Claimed by the Mad Lycan King

Seara looked at Zade in disbelief when she heard what he said. ”I am not cargo that you can ship away,” she said, slightly offended, while the Lycan king chuckled, enjoying the moment.

”Don’t worry, you will be precious cargo.” Zade kissed her knuckles, and finally they stood in front of the door that would lead them to the twenty alphas from the twenty packs under Zade’s territory.

They would discuss the steps they would take after the exposure of their existence. Zade led the meeting first. He began the meeting by summarizing the situation regarding the devil, who had emerged as one of the two leaders of the manhunt of the shifters.

However, the fact that Seara could sense the devil would remain a secret that only a handful of people knew about. Chloe and Jeremy became an exception; they shouldn’t have known, but they were there when everything went down, and finally Zade could confirm his suspicion about Seara’s fear.

”Last chance to step back, Seara.” Zade had his hand at the handle, but Seara pushed the door open.

She almost stumbled back when she stepped inside, and more than twenty people had their eyes fixed on her because the alphas came with their gammas or their betas.

The room was huge enough to accommodate them. And while the alphas were sitting in the chairs, their betas or gammas were standing behind their respective alphas, who sat alongside a mahogany table.

Seara saw Ace standing callously at the head of the table. In front of him were two empty chairs, which were for the king and the future queen of the kingdom.

”Okay?” Zade stood right behind her, instantly making Seara stop her attempt to run away from the room. ”Can you handle this?”

Seara had never met more than two alphas at the same time, let alone twenty of them. You could imagine the aura from each of them, as they were the leaders of their respective packs. Their dominance seeped into the air like pollution, causing Seara to have a hard time breathing.

It felt almost as if she was forced to perform a concert in front of a music expert, while she didn’t know anything about music.

And right now, they were all standing up in the presence of Zade, which made it even worse for Seara. It went without saying that the alphas were built differently.

”Let’s get you out of here,” Zade said in a whispery tone, and only Seara could hear him when he felt Seara wouldn’t be able to handle it. His mate blanched, and she was unable to move.

”I am—I am fine.” Seara cleared her throat and kept repeating the same breathing technique that Jane had told her.

”Are you sure?”

”I am.” Seara swallowed with difficulty. ”Hold my hand, please.”

”Of course.” And Zade happily obliged, as he guided her to sit at the head of the table.

He made a gesture to pull a chair for Seara, taking his sweet time to make sure she was comfortable before he gestured for the other alphas to sit down.

”We will start the second meeting now.” Zade’s voice was so different when he spoke to Seara and when he spoke to the other alphas.

***

Jeremy spent his time training. He was in the basement, sparring with Jared, and got beaten up a few times, but he kept asking for more.

As a shifter, he could heal faster, but it didn’t mean he was immune to pain, and right now, the floor of the ring had every trace of his blood.

”You are going to die if you keep doing this, and I don’t want to explain it to your mother,” Jared said. He refused to have another round with Jeremy.

The young shifter collapsed to the ring floor and breathed heavily, while Jared got two bottles of water and handed one to him.

”I know you are frustrated with the problem with your friends, but you can’t kill yourself.”

Jeremy glared at Jared. ”I am not trying to kill myself.” He unscrewed the bottle and poured some water on his face while his wounds were healing.

Jared then sat down next to him, swallowed the entire bottle of water, and threw it away when it was empty.

”Tell me, what is bothering you? If you keep bottling it up, you are going to explode and do some stupid things.”

It took long enough for Jeremy to say something. ”I lost my best friend, but he is still there. I want to meet him one more time to make sure he has really gone, but they will not let me leave this house. Moreover, where the fuck is this? We are nowhere.”

Jeremy was frustrated because they were so far away from the city; he didn’t know his way back. He had lived in the big city for so long; his instinct for direction was rather dull, even if he wanted to leave in his wolf form.

”What will happen now?” Jeremy stared at the ceiling; he felt so numb. His mind was still clouded with the thought that he might be able to do something to get his friend back. Somewhere, deep down, Oliver was still there, and Jude’s dead body had not been found.

”If humans know our existence, it is either we end up dead, or we end up in their laboratory as their guinea pigs, as they really want to know more about shifters.” Jared threw away the empty bottle. ”I am more curious about the result of the meeting.

This house near the sea was a vacation house that could accommodate up to fifty people with a lot of room.

Meanwhile, out there, the hunt for the shifters had started. They had found a way to distinguish between humans and shifters. The police ran a few checks on everyone to ensure they were not an animagus.

Fear wrapped humans and shifters alike, especially on the street.