Bullied Mate Of The Lycan Kings
Chapter 170

Lily's pov

Few minutes earlier.

I woke up to my head spinning and a sharp metallic taste in my mouth... Blood. I couldn't tell if it was mine or one of Dahlia's unfortunate victims.

"You're awake," a relieved voice breathed and I realized that I was in a car, my head in Ren's lap, his hand on my stomach, healing me from goddess knows what. He looked tired, his face pale, forehead sweaty, his hands were trembling from over exertion and I cupped his

"beautiful face, gratitude filling my lungs. "Thank you for saving me."

While Dahlia had been in control of my body, I had been able to see everything that was going on outside of me...

Most especially how Ren had tried to heal her before she passed out.

He smiled and leaned into my hand, taking it and kissing my wrist. "How do you feel?"

"m okay," I croaked, "a little thirsty." He offered me a bottle of water and when I tried to sit up, I realized that another hand was banding around my feet.

"Don't over exert yourself, duchess," Zac winked at me," you ve kicked enough a*s to last a lifetime."

"There are ferals roaming the streets, Zachary," Cade drawled, from where he sat at the driver's seat. "I say we damn well need her help

"Ferals?" I sat up in shock, what the hell happened while I was out of it? "How did that happen?"

"Victor, that bastard happened, Cade hissed, slamming the steering wheel in frustration. "If Ren and Aiden didn't have a plan before going in, we would never have known what that bastard had been planning. He's using ferals and creatures from the deep to wreak havoc on the goddamn pack. And Aiden-"

My heart jumped, clattering in my chest.

"He has Aiden. We're thinking he used his black magic to connect the two of you so that what he does to Aiden would transfer to you."

My heart thudded. No no no.

"Luckily, the council proved useful for once and got it fixed before it got too bad. What that bastard put Aiden through must not have been pretty."

My entire body trembled at the thought of seeing Aiden again, fear numbing my limbs as a thought flashed through my head. The thought that we won't be able to get to him in time. "Won't Victor see us coming?" I asked, taking the guess that they were going to get Aiden back.

"My mother performed a concealing spell on us. It was effective against the ferals, we're hoping that it would be effective against Victor too." Ren said, not sounding hopeful at all.

Cade drove us to an abandoned mansion deep in the heart of poison fang. If the armies of ferals appearing around the territory was any indication, this was where Victor was hiding like the swine that he is. Where he was keeping my mate. There were civilians around for goodness sake!

"I'll hold off the ferals and evacuate the locals. The rest of the tac team are enroute," Zac told us as he left the car and zipped up his tac team vest. He was dressed in black leather, the tactical team uniform, probably so that it would - be easier to gain the trust of the locals and have them listen to him.

Before we parted ways, he grabbed me, cupped my face and kissed me senseless, his fingers trembling as he traced my cheekbones. "Don't die on me, duchess."

"Likewise," I panted against his lips, searching his eyes.

He sighed deeply and pressed his lips to my forehead, hugging me before glaring at Ren and Cade. "Protect her with your life."

"You know we will." Cade replied, shaking his hand and pulling him in for a bro hug. Zac did the same with Ren and it was heart wrenching having to part ways.

A few Night Shade soldiers guarded the territory and Ariel's spell must have been very effective because they didn't notice us sneak in.

My heart was racing, my fingers trembling with excitement the closer we got to my mate The thought of seeing again made my entire body shake with anticipation

While Cade brought up the rear, protecting us from behind, Ren led the way until we came to a vacant room that was... empty.

Dahlia shook with anxiety in my chest, mirroring mine.

He should be here... He should be here... Why isn't he here?

I was so close to breaking down in frustration and fear, the thought of never seeing him again was like a fist, clenching around my lungs and making it harder and harder to breathe.

There was a puzzled look on Ren's face as he looked around, feeling the wall and I felt it like a whiplash.

Aiden's pain. His humiliation, helplessness and frustration.

It was like I was looking through his eyes and what I saw made my entire vision turn red.

Mauve. FVCKING MAUVE!

An irrational burst of anger exploded in my chest and stomped on the wall, I punched it to rubble and the vision I had seen was actually Aiden's reality.

