Bullied Mate Of The Lycan Kings
Chapter 63

Lily's POV

"So are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?" I asked the two girls as we joined the queue for food.

Chelsea raised her eyebrows in confusion at my question but Rhea knew what I was asking for because her eyes went back to our table, landed on Chase who was talking about something with Ren and laughing and her face hardened all over again. "What elephant in the room?" Chelsea asked and I looked at her with brows raised before looking at Rhea and then over to the table at her brother.

"Oh, I see now. You mean that."

"Yes. That." I answered and when Chelsea just shrugged, I rolled my eyes.

"Alright, so you want me to have to say it, don't you?"

"Say what?" Rhea finally answered and I folded my arms.

"What's the deal between you and Chase? I've been trying not to ask because I've been worried that it might not be my business but you're my friend and everytime he is in the environment, you freeze up like an ice statue."

"Not a statue, more like a gargoyle." Chelsea interjected and when Rhea growled at her, she raised her hands in mock surrender.

"Okay, okay. Carry on, Lily."

"He looks like a nice guy."

"He is not a nice guy." Chelsea said, emphasizing on the 'not' and I raised my eyebrows at her.

"Do you mean that or are you saying that because he's your brother and you'd rather eat grass than compliment him?"

"The latter obviously, carry on." She pushed a blue tinted strand of hair out of her face and waved her hand in a 'go on' motion

I sighed and looked at Rhea. "So what's the deal, Rhea? Did he hurt you?"

"No, he didn't." Rhea answered and then looked at Chelsea to explain.

Flexing her arms dramatically, Chelsea finally spoke

"So the thing is, my brother has been in love with Rhea since we were kids."

"Love is a strong word." Rhea countered even though she was blushing hard.

"Okay, obsessed. Let's use obsessed. My brother has been obsessed since we moved here when we were little kids. He didn't act on it cos we were... you know, kids. And Rhea was so out of his league." Rhea blushed even harder but hid it with a scoff.

"So what changed?"

Chelsea sighed, dropping her shoulders. "Chase has been trying to get Rhea to go out with him since her mate rejected her."

Rhea's face hardened immediately and even though Chelsea took her hand as a way to steady her, I saw the effect that those words had on her and my mouth fell slightly open in shock because how could someone even reject Rhea.

Rhea Hawthorne was the entire definition of a beauty. She was sweet, kind, gorgeous, intelligent and was even a princess. I would think that anyone mated to her would be crawling at her feet with gratitude and she would have been the one doing the rejecting but this?

How was that even possible?

"Oh, I know that look on your face. How could anyone reject Rhea, right? Yeah, exactly, that was how all of us looked when it happened." Chelsea answered and I reached out to squeeze Rhea's hand tight.

Young. She must have been so young when that happened.

Werewolves of a higher pedigree usually replace their mates at 14, their instincts, the goddess and the universe make their worlds clash in a way that should be equivalent to fireworks, rainbows and sunshine. Omegas like me usually don't get the chance to ever even replace our mates if we pass the eighteen year milestone. We can be staring right at them and never know they're ours because our wolves are practically inexistent.

"Can I know who it is? Do I know the person?"

Chelsea looked at Rhea for permission and when she nodded, she answered my question, her answer shocking me even more.

"Sebastian. He rejected her two years ago because he took one look at Mauve when she enrolled into the academy and developed a crush on her. You know it's harder on the rejected, right? Rhea had almost not survived it. I was so scared for my best friend." I could only imagine the terror that she must have felt replaceing out that her mate did not want her. The denial, the frustration, fear and crippling loneliness. It's like a part of your soul has been ripped out of your body.

I had been a complete colossal mess when I found out that Cade had been using me and he was not even my mate at the time.

With Cade, I had been unconsolable and cried for days when everything went sideways, unable to eat, sleep and even get myself out of bed into the bathroom.

I could not imagine how it would have felt to Rhea to have her mate reject her.

I noticed that Rhea winced and absentmindedly placed a hand over her heart, as if she still felt the effect of the rejection and I hated Sebastian even more.

That was when it finally registered on my mind who Chelsea had mentioned that Sebastian had left Rhea for.

Mauve...

"But Mauve is Ren's mate." I responded, my brows raised in confusion.

It was Rhea that answered this time and I was glad that her voice was at least stable.

"That's the most frustrating part. Something so useless could cause me so much pain. The mating bond in this generation is not what it used to be in the past generations. It's a lot weaker and usually counts for nothing and Mauve and Ren are living examples of this fact. It's getting harder for werewolves to discover their fated mates, and when we do, it's even harder to preserve the bond. I never even liked Sebastian anyway," she scoffed, "but it was terrible to be rejected. Horrible. To think that I suffered so much for a guy I didn't even have a strong connection with. It's pathetic."

When Ren had said Mauve was what stood between us that night at my house, it finally dawned on me that the only way that we could ever even have a chance to be together was if Ren rejected Mauve.

Would she even survive it? And would I be happy to even know that I was the cause of something so heart wrenching on another person?

I sighed and shook my head, pushing my own thoughts back to focus on Rhea.

"Do you like Chase?" I asked and her face turned red so fast, I got my answer but she moved forward on the line and repeated our food order rather than answer me.

"She likes Chase, doesn't she?" I asked Chelsea and when she nodded, I turned back to Rhea.

"If he likes you and you like him, why don't you give him a chance? How could it hurt? You guys can be chosen mates!"

A chosen bond works just like a fated bond does. With werewolves, while it doesn't come frequently, it's possible to unconsciously form a bond with somebody you choose for yourself. It acts just like a mating bond where their pain becomes your pain and their joy becomes your joy. You feel a strong sense of possessiveness and the urge to protect them.

It's only complete when your chosen mate wholly accepts you. Bonds like this usually stand the test of time because it was your choice, and not just fate.

If Rhea can just let go and be with Chase, I saw no reason why this couldn't work out.

"I don't want a pity date and I get that he's Chelsea's brother and he cares for me but I'm not going to allow it. I can't."

Chelsea rolled her eyes and pinched Rhea's cheeks.

"Be for real, Ri. Chase tore the entire house apart when he found out that you were mated to Sebastian and it has nothing to do with me. He's been in love with you longer than we have been friends and that's very long, sweetie. And annoying since he has been whining to me about it since f*****g forever and doesn't want to stop."

The last thing I expected from Rhea was for her to hold back tears after hearing that but she blinked back tears and shook her head and steeled her gaze. This was the first time that I truly saw all the emotions that she tried to hide whenever Chase was around on her face.

There was no doubt that she liked him back.

We took the trays laden with our lunch and walked over to the dessert section because Chelsea insisted she couldn't go without something decadent.

"Someday, he's going to replace his mate and what's going to happen to me then? I can't take losing someone else. I've tried to stay away from Chase now because even though we are not mates, seeing him with someone else is going to hurt. I can't know what it's like to have him and then lose him. Losing Sebastian was bad enough and I didn't even like the guy."

I nodded in understanding, heaving a sigh as we walked forward to get our food.

"Sebastian is a prick anyways so good riddance. We should chop off his d**k for being an a*****e one of these days and yes, I'm sure that's a good idea. Who's with me?" Chelsea said and we laughed, heading back to the table.

However, the smile on my face disappeared when we arrived at the table because someone else that had not been there before had joined us.

It was Mauve and she was sitting beside Ren.