Chapter 171
RYKER’S POV
A strangled sob escaped my lips when I found myself back in the same clearing.
I had killed my own child. I had destroyed my world.
“No,” Rider growled in my head. Snapping me back into focus. “You made mistakes, but you would never kill our own. Even when Vera said she was pregnant. You never once rejected the pup because you believed it was ours.
“But we lost the baby. Lyra, she—she lost the baby,” I cried. My shoulders shook, and my feet gave way under me. Leaving me in a mess of sobs and anguish.
“Giving up already, Alpha King?”
I froze. That blasted voice.
“What do you want from me? You know I won’t leave here until I pass through?” I growled low and angry in my chest before standing up.
“What’s the point of going ahead? Look at you. Unfit to be her mate. The other five Alphas have passed through. You should just give up.”
I shook my head defiantly. “I refuse,” Rider let out a low growl. “We are incomplete without our mate,”
“Hmm,” The voice sounded different this time. It sounded like the Lycan King.
Lyra’s father
“Such fervor. Where was all this bravado when she needed it? Aren’t you too shameless? Coming for her hand now. Or perhaps, is it because you are too ambitious and after her throne?”
“I LOVE HER!!!!” I roared in defiance as tears pooled in my eyes. “NO MATTER HOWMANY TIMES YOU THROW ME IN THERE, IT DOESN’T CHANGE THE FACT THAT I LOVE HER!!!” I broke down and fell to my knees. “Gods! I do,”
There was silence.
After what felt like a long time, he spoke again.
“Last chance, Alpha King. Free yourself of those chains and go to her if you can,”
This time, I was thrown into a pack. It looked familiar, yet it didn’t. Somehow, my feet guided me to where I needed to be. I stepped into the porch of a white two-story building. The smell of baked bread welcomed me, and I could hear chattering from people busy moving about.
I could tell they were all werewolves from their scent. Then one of the maids scurried past and called out to another staff member. “You need to hurry. The Alpha and Luna will be here any moment.”
They scurried past me as though I wasn’t there. I frowned slightly.
This was strange.
Not long after, the door opened, and a man walked in. I could tell by his aura that he was an Alpha. His arms were draped around a woman, but my focus wasn’t on him. It was on Lyra. She was the woman in his arms.
Around us, members of the pack greeted them excitedly. They looked happy, and the man pulled her close for a kiss.
“Lyra,” I called out to her. Just then, she stopped right beside me and looked my way, but past me as though she couldn’t see me.
What’s going on?
“Baby, come on. You know I’ve missed you this past week. I’ve been away,” The Alpha draws her closer, and a stabbing pain pierces through me. My knees nearly buckle from the pain, and I gasp.
Goddess! Was this the pain of betrayal?
Lyra giggled and snuggled into the man’s arm. He then turns, and I see his face. A force of pain nearly knocks out my windpipe in the process.
It was no other than Xavier from BloodFang.
“You,” My voice comes out in a whisper, but they had turned towards the stairs.
“Lyra, come back. Don’t go with him. Please,” I called out and rushed after them. However, as soon as I push the door open, Xavier is inside her, and they are making love. She moans under him in pleasure, and I cannot un-see it even if I wanted to. But that wasn’t all. The pain moving through my veins was all on another level.
“Stop this now!” I growled, but instead, Xavier turned to give me a mocking smirk and slammed into her once more. The force of his thrusts throws me into an angry mode. My wolf becomes restless, and I am writhing in pain. When I tried to stand up, I realized I was now at the edge of the room, where I could see every action clearly. But I am in those invisible chains.
I am wracked with pain, but I cannot even hold my heart from nearly bursting out of its seams in anger. The process is pure torture.
He doesn’t just take her and stop. They go at it for hours, while he takes her in every position I had done with her. Each time, ripping my heart to shreds to the point at which I want to dig my heart out and scream at the world.
This was the feeling of betrayal. This was exactly what Lyra felt all those times I was with Vera. Overcome by intense pain, I collapsed on my knees as tears streamed down my face.
As though suddenly sensing me, they stopped, and Lyra walked over. She smelled of Xavier and sex. Yet, I couldn’t tear my gaze away.
“Lyra,” I called out her name in a hoarse whisper, wondering if she could hear me.
“As you can see, I already belong to another. You should go, Ryker. We’re over.”
I blinked shakily and reached out for her as she knelt to my level so she could meet my eyes.
“I—I made a mistake,” I swallowed, my voice sounding raspy as I looked at her eyes. My breath came out in shallow pants as the fever messed with my brain. It was though my brain was close to burning. It had been frying for hours with Lyra and Xavier’s lovemaking.
“I have been so selfish. And, so stupid. I messed a good thing up because I was foolish. I thought I was doing the right thing. Taking revenge for the parents that I had lost and for the pack I grew up in. All this time, I had been a puppet. And even when you became my mate, I still allowed myself to be a puppet. I have failed you…” My voice cracks, and my shoulder shakes as painful tremors wrack my body whole. “I do not deserve you. I am not worthy. And though you’ve found someone else, I would never stop loving you. And I will never let go of our bond. I will keep it as a reminder of what I had but never cherished. And for the rest of what’s left of my life, I would always love you, keeping you safe even from a distance. ”
She didn’t say a word. But her blue eyes suddenly turned white, almost like silver.
There were tears.
Suddenly, Lyra’s face changes, and I see Dimitri looking down at me with an amused smirk.
“What a stupid fool in love,” He muttered before a blinding white light blinded my vision. That was when I felt it.
The chains are breaking.