Heart Of A Lycan King
Chapter 68

The air was thick in the hall as we resumed the meeting with the nagging fear still clawing at my chest. Aiden led me to the throne but I shook my head and stood beside him. Mama had walked back to her seat beside Baba. We watched as the Elders filed in and took their seats.

A few minutes passed before Kamal strolled in with Matteo, looking worse than he did the first time he got here. I watched as everyone covered their nose, while I was okay.

“You still can’t smell the foul odor?” Aiden whispered.

“No,” I sighed. “Nothing.”

He pursed his lips. “That’s weird.”

I nodded in agreement. “Very weird. And scary,” I murmured, turning to face Kamal who was pressing Matteo down by his shoulders and having him kneel before us. There were only a few feet between us. Kane and Mav stood on Aiden’s side, while Donald stood beside me, arms crossed on his chest.

I hadn’t seen him since the day he visited us three days ago. We spoke on the phone once, and even then, it seemed he was only pushing himself to talk but wasn’t in the mood. So I didn’t call again, and only sent him text messages daily to check up on him.

I hated how he was turning out now. Hated that people have this much power over us to completely break us. If I could meet Phillison now, nothing would stop me from showing her how much she’s hurt my friend.

How much I crave to make her experience the same pain.

“My stomach was hurting as we walked back to the hall.” Aiden’s voice snapped me out of my reverie.

“Was that why you were grimacing?”

“You saw me?”

“I did. But at that moment, the presence I told you about was stronger. And I got a feeling of fear from it.” I answered.

“I don’t trust him,” he inclined his head towards Matteo. “Whatever you do, stay beside me,” he added.

“Sure.”

After a few more seconds to allow everyone to settle in, Aiden spoke up.

“Welcome back, everyone. Kane, brief the elders on the charges on Matteo again,” he commanded.

Kane stepped forward, a thick file similar to Sherneil’s in his hand.

“Alpha Matteo of the Malakari pack is charged with the murders of four female Omegas from his pack, severly wounding another, cheating during the challenge with the King, conspiring with Elder Manze and a Goblin to wreak havoc in the kingdom, and finally, abuse.” Kane said.

“You have no proof that I killed anyone.” Matteo snapped, eyes dazed and disoriented.

No one paid attention to him, instead, Aiden continued after Kane. “After I pass my judgment here, I’ll have the two Elders from the pack take the b***d oath. I’ll be leaving the pack in your hands till the council meeting next week where we decide who the new Alpha would be. In the meantime, I’m banishing the past Alpha and his Luna for abusing a young girl. It has been brought to my attention that you two,” he pointed at Matteo’s parents, who stood up and ducked their heads, “have never been good examples to your pack members. I won’t have people like you around the pack, so you’ll be isolated in the desert around the Kalambani pack.”

A sob caught Matteo’s mother as a guard led them out. They didn’t spare a glance at Matteo, neither did he spare them one.

“As we all know, a murderer has no place in our kingdom…”

“I said I didn’t kill anyone!” Matteo roared again.

Aiden growled, and as always, the room shook, making Matteo whimper.

“Besides the confession we got from the surviving Omega, we have another witness,” Kane said calmly, nodding towards one of the guards by the door.

The door was pulled open and my breath caught for a moment as I watched Camila meekly walk in, her eyes red and puffy. The once fashionista I knew, looked nothing less of a slave? That’s weird.

She wore a knee length Ankara, and her once perfectly styled long hair was tied in a loose bun. She looked darker than usual, as though she had not been taking care of herself. There were dark bags around her eyes. Her lips were cracked and dry, and her always manicured nails were dirty.

She stopped before Aiden and I, looked at me for a moment before she curtsied.

“Greetings, Your Eminence, Your Majesty,” she greeted, eyes cast down.

“What the f**k are you doing here?” Matteo snarled at her, but Camila didn’t even spare him a glance.

“Council of Elders, this is another witness of ours to the horrendous crimes Matteo has committed. I’ll ask her to repeat what she told us a few months ago,” Kane said, inclining his head towards Camila to speak.

She sighed, looked at me briefly before she turned away quickly and began speaking.

“Matteo and I are chosen mates. However, we started having problems when he began peeing during…during intimacy,” her voice quivered at the end.

“Shut up, you stupid b.itch!” Matteo roared angrily. “Shut up!”

