Bullied Mate Of The Lycan Kings
Chapter 77

Lily's POV

If Zac could feel my hand trembling in his grasp, he played it off well. He had an easy gaze on the road ahead of him, a lazy hand on the steering wheel, humming softly to the sound of music crooning from his speaker.

While I was a cold mess with scattered thoughts.

Zac can't be my mate, it's probably just my nerves acting up. I want it to be Ren, and even if it's not Ren, I'm still going to choose him... if I haven't f****d things up in that aspect.

He still wasn't replying to my messages. What if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore?

And even if he still likes me, what are the chances that Zac would let us be together if we were mates?

Why choose? A sinister voice that reeked of femme fatale slithered into my thoughts. When you can have both.

I shivered, pressing a hand to my head.

Great. I've been hearing things all day.

The entire ride to my house was filled with tense silence... The tenseness was more from me because from the look of things, Zac seemed to be in lala land.

It's not like I had anything to say because I was still trying to process what was actually going on with me. With ZAC! Hugging me, sniffing me and rubbing his scent all over me in a way that I have only seen couples do with one another.

I would have thought that I was reading too much into it and overthinking as well as reaching but the fact was that I wasn't. Not with Zac's right hand interlocked with mine while he used the other to drive.

It had been like that the minute he moved the car onto the road and I had been too shocked to ask him why he was holding my hand, still trying to reconcile the fact that those same hands had nearly killed someone from just touchig them.

I didn't feel an ounce of pity for Tate after he tried to r**e me and all the months of brutality back when I was a student at Gold crest... but I didn't understand why Zac was holding my hand now.

Was it because he was worried that if he didn't, I was going to somehow jump out of the car in fear? Fear of what I had seen him do perhaps?

That could not be it, could it?

He was probably holding me because he did not have any other choice... yes, that's it. He thought I was scared, I just have to show him that I'm not. I tried to pull away from him but all he did was tighten his fingers around me. Okay, that's not going to work.

What was worse was that for some reason, I was not interested in calling him out or asking why he was holding me tight like that. I hated to admit it but I liked how it felt with my hand in his right now, especially after how I had felt when Tate tried to molest me. Being alone after that would have made me crumble and it was not like holding hands had to mean anything, right?

Right.

Content with having sorted out that issue in my head, I did not realize that we had arrived at my house until I felt that the car was no longer moving and when I looked in Zac's direction, I saw that he was staring at something ahead. Looking forward, I realized that he was looking at the place that I called home.

My house was a small white house that has seen better days. Those days were when my father was alive and not a traitor of course, but the white right now looked like it could not even classify as that colour. It was more yellow and brown than white. My father had

a beautiful garden surrounding the house where he liked to plant his own spices and special plants he used to perfect his art, but right now, with neither me nor my mother taking care of it, the garden was dead and the white picket fence was broken. Looking back at Zac, I saw that he was staring with an unreadable expression and that was when it hit me that he had probably never seen a slum like this in his entire life thanks to being born a Talaverra.

Immediately, I withdrew my hand, surprised that he released his grip and sat on top of my hands, suddenly feeling very insecure about my quaint little home. Zac's scrutiny affected me in a way Ren didn't.

Speaking of Ren, my heart caved in when his name flashed through my thoughts again and my frown became even deeper. I suddenly remembered that Mauve had said that they were going on a date together... maybe that's why he's ignoring me... because he's busy with her.

My heart cracked in two.

Where could they have gone?

Had he taken her to that diner where we ate and the owner said she liked me and not Mauve? Jealousy constricted my lungs, heating up my blood.

Quickly, I shook my head because I was giving myself false hope when I knew that only heartbreak awaited me from wondering about their date. I looked up, finally realizing that Zac had already gotten down from the car and was now at the passenger side, opening the door for me.

"Thank you." I said when he helped me down, ignoring the tension between us as I walked away from him. I could not read his expression upon replaceing out where I lived so the last thing on my mind was to invite him in.

"I'll see you tomorrow." I said quietly and started heading for the door to my house. Hearing footsteps behind me, I turned to see that Zac was walking after me and he merely shrugged.

"Just want to make sure that you're inside the house and safe."

"Okay." I answered feebly, heading towards the front door, with my keys in my hand and I was almost at the front door when I realized that something was not right.

The door was slightly open which meant that either my mother had come or people had broken in again.

Filled with horror, I rushed into the house, my legs nearly giving out as I took in the destroyed state of my home. Everything had either been trashed, wrecked or looted and right in the middle of their living room was her mother on her knees, crying and sporting not only a nasty gash on her forehead but also a busted lip.

My heart ached as she lifted her eyes and saw me and I rushed towards where my mother knelt, pulling her into my arms for a hug and allowing myself to cry for yet another tragedy befalling this family.

"What happened mum?"I asked and she merely shook her head, rubbing both her arms like she was cold.

"I tried to stop them, Lily. I swear I tried." And then her voice changed from devastation to one of accusation as she frowned at me.

"What did you do, Lily? Who did you offend that has decided to punish me as well?" She gripped my blazer hard, her eyes wild. "Who hired those big scary men to come here and trash the place?"

"I..." my voice got lost mid explanation because I did hurt somebody didn't I?

In a fit of rage, I had not only raised my voice at Aiden, I had stabbed him with a knife and twisted it into him. When Aiden had warned me that he was interested in playing games, why had I been so stupid to think that whatever he did was only going to affect me? I was probably the one that was going to be least hurt by him because he was going to deal with me where it would truly hurt, by coming for my loved ones and everything that was precious to me.

Suddenly, a cold shiver ran down my spine as I imagined what could have happened to my bedroom.

It would definitely be worse than the mess downstairs and even though I hoped that I was just being paranoid, a part of me knew what I was going to see would break me. I had not even realized that Zac had not left until I was climbing up the stairs and he was right. behind me.

When I opened the door, there was blood splattered on the walls and I followed the tail to the bathroom to see my cat, Fiona, nailed to the wall with... oh my god... that dagger! The very dagger I had stabbed Aiden with.

I clamped a hand to my mouth but that didn't stop the toe curling scream from escaping my lips as I stumbled back, crashing into a wall of muscle that enclosed its arms around me.

Zac...

I turned around and buried my face in his chest, holding fistfuls of his shirt as I exploded into tears, my chest racking with sobs. He held me together, tightly to his chest as I broke into a million tiny pieces, rubbing my back and murmuring soothing words. It's deja vu all over again, but this time, I knew who did it. Who was out to get me afterall.

Aiden f*****g Vanderbilt.