Heart Of A Lycan King
Chapter 66

NATASHA.

My heart was in my throat as I stared down at the man who was once my mate. The man responsible for a lot of the pain I had carried for months, one that had stopped me from accepting my true love in time.

When I saw him at the arena a few weeks back, I didn’t feel this way. I was angry then, blinded by rage over what he had done. Today, however, as I watched him kneeling with Kamal standing behind him, I felt…nothing.

Every time I pictured a coincidence that would force me to meet Matteo, I had always imagined myself shaking from fear. The gripping type that would leave me breathless. It wasn’t the case right now. Not even when our eyes met and he smirked had I felt anything. It was as though I was numb from feeling anything for him now.

That should be weird, right? But I didn’t feel that way, instead, something grabbed my senses when our eyes met again, and for the first time since I saw him today, something felt odd.

Different.

‘Hashniya bànñi taædümn!’ A voice cried in my head, one I had not heard for weeks.

‘The presence is back. I can feel it. I think she is here,’ Erin whispered, her voice a bit flat and weak, definitely not how it sounded moments ago when she was encouraging me to stand up for myself.

My head swayed, possibly from the impact the voice caused to run through me. I felt lightheaded, and I couldn’t help gripping the edge of the seat I was on.

I watched as Aiden walked towards him, hands clasped behind him as he took one step at a time of the three steps that lead to the throne.

“What’s that smell?” Baba growled, sniffing the air as he stood up.

“I thought I was the only one,” Aiden said, finally stopping before Matteo. He leaned just a bit, before he quickly took two steps back, his hand over his nose. “F**k! What the hell is that smell?” He snarled, his gaze sweeping from Kamal to Matteo.

Surprisingly though, I didn’t get a single whiff of the scent they were talking about. Almost everyone currently had their hands placed on their nose, except for me.

“I don’t know. When I went in to get him, he was smelling this way. I guess it may be because he has been locked for weeks with no access to a bath.” Kamal replied.

“That’s far from the smell someone with no bath would have. He smells rotten. Like a decayed corpse.” Aiden replied, taking another step back.

Murmurs filled the grand hall, and as I let my eyes wander around, I saw the Elders nodding in agreement. My eyes locked with Matteo’s mother again, and this time, unlike the first time we locked eyes before my exchange with the Elders, I held her gaze. I didn’t look away, nor did I flinch.

And then she bowed, albeit it was quick. But she bowed and smiled at me just a little before turning away.

My heart hitched with something warm at her gesture.

‘She is scared of making you angry. After all, you’re the queen,’ Erin scoffed, her voice back to normal.

Before I could reply however, Aiden’s booming voice filled the hall.

“Keep your eyes off my mate!” Aiden growled, his fists tightened on either side.

“I’m simply appreciating how good you’ve made her look, Your Eminence. I guess you pump her the right way to achieve this. But best believe me, I could’ve done better if she were still with me…” the words died in Matteo’s throat as Aiden landed a quick, but hard blow to his mouth. B***d splattered around in mere seconds, as Matteo doubled over and fell on his side, his hands still tied securely.

I felt…dirty at his words. And for a moment, I simply wanted to leave to avoid the look the Elders were throwing at me. It was one thing to convince them I was capable of being their queen and working hard on that, it was another thing entirely to be sexualized.

I hated the looks. And for that, I made up my mind to make them look at me – and all women – from different angles. To look at us like the women we are and not s.ex or breeding mechanics.That would be my first job as queen.

“You are going to respect her!” Aiden roared, snapping me out of my little bubble. The hall shook from underneath at the sound of his voice, and the menacing growls left his mouth as he stomped his feet on Matteo’s face. “The next time any stupid word leaves your mouth regarding her, I swear to you by Nyala, I won’t waste anytime in ripping your throat from your body, you f*****g piece of s.hit!” He growled, stomping his feet harder.

Gurgled strangled m***s filled the hall, as Matteo struggled to breath and pull away. I stood up, my body shaking. First, from rage, and second, from the fear that Aiden may lose his sanity and do something neither of us would like.

‘Hey, calm down.’ I mind linked, mustering as much energy as I could through the bond to soothe him. He didn’t visibly calm down, but I felt it through the bond.

‘I hate the way he’s looking at you or speaking to you! You’re his queen for f**k sake!’ he snapped, stomping his feet harder and a sick crack was heard. “My Woman!”

‘That’s all he can do. Look. You are all I have, and the only one who will ever have me. Never forget that. I love only you, Aiden.’ I whispered.

“Stop this, brother,” Mav called, pulling him by the elbow. The hall was deathly quiet, no one said anything. For a moment, it felt as though they were scared to even breathe or make a sound. Not even Mama nor Baba made a move to stop him. Truthfully, they looked so angry that I thought they may do worse than he did had they been there. “He’s doing this to aggravate you, and that never works out well. For the sake of Natasha, I plead with you to please, calm down.”

