Bullied Mate Of The Lycan Kings
Chapter 92

pov

Lily's Zac's confession, his touch, the whisper of his kisses... all of it haunted me throughout the rest of the day.

I spent the entire day restless and I wanted to say that it was because of Zac's confession in the morning messing up my mental balance, because his words still seemed to haunt me, follow me everywhere during classes and echo in my ears at random times... but this restlessness, this anxiety, it was more than that.

There was something else making me feel a healthy mix of nervousness and excitement. Something that I could not quite put my finger on and I hoped and prayed that it had nothing to do with my mate being around or in the school.

Ren, on the other hand had been nothing but sweet all day and a tad bit evasive, stylishly going around all of the questions that I had asked about my party and sneaking out to make phone calls that I was sure were to Bia who was also keeping her lips sealed about what today was going to look like.

I thought it was absolutely adorable that he was planning this surprise for me and putting in all of this effort into making sure that whatever they were planning meant well but I didn't think that he realized that even if he didn't throw me a party, get me gifts or plan a nice surprise, my love for him was already overflowing. He had already done so much for me and I could not imagine what my life would have been if I did not have Ren's love and support these past couple of weeks.

I shivered as darkness creeped into my heart, into my memories. A sliver of the life I had before Ren came into my life with all his light and hope. I immediately shook it off and went back to working on my chemistry report.

Time rolled around for the end of the day and the restlessness in my chest became almost impossible to ignore. Chucking it up to anxiety for the party tonight, I decided to make my way to the library and quickly read something since I was supposed to go shopping with Rhea and Chelsea when school closed and they were currently busy with cheerleading practice.

Ren had already told me that he had some extra arrangements to make and it was so cute to see him struggle to not confess that his plans were related to my birthday. I was only too happy to put him out of his misery of having to explain himself to me. Walking into the library, I took a minute to admire how large and vast this place was, compared to the library at Gold crest and how lucky I was to have gotten a shot to be here and it further strengthened my resolve to continue to do what it took to remain here and pursue my dreams.

Especially now that things seemed to have settled down and I was finally replaceing my place here.

I was excited and could not wait for this evening to come and I walked towards a book shelf to grab a book when I felt something that made my hand pause mid air. Confused for a moment, I ignored the feeling and proceeded to pick up the book but then I felt it again, even stronger. It was like an itch that needed to be scratched badly, a pull that was trying to lead me somewhere.

Unable to ignore or resist it, I let the urge lead me a little deeper into the library, venturing into a corner that I didn't even know existed in this ginormous space.

My heart was beating wildly, my pulse thrumming uncontrollably and it felt like my entire body was getting primed for something, excited for whatever was at that corner and I could not even resist the urge to quickly follow the itch to discover what had such control

over me.

As I made a right, the scent of someone familiar hit me, triggering all sorts of memories almost immediately and the expensive masculine sophisticated scent made my mouth dry up because I recognized who it was. I knew who was in that corner before I even saw him. Aiden.

Immediately, I tried to stop moving, wanting to be nowhere around him, but it was like my body had a mind of it's own and it kept pulling me even further in that direction until I burst out into an area that I could only describe as a crib.

There was a nest of books piled up on each other on the table in front of the comfy armchair and I was expecting to replace Aiden doing something dark and devious, completely nasty and horrific to the eyes like hurting or humiliating someone but I stopped dead in my tracks when I found him doing nothing of the sort.

Sleeping.

The cruel prince of darkness was asleep.

He was coiled up like a baby on the armchair, sound asleep with a purple blanket nearly slipping off of him and I could not deny that he looked like the most attractive, peaceful person that I had ever seen in my eyes.

To my horror, even when I tried to blink away the sudden surge of attraction, I realized with sorrow that I could not, the pull forcing me to admit the one thing that had scared me all day.

I had found my mate and it was none other than the one person in the entire world that I could never have imagined it would be.

