Bullied Mate Of The Lycan Kings
Chapter 172

Cade's pov

Peace. It was a concept that was totally foreign to me because for as long as I could remember, my life has been a warzone, my heart, at war with my head. It was a never ending battle from when I could talk and my mother included me in her plans to take over the I did a lot of horrible things for my mother, I was her brainless soldier until I met Lily.

world till this very moment.

I deserved hell in all its seven forms.

*Perhaps dy i n g was the closest to peace that I will ever have. Even if it's for only a moment, I would like to feel what it's like to exhale.

I could hear Lily screaming for Ren to probably try to save me while Aiden kept pressing down on my wound, his eyes wide with panic as he kept saying the same words over and over again.

"Stay with me buddy. Stay with me."

But the more I tried to keep my eyes open, the more it felt too hard to and I could feel their voices becoming duller and when Lily cradled my head, her knees underneath me, I couldn't feel her touch, I couldn't feel anything.

This was the end, this had to be it, I thought as I finally stopped fighting the urge to keep my eyes open and closed

I took a deep inhale.

Exhaled.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a completely different place and I wondered how that was even possible when it felt like I had only closed my eyes for just a second

Looking up at the sky, it was so blue, I didn't think I had ever noticed how big and blue and beautiful the sky was in my entire life. The field was lush against my back and softer than a bed and the air was clean and cool. As I inhaled, it felt like all of that invisible weight that I seemed to always weigh me down had suddenly vanished and I could finally breathe freely.

I sat up and looked around, taking in what I now realized was not just a field but a large beautiful garden and what had been shielding me from the sun was the fact that I was lying at the foot of a massive tree. There was a swing attached to one of its branches and I could hear a brook bubbling in the distance.

Just as I rose up to head to the swing, I heard a voice that sounded so ethereal and clear, it poked at something deep in my soul.

"Hello, Cade. You are finally awake. Congratulations."

I whirled around in the direction of the voice and my voice got lost in my throat as I beheld the owner.

She has skin that was so fair, it was almost translucent and her silver white hair was long enough to stop at her waist. Her grey eyes were surrounded by silver lashes and she was easily one of the most beautiful women that I had ever seen. Her white dress touched the ground and when she stepped forward, a long bench suddenly appeared and she sat on it, her legs bare.

An Angel?

"Where is this place?" I asked and she patted the seat next to her.

"This? It's just a little space, perhaps the word I should use is paradise but I created it to have a conversation with you.

"Who are.." My question trailed off my mouth as I looked at her again and it finally clicked. There was a reason why everything about her seemed to make me think of the whiteness of the moon.

"Selene." I whispered, falling to my knees immediately before the goddess.

She laughed heartily and waved me off.

"You can rise, Cade. I did not bring you here to worship me.

Hesitantly, I did as she asked and this time when she patted the seat beside her, I didn't need to be told twice. I sat, my back stiff and posture straight as I watched her and she smiled, her face a picture of flawlessness.

"I have been watching you for a long time and I have taken an interest in you, Caden."

My eyes widened and I turned sideways to fully face her

"Forgive me but why?" Why would I ever be of interest to the goddess? A mere mortal like me with almost no significance in the grand scheme of things?

When I looked at her again, her eyes twinkled and her smile was fond and it made me wonder if I was overthinking it or of the same thing was happening all over again because a goddess like her had fallen for not just one mortal but four and I became wary, wondering if she was interested in someone like me and how I was going to let her down easy without incurring her wrath.

"I can see the wheels in your head spinning, Cade," she

- said with a laugh that made my cheeks tinge with embarrassment because of course she could. She was a goddess after all. If Ren could read my thoughts, she could do a lot more than that. "I'm not interested in you in that manner, merely curious about the choices that my sister made. It still baffles me that she was able to love not one but four mortal men and I am genuinely interested in understanding why and how."

Her sister? Dahlia was her sister? My mate was the host for the moon goddess's sister?

My eyes nearly fell out of their sockets in shock and she waved it off again with a small laugh.

"You are so easy to startle. Have no fear. I bear no ill will towards you or my sister and even though Dahlia has relinquished her godhood and my punishment for her choice had been harsh at that moment, I have never stopped caring for her and wanting the best for her. Her cries reached me when you died, and now I can only wonder the amount of agony that she must be in for her to have prayed to me to save you when she has not once done so in the past since her banishment."

It finally hit me that I had really died and my heart aches hearing that Lily was in so much pain because of it, that it was tearing her apart and I held my chest, my chest in pain until I could hardly breathe.

"Will it always be this way? Will the pain always hurt as bad as this?" I whispered and she gently patted my back, her touch brief but almost effective because I felt my lungs expanding again.

"Yes. It will. But it will get easier to handle with time and I

-am here to ask you to make a choice. Do you want to go back to your mate and your bond? Or will you like to come with me and rest in peace?"

My eyes widened at the options she was so generously laying out for me.

"You must remember that you only have one answer and I am only doing this because I must somehow show my sister that despite it all, I love her. I would not want her to live with the pain of losing her mate for the rest of her mortal existence but I cannot send you back to her if you do not want to go back. So make your choice now."

She pointed in a direction that was bright with light and I knew that if I went with her now, I would be able to leave all of the problems behind and finally rest but at the same time, I could hear Lily's voice wailing loudly and trying to bargain with Selene, ready to give up anything to have me back.

Selene smiled when I opened my mouth to speak, already knowing the choice that I had made before I even said it.

"I will not be going with you. It is not yet my time."

"Very well then. But know this, since you are dead and your choice is for me to send you back to your body, it will come at a cost. A sacrifice of equal price. Do you still wish to continue?"

My reply was instant. Take my pack, my crown, heck, my wolf, my place will still be by Lily's side. "Yes."

"Very well then. It was nice meeting you. I do hope we meet uner more favourable condtions." Her smile was soft and

-

sweet, a hint of deviousness in it and I swear, I could see Lily in her. The resemblance was almost uncanny. "Likewise," I nodded.

"Goodbye, Cade."

I closed my eyes and when I opened it, I was back in my body, Lily clutching me to her chest as she wailed and wept. Zac was holding her in his arms, as if trying to stop her from hurting herself and Lily was shaking terribly.

My heart was practically tearing to pieces at their combined grief.

I coughed and she froze, looking down at me with red swollen eyes wide with shock that immediately turned to joy.

"You're back. Thank the goddess!" she cried, hugging me tight and I looked over to where Ren had been kneeling over my wound, his eyes looking drained and tired but relieved that I was alive and I saw the understanding in his eyes Lily said I was back but Ren knew the truth. I had died

Coughing as I sat up, I nodded at him and he nodded back.

"Thank you for coming back," He said and as I was about to respond, Aiden slapped my back, but his eyes were filled with relief.

"You f*****g bastard! You scared us. You scared all of us! Never do that again, or I'll kill you myself. Do you understand?" Loud and clear."

He looked like he was about to say something else when something happened.

Blood started to drip from Aiden's nose and the smile on his face vanished as he touched the blood and stared at his fingers in confusion. I felt Lily tense up beside me and Aden's eyes widen in horror. My heart started to pound hard, dread filling my veins for some reason.

"Come here, let me look at you." Ren said, immediately walking up to meet Aiden and Aiden started walking towards him when he suddenly stopped, his eyes rolling back right before he collapsed to the ground. Lily's scream was heart wrenching as she rushed towards his motionless body and all I could hear as my heart raged violently was what the goddess had told me about my choice, that devious smile on her lips. "will send you back, but it will come at a cost. A sacrifice of equal price. Do you still wish to continue?"

Aiden had paid the price for my life.

My choice had just killed Aiden.