Deviant Kings: Claimed by The Four Lycan Kings

Adeline’s pov~

My breath hitched hard in my throat. I stood there, utterly paralysed; my mind went completely blank.

"I’m sorry, Adeline."

What the actual fuck?

Did he really just say that? Did Zyran—the ruthless, arrogant, cold-blooded Lycan King who looked at me like I was something he wanted to scrape off the bottom of his boot—just apologise to me? In front of Blake? In front of the highborns watching from the corners of the room?

Across the table, Blake’s jaw dropped.

Even he was caught completely off guard, his dark eyes wide with sheer disbelief as he stared at his best friend like Zyran had just grown a second head.

Before my frozen brain could even process the words, before I could search his dark, unreadable eyes for the cruel mockery I was certain was hidden underneath, Zyran turned on his heel.

He didn’t glance at Blake, and he didn’t give the staring highborns a single second of his attention and glided out of the archive hall.

Blake snapped out of his trance a second later, throwing me one last look before rushing after him, their heavy footsteps fading into the distance.

I stood there like a statue carved out of stone.

My wrist, where his warm fingers had rested just moments ago, felt like it was burning.

Gasps instantly broke out across the room. Shrill, frantic hushes and nasty highborn gossip erupted from every corner like a swarm of angry wasps.

"Did Lord Zyran just apologise to her?"

"Why would he apologise to a defect?"

"What the hell is happening between them?"

I couldn’t hear a single fucking word they were saying.

The ambient noise of the room turned into a muffled, distant buzz, swallowed entirely by the deafening roar of my own pulse hammering in my ears.

I’m sorry, Adeline.

Those three fucking words echoed over and over in my head like a toxic spell.

Why did he say that?

Was it because he finally realised his ’simple warning’ almost got me ripped apart in the woods?

My chest burned with a chaotic mess of pure fury, confusion, and suspicion.

I hated him.

I hated that tone; I hated his throne, and I hated the fact that three simple words from his mouth had just completely undone every single thing I thought I knew about him.

It started making me think that I was entirely wrong about him.

Why does his apology feel real?

"Hey! Adeline! I got the food!"

A bright, familiar voice shattered the suffocating trance.

Sierra slid into the wooden chair directly across from mine, balancing a heavy tray lined with two plates of hot food and two tall glass cups filled with iced berry juice.

She was completely oblivious to the nuclear bomb that had just detonated in the middle of the room.

"I had to dodge three different groups of highborn snobs near the central hall just to get this stuff," Sierra rambled, setting a plate down in front of me before grabbing her own drink.

She reached across the table, her hand casually wrapping around my left wrist—the exact same spot Zyran had held just seconds ago—to gently tug me down into my seat.

"I saw Lord Blake and Lord Zyran walking out of here just now. Did they come over to hassle you again? Come on, sit down, let’s eat before this stuff gets cold."

I let her pull me down into the heavy wooden chair. My movements were mechanical, stiff, like a wooden doll being manipulated by strings.

Sierra popped the straw into her glass and took a long, deep sip, leaning back against her chair with a contented sigh. But as her eyes scanned my face, her casual demeanour instantly vanished.

She pulled away from the straw, her brow furrowing in deep concern as she slid the second glass across the polished wood toward my hand.

"Hmm..." Sierra murmured, her sharp eyes searching my blank, pale face. She took another small sip, her gaze narrowing with rising suspicion as she looked around the quiet archive.

"What happened after I left you? Wait... did Lord Zyran do something to you while I was gone? Did he threaten you again or tell you to leave? Is that why you’re sitting there looking like you’ve seen a ghost? And what the hell is everyone in this room whispering about?"

I took the cold glass from her hand, my fingers wrapping around the condensation-covered glass just to feel something real, something solid. My mind was still reeling, spinning in chaotic, terrifying circles.

How do I even say this out loud? How do I explain something that doesn’t make a single grain of fucking sense?

"No," I murmured, my voice barely a thread of sound, flat and entirely hollow as I stared at the dark liquid. "He didn’t threaten me, Sierra."

Sierra let out a heavy sigh of relief, her shoulders dropping as she leaned back and continued sipping her drink through the straw.

"Oh, thank God. For a second, I thought I was going to regret leaving you alone."

"He... he apologised to me," I whispered softly, the words feeling foreign on my tongue.

The reaction was instantaneous.

Sierra’s eyes blew wide open.

She froze mid-sip, her throat locking up as the liquid went down the wrong pipe.

A violent, strangled cough burst from her mouth as she choked, spraying a tiny mist of berry juice across the dark table. She slammed her glass down, clutching her chest as she coughed frantically, her face flushing bright red.

"Shit—fuck! What?!" Sierra wheezed out between heavy, ragged coughs, slapping a paper napkin over her mouth as she stared at me as if I had just spoken in ancient tongues. "What?! What the actual fuck did you just say to me, Adeline?! Did I hear that right?"

"He apologised," I repeated, my voice steady now, but my dark eyes remained fixed blankly on the table.

Sierra stopped coughing entirely.

She slowly turned her head, her wide, astonished eyes sweeping across the distant tables of the archives.

Now, with the context of those three impossible words, she finally understood why every single highborn alpha and lady in the room was staring at our table with wide, scandalised eyes and furious, hushed whispers.

"Lord Zyran..." Sierra breathed out, her voice dropping into a frantic whisper as she turned back to face me, her hands trembling slightly against the wood. "Lord Zyran... apologised to you? Right here? In front of everyone? Adeline... what the fuck is going on?"

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