Chapter 160
THIRD PERSON POV
A loud rumble of shocked shouts boomed in the hall. Ryker couldn’t hide his shock. While there was a loud noise with deliberations and talks among the men and the Alphas and council on who the daughter of the Lycan King was, Ryker never tore his gaze from Dimitri.
Ryker raised his hand to silence the hall, and everyone quieted down. His gaze never leaving Dimitri, he spoke. “Why should we believe you, King Dimitri? You’ve been cunning from the first day we met. What’s the possibility that this is not a distraction to finish us off while we are here deliberating on this bombshell you have dropped on us?”
“It is true, King Ryker, that I have not been straight with you from the beginning, but that was war. And now, I have found the reason why I started this war in the first place.” He replied, and everyone’s curiosity was piqued.
“It is no news that a few of us Lycans aren’t lucky enough to find our mates in this life, and I am one of them. Do you know what it is like to finally have a mate and lose them?” he paused, his eyes red with pain, and his voice shook with restrained emotion.
“Eight months. Eight months was all I had to stay with mine in this life when I found her. Do you know how it felt for an old man like me to finally find my soulmate after over eight hundred years?” His voice broke, and his eyes glazed with undisguised pain. “It was all my fault. I had been too busy fighting off civil war and so many other unrest in the kingdom, and I barely had time to focus on the kingdom and be by Isla’s side. I had feared for her safety and that of my unborn pup. In my better judgment, I had handed her over to her servants and a few trusted men of hers, werewolves—I couldn’t trust my people. They all wanted me gone. They coveted the throne, and my child was even a bigger threat. Isla was in danger. I did what I thought was best, but when the civil war was over, I found my wife in a pool of her own blood, her womb ripped open. She had been killed like a d,og and your kind, who were meant to protect her, not one of them was on the crime scene. Your kind killed my Queen, my mate!!!” He roared, and no one moved. They sat in silence and couldn’t imagine the horror of losing a mate that way, much less their child.
A few moments of silence passed before Dimitri continued.
“It’s been nineteen years since I swore vengeance. And that day she died, it was not just the day I threw out the trash from my kind. It was also the day I made it my mission to rid the realm of yours.” He chuckled lightly, and a sad smile curved on his lips.
“Imagine my surprise when I saw a splitting image of my mate standing right in front of me days ago on the battlefield. It felt like the fates were taunting me, making a mockery of my pain. But I’ve come to see that she is indeed my daughter. I don’t know how she is alive, all I know is that she is real. My daughter with Isla is still alive. There is no more need for any bloodshed, and I would like to go home with my daughter. She is a princess, the rightful heir to my throne. Being an Alpha to some measely pack is an insult to her as a Stormborne.”
The hall was silent; no one spoke until someone in the crowd muttered, “Holy shit!”
There was an uproar from then onwards. Some people were elated that the war was finally over, others lamented that they lost people to, or just because of o,ne woman and a child. The Alpha and the council gathered in front of Ryker and put their heads together while Ryker’s men stayed on guard, watching the Lycan King and his men’s movements.
It was of no use because Dmitri was out to reunite with his daughter.
After a few minutes of quick deliberation, Ryker decided to let the council take the lead.
“We will send for Alpha Lyra, I mean your daughter,” Alpha Maximus spoke out. “But we would need two things. One, a confirmation that this isn’t some sort of a farce. The woman you claim is your daughter has always been on werewolf soil since birth. Everyone knows she is Alpha Damien’s child and heir.” He paused for air and continued.
“Secondly, I believe we would need to talk about compensation for the lies you have told. Yes, we understand you were on a revenge mission, but you obliterated werewolves from the East, and then, the South, before coming to the North, since the West is just desert and dry lands.”
Ryker was silent. His mind reeled as he sifted through the information. He believed Dimitri this time. His mother had told him Alpha Damien and his Luna couldn’t have a child, and was surprised to learn they had a daughter.
“We can always come to some form of an agreement on the latter, and as for proving my child is truly mine, I will send for my wizards immediately. Except if you want her to shift before you,” A slow smile curved his lips. ‘You do not want that to happen.”
His gaze flickered to Xavier, who stood shocked, before darting toward Ryker.
“Fetch your wizards.” Ryker suddenly spoke while they waited.
“They are already here,” Dimitri replied.
Shortly af, a group of seven men walked in with black cloaks and approached the dais, and bowed before King Ryker, then turned to King Dimitri and also bowed before him.
Then Ryker mind-linked Lyra.
‘I’m already here,’ Lyra repto lied to him the moment he called her name softly through the mind-link, and he looked up to find her at the entrance of the hall.