Page 33 of Lycan King's Claim
“That’s not true, Sienna. I love you,” I plead, reaching out for her, but she shakes her head, her eyes filled with pain and hatred.
“I don’t want your touch, Xandros. I know all too well the damage your touch causes, the pain it inflicts!” she snarls, and her eyes flash dangerously. The madness that consumes me wants me to rival her, force her to submit, yet her words hit me like a ton of bricks because she’s right. Every time we argue, I push her further away, not letting her speak or break her if she does. But I am finally listening now. Can’t she see that?
“Your love is suffocating. You say you care, but all I’ve known from you is pain and control. I just wanted to survive, but even that, you took from me. Driving someone to a place so dark that ending it becomes an option? That isn’t love, Xandros. That’s living in your death. Each day more heartache, more despair while you love the very person you also hate. That isn’t living; it’s enabling you to destroy what’s left of me.”
Tears well in her eyes, and my heart breaks as I realize the depth of the damage I’ve caused her. “So you still want that?” I ask, my voice barely audible.
“My death is the only thing I have left in my control,” she whispers, and it feels like a knife through my chest.
“And if I gave you back control? If I let you go?” I ask, and the desperation in my voice is clear even to me.
“You and I both know you won’t let me go, Xandros. So let’s not lie to each other with false promises,” she tells me, and her words pierce through me painfully.
“So, what now?” I ask, feeling lost and broken.
“I just need you to leave me alone,” she whispers, and with that, she turns away from me.
I want to tell her I’m sorry, that I’ll change, that I’ll do anything to make it right, but I know now that’s not what she needs. She requires space, time, and I need to be the one to respect that.
So I turn on my heel and walk out of the room, my heart heavy with regret and sorrow. I feel like I’ve lost her, and it’s entirely my fault. But if there’s any hope of redemption, I must stop the wedding.
The next day
After confronting Carina about her father last night, she denied what Sienna told me. So I know she will not admit it or step down, leaving it up to me.
“I’m calling off the wedding,” I tell Javier as I fix my tie.
“So why are you getting dressed up then?” Javier asks, handing me my jacket.
“Because the Council will be present, I need them to know I am breaking the treaty; they’ll accept it; I know they will. For the good of the kingdom, they know I need my mate,” I tell him, and he nods.
“They also know it will start a war,” Javier adds. I nod in agreement, but with it out in the open, Vin can’t talk his way out of it.
“In front of them, Vin can’t argue it. He’ll know I have their support and worst-case scenario. He admits the debt I owe him, along with my waning sanity. If that happens, I will step down from my position as king,” I tell Javier as I slip my arm into my jacket and do up the buttons.
Javier stares at me, his eyes fixing on my tie before he shucks me under the chin and starts fiddling with it while I stare pointedly at the ceiling.
“You’ll really step down?” he asks when he is done. I loosen it a little, feeling like he was trying to strangle me with it.
“I don’t want any of this without her, and if I can’t have her at my side to rule with me, then I would rather not rule,” I tell him.
“I’ve hurt her enough; I am not going to force her to watch another woman be crowned Queen in her place. I am also not going to make her raise my kids with Carina. You and I both know that will be Vin’s next move, forcing a child into a loveless marriage to solidify the treaty, to join our kingdoms as one,” I remind Javier.
“Have you told Sienna this?” he asks. I shake my head before walking out of my office to see if I can catch Elder Ridion to give him a heads-up and to expect an altercation. “Not yet, but she’ll know soon enough.”
Walking outside, the parking lot is filled with cars all the way out to the road when I spot a car I recognize, which stops me in my tracks as it passes the iron gates. Turning to Javier, he looks away, telling me he saw the car too.
“Javier?” I ask him.
He swallows guiltily, and a growl tears out of me as I turn to go search for Sienna. They all lied to me, Javier, Carina, all of them lied to me! Storming back into the castle, I am stopped by Javier, who grabs my arm. I spin on him, “You lied to me!” I snarl angrily.
“Well, you have a tendency to go off the deep end, my king. You want your mate alive, just as Carina wants hers. You can have yours, but she can’t have her’s? Exactly how is that fair?” Javier asks. I blink at him, shocked by his words.
“Wait…. Carina?” It suddenly hits me. A memory from that night, how she and Javier fought when I returned. How they insisted he was dead.
I nod once, my eyes going to the iron gates. “Just keep him away from me!” I snap, stalking off toward the function area that has been set up, searching for Ridion.
The wedding is about to begin, and I find myself filled with nervous energy. As I take my seat at the head of the table, I can feel the weight of the decision I am about to make. I address the Council elder, stating my intentions to call off the wedding and break the treaty. He purses his lips anxiously. “King Vin won’t like this,” Ridion states. I wait silently, watching as he processes my words.
