Bullied Mate Of The Lycan Kings
Chapter 163

Lily's

pov

I didn't realize that I had slept off until I opened my eyes hours later to see Cade sleeping soundly beside me. My heart swelled and my core ached as I remembered how he had brought me to o****m two more times after the first before exhaustion took the two of us. I felt complete and even though I couldn't feel Dahlia's presence, I felt a sort of calmness that told me she would feel the same way.

I was about to stand up from the bed when Cade blinked, his face so adorable as he slowly opened his eyes.

"You're leaving?" He said with a pout that made me laugh and I hugged him before rising up from the bed.

"I want to shower, I'm starving," I answered as I headed to the bathroom. Not long after I entered under the shower, felt his body mold next to mine and I sighed contentedly as he kissed my shoulder, reaching forward to lather soap all over my body. I would have wished to stay longer under the shower if I was not so worried about Zac. I had not seen him since we came down from the car into the house and even then, it was obvious that he was trying to be as far away from me as possible and it hurt that he would even be doing that when I had told him over and over again that I didn't hold anything against him.

"Are you okay? You drifted for a second," Cade asked as he gave me a shirt and one of his shorts to wear and I nodded, quickly putting it on and waiting for him to dress up. As we left the room together, I finally took in the penthouse.

It had been a long while since I was here. It was a different me. A Lily that was clueless, thought she was an omega and was not sure of herself or if she deserved to be loved.

This was a new me. No, this was who I had been all along, just no longer scared of herself or what others said and was now comfortable in her own skin. I had grown so much and I was so proud of myself for overcoming everything that I had gone through. Following Zac's scent, I found him sitting in the open plan kitchen with Angelo and Bia. What caught my eyes immediately was that my best friend looked a lot better than the last time I had seen her, which was yesterday.

Infact, if I didn't know, I would have thought that she was the same human friend that I had but on a closer look, I knew that she was not. Her features were sharper and her eye color looked like it had another shade that made her look even more beautiful. it made her look almost inhuman. For a second, I wondered if she would show any characteristics that were similar to her sire.

My heart stopped for a moment.

The thought made me scared but then I glanced at Zac.

Zac was nothing like Callista. My eyes zoned in on what she was eating and I raised my brows in surprise. Human food? How?

My eyes looked back to Zac immediately and I was about to ask him how it was possible but I saw his eyes move between me and Cade and I saw when he realized what had happened between us. A dark look crossed over his eyes and he looked away almost immediately, causing me to flinch. I didn't say anything as Cade drew out a stool for me.

"I could have done that" I told him and he shrugged with a smirk, leaning down as I sat on the stool to kiss me on my forehead. I couldn't help but check on Zac again but he was looking at an inexistent crack in the wall but from the way his shoulder was tense, I was certain that he wasn't looking at the painting at all. I looked away to see that Bia and Angelo were watching me with curious amusement.

"How are you?" I asked Bia, deciding to ignore the hurt in my chest at Zac's blatant avoidance.

"Other than feeling like I was hit by a truck, I feel alright.

Angelo has been an actual angel all through, I don't know what I could have done without him." She whispered and I smiled at her, happy that she was sounding like herself.

"How are you able to eat that? I didn't think you could eat food anymore."

I didn't want to say the words but Bia smiled and shrugged.

"Yeah, I read about all those book stuff before I slept and they said vamps can't eat human food but I woke up with an appetite for it and it tastes the same. Blood wasn't hitting the spot for me, I tried it first." She gave Angelo a look that was almost intimate and I was surprised that Angelo continued to allow Bia to feed from him given that he was a hunter that hunted wolves like us and Paradise vampires.

Well, who was I to talk? I knew exactly what love did to people. I had four mates when last year I was sure that I would not even have one, but I was confused because I had never heard about vampires eating human food or even sleeping at night, but Bia had just said that she did the two: I wondered if it meant that she still had her humanity left in her and if there was hope for her to have a semblance of normalcy in her life.

Cade stood up and came back with a cup of hot chocolate that he placed in front of me, which made me give him a grateful smile. Just then, one of Cade's soldiers walked into the kitchen and bowed in greeting, his face giving no expression. But his mere presence made me sit even stiffer.

"Alpha, sorry to disturb you. I've come with news that there has been some trouble at the border than needs your attention."

I wasn't the only one who became even more alert after that statement and my eyes immediately moved to Cade to gauge his expression. Cade merely smiled and cupped my cheek, his eyes betraying nothing. "It's nothing important" he said gently with a bright smile and before I could pry and ask him to tell us what is going on if it's not such a big deal, he rose to his feet and took my hand.

