Bullied Mate Of The Lycan Kings
Chapter 84

Ren's POV

My entire body still hummed from the euphoria that I had felt after kissing Lily as I drove out of the lands beyond the borders of Shadow cove and back into the barrier that separated our world from theirs.

My smile was still very bright even as I passed through the borders of the one pack that I hardly visited because the one person I always wanted to see preferred to come hang with me; Aiden Vanderbilt. The first son of Maddox and Elizabeth Vanderbilt and the only surviving heir to Night Shade pack. The euphoric smile I had on vanished as I approached the front gates of the Vanderbilt estate. The estate that my best friend called home.

Like a moth to a flame, the darkness and despair emanating from the estate tried to cling to my body, sensing my empathetic powers (like Lily likes to call it) almost immediately and I shook off the sudden cold feeling that I had as I stared at the gigantic black gates that told everyone to keep out.

Staring at these gates alone made me accept that the Night Shade pack was entirely different from what I remembered it to be.

Night Shade drew its power from the moon and the night. And most werewolves in this pack were stronger and more terrifying at night, perhaps the most terrifying in all of Shadow cove. As if that was not enough, they were the only pack that were not afraid to use dark magic and call on those powers to aid them in battles.

Infact, the royal family, Aiden's family, came from a long line of dark witches, and their strength in dark magic, blessed by the god of night, was what made them the most powerful pack in the entire realm.

Right now, though, I could not even say I felt that strength. All I felt was misery in the air. Sour and pungent like the stench of rotting eggs.

There had always been a dark, dangerous undertone whenever I came to the pack, but it suddenly felt entirely different from when Aiden's parents used to run it.

During Maddox and Elizabeth's time as alpha and luna, the pack had prospered, there was a mystery and beauty in the nightlife and I had loved coming here to play with Aiden because there was always something new, fun and exciting to see. They had strange, magical creatures, enchanted forests with flowers and mushrooms that glowed in the dark, and magic lakes that looked like the glittering milky way. Everything about Night Shade was rare, beautiful and magical.

Now, I could not even remember the last time I came to Night Shade. After the m******e, Victor, Aiden's uncle had assumed the position of Alpha, closed their borders and barricaded its territories, cutting off Night Shade from the rest of the packs in Shadow Cove. It had never really bothered me because Aiden, the reason I always visited, usually spent days and even weeks either at my place or Zac's and only returned when his uncle was back from his long business trips, a small blessing since no one ever wanted the man around, especially Aiden.

The fact that I was even let through the protective borders proved that Victor was not around as the guards were usually more relaxed when he was not in the pack and took their orders from Aiden... At least, what little orders he was allowed to give since his uncle made sure that he knew his place as a subordinate.

There was a coldness and darkness that permeated from Aiden's mansion and it had nothing to do with the obsidian black walls, ivory pillars and marble statues of terrifying archangels.

It has everything to do with the young prince that lived there.

I knew that there was darkness that lived in my best friend, even from when we were younger. I watched him descend even further when he lost his parents and twin sister but I always believed there was hope for him.

Right now though, I had to admit that him being so invested in hurting the girl I loved meant that he didn't even care about me anymore and there was no coming back from that.

My hand tightened on the steering wheel because I didn't want to do this. I didn't want to give up on my best friend.

I knew Aiden in a way nobody else did. When I had been struggling during my first few years as an adopted royal, Aiden had been the one that took me by the hand and showed me the ropes.

Everyone always chucked Aiden up to being an impulsive, possessive and psychopathic tyrant, but Aiden had always been kind, patient and gentle to me, in his own way at least. To a point that sometimes I wondered if he had split personalities in that twisted head of his.

Zac and Aiden had been attached at the hip while growing up but Aiden had gone out of his way to include me in everything he did after I was formally adopted into the Hawthorne family. He had never hesitated to beat up people that talked bad about me and even punish my own servants for disrespecting. He taught me to be firm, critical, to say what I mean and do what I say, because there was nothing more despicable than a king who couldn't keep his word.