A lot of emotions swirled inside me, from anger to fear and the most damning of all, aching need to be with him. And as if that was not punishment enough, he stirred in his sleep, his eyes suddenly flying open and now we were both staring at each other, his eyes widening in recognition as he muttered the one word that I did not want to ever hear from his mouth.

"Mate."

"No" I gasped, hiding behind a bookshelf and pressed my hand to my mouth to make sure that I did not make a sound. Closing my eyes tight, I wished that this was a dream. That this was just a nightmare that I could wake up from now. Did the goddess really not hear my prayers? Because if she did, then why this? Why him? Of all people? It couldn't be. It could not be.

Aiden suddenly appeared in front of me and even though I wanted to ignore him, the immediate pull had my eyes flying open to see that instead of anger and repulsion at the fact that we were mates, he actually looked genuinely elated.

"Can you feel it too? You can feel it, can't you, Lily? It's the mating bond. It's singing to the two of us and what a wonderful song it is." He whispered, trying to take my hand but I slapped his hand away and forced my body to listen to my mind as I pulled away from him immediately. "Feel it? Yes but I don't want it. I don't want anything to do with someone like you."

His eyes turned alarmed and he placed his arms on either side of my head, eyes of stardust burning into mine as he pinned me against the shelf. His dark grey eyes roamed over my face, looking so vulnerable, I wanted to believe that he was a different person. "If this is about your home, I had nothing to do with he vandalism or releasing those videos either. You have to believe me."

My anger snapped and I pushed him away, screaming.

"So what do you want? A hug? A pat on the back? Acceptance? Does that change the fact that you remain the same person that hurts everyone, even those close to you?"

I didn't want to... i didn't want to cry, but damn it, the water works exploded out of me, as if I couldn't stop myself, the awful memories came slamming back into me with full force. Memories I thought that I had healed from.

"You put a target on my back on my first day here for no reason. You blamed me for a crime that I didn't commit. I was hurt, beaten and assaulted at your command. Hunted like a common thief. I was almost raped on my first day here. And it was all." Shove. "Your." Shove. "Fault!" I was hacking up a lung, breathing erratically. A painful sob was stuck in my chest. My lungs felt like they were collapsing in on me, even as I glared at him. The cause of my pain in this academy. The orchestrator of my misery. He had the audacity to look shocked. To look offended. "Lily-"

"You hurt me every chance you get. You get a kick out of seeing me in pain, in tears. You forced me to go down on you for your own pleasure. For your own sick game!" I shook my head to fight off the awful memories swarming back. The shame, the pain and humiliation. "I wanted to kill myself, Aiden. Did you know that?"

He clenched his teeth, eyes going a darker shade of grey like worn tombstones and dying stars.

"Does this turn you on?" I asked, mockingly, glaring at him through my tears. "Do my tears make you happy?"

"Lily-" he reached out to me and I stepped back.

"You think because of this foolish bond, I'm supposed to forget all of that? You think I'll accept you with open arms so you can ruin my life once and for all? You've never respected or cared for me and I should believe that you want to now? I refuse to be with someone like you, mate or not. I will never agree to be mated to a monster like you, Aiden Vanderbilt. I would rather die!"

I had never seen someone look so hurt in my entire life but the hopeful look on Aiden's face quickly vanished, all his emotions turning sour, his chest heaving as he gazed up at the ceiling, tucked his tongue against his cheek, counted under his breath. And then, he stared at me coldly.

"Fine." He whispered.

I swallowed.

"Run then, Lily." He said, his voice, taking on a deadly edge that raised the hairs on the back of my neck. The cold, dead look in his eyes spelled a promise. A threat. "Run, and don't stop running because if I catch you, nothing is going to stop me from claiming you. You are mine, no one elses. Not Ren's. Not Zac's. Mine. And you will be mine. I'll make sure of it."

My heart stopped at the threat. My blood going cold. I fisted my trembling hands, an angry sob stuck in my throat.

Of course. What was I expecting? He'd never change.

I turned around and fled the library, running as fast as my legs could carry me.