Bullied Mate Of The Lycan Kings
Chapter 22

Lily's POV

I used to think that forty five minute recess was a really long waste of time but sitting at this table with Rhea and Chelsea made me want to hang out with them forever and ever.

It turned out that we had so many things in common, from songs that we liked, to artists and the movies that we enjoyed and a lot of other stuff.

Chelsea was thinking of throwing a party to kick off the school year and said that she would invite me whenever she decided to have one and suddenly, I truly felt like I was not an outsider anymore.

Bia would be so proud of me for making actual friends, besides Ren that is. I didn't know what to call what Ren and I had. It was nothing but Rhea had said all of those things and I was sure that it was what was playing with my head.

They found out that I used to go to school at Gold Crest and Chelsea started talking about one of her exes who attended Gold crest. I remembered him, because he used to be one of Cade's friends and she was still delving deep into the story of how the "a*****e" broke her heart when Ren and Mauve came back to the table.

I felt a sudden rush of excitement and sat up straighter when Ren sat beside me, his pant clad thigh accidentally brushing against mine. I fought the urge to hide my face under the table because I knew without a doubt that I was blushing.

"Hey," He leaned in close to whisper after exchanging greetings with his sister and other people on the table and when I looked at him, his smile was bright and genuine, nothing like the smile that I had gotten from Aiden when I saw him whispering with Paige. "I got you something," he said, sliding over a box of chocolate my way.

Stars immediately exploded into existence right before my eyes.

"Château? I love Château!" I gasped as I hugged the box to myself, trying really hard not to salivate all over the place. I haven't had these since my dad died.

My heart suddenly dropped but before I could go down that rabbithole of feeling sorry for myself, Ren nudged me with his shoulders. "Hey, none of that. Focus on the present, okay?"

I blinked, suspicion setting in again as I wondered if he could really read my mind. We hadn't really talked about the extent of his powers and I didn't want to invade his privacy because he didn't look like he was comfortable talking about it.

I noticed how the others at the table seemed to ease up and nod kindly at Ren who returned their greetings. His laid back and graceful aura seemed to seep through the table and calm everyone's nerves.

If there was one thing that I truly liked about Ren, it was how he seemed to make the entire environment feel more pleasant with his presence. Perhaps it was because of the abilities that he possessed or maybe it was just me that was projecting the way my body reacted around him.

Either ways, I was very happy that he had chosen to sit beside me.

Bia would not let me hear the end of it if she found out my actual thoughts about Ren and that she was probably right that I liked him more than I was letting on.

"Here," I offered, splitting my lunch with him.

It was homemade chicken wrap that I wouldn't share under normal circumstances, but hey! He got me chocolate.

"That is definitely not cafeteria food, is it?" He asked, taking the wrap in his hands and looking at it curiously. "Looks too rich and actually filling than what we are served here. What's this?" He asked.

"It's a chicken wrap. Actually, a meat wrap because there's beef, bacon and sausage. But there's mostly chicken." He was silent and I suddenly realized something, letting out a gasp. "You're not vegan are you?"

He laughed and shook his head and before I could get another word out, he took a large chump and chewed slowly.

I saw when the flavours hit the spot because he turned and looked at me with wide eyes, nodding in appreciation.

"This," he gasped, "you made it yourself?"

"Well, yeah." I answered, suddenly very shy. "The beautiful thing about being able to cook is that you can decide to add anything to your meal. It's your food, your rules."

"Well, damn. I might need you to cook for me from now on. How do I move on from this?" He answered with a boyish grin that made my heart stutter and I found myself shifting my plate towards him. "Would you like some more? I have pasta and homemade-"

"I'm sure he would love to try it some other time, Lily." Mauve suddenly interrupted me.

She moved from the chair to sit on his lap, giving me a smile that I now realized was very fake. "But thank you for the offer. And he's probably too nice to tell you but he only eats food cooked by his chef because of his health cond-"

"Be quiet," he silenced her, a stern look in his eyes. He looked at me and nodded towards the box of cookies that was in front of Rhea.

"If that happens to be your cookies, then I'd like to have one." He said so politely, it was almost swoon worthy and I saw the way Mauve's face changed when Rhea passed him the box of cookies. It was only for a split second but I had seen the way she glared at me. Her smile returned in full force almost immediately and she wrapped her arms around Ren's neck as she looked at me again.

"Lily, would you mind getting food and snacks for me and my friends?"