An enraged roar bubbled deep in her throat and the sound of her cheekbones crushing against my fist was not as satisfying as it should have. I wanted to rip her to pieces with my bare hands, I wanted to feel her blood dripping from my fingers. I wanted to kill her.

Aiden's pov

Was what just happened a dream? Had I just imagined Lily coming in, punching the daylights out of Mauve and flinging her off of me or was I so out of it that I was beginning to cook up scenarios to escape my treacherous reality? My head throbbed and my vision was blurry once more, my eyes filled with confusion as I tried to remain awake and when I blinked I saw Cade in front of me.

"Glad that you're still alive man," he said and the next moment, he was grabbing the chains that tied me to the wall and crushing them with his fist. Reaching for my feet, he did the same thing and came back to help me sit up.

Holding five fingers in front of me, he spoke with a smile that was filled with empathy that shocked me a little. The two of us were not exactly friends. We were not close enough for him to feel any sort of sympathy for me considering that the last time I had seen him, I had told him to stay away from Lily.

"How many fingers?"

"Five." I mumbled, my tongue feeling like lead.

"Good," he grinned, patting my shoulder.

"Cade. How are you here?" My voice sounded raw and hoarse, almost slurred and I knew it had to be because of the drugs. I felt slow all around and my hatred for my uncle increased once again. I gently touched Cade's outstretched palm to convince myself that I was not dreaming and that he was really here

"It's not just Cade any longer. It's Alpha Corrigan now.

Which means that you should not forget to add some respect to your tone when you speak to me next time. I'll let it slide right now because you are clearly going through a lot, which is code word for you look like sh!t. But if you try it again, I'm afraid that I'll have to cut all diplomatic ties with your pack," He answered good naturedly and I would have punched him if 1 didn't feel so out of it, a little reminder that he shouldn't forget who he was talking to.

Managing a weak laugh, I nodded, trying to gauge the amount of feeling I could muster in my numb limbs.

"I will take that into consideration." I managed to reply and when he nodded with a smile,

I wondered if he had actually

gone through with killing his mother and what it must have cost him to be here, smiling through the pain of having to murder a loved one and how sh!tty he would be feeling. One thing that I was sure of though was that I would feel nothing but relief when I killed Victor.

He was a monster and did not have any right to be regarded as my family.

A familiar scent hit me right before I saw his face and my eyes watered with relief that he had come along.

"Goodness. Look at you." Ren whispered, his eyes filled with anger that I knew was not directed at me.

Quickly, he ran his hands over my torso, his eyes glowing in a way that told him he was examining me and his eyes widened as they dimmed, his hand pressed against my forehead as he shook his head.

"You're doped up on enough drugs to kill an entire pack of wolves. I don't even know how you're still alive. But let me do what I can so that you'll be able to at least move your limbs."

With a gentle gaze, he looked at me, golden brown eyes softening. "m so sorry this happened to you. You don't deserve it. No one does."

The bastard couldn't stay out of my thoughts. And even though this was not a situation to smile, I did. It was nice to see Ren. I had missed him always fussing over me and being the reason why Zac and I were in touch with our

- emotions; well as much emotion as we had allowed ourselves to feel.

Normally when he was like this, I would have been ready with an annoyed and sarcastic comeback but I could only relax back into the bed as his hands moved over me, my head turning to the side as my eyes and ears finally opened to hear everything else going on around me.

My eyes widened when I saw Taryn, Lily's shadow kitty, circling around her master. Lily was straddling Mauve who was trying and failing to block her blows. Lily snarled at her and as she punched her over and over again, her roar was filled with an agony that ricocheted around the walls of the room.

"How dare you? How dare you do this to him? How dare you touch what belongs to me?"

Each punch was harder than the last and with every blow, I

could feel her rage, her pain and her sorrow through our bond, her guilt at having me take the fall for her, her fear at the thought of never replaceing me again and her fury at Mauve laking advantage of me.

She could easily use her powers to give Mauve a swift death but I knew that she wanted to feel Mauves blood on her hands, to feel her bones break on her knuckles.

Her attacks became more feral and uncoordinated as she started to hit Mauve even faster and I knew that I had to call her back. Not because of Mauve, but because I could feel her hurting and needed her to see that I was okay. To stop hurting because of me. "Lily," I whispered and she froze mid swing, her face

- moving away from Mauve to look at me.

