The Bully's Hated Mate
The Bully’s Hated Mate – Chapter 24

CASSIA’S POV:

I was careful to keep to myself even if I still had my jaw dropped.

Here I was, vaguely remembering how much I would love to kill Lucius with my killer stare and perhaps, my smart mouth.

But here he was in a totally different world.

I took a good look for real at this vomit of a place. It stank of piss, vomit, anger, death and alot of b***d, preferably from the guy that Lucius was currently giving a pound of his flesh.

I didn’t know the guy. I didn’t want to even know him at this point.

I couldn’t see him properly and to make matters worse, people started to block my view, pushing me bit by bit until I realized I was at the back again.

The crowd kept cheering and grunting at what was happening. The guy was able to push Lucius back. I was at the point where I didn’t know whether to follow the crowd to grunt, or to wince at the force at which Lucius was pushed.

But I found myself wanting whatever was happening to be in his favour.

The people had formed a ring surrounding Lucius and the bloodied guy. They were passing some sort of paper. Others carried the kingdom’s currency, waving it around like some sort of flag.

“For the dark haired one! Here! Here!” A male’s voice echoed throughout the thick cave walls that surrounded the arena.

The dark haired one was definitely Lucius, I reasoned. Although I couldn’t see the other guy so much but I knew it as Lucius.

A lot of people here were distracted and started to move towards the male who shouted for Lucius.

They were all waving their notes madly, more mad than the people in the actual ring.

I caught sight of the male who had requested for people for Lucius. He wore the dirtiest scrubs I had ever seen and he had chipped dirty tooth that sat proudly in his mouth.

He was smiling broadly, more like he knew what was going to happen. Everyone with the right mind already knew what would happen, but people had hope.

Another man started to yell. “For the ash haired one!! Here! Here!” He shouted.

I knew it had to be the other one who was Lucius’ opponent. Many people still migrated towards that corner and yet, the people who were watching the match didn’t deplete.

I wanted to get a good look at what was actually going on. In that case, I needed to get a few more feet close to him. Not too close, but close enough.

I started to struggle and work my way. I wasn’t exactly a tall person, so I was body gummed with other people who were either jumping on their toes to see, or those who didn’t budge when you tried to move past them.

It was utter chaos and yet, I needed to make my identity as well hidden, my hoodie well placed on my head.

As I moved closer, the smell of unwashed bodies and long term fatal body odor oozed from different directions and different angles, but I kept moving on until I was at the third line of sight, and what I saw was disturbingly beautiful.

It was Lucius. Sweat soaking his body and his fingers bandaged and bloodied.

He was rounding the arena with men at the front shouting in different voices, different baritones.

I looked closely, my mouth closed and my mind focused on what it was that I was watching.

I had seen Lucius angry but never the kind that stared his opponent down in this manner.

It was mad.

It was raving.

It was rage, and it was so damn hot!

Camouflaging myself with the sea of bodies gave me the coverage I needed not to be seen. I loved the scent that radiated from him, a scent I had never before recognized — the smell of male dominance and a good fight.

But what was he doing in place like this anyway?

I knew there were boxing areas in the castle and downtown, but here? In the woods? This place was crazy, I thought to myself.

I was shocked, but that didn’t stop more people from trooping in to the small spaced cave as my eyes later wandered around the environs. .

The tight cave felt hotter than lava.

As I stood, a gentle breeze managed to get through and even as I was thankful for the breeze, it as accompanied by odors that I couldn’t process.

Standing behind some group of men that found themselves closer to the arena than I was, they were not keen on whispering.

Their bad breath, taking high pitched notes as they screamed in horror as Lucius delivered yet another blow to his opponent.

“This guy has lost it! Just look at the way he’s throwing punches! He intends on killing our guy.” The man who stood among other groups of men said.

They nodded like one sort of gang.

“He’s not going to kill our guy. He has been lucky since, and that’s the only thing he has left — luck. He’ll get a beat down in no time. He’s a walking dead-man, and he’s not someone we haven’t beaten up badly before. Maybe this time, we’ll let him go with a chipped tooth as a prize for the weakling that he is.” That got my head turned towards his direction.

Another man who happened to be the leader of the clique had just uttered those words from his mouth.

Something in me wanted to snap his neck and defend Lucius.

What the hell was wrong with me?

Questions were bubbling in my hand as I stood, looking at Lucius throw the ash-coloured haired man over his shoulders and onto his knee.

