Chapter 144 Why Did He Agree?
In his silence, Lance questioned everything. Why hadn’t the Moon Goddess given him even a sliver of a chance? Why bless Addison with not one, but three fated mates and none of them was him? Bitterness twisted in his chest, mixing with pain and the hollow ache of rejection. For years, he had offered the same prayer: for Addison to be his. But his prayers had gone unanswered.
What he didn’t know, what he refused to accept in that moment, was that fate had long since written its story. Before Addison or any of her mates had taken their first breath, their souls were already bound by invisible threads. That was the essence of being fated mates; it can’t be decided by choice, not prayer, but destiny.
Right now, Lance was spiraling, he simply couldn’t accept the outcome. His glare swept over Zion and the others, seething with frustration, but deep down, he knew he was outmatched. He was up against two powerful Alphas with strong, untainted bloodlines, and a Beta with a rebellious streak so fierce he was willing to challenge his own Alpha just to be with his fated mate.
Lance, by comparison, lacked that kind of strength. Though he carried Alpha blood, it had long been diluted through generations of strategic marriages to lower-ranking werewolves, alliances formed for profit or political advantage, not power. That legacy weakened his standing.
It was one of the reasons he had left his family behind and sought a new purpose at the Royal Palace, serving as a guard to the princess. He had never intended to inherit his father’s position, a royal merchant appointed by the Alpha King himself.
When Lance refused to meet his eyes, the Alpha King’s irritation spiked. With a subtle yet crushing wave of his Alpha aura, he forced Lance into submission, an unspoken warning not to make a scene.
But Lance, blinded by emotion, had already stirred a hornet’s nest. His gaze toward Addison didn’t just offend the Alpha King; it provoked the ire of Zion and the other two as well.
Without hesitation, they released their own killing intent, murderous, suffocating, and absolute. Lance nearly collapsed under the oppressive weight of their combined aura. It felt like an insurmountable wall had risen between him and Addison, and yet, he never looked away from her.
Addison, watching Lance drop to his knees, frowned. She gently tapped her father’s hand. Understanding the silent plea, the Alpha King snorted and withdrew his aura, looking away in dismissal.