“You’re going to keep your mouth shut or I’ll shut it for you!” Aiden swore.

Matteo looked like he was about to say more but clamped his mouth shut.

“Go on, woman,” Aiden said, fixing his gaze on Camila.

“I thought he was playing at first, like a sick joke because I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case. But it turned out to be worse than that. After two instances, I pulled back, creating a distance between us. One day though, I saw him seek out one of the Omegas and took her to his office. I followed them and realized what he wanted to do. I was angry and jealous, but decided to stay and see if he only pees when he is with me. Turns out it wasn’t the case. Angry that she had seen that, he…he smashed her head…against the desk in his office…”she trailed off, her body shaking “thrice.” She finished.

I could only gape, unable to speak.

“I later found out more Omegas were missing and I instantly knew he was the reason. So, when the King’s Gamma came to investigate, I volunteered to share everything I knew,” she finished.

“How dare you lie against me, you sorry excuse of a woman! How dare you?!” Matteo roared, standing up with his hands still tied and charging towards Camila.

Kamal pulled him back quickly, earning a loud growl from Matteo. It might be my eyes, but I could swear by Nyala that I saw Kamal’s eyes shift before they settled back.

“Those are all lies! All lies I say!” Matteo screamed as Kamal held him down. “An Alpha’s words stand until another Alpha disagrees. The words of an Omega are nothing against mine, and the same goes to the words of a s.lut that can’t accept I don’t want her anymore. I’m not guilty of the stated crimes. I demand for my rights!”

“Rights?” Aiden laughed humorlessly. “What rights gave you the authority to abuse women?”

He roared. “What right do you have?”

“She was my mate!” Matteo screamed as he tried to sit up. He looked too daring. Too confident. As though he’s not someone whose life is hanging by the thread. “I did what I did to keep her in check!”

“F*****g hell!” Aiden thundered, and nothing I or anyone did in that moment was going to save Matteo from Aiden’s wrath.

So, we all watched as Aiden took quick strides towards him, gripped him by the neck and threw him against the nearest wall. A loud crack resonated through the hall, before a deep grunt followed. Aiden walked over to Matteo, picked him up and pinned him against the wall, then he began hitting him on the face. Every time his hand collided with Matteo’s face, the sound of bones cracking followed.

“Keeping her in check?” A pound on the nose, and another on his right eye. “You dare try to justify your actions? Hitting a woman!? A WOMAN?!” Aiden growled.

From where I stood, I could feel his anger. It was all I could feel through the bond, and no amount of reaching out to him helped. No matter how hard Erin and I tried to reach either Aiden or Leo, it didn’t work. He was too furious, too angry to register anything else in the room.

“Aiden, stop!” Mav called in a panicked voice, taking slow steps towards him.

Baba’s loud growl stopped him in his tracks. “You’ll only make things worse. No one approaches him else this is going to turn into something else,” Baba warned.

Worse than this? How terrible would that be?

My body was shaking from the gory sight of Matteo’s bloodied face, to the pulsating cracking sound around, to the loud grunts, to the growing anger that seemed to swallow every bit of the hall.

My heart was pounding loudly. I could almost hear its sound against my ears, my throat tightened as I struggled to breath. The hall was spinning, and I was beginning to see everything in twos. My palms were suddenly sweaty, and a dizzying sensation, coupled with numbness gnawed at my senses. At one point, it felt like my legs couldn’t carry me any longer.

I had no idea what was going on around me anymore, except for the pounding in my head.

‘Breath, Nat. Just breath,’ Erin’s soothing voice floated through my mind. Soon though, I felt a hand clasped in mine and the fog around my eyes began to clear. The scent that entered my nose made me realize who it was.

Mama.

“When he gets this angry, it is rather impossible to control him,” she said quietly, squeezing my hand. “Breath, my daughter,” she added, patting my back slowly.

I shut my eyes and sucked in a deep breath. While I may hate to look at that groggy image again, or Aiden being violent, I knew I had to. If anyone has a chance to reach him, it is me and I intend to try.

Sighing, I squeezed Mama’s hand, turned and smiled at her before I shifted my gaze back to Aiden. The scene looked worse than it did moments ago, and something dropped at the pit of my stomach.

I shoved the fear and dread away, reached through the bond and called to him.

