Found By The Lycan King
12: Soft

ALPHA XANDER'S POV

I was done with my breakfast when Donovan walked into the room, his steps light and his face hard "We need to talk." He says and I cock a brow, telling him to say what is on his mind but he shakes his head and tilts his head toward the door. I nod understanding what he is saying, he needs to talk about something private.

I get up and follow him, a sense of unease settling in the pit of my stomach. Things never end well whenever he sounds like that.

My brain has already come up with a thousand different reasons for why he has called me and what he has to say. I don't have to wait for long because as soon as we are inside the office and Donovan closes the door, he turns me.

He turns to me with his lips pressed into a thin line his eyes hard.

"Is Adriana your mate?" He asks, his jaws clenched, the impression playing in between his scanty beards. I wonder where this is leading to, I wait for him to continue without bothering to reply to that question.

“She is your mate, right? I can feel it, Xander.” There is no emotion in his voice. It sounds and holds a foreboding. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the Find ɴøᴠel.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

I hesitate, not sure how to answer. I couldn't deny it, but I also didn't want to admit it out loud, because a part of me still didn't want to fully believe she is my fated, the woman I've been waiting for, for over three centuries.

Donovan is unrelenting and he keeps repeating the same questions, coming up with his ideas that annoy the hell out of me. Tired of hearing him guess and just entirely tired of listening to him, I snap and reply.

"Yes, she's my mate!" I yell, unable to keep the frustration out of my voice. “Now, what do you want?”

Donavan's expression turns grim. “Fuck,” he curses and throws his head back. I stare at him with a blank expression on my face. “What are you going to do about it then?"

I raise my brow in question, wanting to hear why it is bothering him. Sure, I haven't decided what I was going to do with that information seeing how Adriana hasn't indicated that she knows who I am to her.

"She is my mate,” I answer him easily and the look he gives me will have any other man squirming in his seat. I keep my expression passive as I wait for his reply.

“Xander,” he says with a shake of his head. “Does she even know?" he asks, when i don't answer fast enough for him, he adds. “Because she sure as hell didn't look very accepting of you.”

Of course he noticed, he is very perceptive. If she recognized the connection between us, even if she is against finding a mate for reasons I doubt any she-wolf has, she would have still acted differently. Donovan reads the answer on my face and he groans. “You know this will not work right?” I don't say anything, I have no words to say or even a valid argument to make.

“Adriana is not good enough. She's weak, and the pack will never accept her as their leader. She doesn't even recognise you as her mate. Is that what you will present to the Pack as their Luna? She is just a werewolf, Xander.” I look away from him, hating that he has a point.

He seems to take my silence as a welcome to keep talking. “All she will be good for is warming your bed but she is not going to be good enough to stand by your side, and you know it.” Donovan sputters, his displease over the issue very prominent.

“Donavan!” I call with a warning growl, he stares at me, his eyes still hard. “She is my mate and you will not speak of her that way.” his mouth open, ready to retort but i don't give him a chance to speak. “ And I don't remember mentioning I will make her my Luna"

“I know you will, Xander, you will.” he says with a small mirthless chuckle. He shakes his head, like he can't believe we are actually having a conversation like this. “She is just a werewolf, weak ass mutts like you call them.” I grit my teeth at the reminder.

A growl rumbles deep in my stomach. "If I do decide to make her the luna, which I won't, there is nothing you or the pack can do since it's not up to either of you to decide who I mate with. If I make her my choice, you're all just going to have to be fine with that.”

“You are basically telling me you will consider stooping so low as to mate with a low werewolf?” disbelief crosses his features and he shakes his head again, like he must have heard me wrong and he is trying to make sure of that. “Xander you can have any woman you want! There are more befitting women at your disposal, she doesn't deserve you!” he raises his voice, like that will make me change my mind.

"I don't care,” I growl. "Adriana is my mate and if she will become your luna, that is what is going to be."

Donavan sneers at me, his canines flashing as he bares them. He knows better than to push me any further. He turns on his heel and storms out of the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Donavan is right in some ways and I can't deny it. I need a mate with a backbone, someone strong and from a lycan heritage, from a pureblood family preferably. That is how it is, that is how it has been for the past centuries.

It is a tradition to marry from one of the other pureblood families, they were born into this life and have been trained to marry from a similar line.

Even after agreeing to marry Adriana and knowing who her father is, they know I'm not going to make her my luna. Kings can have more than one wife, and they can have concubines and harems too. I was fine with that, but now after finding out she is my mate, it has ruined all my plans.

I know I'll never be satisfied with marrying her and tossing her aside, or keeping her just for my sexual pleasures

This is the woman I have waited for, for three hundred years. I can't simply discard her. My body shakes with the anger and frustration thrumming through me. I release a loud growl but it does nothing to lessen the anger burning through me.

After some time spent in thought, I finally leave the office and head back to my bedroom. I make my way to the mahogany cabinet in the corner, opening one of the doors, I reach inside and pull out a bottle of whisky. It is a special collection gifted to me by an old friend.

