Bullied Mate Of The Lycan Kings
Chapter 97

Ren's POV

"Here, pretty boy. Put these on." Bia said, stepping on her tip toes to put a garland of dahlias around my neck.

The smile I gave her was fake, forced rehearsed, but I couldn't stop myself.

Not when my heart was restless, anxious, actively trying to beat out of my chest.

I was supposed to be all smiles and be happy for Lily on her big day. The yacht was a thirty minutes drive away from here and the crew was already on board. Lily wouldn't see it coming and we'd have the entire weekend to ourselves without her having to look over her shoulders. I should be excited.

I'm not.

As much as I tried to deny it, I knew that there was a reason why I was restless. What if Lily had found her mate? I knew that I had told her that I did not mind if she found her mate but I could not lie and say that it did not scare me that she would.

I had done something completely out of character and broken into Mauve's house like a serial killer and given her no choice but to accept the rejection. And even though there was a hollow feeling where I knew that the bond used to be, being with Lily made up for it. f**k, did she make up for all of it. These few days with Lily have been my happiest compared to all my years with Mauve.

Just the thought of seeing her again, smiling that innocent smile in surprise at what we had managed to put together for her tonight was enough to remind me that I had made the right choice... But all that could end the minute she replaces her mate because what if he did want to keep her all to himself? What was I going to do about that?

My eyes locked with Zac's from where he was standing across the living room of Bia's house which was our location for the birthday party. We held each other's frigid gaze for a second, the frost between us, palpable.

He had made a move on her. At this point, nothing Aiden or Zac does should shock me anymore. Of course, I had seen it coming but it didn't stop me from feeling like I was swallowing hot coal down my throat.

I didn't even bother to further hurt myself by wondering if for even a split second, Lily had considered his offer of leaving me for him because I had seen the way the two of them were with each other and even though Lily tried to deny the truth, I knew her and I knew that something had changed about the way she sees Zac. She was attracted to him. She liked him. And she hated herself for it.

I couldn't even handle the possibility of her and Zac, what would happen if she actually replaces her mate?

Jealousy was starting to rear its ugly head and I sighed and made for the kitchen to get a drink.

And ran into Zac drinking vodka straight from the bottle.

Frigid silence ensued throughout the room as I ignored him and went straight to the fridge to grab a bottle of water. "Congratulations." His voice was clipped, biting cold, dripping with sarcasm.

I looked up from the fridge and into eyes as dark as oblivion and frowned. "What are you congratulating me for?"

He frowned and guzzled down his drink. "For Lily of course. You won, I lost. I think a congratulations is in order."

"It was never a competition for me. I love Lily."

It happened so fast. One moment Zac was at the other end of the room, lazy and languid, drinking his vodka, the next, he was grabbing my by my collar and he slammed me against the fridge. "And what the fuck do you think I feel for her? You think this is a fucki ng game for me?"

"Isn't it? You only want her because she reminds you of the girl you loved. I love Lily because of who she is. Do you even know her?"

"I don't need to know her to know that every single cell in my body lights on fire when she's close to me. I don't need to know her to know that I feel like ripping your head off for even suggesting that what I feel for her is f*****g child's play compared to what you feel for her. I don't need to- to know her to realize that it f*****g rips my heart out that I don't even stand a chance against you. That the goddess gave me another chance and I have to fight my best friend over it."

He was not even talking to me anymore. His eyes wide and livid, chest heaving.

"And now, she's not even picking my calls or- or replying my texts. I f****d up. I f****d up."

I've never seen him so scattered, so unsure of himself. He was always so confident, suave and smooth with his words and actions, it was almost humbling seeing him this way.

He let me go, grabbed his hair and looked up at the ceiling, groaning, "f**k, Azrael, shut the f**k up for one second!"

He cursed and left me to myself and I walked out to replace him typing furiously on his phone.

He was taking this a lot worse than I expected. He didn't look like he noticed that Bia was even giving him the stink eye as he poured himself another drink and mixed it with cranberry juice before emptying the contents of the cup in large gulps. "Hey," Bia hip bumped me, "cheer up. Vampire boy has got nothing on you."

I looked at her, "you know him? You know what he is?"