I immediately cringed at the sickening sound the man made, his hand pressed firmly to his shoulder as he managed to push Lucius away yet again.

How he did it was beyond me. But by pushing Lucius away, he grabbed hold of Lucius and had him in a choke hold.

My breath freezed in my chest as Lucius’ eyes began to gourge out, his hands clawing for air and clawing the guy’s forearms.

The crowd threw an uproar.

The people who had previously betted on Lucius started to freak out and throw tantrums.

Everybody was yelling and for different reasons. I kept my mouth shut because if these people knew I was here, a girl and soon to be Luna of the pack, then I would be eaten alongside delicious lamb stew.

But my chest beat hard so much, I screamed in my head.

‘You better get up, Lucius! Lucius, you have to get up. Stand up! Fight! Fight! Fight!!’

My eyes began to water as Lucius was still struggling. His struggle become weaker as his face turned redder.

My eyes began to cry as I was going to watch my mate die before me. Before my very eyes and I couldn’t help him.

I couldn’t do it.

I began to contemplate changing and causing a bit of stir when a glimmer of hope started to dance before my eyes.

Lucius was starting to break free — hw he did it, I didn’t know. He was twisting the arm of the man, twisting it in a sickening way that made the man erupt monstrous gutural cries from the depth of his throat.

It was piercing but efficient as Lucius was able to get himself free and like a wolf that he is, he swiftly changed the play of the game so fast, shocking all of us.

The man and everybody else found him on the floor, legs touching the ground and his face getting beaten.

I found myself cheering for Lucius among the crowd that betted for Lucius. I made sure to do my cheering discreetly as I was in the side of the ring that betted against him.

Two minutes and Lucius was the last man standing.

The crowd went wild and for the first time, I jumped up so high. I was high on his victory, forgetting just how incognito I was supposed to remain.

The referee sprang out from an unknown corner and as I jumped up to cheer for him, he turned and my hoodie fell off, revealing my hair.

“s**t!” I shouted to myself.

Lucius had seen me.

I had to go.

The crowd was worshipping him as I again wormed my way, trying to leave. I noticed from the corners of my eyes, the gang that had spoken earlier were also working their way out.

My b***d pressure spiked.

He was cheered by the crowd as he moved around the ring, dragging his opponent on the ground.

He won the fight.

I didn’t want to know whether he had seen me or not, but the way Myla growled, it was obvious he saw me.

My heart kept pounding in my chest as the sea of bodies became nearly impossible to walk through.

A part of me felt I wasn’t seen, I wasn’t noticed, but another part of me, the part that involved Myla, just knew that danger wore a different kind of shoes and these ones were ugly and approaching.

I tried my best to worm, making a headway and trying to keep my hoodie intact as my sense kept spidering that the men were following me.

I gained access and found myself at the end of the crowd. I couldn’t have been happier as I turned back and saw that no one followed me.

My relief washed over me.

For a minute there, I thought I was being followed and my heart spiked. I decided to codedly and discreetly leave the whole cave.

And I knew immediately I made it back to the shrubs I had hidden at earlier, I was going to make run for it, and use my last strength to change and bolt to the palace.

Immediately I got out of the cave, I noticed how giant the shadows were. Shadows that blocked the moonlight on the outside.

As I looked up, to my horror, there were good four different men and all wore the nastiest thing that didn’t resemble a smile at all.

What was I going to do?

On closer inspection, they were unconsciously holding their jacket and one of them had turned to a wolf, a wolf who was currently snarling at me in a specific attack pattern.

I wanted to see if I could bypass them.

Maybe they were here for someone else — maybe Lucius. Preferably Lucius.

But yet, as I tried to bypass them, the dirty brown wolf blocked it and growled even harsher.

I shook and gasped in shock.

“You don’t look from around here, Miss.” One of the men said, deciding it as time to scare me as he brought out the foldable knife.

“Wanna have a talk about where you’re from?” Another man asked, something short of a sneer morphing on his face.

“Why don’t we talk?” The third one spoke lastly, finally approaching me all at once.

I have never been more afraid than I am right now. Their bodies reeked of alot of things, and niceness wasn’t one of them.

“You should come with us, miss. We have things… Questions we’d like answered. Won’t you like to come with us?” They all approached and like a mouse backed in corner, I ran forward in a false attack.

I used the opportunity and sprinted.

I began to run before I knew I had just made a ghastly mistake.