Since it isn't very easy to get lycans and werewolves to get drunk. He assured this is strong enough to knock down any supernatural species. That is exactly what I need right now.

I uncap it and take a long swig, not bothering to find a glass letting the amber liquid burn its way down my throat.

I made my way over to the bed and sat down, letting out a sigh as I placed the whisky bottle on the nightstand. I lean back against the pillows and close my eyes, letting the alcohol wash over me as I try to forget my troubles with the liquid, at least for a little while.

My thoughts keep drifting to Adriana. It has been two days since we first met, and she still hasn't recognized me as her mate. Or maybe it has to do with her being a werewolf. They are a weaker breed. The impure breed. And even at that, she isn't very strong as I've seen. All of that must play a role in what is stopping her from recognizing the effects of the mate bond.

I push the thought away, telling myself that she is only eighteen, still young and inexperienced in the ways of our kind. Maybe her wolf is just slow to realize the truth. Werewolves start shifting from sixteen and into their early twenties, and it takes a while longer for them to fully learn to control, and be one with their wolf.

As much as I tried to, I couldn't shake the feeling of doubt that lingered in the back of my mind. There is a nagging voice at the back of my head telling me there is more to it than what I can see on the surface. I've never heard of a wolf that didn't recognize their mate. I've touched her, I felt every nerve wracking thing they said you would feel from a single touch from your mate. I had played it cool in that hall because of prying eyes, but even then, she didn't feel anything.

Perhaps she is pretending. I can tell she isn't very happy about being tied down to me. Maybe that is the reason she has refused to acknowledge what we both should know by now. That she is mine.

I spend the rest of the day in my room, drinking the whiskey that must have lost its charm because I'm almost through the bottle and my mind is still very much sober and so are my thoughts. If anything, I'm even more restless now after thinking of what Adriana might do, since she has obviously shown her disdain for this.

On another hand, the elders, who I'm sure won't be very happy with me settling with a wolf. Especially if they figure out she is my fated. They haven't said anything yet but I know they won't keep quiet for very long.

Donovan's voice keeps ringing in my head and as much as I try to shut it off, I can't because deep down, I know he is right. Making Adriana the next lycan luna and queen is going to cause a lot of trouble. More than I would care to deal with. The only other option is to just keep her as my mistress.

My chest burns at the thought of giving her post lower than what she means to me. I can't do that to her. I want the whole fucking world to see her my mate, that is what every part of me wants.

I didn't have a good sleep that night. All I did was drink and let my mind run and when my eyes opened on their own at the crack of dawn, I regretted it.

The effect of the drink has taken root and there is a constant hammering inside my head. I force myself to get up and freshen up, needing to feel anything other than the heat under my skin.

A knock sounds on the door when I come out of the closet, fully dressed. I turn towards the door, my brows almost reaching my hairline when Donovans’ scent fills my nostrils.

I don't have the energy to deal with him this morning. After debating my options for a while, I tell him to come in after settling on the sofa.

He strides in, slowly, his arms crossed behind him as he observes the room, a smug smile on his lips. He walks towards me and pulls out a seat before sitting on it.

"How is it going?" He asks, his voice very casual like we didn't almost come to blows last night. I study him, trying to read his expression but his face is as blank as a white canvas.

But then again, that is the thing about my beta and oldest friend, if he didn't want you to know what he is thinking, there is now way you ever will.

I've known him all my life because we grew up together, his mother was one of the maids here in the palace and more accurately, my father's mistress, but we all liked to pretend we didn't know that. Though our father never claimed fathering him, he was still raised in the pak and I made him my beta when I became the lycan king. He has his flaws yes, but he is very good as a beta and that is what matters most.

"Why are you here?" I ask, going straight to the point.

“Here I thought everything is fine and we can share a drink in the morning,” his lips turned down in a faux frown.

For the longest time, after I took the position as lycan king, a part of me has always been cautious of Donovan. He hasn't made any obvious attempts or done anything suspicious per se, but there is this look in his eyes when I find him staring at me. I don't have a perfect word for it, but it is something between envy and loathe.

“We can share a drink, yes. But you have something to say, so just say it.” I inclined my head toward the untouched bottle. He sighs then runs his hand through his short cropped hair. Jet black, just like mine.

"We are going to have a problem with that wolf here, Xander. You have gone soft.” I cock a brow in question, wondering what that is supposed to mean.

“I've gone soft, how?”

“You pardoned a man who attacked you because that little thing begged you not to kill him. I'm just trying to understand what is happening. What has come over you? This is not the Alexander that I know." His words sound curious. Just like yesterday, like he can't believe this is actually happening. “Just because of that little weak mutt. It's a different thing when you just plan on keeping her side pussy that can be shared—"

A growl rumbles from my chest at his degrading comment of treating my mate like a whore. For a split second, all I see is red, the animal in me fighting and clawing for a way out. He has only one need and that is to tear him apart.

"Alexander, stop!"

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