He had never judged me and unlike Zac who wanted to always stay busy being involved with the world and loved to travel for so many weeks at a time, going somewhere, doing something and staying busy, Aiden and I were like two sides of the same moon, preferring quietness and solitude. He loved his books and I loved my art and it wasn't so hard to find that quietness and solitude with each other.

We would usually lie together watching the clouds in the day or the stars at night, or Aiden would sit quietly in my studio, reading his favourite book while I painted or sketched, stopping once in a while to make an offhanded comment about how whatever current artwork I was working on was his favourite piece yet.

He was my best friend in a way even Rhea wasn't. No one got me like him and I thought it was the same for him but it hurt that it felt like I didn't even know him anymore.

Running a hand through my hair in frustration, I drove in when the gates finally opened and killed the engine of the car, stepping out and slamming the door a little too hard. Stay focused, Ren.

I let out a sigh and started walking towards the mansion.

I hadn't even rang the doorbell for a second before it swung open immediately, Aiden's signature smirk greeting me.

I frowned.

"We've been waiting for hours," he tilted his head so that midnight black hair fell against porcelain white skin, eyes like worn tombstones, boring into me. "You took your sweet time."

All I could think about was Lily's trashed home, her hurt cat, her devastated face. He caused that.

But here he was with an easy expression, a genuine smile on his face as if he was sincerely happy to see me, his eyes bright with affection and warmth.

"Zac told me w-"

Cold night wind suddenly blew into me and Aiden froze, his smile slipping off, his words dying at his throat. He leaned forward and sniffed my scent, livid rage flashing across his face, twisting it into something darker.

His smile that turned into a malicious smirk told me everything I needed to know.

He had smelled Lily on me.

"Who knew that all it would take for you to have the time to visit your poor best friend in his lonely mansion was animal abuse and some vandalism here and there."

Growling, I grabbed his collar, pushing him into the house and slamming the door behind me with my feet before turning to hold him against the wall.

"What the actual f**k is wrong with you, Aiden?"

He met my question with a cruel round of laughter that only made me more enraged.

"Why are you even laughing right now? You really think this is funny? She was devastated, Aiden. And you're laughing? You are laughing? Are you f*****g kidding me?"

I didn't know what was so amusing about my anger, but he laughed even harder.

"You think that's bad?" He wheezed. "I should do something bigger next time."

"You won't hurt a single hair on her head. I'll make sure of that."

"What? You think you can hurt me?" He laughed bitterly. "You think you've finally found the one. You want to be sooo good for her? You want to pull yourself into the semblance of a protective mate so that she doesn't see the pathetic excuse of a man you are." I growled, about to punch him but a hand grabbed my arm and I realized that I had been so consumed with rage at Aiden that I had not even sensed that Zac was in the house.

"Don't do it." Zac said, still holding my arm and I stared at him, very unimpressed that he was stopping me from beating the s**t out of Aiden since it looked like it was what he needed.

"Why shouldn't I? You heard what he said. He has gone absolutely crazy!"

"Because he's not the one that vandalized Lily's home and hurt her mum and cat. No, he didn't send anyone else either."

I wanted so hard to believe that it was true, that I could still save Aiden but there was staggering evidence that refuted that fact. He wasn't giving anything away with his thoughts either. It was like slamming into a brick wall. "How are you so sure?" I asked Zac.

He sighed and released my hand, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing in exasperation at the situation which would have been funny under different circumstances since I was used to being the voice of reason that separated fights between the two of them. "Take a good look at Aiden, Ren. Not the charade he's currently playing."

Confused, I decided to actually look at him and that was when I realized that something was not right with Aiden. He looked pale, his face gaunt like he was sick and in pain and I realized that he would have had me on my back a long time ago but he was just resting against the wall, a hand on mine that was around his throat like he was too weak to retaliate.

The smell of blood immediately hit my nose and I looked down to see a part of his shirt soaked in blood, around his abdomen. Quickly raising up the shirt with my free hand, I gasped in shock when I saw that the wound looked infected.

The moment I released Aiden, his head fell on my shoulders and he would have hit the ground if I wasn't holding him up.

I looked at Zac for an explanation, my eyes wide with panic.

"What happened to him?"

