Ch. my mate gambled me away to the lycan King 1 my mate gambled me away to the lycan King 1

<Chapter 1 

Chapter 1 

My fated mate lost me in a card game. 

To the Lycan King. 

The night before I came home. 

Then he posted my ugliest photo for the whole pack to laugh at. 

And he bet thirty grand that I’d be too ashamed to show my face. 

He was wrong. 

My plane had barely touched down in Denver when my phone started screaming. Forty-two notifications from the Silver Creek pack chat, the private channel every wolf in our territory lives on. 

Pinned at the top was a red banner: 

[CONGRATS TO THE LYCAN KING ON HIS NEW PRIZE FROM SILVER CREEK!] 

Below it was a photo of a scrawled IOU from last night’s Blood Moon poker game. The signature at the bottom belonged to Kane Mercer, Acting Alpha of Silver Creek. 

The stake read: Lyra Ashford. 

Me. 

Kane was my mate. For three years he’d kept our bond a secret, swearing he would claim me publicly “when the time was right.” This whole year I’d been away at the Northern Healers’ Academy, he’d told me every single night that he missed me. 

The moment I landed, he traded me away like a poker chip. 

Before I could even breathe, he posted again. 

It was a photo of me from four years ago, taken at my father’s funeral. One hundred and eighty pounds. A baggy gray hoodie, Swollen eyes. The wolfless runt of the pack. 

Kane: [Meet the prize, fresh back from “school.” Your Majesty, if she’s not heavy enough for you, I’ll throw in a side of venison.] 

The pack went wild. 

[LMAO is this a gift or a hate crime??] 

11:27 Wed, Oct 21 

< Chapter 1 

[No shifter alive can carry that.] 

: 

[She’s been eating northern bread for a year. She’s 250 now, easy.] 

[Poor King. Bring a forklift.] 

Then a voice note came straight to my DMs. Kane sounded hungover and bored. 

46 

“Lyra, listen. Forget your little fairy tale for a minute. I lost the eastern border to the King last night. The only way to keep it was to offer something from the Alpha bloodline. That’s you. Show up at the Blood Moon Ball tomorrow at seven, do the three tasks, and smile. Don’t embarrass me.” 

My knuckles went white around the phone. 

Three years of whispered I love yous. To him, I’d been a coin to spend. 

Then someone opened a poll in the pack chat: 

[BETTING NOW OPEN: Will the Runt actually show up at the ball tomorrow?] 

Kane bet first. Thirty thousand dollars on NO. 

[She’ll hide in her room and cry into a family-size pizza.] 

Then Bianca Vale, the Beta’s daughter and the pack’s self-crowned princess, sent a sugary voice message: 

“Kane, babe, don’t be so mean! I know she’s a little… big. But she’s still the late Alpha’s daughter. Lyra, sweetie, if you’re scared, just beg Kane to call it off. I’ll ask him to go easy on you.” 

I walked into the airport restroom and stood in front of the mirror. I took off my sunglasses and let my heavy wool coat slide off my shoulders. 

The woman in the mirror wore a fitted black dress. Sharp collarbones. A waist I could circle with my hands. Long, toned legs. Cheekbones that could cut glass. 

In the North, I had trained four hours a day in the snow until I dropped from 180 pounds to 112. I learned 

to fight. I learned to stand tall. 

And on the coldest night of the year, under a full moon, something inside me that everyone swore was dead had finally woken up. 

I came home for love. 

Instead, I came home to a war. 

I opened the betting channel, linked my account, and put fifty thousand dollars, every cent of my savings, 

11:27 Wed, Oct 21 

< Chapter 1 

on YES. 

: 

46 

The chat stopped cold. 

[WHO JUST DROPPED 50K ON YES??] 

[Is that… HER account?] 

I wiped away one last tear. It would be the last one Kane Mercer ever got from me. 

Then I typed my first message in a year: 

[I’ll be there at seven sharp. Save me a seat.] 

The chat erupted into laughter. 

Then, all at once, it went silent. 

Because for the first time in ten years, the Lycan King was typing. 

11:27 Wed, Oct 21 

< Chapter 2