The Bully's Hated Mate
The Bully’s Hated Mate – Chapter 12

CASSIA’S POV:

We were being led through the halls, towards the breakfast table, when Lucius moved closer to me.

His scent filled my nostrils, making my stomach flutter and dive in goodness.

“Do exactly what I do. Don’t do anything stupid.” He whispered hastily just as the doors opened to reveal the biggest dining hall I had ever seen.

Frankly, I haven’t seen much, but this tops the list.

I gaped around a bit, letting my mouth hang open in a ‘wow’ kind of moment.

Lucius closes my lips with his fingers, and my eyes instantly glare at him. He only dismisses me with an eye roll.

As we approached the table, Lucius suddenly did something unexpected and out of the ordinary.

He held my hand.

Regardless of the electricity that it sent up my skin, or the warmth it radiated, absolute shock registered on my face as I faced him and mentally asked with my raised brows; ‘what the f**k?’

“Father!” He suddenly shouted as he turned to face the man who was obviously a few feet away from us.

“Join me for breakfast, will you?” The Alpha was all smiles, looking at both of us and asking questions with his eyes.

Lucius suddenly dragged me towards the open chairs and again, did something unexpected.

He drew a chair out for me. I was so shocked, I nearly didn’t want to sit down.

“Please. Sit.” He said with gritted teeth and a wide smile.

It seemed everyone present at the table waited for my reaction. Not wanting to make a fool out of myself, I sat like an obedient good girl.

Again, Lucius smiled charmingly and drew a chair for himself right beside me.

The proximity of him made me sorely uncomfortable.

Myla, on the other hand, was beyond excited to be this close to him and even though she behaved in her best behaviour, she couldn’t keep still.

But didn’t take greedy mouthfuls of his scent like she always did.

Thankfully.

“So, how was your night, Cassia? Did you enjoy your first night of being mated?” The Alpha asked me, a knowing twinkle in his eyes.

I looked to Lucius, mentally letting him know that I could blow this charade we were on and walk out of here, making him the bad guy that he was.

But instead, I smiled.

“It was the most comfortable night I have ever had. Everything was to my liking and Lucius here…” I took his hand into mine forcefully, sighing dramatically.

“…took so much care of me. I forgot all about home. He woke me up with so much affection. He really is the gentlest on this planet.” I said, squinting my eyes in annoyance but still maintaining a wide smile to keep up.

Two can definitely play this game.

The Alpha king clapped his hands in happiness, genuinely pleased by our union. Plates started to clank as we all began diving into our various meals.

I could tell that Lucius was not expecting my role play to be that unexpected and that good. He balled his fists in anger, and I smiled proudly.

“Your transfer into the royal school would be completed before breakfast is over, and your status will be announced. We can’t have people not knowing who the future Luna is.”

My movements stopped midair.

“Exactly, Father. We can’t have people not knowing who my lovely bride to be is. I want the whole school to know that she’s mine now.”

My neck twisted at a very unusual pace. Who the hell was this shitface referring to?

The Alpha nodded rapidly in agreement. “You’ll also be riding with Lucius to school from now on. Everything you do from this point would be together.”

” Yes, Father. We know that, and completely agree.” Lucius charmingly rose our intertwined hands to his lips and gave mine a sweet k**s.

My head was on fire for so many things at the moment.

One, I was about to be transferred out of my side of the school to the very side that had me scrubbing toilets days ago and had me being chased like a mere dog around the school.

The same rich kids had me in a dungeon in this very castle for a day and had me criticizing everything they were and now, I was about to become a part of them.

Two, Lucius was agreeing to everything his father was saying with an innocent smile on his lips, as if he wasn’t dying inside as much as I was.

This should be fun.

Breakfast ended for me the moment the Alpha said what he said.

As we were being led again to what seemed like a garage, Lucius moved closer to me still, hands clasped tightly for the sake of prying eyes and mouth close to my ear.

I could feel his breath warm on the pinnacle of my lobe and while Myla was hungry for his touch, his very presence irritated me as he seemed to tug me closer to him.

What he was trying to do was unclear to me as we were out in the open.

“When we get to school, stay the f**k away from me.” I whispered loud enough for him to hear and low enough to not attract any reaction.

I looked up at him, venom in my eyes. He reciprocated the look, but scoffed instead.

I thought when we got to school, we were going to go our separate ways. But instead, he held me firmer.

My hand was still clasped in a chokehold alongside his.

As we passed the gates, our entourage announced our entrance without trying.

Everyone was already outside and ready, hands put together like they were about to pray to us.

Getting out of our car made the crowd go wild with screams. Everyone wanted to take a look at us, and everybody kept talking at the same time.

Lucius tugged me closer to himself with the small of my back and a gentle push.

He suddenly took a strand of my black hair and tucked it behind my ear, his breath warm against my ear, causing my stomach started to flutter as did my eyes.