His eyes glazed over as he turned to face me. I smiled, nodding my head at him before I began walking up to his side, clasping my hand around his. He sighed, squeezing my hand before he mouthed ‘I love you’ and smiled.

I grinned, leaning my head on his shoulders. ‘Now, do the needful, My King.’ I linked, while Mav smiled at me, then unexpectedly turned and kicked Matteo hard in the stomach.

“That’s for saying nasty things to my sister,” he snapped, smiled at me again and stepped back.

Aiden sighed again, glared down at Matteo before he began speaking. I thought standing closer to Matteo would allow me to sniff the smell everyone was talking about, yet there was nothing. I caught a whiff of nothing, except for the empty look in Matteo’s eyes.

He looked…too plain? No idea how to describe it but something about Matteo didn’t really seem right. He sat up, coughing hard as his body shook. For a moment, for just the briefest moment, I caught a twitch in Kamal’s face as he helped him up.

“Council of Elders, kneeling before me is a man who was once an Alpha. Right now, however, he’s being charged with the murders of four Omegas, cheating in his fight against me by using the Fiandron root, and conspiring with his uncle to play dirty and insult my mate, who is the queen!” He paused for the effects of his words to register before he continued. “We have evidence to back our claims against him. I’ll have Kane hand you all a file containing the report of our investigation against him,” he nodded towards Kane.

I shifted my gaze towards where my team stood, and Tiff waved at me brightly, moving her hand back to her nose quickly. What was going on? And why am I the only one not smelling whatever this was?

‘I don’t like this, Nat.’ Erin whispered. ‘Nothing about this seems right. I feel like something is amiss somewhere,’ she added.

I nodded in agreement, sweeping my eyes to Matteo and seeing the smirk still plastered on his blooded face. Not even a beating of that force had managed to take that annoying and unsettling look away.

Kane handed the files to the council before he returned to his position beside Aiden.

“When you read through it all, you’ll replace the evidence clearly stated in there.” Aiden added.

I let go of his hand and pushed away from his shoulders. “We have more evidence, Elders.” I provided. “My team and I worked to figure out the accident that involved a pregnant mother, her son, and a red colored wolf from the Jaro pack. We later found out that the woman is Elder Manze’s sister, which ultimately makes her his aunt,” I pointed to Matteo. “I’ll leave one of the women in my team to explain that.”

I turned and nodded to Sherneil, encouraging her to step forward. She hesitated, as though the attention around her was making her uncomfortable. From the little bit I know about her, this is definitely going to make her uncomfortable. But this is something we have to do.

After a moment of hesitation, she stepped forward, hugging a black file to her chest. She wore jeans today, paired with a white blouse.

“Greetings, Elders of the Council,” she began, her voice shaking a bit. I saw her move the fingers on one of her hands for a while. She looked more nervous than I had expected.

“Should we help?” I whispered to Aiden.

He frowned. “She’s not good with so much attention. And if we act now, it’ll make it worse. She’ll think she’s doing so bad that we had to notice and help. Let’s allow her to handle this her way.” He replied.

I kept my gaze fixed on Sherneil from where she stood beside us. She had her eyes shut and after a moment, they flew open. She was looking around, but not making eye contact with anyone.

Just like I do sometimes.

“Like the Queen said, we have been investigating the accident that happened a few months ago. We found some scattered furs of a red wolf in one of the cars, and after much investigation, discovered that the boy with the woman was not real. That was a shapeshifting dark Goblin.”

Gasps and loud murmurs instantly filled the hall.

“What do you mean by that?” Baba asked, standing up.

“My colleague, Ivayne, and I returned from the Jaro pack yesterday. According to our replaceings, the Alpha’s eldest son had been missing. This was the boy in the other car, the one whose furs we found. The young boy was kidnapped in exchange for the Alpha replaceing the Fiandron root. This is because only one with Alpha b***d of the Jaro pack can step into the mountains of the Jaro forest.”

“That is right,” a tall, burly man stood up and approached us. “My son was kidnapped one night, and after three days of searching for him to no avail, I made up my mind to come and report it to you, Your Eminence,” the man bowed, his flowing black cape with golden strings floated behind him. “But the morning I was about to come, I got a strange letter stating I should go to the outskirts of the pack if I ever want to see my son. I did, and I found a strange looking man. He gave me a note.”

Sherneil searched the file she was holding and produced a note, before handing it to Kane.

“It is a contract,” he said, surprised. “It has the seal of the goblins!”

“The contract was the bond between me and my son. If I dared to report the crime, he’d die, and I could only save him by providing the root.”