‘Aiden? Hey, Rabin Rai (Half of me),” I called softly, making sure to keep the panic in my voice away. His hand stopped midair from throwing another punch, but he didn’t look at me. ‘You don’t look attractive in that state you know,’ I tried to tease. ‘Here, come back to me, okay? I have my arms wide open just for you.’

I had just finished when he let go of Matteo with a thud and turned to face me. His eyes were golden, an indication that Leo had taken over. As he took long strides towards me, I couldn’t help shaking with fear. This was the first time I was seeing him this angry, and it was nearly impossible not to get scared.

Mama squeezed my hand once more before she let go, at the same time Aiden pulled me into a tight hug. I was shaking, unable to wrap my arms around him like he did. It took me a moment to control myself, to shake some of the fear away before I timidly wrapped my arms around him, albeit hesitantly.

“I…I got you,” I heard myself say. “I’m here, Rabin Rai. Always have, always will. I love you, Aiden,” I whispered, tightening my arms around him as the fear slowly slips. “I love you so so much, Aiden. You and only you matter in any of this.”

He choked. I tried to pull away to see what was going on but he only held me closer, as though I wasn’t pressed flush against him already. “I’m sorry you had to see that,” he mumbled, tucking his face into my neck.

“Shh. Say no more,” I pulled back just a bit to brush my lips against his. “Let’s finish up here and we can discuss this later, okay?”

He nodded, casting his eyes down as though ashamed to look me in the eye. I tipped his head up and smiled at him, before I kissed both of his cheeks despite being shy with all the eyes on us.

He stared at me, our eyes locked in one of those special moments we shared communicating through the eyes. I felt the angry walls he built slowly crumble, and Leo leaning into both Erin and I. When he licked Erin’s snout, she whimpered softly and licked him back, eliciting a m**n from him.

“I refuse to go down alone!” Matteo’s booming voice cut off the moment Aiden and I were sharing. It happened too fast. Aiden pushed me back quickly and rushed towards Matteo, while Kamal raced towards me as though to help me.

But something in his eyes caught me off guard. The yellow menacing look in it shook my entire nerve. I couldn’t move, despite seeing that, despite the looming sense of danger that wrapped itself around me. I simply stood there rooted, watching as Kamal raced towards me.

Too fast.

I felt the pounding in my head increase as different voices yelled in a language I still do not understand. I tried to move, I really did, but I couldn’t. And in that moment, I perceived the smell, which knocked the breath in my throat out. I saw the shadows behind, but it looked as though they were caged and couldn’t move before they finally vanished alongside the voices in my head.

“Get away from there!” Mav yelled. “Now, Natasha!” He yelled, running towards me, while Aiden whipped his head towards me, holding a now maniacally laughing Matteo by the throat.

I had no time to react before someone threw himself in front of me, clashing into Kamal and his long yellow stained fangs, elongated nails and menacing growl.

That was when my senses returned to me. Everything was a blur now. The screams. The gurgled cries. The foul smell. I smell it now.

“I told you I won’t be going down alone!” Kamal roared as Mav and Kane tackled him to the floor. Right before our eyes, his appearance changed from Kamal to Matteo. Panicking, I shifted my gaze towards Matteo, to replace a weird creature, not more than three ft instead. With a big fat nose, large pointy ears, deep hollowed eyes, and large feet. Above all, it was green in color. Something glowy was pinning it down on the floor. It dawned on me then what it was. A goblin. All these while, the goblin had been pretending to be Matteo!

The realization shot dizzying emotions through me. The whole hall was a wreck now, filled with screams and loud voices booming around.

“Are you okay?” Someone was shaking me, and for the love of Nyala, I couldn’t understand anything. “Nala, can you hear me?” That was when my senses returned.

“Wha…what…”

“Donald!” Lacie’s scream, full of anguish, caused the words to die in my throat as I turned swiftly.

There, in the middle of the grand hall, lay my friend. But he looked nothing like the Donald I knew. First, his skin was too white. Too white. Dark patches appeared on his chest that was now bare from his shirt being torn away. A large gash close to his heart, oozing thick red b***d. His body was shaking, as though he was convulsing while smoke rose from his skin.

When I reached where he laid, his eyes were open and distant. Nothing in them. Empty and…distant.

Gone.