Ch. my mate gambled me away to the lycan King 9 my mate gambled me away to the lycan King 9

< Chapter 9 

Chapter 9 

The sound tore out of my chest and shook the chandeliers. 

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Silver light rolled off my skin. My wolf filled every inch of me, huge and wild and mine, and power poured through the room like a wave. 

Two hundred wolves dropped their eyes. 

Not one of them could hold my gaze. 

Kane hit his knees. 

The rejection bond tore through him, not me. He clutched his chest, gasping, his face draining white. A rejection only breaks the weaker wolf. 

He had never in his life imagined that would be him. 

“You… you have a wolf,” he choked. “Since when?” 

“Since the night you stopped answering my calls,” I said. “She woke up in the snow. She’s been waiting a 

long time to meet you.” 

“A silver wolf,” someone whispered behind me. “That’s… that’s an Alpha line wolf. The real one.” 

Kane dragged himself up by the edge of a table, sweating and shaking. “It doesn’t matter! I’m still Acting Alpha! The pack is mine! I’ve run it for three years!” 

Alaric stepped forward. 

He reached into his jacket and pulled out a folded document sealed with black wax. He didn’t hand it to 

Kane. He tossed it at his chest. 

“Read it,” Alaric said. “Out loud.” 

Kane broke the seal with trembling hands. His eyes moved down the page. And all the color left his face. 

“No,” he whispered. “No, this is fake.” 

“It’s your former Alpha’s final will,” Alaric said, his voice carrying to every corner of the room. “Witnessed by the Elder Council and sealed under royal protection. Thomas Ashford left the Alpha title, the territory, the treasury, and every warrior’s oath to his daughter, to take effect on her twenty-first birthday.” 

He looked at the clock. “Which began four minutes ago.” 

The whispers turned into a storm. 

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<Chapter 9 

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to.” 

“Lyra was the real heir all along?” 

“So Kane was just babysitting the seat?” 

“That’s why he kept the bond secret. He needed her to keep the title!” 

“And he was going to reject her tonight to break her before she could claim it…” 

Every eye turned on Kane, and every one of them was full of disgust. 

“Thomas suspected you,” Alaric said quietly. “He asked me to hold this until she came of age. He was right 

Kane collapsed into the steel chair, the one built for me. It didn’t even creak. 

Then he lunged forward and crawled toward my feet. “Lyra. Baby. Please. Three years. Three years of love, and you’ll throw it away over a piece of paper?” 

Alaric stepped between us like a wall. 

“Love?” he said. “You traded her for a strip of dirt and bet against her for pocket change. Don’t you dare say that word to her.” 

I turned toward the doors. “Let’s go. The air in here is rotten.” 

“Lyra!” Kane screamed, scrambling after me. 

Bianca grabbed his arm. “Kane, stop! Get it together! You still have me, we still have the Beta’s warriors-” 

“Get OFF me!” he roared, swinging his arm. 

The slap cracked through the ballroom. 

Bianca flew sideways and landed face-first in the pig-head cake. Pink frosting exploded everywhere. Her red dress ripped up the side. She came up screaming, frosting in her hair, mascara running, a candy apple 

stuck to her cheek. 

The ballroom lost its mind laughing. 

I didn’t look back. 

Outside, the cold night air hit my face. The Blood Moon hung over the mountains, enormous and red. 

Warm weight settled on my shoulders. Alaric’s jacket. 

11:28 Wed, Oct 21 

< Chapter 9 

“Thank you,” I whispered. 

: 

He didn’t answer. His eyes had dropped to my wrist, where Kane’s fingers had left angry red marks. A muscle jumped in his jaw. 

“Does it hurt?” He touched the edge of the bruise so lightly I barely felt it. 

“I’m fine.” I studied him. “Why did you do all this? My father’s will, I understand. But tonight… you didn’t 

have to do any of it.” 

He was quiet for a long moment. 

Then he said, “Lyra. Do you remember the boy in the woods behind your house? Twelve years ago?” 

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