“Follow my lead.” He growled into my ear.

My breath hitched in my throat, and he noticed. I went red immediately but instead, he smirked and gave me a gentle k**s on my cheek.

My heart skipped a beat.

The crowd went wild as he smiled towards them, holding his hand out for some kind of silence. I cleared my throat. It was getting hot suddenly.

A stage had been previously created for this purpose. I began to see in clear view, a well built makeshift podium, and we were walking towards it.

We stood side by side, hands clasped firmly as the crowd gathered beneath us to hear what we had to say.

Even I wanted to hear what Lucius suddenly had to say. Something we had not previously discussed.

“My able ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Your future Luna and my bride to be.” Lucius said, casting a loving gaze at me as he again kissed the other side of my cheek.

My heart was in my throat at this display of affection.

“I know most of you might be unpleased that I have finally found the one beautiful lady that the moon goddess made for me. Well, you will be sick to know that I am very much happy with this unexpected…blessing.” His blue eyes found mine again, holding a softer glow in them.

In as much as I wanted to choke, gag, puke, I kind of loved the way he stared at me.

Like I was perhaps the lady who truly had his heart.

Like I was the only one in the room.

He squeezed my hands firmer and again, looked at the crowd, still holding a captivating smile on his face as someone spoke up in a loud voice.

“Tell us how you met her!”

My eyes searched where the question came from, but Lucius was already chuckling and looking at me before returning his attention back to the crowd.

“She is the most charming lady I have ever met. The goddess couldn’t have picked a more better match for me than right now. The first time I met Cassia, everything about her drew me in. Drew us together. It was love at first sight, truly. Her aura kissed my senses goodbye, and all I could think of was how pleasant her scent warmed my insides and made my day seem a little brighter. Trust me, I didn’t know this was how it normally rendered you vulnerable, but I have never wanted to be more vulnerable than I was at that moment. It was glorious, like the sun rose just above her head, illuminating her beauty so that only I could see the goddess’ marvelous work. She charmed me, this one.” Again, he took my hands in his and kissed it, staring up at me from under his lashes.

I couldn’t breathe.

Something about his speech made butterflies swoon and nestle.

Something about his speech preached honesty. Was that what really happened? I didn’t want to know otherwise.

I smiled too.

“Tell us how you met him!” Another request was thrown, catching me off balance.

“Aww. Now, you guys! You can’t have all the pieces to this love story. How about some other time? We still have classes.”

An obvious g***n escaped the lips of many.

“Maybe some other time, but this is your soon to be Luna and my soon to be bride. Her name is Cassia Oscar — remember it.”

This time, he took my neck in his arms, bringing my face towards his.

His stare suddenly wasn’t so annoying. His stare made me feel seen, adored and understood. He gave me the most genuine stare he could muster, icy blue eyes piercing deep into mine.

Damn, he was good.

The crowd clapped their hands, and he took my hand in his and started to descend the steps, him going forward and giving me a helping hand as I descended the steps.

I decided to look up at the crowd. I felt the earth shift before I realized I just missed a step and while everyone gasped, I mentally closed my eyes to at least not see my embarrassing fall.

I counted down to an obvious smackdown.

It didn’t come.

I opened my eyes to see the clearest blues gazing into my face, worry creating waves on his face.

“Are you okay?” He asked, his eyes growing concerned as he watched my eyes from left to right.

“Yes.” My heart beat twice as fast, eight times more b***d than it usually did.

My neck suddenly burned and crept to my cheeks. Everything came at slow motion, and everyone as they screamed in excitement eased into the background.

It was just Lucius and I.

In this vast space of noisy bodies, Myla was jumping and running to and fro, witnessing every emotion that surged through me in huge currents.

“Let’s go.” He said harshly as he moved me towards himself, a hand on the small of my back.

Only then did I snap out of it.

Of course, it was all still a facade.

For a minute there, I actually thought he cared. I thought he was being real, and it hurt a bit.

But why was it that I refused to believe just how much of a lie all of this was? It was a front to please the public.

However, a part of me refused to believe that that speech had been written, a made up fantasy and product of a great liar.

It hurt, but why I couldn’t believe, why all the parts of me couldn’t believe, remained a mystery to me.

As we walked towards class, I started to notice that we had alot of authority here.

People randomly courtesied as we walked past them. Most kept their heads down and others had an obvious show of excitement.

As we walked through the hallway, someone passed me a copy of my class schedule when I had been thinking.

Almost everyone stayed behind us, like some kind of sea of body guards as we walked into the classroom.

I had hoped that by now, Lucius and I would go our separate ways, but I was in for a surprise when on studying my class schedule, I saw the heading.

“Lucius and Cassia’s schedule.” I slowly said out loud.

f*****g great.

I inwardly frowned when I saw Lucius heading to one of the seats that had been prepared for us.

But mentally g*****d when it was right opposite the one person I was hoping never to see.

Ariadne.