting this pack look weak?" Kai scoffed. "Last I checked, this pack still has a living alpha. What exactly has that got to do with me?"

"That’s not fair, and you know it. Your brother isn’t as capable as he used to be. It’s time to move forward, Kai. Start your own family. Give this pack an heir."

He rose from the chair. "Don’t be ridiculous, Mum."

"It has been three years." Angelica followed him, her voice dropping into something quieter and more careful. "You can’t keep punishing yourself over her. Wherever she is, she would want you to be happy."

Kai stopped at the foot of the stairs. He did not turn around. "She’s not dead, Mum."

"Then where is she?!"

He spun to face her, eyes blazing. Angelica did not flinch. She met his stare squarely until the silence stretched too long. At last she blinked, sighed, and pressed a palm to her forehead as though a headache had chosen that exact moment to arrive.

"Listen, son." She stepped forward. "I love her. You know I do. I wouldn’t want anything to come between you and your happiness. But you have to see things as they are. It’s been three years since she die—" She caught herself, drew a breath. "It’s been three years since she disappeared. We can’t wait for her forever. Tan’s leg is not getting better, and he no longer has the physical strength to lead this pack the way it needs to be led. That is why we need you."

Kai was quiet for a moment. "Let’s say I agree to what you’re asking. Do you expect me to meet someone, fall in love, get married and produce children today? That is not how any of this works."

"There are plenty of young women who are interested in you, Kai. Alicia, for one. She was your childhood sweetheart. You two never had a bad word between you." Angelica’s voice warmed with the kind of enthusiasm only a mother in matchmaking mode could muster. "She is a beautiful girl. Smart, strong, from a good family. She would make a wonderful luna for this pack."

"Alicia and I don’t have that connection anymore," Kai said quietly. "We’re better off as friends."

"You haven’t seen her recently. She’s lovely, Kai. Beauty and brains, and she is the safest choice you could make. We know her. We know her family."

Kai buttoned his jacket and said nothing. He turned toward the stairs and began climbing.

"And Kai," Angelica called after him, her voice carrying that particular lilt that told him the real information had been saved for last. "She has been transferred to your company branch in Aethelwulf. She’s your new Head of Operations. You’ll be seeing quite a lot of her."

He kept climbing.

***

Alicia walked down the brightly lit corridor, her heels tapping steadily against the marble floor. The staff she passed along the way dipped their heads in greeting, and she returned each one with a warm smile.

Kai was back. He had officially agreed to return home and face the council after three long years away, and Alicia could barely contain herself. The thought nearly made her squeal right there in the hallway.

If he finally stepped into the Alpha role, then everything else would fall naturally into place. Luna Angelica had promised her that much, and her own mother had made sure the groundwork was laid.

She reached the door and stretched out her hand. Before her fingers could close around the handle it swung open from the inside. A young woman burst out, face wet with tears, and hurried past without so much as a glance.

Alicia stared after her, brows raised, wondering what exactly Kai had said this time. The gossip from his staff had reached her already. The playful, easygoing boy she had known was gone. Grief had hardened him into someone cold, distant and indifferent.

She smoothed her hair, straightened her clothes, and pushed the door open.

Kai stood behind his desk, back to the room, staring out of the window with a glass of wine in one hand. He did not turn when she entered.

"A penny for your thoughts?" she asked in a smooth voice.

He turned slowly. Something crossed his face that was trying very hard to be a smile and not quite managing it. "Hi, Alicia." He walked back to his chair and settled into it. "How have you been?"

"I’m good." She sat across from him. "Though I should be asking you that. You were supposed to call me when you landed. I would have come to get you."

He waved a hand. "I didn’t want to bother anyone."

Alicia nodded and let the silence sit for a moment, tapping her fingers lightly against the edge of the desk. Kai used to be the easiest person in the world to talk to. These days, every conversation with him felt like navigating a room where all the furniture had been rearranged in the dark.

"I was heading out for brunch when I heard you were in," she said. "Care to join me?"

"Nah, I’m good." His eyes had already drifted back to his tablet. "I want to go and see Jessica first."

Alicia kept her face carefully neutral, though a sharp spike of anger rose in her chest. For three years, he had mourned that girl and had refused to move on, even after the human police had quietly closed the case and stopped looking. He had essentially abandoned Crescent Moon and lived out of Aethelwulf for the better part of those three years, refusing to accept what everyone else had slowly, painfully made their peace with.

And still, even now that he had finally come home, he spoke about Jessica as though she were simply out running errands.

Sometimes, Alicia found herself wondering, not without awe, whether that was really what a soul bond did to a person.

She watched him scroll through his tablet, his face unreadable, and said nothing.

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