"We met. Started off on the wrong foot." She rubbed her neck, wincing at a memory. "Anyway, why do you look so forlorn? You need to relax, Ren, everything is going right according to plan, okay? She is going to love it." Bia said as she stood in front of me and I nodded, not ready to talk about what exactly was bothering me.

The restlessness in my heart was increasing by the second. At first, I had thought that it was because I was worried about Lily replaceing her mate. But now...

She's not even picking my calls... or replying my texts.

"I hope she does." I answered half heartedly, taking out my phone and she waved me off with a snort.

"You're too modest. She's going to be blown away. Any girl will be if they're going to get the same princess treatment you give her-" she suddenly paused mid sentence, her eyes narrowing in Zac's direction as he hovered around the birthday cake. "Hold that thought, I will only be a moment," she said, leaving my side immediately.

"Don't touch that thing, vile creature." She started in English and finished in Spanish and I could not help the smile that briefly made its way to my face as five feet something Bia cursed in Spanish, yapping at Zac who towered over her for putting a finger through the icing on the cake.

To make it even more comical, Zac acting looked scolded, his finger still in his mouth as he licked the icing and I knew Lily would like this image. Where was she?

Was shopping really taking that long? I didn't want her to rush over here if she didn't replace what she liked but...

"That is probably the millionth time you have checked your phone, wolf." Angelo drawled beside me, catching me by surprise. An uneasy feat, but my mind was splintering to pieces right now. "You need to relax like Bia said. you look like a groom left at the altar." I rolled my eyes, unable to voice out my concern because I was too busy trying to call her line.

It went straight to voicemail and I decided to call my sister, suddenly feeling agitated.

What if something had happened to them on the way?

One of them would surely have called me right?

Or were they badly injured?

Just as I was about to call Rhea, the door bursted opened and Rhea walked in, holding so many bags in both hands, Chelsea trailing behind her and also carrying a ton of stuff. "Chase will be here any hour now." Chelsea said out as she scanned the room.

My heart dropped. Aira suddenly sprung awake.

Lily was not with the girls, so where was she?

"Where is Lily?" I asked Rhea.

"What do you mean where is Lily?" Rhea answered and before I could even get to her, Zac grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her roughly.

"What are you talking about, Ri?" Zac growled but I reached there in time and pulled him away from her, seeing her face moved from confused to annoyed as Zac and I waited for answers.

"I don't know. You tell me. Why are you asking me where Lily is? She said she was going home with you."

Zac looked at me with eyebrows raised and I shook my head, raking an agitated hand through my hair. "That's not what she told me."

Rolling her eyes, Rhea brought out her phone and showed us the message and my blood went cold as all of us stared at each other.

My heart was pounding wildly, erratically in my ears.

"What are you waiting for?" Zac's voice jeered me back to reality. "We need to start looking for her. Let's start at school. It's the last place we saw her."

"I installed a tracking device on her phone. I'll get Chase to figure out her exact location." I was already taking out my keys, ignoring everyone's shocked looks, when my phone rang. It was Aiden.

"Aiden, now is not a good time t-"

"Mauve. Fucking Mauve, I'm going to ruin her-"

"Aiden, seriously."

"She took her. She took Lily!"

My heart stopped.

Aiden was a hysterical mess, "they took her, they took her and It's my fault. I shouldn't have let her out of my sight. She's going to die there. If we don't get to her in time- I'm going to f*****g murder them all."

I couldn't make sense out of what he was saying except he had mentioned Lily's name and I had to be living in an alternate reality where Aiden, who was not scared of looking death in the face, was terrified of losing Lily. "Calm down and speak slowly, Aiden. You are on speaker now."

"f**k that!" Zac grabbed the phone, screaming into it as he began walking towards the door. "They took her where?! Tell me where she is, goddamnit!" His hands were trembling, his voice was hoarse. "The forbidden woods! They took her to the forbidden woods!"

Rhea screamed, her face pale in horror.

"Mauve. She's responsible for all of this."

Something cold and dark burned in my chest where there used to be care and affection for my former mate.

"Meet me at the edge of the woods. I'll be going in to get her. And know this, brother, when I get my hands on that pathetic excuse of a mate of yours, I will make her worst nightmares look like f*****g child's play."