"I met the i***t bleeding all over the floor when I got here. He had not even bothered to change out of his uniform but get this, the dagger was still with him. The same one that Lily had used to stab him. I brought out the one I was holding and realized that it was a replica which means someone did this and knew Aiden would take the credit for it being the big bad villain that he is."

It was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I frowned at Aiden who grinned at me, his eyes nearly closing as his body remained hard like he was trying to keep it together and not fall apart.

"Let's go to his room." Zac said

"My lair!" Aiden corrected weakly for the umpteenth time since we knew him and I would have found it funny if I wasn't worried sick for my best friend, my mind running a mile a minute.

"Why was he trying to rile me up then?" I asked Zac as I followed his lead, holding Aiden tightly to my side and worrying that he was losing too much blood because he was leaving a trail as we advanced and was barely even conscious, his entire body burning up with a fever.

Why hadn't he called me to heal him?

Stubborn a*****e.

"Who knows why Aiden does half of the stuff that he does?" Zac answered and I nodded even though he could not see me, because it was a good question. No one knew why he does what he does. It's like Aiden's brain works on a different frequency from the rest of And why was he bleeding so badly? He should have healed by now.

us.

My heart was racing, my brain coming up with different theories and drawing blanks as to why he was still bleeding profusely.

Surely it couldn't be because of the fact that Lily had stabbed him right.

By now he should have healed up if it was that stab wound unless...

My heart stopped for one terrifying moment. Goosebumps sprouted on my skin.

No, I didn't even want to think about it.

That was impossible, right?

Maddox and Elizabeth had been superstitious people that had been afraid for their son. Elizabeth had a difficult pregnancy and even after she delivered Ashley, Aiden took his sweet time coming out and he was delivered two whole days after his twin sister. He had been born on a starless night that prophesied two distinct futures for the alpha prince. A grave disaster that will lead to his untimely death or a very prosperous and happy life. They had been terrified by this and had Aiden protected by a lot of dark magic at a young age.

That's probably what twisted his mind into becoming the man he is now. Nobody can hurt him in a manner that he can't recover from. No one... Except his beloved mate. His only kryptonite. I believe that was the only thing that kept him alive after the m******* even though he was practically ripped to shreds by ferals that had been let loose when Edgar let down the barriers around the haunted forest.

Night Shade pack was the closest to the haunted forest where ferals roamed free. It was a dark forest teaming with dark faeries, ferals, strigoi and hybrids. There was a barrier Edgar had set in place to stop them from wandering out of the woods, the same barrier that had protected Shadow Cove from the outside world and made it the safest place on earth for werewolves for over fifty years.

Both barriers had been let down during the m******e. Aiden's family had been the first to be attacked, the first to die. Aiden had watched his entire family get torn to pieces right before his eyes before the ferals set their eyes on him.

He had recovered from an ordeal like that. A stab wound should be a piece of cake compared to it, unless of course, it was inflicted by his mate.

I shook my head, trying to dispel those thoughts. Trying to calm my racing heart as I pushed open the door to his room.

Lily can't be his mate just because he's not healing from a wound she administered on him. He's probably just weak from the day or hungry. Yes, that's it. We've not been on speaking terms and without me to remind him that he needs food and cannot survive on bourbon and whiskey alone, he was probably lacking a lot of important nutrients that was f*****g up his body metabolism.

That's definitely it.

Lily can't even be his mate because they share a mutual hatred for each other. Surely the goddess would take that into account, right? She hated Aiden and Aiden loathed her. He didn't have any sentiment towards her like Zac who seemed to be drawn to her because she looks like his ex lover.

Lily would never accept a bond with Aiden, something that would no doubt hurt his ego, make him furious and make him decide to claim her just because he could. Something I wouldn't put past him at this point.

One of the things I feared the most in the world was Aiden's determination when he wanted something. Aiden was fiercely possessive of the things and people that he considered his and I couldn't imagine how much worse it would be with his mate. I hoped to the high heavens and moon goddess that I was just being paranoid and that Lily was not his mate because for the first time in my life, I was ready to fight for what I wanted the most. I would not give Lily up. No matter the cost. Not even to my best friend.