"I'm so sorry, Lily." I added and she dropped Mauve's body to the ground almost immediately and Taryn, seeing an opening, pounced on Mauve's carcass, tearing her to pieces. Mauve's screams were music to my ears.

Lily rushed to my side and crushed me to her chest, her body shaking from the force of her sobs, the heart wrenching sound filling the entire room. Her eyes were red and swollen, tears streaming down her cheeks as she really looked at me and I knew that she was noting all of my bruises and scars.

"I'm so sorry, Aiden.. If I had known that this was going to happen, I wouldn't have ever let you out of my sight. I would have never let you take the fall for me. I swear that I never wanted any of this to happen to you. You must have been in so much pain. Oh, goddess, look at you. I'm so s-"

I cupped her face, stopping her mid-sentence. Fear exploded in my heart at the thought of Victor taking her and subjecting her to what I just went through.

I shook my head, my entire body trembling, my shaky hands tracing down her cheeks as I cleaned her tears and I felt tears trickle down my face. Tears of relief and gratitude that I was able to get this chance to see her again and really apologize to her for everything. "I'm sorry for everything I have ever done to you, Lily. I'm sorry for mocking you, for ridiculing you, for threatening you but most especially, I can never forgive myself for

- making you feel powerless enough to do something you didn't want to."

I saw her take in my words and when her eyes brightened with realization, I knew that she finally understood that I was most especially apologizing for forcing her to give me a blow job. I remembered the tears in her eyes that day and how I had not cared. If she didn't forgive me, I would understand.

My eyes widened in surprise when she smiled and kissed away my tears.

"I've forgiven you a long time ago, Aiden. I don't hold anything against you. Never have. You can let it all go now, okay?"

This time when I hugged her, my heart was lighter. Even if I died now, I knew that I had finally apologized to Lily for everything. I didn't deserve her kindness or big heart but I was not going to let that stop me from trying to make it up to her

As I pulled back to ask her how she and the gang had gotten here, Zac rushed in, his chest rising and falling as he caught his breath.

"As much as I don't want to ruin your fun little reunion, there is a war happening outside as we speak and we need to make sure we win and protect our homes."

When I looked at them in confusion, Ren was the one who answered

"There are ferals wreaking havoc all over Shadow cove and we have no idea where they came from but they are _ everywhere and it's getting hard trying to keep everybody safe."

The only way ferals were working together was if they were under some sort of control. It was eerily like the massacre where ferals had killed my parents under Victor's control and I realized without a doubt that Victor was behind this. This was the second wave he had been talking about with the human congressman.

Rising to my feet gently, I flexed my arms and legs, grateful for Ren's healing that was able to help me a bit to stay mobile and knew what I had to do.

"I need to replace Victor and kill him." I announced and Lily rose to her feet, coming to stand beside me.

"I'll go with you."

I was about to tell her not to even think about it when she growled, her eyes glaring at me.

"Save whatever you want to say, Aiden. I will not be letting you out of my sight ever again. Where you go, I go. I will not lose you. Not when I have just found you again."

My heart clenched tight in my chest, surprised at how much love Lily thought I deserved even though I was not even worthy of her.

Grabbing her arms, I kissed her nose and rested my head against hers.

"I will spend the rest of my life atoning for hurting you, Lily.

She started to protest but I continued.

"But this is my fight. If I let you help me... If I let you kill

*him, I will never be accepted as Alpha. Even if I am, no one would ever think it wasn't just handed down to me. You have to let me go."

"But I don't want to let you go," she whispered and I kissed her gently. I sighed against her lips, breathing her in and inhaling her scent for what might be the last time. I nodded at Ren who immediately understood what I wanted.

He walked forward and pulled Lily to his side, kissing the side of her head.

"There are many people out there that we can save with your abilities, Lily. Just listen to Aiden and let him go. Now is the time to have faith and trust that he will come back to us."

Her eyes were filled with a helpless and frustrated expression, tears streaming down her cheeks but she nodded, understanding and if the intense pain I was feeling

rough our bond was any indication of how much she was hurting at letting me go, I knew in my heart that I couldn't take this opportunity for granted. I needed to kill Victor, even if it kills me.