"-"

"If it's about the money, just tell them who it's for and they'll give it to you."

Her tone was commanding and even if it wasn't, I was not sure that I wanted to do something like that. I opened my mouth to refuse when Ren beat me to it.

"You don't have to do it." He said, giving Mauve a warning glare and she raised her brows at him before looking back at me.

"It's actually a rite of passage thing, Lily. It's a one time thing. And it's something you have to do if you want to remain at this table with us."

"That's bullshit." Rhea growled ferociously. For all that cuteness her face portrayed, I had forgotten that inside her resided a ferocious wolf of the highest pedigree. Mauve flinched and didn't reply but this time it was Aiden that spoke.

"Mauve is right. If you want to continue to eat with us as friends" He emphasized the words friends, his lips tilted up in a smirk. "Then you have to do what she asked."

"You don't have to do shit." Chelsea said under her breath and Aiden raised one dark eyebrow at her.

Tensions rose again as everybody stared at us. It felt like they were sitting at the edge of their seats and holding their breaths.

When I looked at Ren, he shook his head and I knew that he was telling me that I didn't have to do anything that I didn't want to, but it looked like Aiden was looking for another reason to kick me out of the table. It was as simple as just helping them get food, right?

"You really don't have to, Lily." Rhea assured me and I nodded, rising to my feet.

"Sit back down," Ren suddenly ordered in a chilling voice that raised the hair on the back of my neck. The omega in me wanted to heel at the very commanding voice of an alpha.

He wasn't even looking at me, he was glaring at Aiden who smirked back at him. The dark prince was relaxed in his seat, affecting nonchalance but I could see that the muscles of his shoulders were tense, waiting for a fight. The aura radiating off of Ren was violent. I have never felt anything like it before.

Even Mauve had slipped off his lap, inching away from him, cold fear in her eyes and while I've never seen Ren lose control before, I doubted it was something I'd like to see.

"Hey, I want to. It's fine." I answered gently, clasping my hand over his.

It was something I have never done before, voluntarily touching him, but it felt so right.

Ren stilled and slowly looked at my hand placed over his. I knew when the tension left his body because he turned his hand over, our fingers clasping together. My... My heart.

Butterflies burst to life in my stomach, fluttering their restless wings around.

It's a miracle how I haven't turned to a cloud yet and floated away because my cheeks felt so hot, it felt like I was evaporating.

"I'll go with you," he said, moving to stand up but I squeezed his hand and firmly shook my head. "It's just a trip downstairs and back up. I'll be fine."

He sighed and relaxed back into his seat and I respected him for letting me have my way.

Mauve was still glaring at us, not even trying to hide her disdain anymore and when I cleared my throat at her, prompting her to get on with it, she grinned, giving me her order.

The others at the table excluding Rhea, Chelsea and Ren gave me their orders as well and I noted that Aiden's order was probably the most complicated but I rolled it off my shoulders. He was not going to have the last laugh.

Heading to the counter, I kept reciting everything that had been ordered, making sure to not forget a thing because the last thing I wanted was for them to have a reason to separate me from my new friends and when I reached the counter, I was so surprised by how expensive the meals and snacks were.

It was a strong reminder that Shadow cove academy was actually for the rich and well to do families and I stuck out like a sore thumb here.

After waiting on the line for a while, it was finally my turn and by the time I was done ordering, the pile was so high that as I walked, it was difficult to see what was in front of me.

I was already halfway to my destination when I bumped into someone and almost fell but thankfully the person grabbed me, saving me and the snacks from falling to the ground.

"Are you alright?" The male voice asked and I could not help myself, I looked around the stack of snacks to see who the voice belonged to.

And stopped. Stunned for a moment.

Dark and sinful were the right words to describe him.

His gorgeous face looked like it had been sculpted from cold marble, framed with stylishly messy hair as dark as ink. He was tall with lean muscles and a defined chest and defying the school's dress code with his tie unknotted around his neck, his vest missing and some of his buttons undone to expose his chest. His jacket hung limply from his arm and there were tattoos peeking out of the sleeves of his shirt.

He had a scar on his eyebrow, the only thing marring his beautiful face and multiple rings decorated his fingers.

His hands that held on to me were freezing cold, practically burning into my jacket and I wondered how it was possible to feel like I was touched by ice.

What held my attention the most, however, were his dark eyes, because those eyes were staring at me like they had just seen a ghost even though I was sure I have never met him before in my life.