“Which was what was used to hurt me during the fight,” Aiden snarled.

“I had no choice, Your Eminence. I…” the Alpha said while he quickly went down on one knee and bowed his head to show total submission to Aiden. His voice was also slightly quivering from fear from the realization of his actions.

“It is fine, Alpha Zack. I do not hold this against you.” Aiden replied, tapping his shoulder as a sign to stand back up.

“Thank you, Your Eminence. As I was saying, I had to provide the root in exchange for my son’s life.”

“But little did he know that his son’s life would be traded for another.” Ivayne stepped forward. “After we searched Elder Manze’s manor, on your command, Your Eminence, we found the same contract. He hired the goblin in exchange for the Jaro pack, and the son’s b***d would be what would seal the deal.”

Aiden’s body stiffened, the same way mine did. A strangled and sorrowful ‘no’ came from the Alpha of the Jaro pack. The b***d on his face drained instantly. In a matter of seconds, his face etched up in fear and anguish, before he slowly fell back down on his knees. I watched on as he tried to keep a straight face, but he could not hold back the tears that started to stream down his cheeks.

My heart broke at the sorrowful sight before me, and I fought to hold back my tears as well. Despite everything he had done to save his son, it all was for nothing.

“What?” Aiden asked in disbelief as he tilted his head.

“Yes, Your Eminence. That was the deal stated in the contract. We found the boy in a well hidden shed behind Elder Manze’s house. It was not a pretty sight.” Sherneil continued in the same voice. “The body was brought to the hospital for investigation. They have also made it ready for Alpha Zack to take him home. The guard there will show you the way.” She gestured towards one of the guards, who came forward and signaled for the Alpha of Jaro pack and his group to follow. Alpha Zack had to be supported by his Beta, who had also been called in. I could still hear the ringing of his cries moments after they had left.

“The deal stated that the goblin gets the Jaro pack in exchange for the Queen,” Sherneil continued when the hall quieted again. “Elder Manze was in cohort with his nephew in his fight to get her back. The accident was staged with his sister, who was not pregnant in any way, and the goal was to use her body as a decoy after the explosion. The Queen would be taken by Elder Manze to Alpha Matteo, and the sister, who was made to look exactly like the Queen, would die in her stead and we’d all assume she was dead.” Sherneil explained. “But the problem here is, a goblin is never satisfied with a little. In the end, they’ll keep trading for the remaining packs till they take over the whole kingdom.”

“That is true,” Inna Laniya agreed. “They will certainly do that once they get the first pack.

“Have we found Manze yet?” Aiden asked.

“Sadly, no, Your Eminence.” Kane replied, ducking his head down.

“Wow!” Was all I could say, suddenly sweating all over.

“Then how did you replace out all of this?” Aiden asked.

“They found the woman. She’s currently in our custody, Your Eminence,” Kane replied. “She confessed to this yesterday.”

“But why would she agree to sacrifice her life? She’s not getting anything out of this.” I asked, confused.

“She was promised to be made the new queen. With the lie that she wouldn’t really be dead.” Ivayne replied. “That was how she was lured in.”

I began massaging my temple, a throbbing headache settling in. This was too much to take in. Everyone still covered their nose, and I still couldn’t help the dread that kept eating at me over that.

Something was amiss.

“So now, we know they planned this together. To harm my queen and play dirty tricks with my kingdom!” Aiden snapped, gritting his teeth. “We’ll take a break of thirty minutes and return.” He commanded, taking my hand and pulling me towards the door.

“What are you doing?” I whispered as we approached the door.

“Giving you a break. You looked like you couldn’t breathe,” he replied, pulling the door open and walking towards our car.

That was right. I was hyperventilating. Truthfully, this had been a lot to take in, and a lot to believe. The kingdom had been put in shambles because of me. I didn’t know how that was supposed to make me feel, but right now, I truly needed the air.

As Aiden pulled the door to the car and helped me in, I couldn’t help but hug him tightly once he stepped in.

*

MATTEO.

I stared at her retiring figure till she disappeared behind the door. I swallowed hard, the bitter taste on my tongue increasing.

I just need to keep up with this for a while, and everything will return to the way it once was. I’ll have my mate back, my pack, and my dignity.

Goddammit! She looked so beautiful. For the briefest moment, I nearly blew up my cover so I could reach out for her. But that would end soon. They all assumed it was me kneeling before them. If only they knew the chaos I was about to reign on them for refusing to give me back my mate.

Natasha belongs to me and me alone. I should be the only one responsible for her pain and happiness. And I intend to make that happen.

I stared down at the body I was cloning and hissed. My body would always be better.

However, I intend to endure all this for the biggest win.

Natasha.