"No matter what, you must stay with Zac at all times,okay?

Do not let yourself get hurt." "Cade..."

"Nothing is going to happen, Lily. I'm just telling you to take care of yourself. Ren contacted Zac and I and told us to make sure that you don't leave Gold crest and I'm sure he means well so please promise me. Promise you that you'll be careful." I nodded even though I had a bad feeling about everything that was going on.

He had just turned to leave after kissing me when I was hit with something that struck like thunderbolt. It felt like a memory. Snapshots of blood and gore. The vision was sharp and gory and I focused on only one body amongst the heaps of bodies on the battle- ridden floor.

It was Cade, I realized with horror.

He was lying on his back, a spear with shadows around the tip that indicated there was dark magic involved, fashioned out of rhodium piercing his heart. As fast as the vision came, it was gone and so was Cade.

Cold sweat broke on my face and I rose to my feet. I ran after him and found him by the stairs, speaking to one of his soldiers.

"Secure the wards. They can't get through unless they go through Silver Moon, and last time I checked, Irwin and Ariel were not in cahoots with the hunters. He must be mistaken about what he heard."

"But what if he's right? He has powers that can see through minds. You said so yourself."

"Sometimes, his deductions are biased by presumptions.

Nevertheless, we must take Ren's warnings to heart. We can't ignore him. We'll take the fight to them if that's what they want. You will stay behind with your men and Angelos hunters. My mate must be protected at all times." "But I want to come with you," I announced, crawling out of my hiding place.

He frowned with worry when he saw me. "You're sweating.

Are you okay?" He asked, a worried scowl, creating ridges in his forehead as he walked back to me and cradled my cheek

"I said I'll come with you"

"Sit." He said, pulling me down to sit on the stairs and knelt in front of me. He took my hand.

"Please don't go. Tell me what is really going on. I want to help too. What did Ren inform you and why am I being kept out of the loop?"

"Ren doesn't know you're with me. Well, he didn't know until I told him and explained why you were with me. Hes livid that we let you get in harm's way."

I winced recalling that Ren had instructed that Zac keep me away from trouble.

"What did he say?" I inquired.

Cade swallowed. "His message concerns me as the alpha of Gold Crest."

"But if I'm going to be Luna, I want to pull my own weight. I don't want you to shoulder all the burden. I want to help." I whispered, my voice breaking at the end and Cade pulled me in for a hug, gently rubbing my back.

"It's just trouble at the border with the soldiers, Lily. He thinks that there's about to be another attack, but not on Shadow Cove, on Gold Crest. There's no way the hunters can get through our borders without going through Silver Moon and I'm sure the alpha and Luna won't let that happen."

"Ren is never wrong"

"I'll come back to you, I promise."

"TIl come with you. You need me. I can help. Let me help."

He was quiet for a while, considering my offer. "It's precisely because I know how powerful you are that I don't want you coming with me to the border. I need you here, just in case my people need you."

I huffed in annoyance, hating that I saw sense in what he was saying.

"We'll compromise. I'll go to the borders while you protect the tower and the heart of Gold Crest. Deal?"

I didn't want him to leave but he was alpha and he can't neglect his duties. So I feigned a smile and rose to my feet, planting a kiss on his lips and watching as he walked out of the house, a cold hard lump settling in my throat.

The air in the kitchen was filled with awkward silence when I returned and when I looked at Zac,

, his expression was

cold. I looked to my best friend to see her looking between the two of us and clearly noticing the strain, she cleared her throat to fill the silence.

"Lily, do you want me to fix you something to eat?"

"I don't mind. Thank you." Just as I took my seat beside Zac, he rose to his feet.

"I'm going to take a shower and check in with Ren about the Aiden situation." He said to no one in particular and didn't even glance at me before he started to walk away.

Tired of his behavior, I stood, "You're going to have to tell me why you are avoiding me."

He paused and turned to look at me. "I am not avoiding you."

"That's bullsh!t and you know it."

"F***s sakes, I just want to take a shower, Lily."

"So you've not been avoiding me is what you're saying?"

"I'm going to take a shower."

"If you walk away right now, I will not bring this up again.

We have to hash this out right here, right now, Zac, so don't you dare walk away."

The silence in the room was tense and even though I knew I had an audience watching, I couldn't back down now. I was done with his attitude.

To my horror and disappointment, he didn't say a word. He looked like he was about to and just turned around and walked out of the kitchen.

"Trouble in paradise? What happened between you two?" Bia asked and Angelo gently tugged at her hand and shook his head. Shrugged and sat back down at the table where Bia had dropped my plate of food for me, deciding to stuff my face to numb the hurt.