Claimed by the Mad Lycan King

”What are you doing there? Doing dog-sitting?” Zephyr just came into the bungalow and found Ace’s dark expression. A piece of bread hung from his mouth as he fixed his wristwatch.

Annoyed, Ace approached the royal gamma and shoved the bread all the way into his mouth.

”Heaven, you are so rough; no wonder no woman wants you!” Zephyr howled dramatically and then moved away before Ace could attack him again. He swallowed the bread with difficulty. ”What’s going on? Are you eavesdropping?” Zephyr narrowed his eyes. ”That’s not a good behavior, Ace.”

However, Zephyr moved toward the door and planted his ears against it.

”What are they doing? I can’t hear anything.” He tried to concentrate, but it was very quiet inside.

Seeing Zephyr’s behavior, Ace had the urge to kick him on the butt.

On the other hand, inside the room, the Lycan king was trying to get his mate back. She was lost in her own mind and fear.

”Can you hug me for a while?” Zade asked. The wound on his face and forehead had healed, but the blood still stained his skin; it almost looked as if he had just come out of a murder scene.

Seara didn’t immediately come to him; she looked hesitant and fiddled with the hem of her clothes. Her gaze was both focused and unfocused when she looked at the Lycan in front of her.

”Come here for a while, Seara.” Zade stretched out his hand. He had put away the scissors on the table beside him, and Seara still eyed that damn thing, but thankfully, she didn’t lunge toward it crazily again.

In this moment, she looked conflicted.

”Come here for a while,” Zade said; his voice was as gentle as ever. He then took a step closer, and when Seara didn’t move away to avoid him, he pulled her into a hug.

Only then did Seara breathe deeply and shudder against him. ”I want to cut my hair.”

”Sure. Let’s cut your hair.” Zade hugged her tightly, caressed her back, and massaged her nape to ease some tension from her shoulders.

Gradually, Seara raised her arms and wrapped them around Zade’s waist. She pressed her face against his chest and felt the frustration and the emotions that suffocated her gradually fade away.

Zade’s skin was still cold after he came out of the shower, but she saw the blood that had dried up and realized what she had done.

”I am sorry,” Seara said in a small voice.

Now that her anger had been tamed, what was left of her was guilt, because suddenly everything that she had done to harm Zade came back. It flashed before her eyes, and the remorse that followed was as strong as her rage.

”I am sorry, I am so sorry... I didn’t mean to hurt you. I am sorry.” Seara lifted her head and looked at Zade, but it only made her feel worse, because half of his face was stained with blood. ”I am sorry; please hit me. Hit me. Please, hit me. You can hit me... I am sorry.” Panic gripped her like a snake. ”Hit me, but don’t send me back. Don’t leave me. You can hit me, but don’t leave me... I am sorry.”

Zade stared at his mate; there was a stain of blood on her cheek too because she had pressed her face against his chest.

Gently, Zade wiped away the blood and fixed her hair. ”Why should I hit you?”

”Because I hit you. You are injured. You are bleeding. I am sorry... Don’t send me back.” Tears streamed down Seara’s eyes; she was scared and she was anxious. She couldn’t think straight, and suddenly everything became too much.

”Breathe, Seara... Breathe.” Zade coaxed her when she looked like she was going to have a panic attack. ”Breathe. Breathe with me.”

Zade put one of her hands against his chest, and the other was on his cheek as he guided her to breathe with him.

”You are okay; just breathe, Love.”

The world out there could call him the mad Lycan king for what happened a hundred years ago and what happened the years after, but for his mate, he had all the patience that was needed to calm her down.

”You are okay.” Zade kissed her forehead and her tears away. ”You are fine. I am here.”

”I hit you,” Seara said in a whisper.

”You didn’t hit me that hard; I barely feel the pain.”

That would be a lie. Even though he was an immortal, he was not invincible or immune to pain, but Zade would prefer Seara to hit him rather than her hurting herself. It went without saying.

”You are bleeding.”

”It’s just blood.” Zade brushed his thumb against the furrow between her brows.

”I hurt you.”

There was a pause, and Zade nodded. ”Yes, you are.”

”I am sorry, I am so sorry... I didn’t mean to...” Tears streamed down her face as she tried to find the right words to atone for her mistake; her fingers curled.

”You hurt me because you are trying to hurt yourself, Seara. Not because you hit me.” Zade took Seara’s hand in his and unfurled her fists because her nails stabbed deeply into her palm. ”You hurt yourself; that’s what hurt me.”

Zade ran his fingers on the small cut on the back of her hand that was still bleeding. She didn’t have the healing ability, so the wound would last for a few days at this point.

”Don’t do it again, okay?” Zade brought the wound to his lips and kissed it; he then licked the wound. ”Come, we have to let the omegas clean up the room.”

There were several shards of glass on the floor, and Zade didn’t want Seara to step on them, so he carried her out of the room.

Only to find Zephyr fell on his butt when he opened the door.

”Heaven! You scared me! At least put some clothes on!”