Offered to the Lycan King by Misha K
Chapter 225
Keya felt like walking to him and slapping the girl, but if she did that, she would lose her dignity. Instead, she did what she should have. “Ethan, would you like to have a drink?” she asked him rather loudly in order to garner Ranger’s attention and make him feel jealous instead.
“Sure,” Ethan replied as he picked it up from a tray of a servant. “How are you feeling? I hope this is not overwhelming for you.” He waved at the room that was now filled with people. All the Alphas had already come and they were trying to steal her attention except him.
“No! Not at all,” she said in a raspy voice.
His eyebrows rose. “Really? You said that you hated it and that you never wanted this.”
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She chuckled nervously. “No, I am quite enjoying it. I didn’t know it would be so much fun!” He shifted in his place as he nodded lightly, confusion marring his face. “Listen, I have a favor to ask?” She wasn’t listening to him because a girl had placed her h*and on Ranger’s forearm. She wanted to rip that girl’s t*hroat. She clenched her teeth h*ard to stop herself. What was happening to her? This was pure nonsense.
Keya?” Ethan called her.
“Y-yes?” she asked, looking at him but not seeing him. She had to stop her wayward thoughts. Please goddess. “I was wondering if you could eliminate me from the competition,” Ethan said.
“What?” she barked because the emcee had started speaking.
Shocked, he repeated, “I was wondering-”
The emcee’s loud voice on the mic made him halt. “As is the tradition, after every elimination round the remaining particip*ants are given a chance to have a dance with the princess.” The emcee looked at her and smiled. “I would like Princess Keya to come here and stand in the middle of the Alphas for the dance.
She gulped. Finally she had a chance to be close to him. She did her best not to look at him and to control her heartbeat. But was it possible? While she stopped peeking at him, she couldn’t control her racing heart. The emcee continued as she walked up to him as Ethan followed her. All the Alphas had come to stand around her. Ignoring Ranger on purpose, she looked at Ethan and said, “Would you like to dance with me first?” Ethan jerked his head back in surprise, but he gave her a lopsided smile and was about to grab her h*and when the emcee stopped them. “Actually, she has to start with the Alpha who achieved the highest points in the last match.” A blush rose on her cheeks for being corrected. She wanted to scold the emcee but she knew that there were hundreds of eyes on her. She had to conduct herself appropriately. So she waited in her place as Ethan stepped back, clenching his teeth in embarrassment and glaring at the emcee.
“My p*leasure,” Ranger’s deep, t*hroaty voice fell on her ears, riling her soul. He came to her, bowed and said, “May I have the p*leasure to have a dance with you, Princess Keya?”
His husky voice was all she needed for her knees to buckle. As she grasped the side of her dress, she gave him her free h*and. As soon as he caught her, electricity zapped in her b*ody and it consolidated in her belly. Ranger walked with her to the center of the hall as she became hyper aware of the heat radiating from his body. Soft, melodious music started. She tipped her head up to look into his eyes and found him staring at her with his dark ones. His right h*and slipped to her back and his f*ingers brushed the bare skin out there. She whimpered in his t*ouch, her head almost dizzying. The music picked up and before she knew, they started moving. Up so close, she could see the golden flecks around his irises, the beautiful l*ips that seemed so firm yet soft, the angular cheekbones that could cut a glass and that beautiful, beautiful cleft in his chin that she wanted to bite. Wait. What? Hell no!
She parted her l*ips when her gaze went down to his n*eck, to his c*hest over which he wore a shirt that stretched over his muscles and which he wore like second skin. The upper buttons of the shirt were open just enough to show the dark trail of hair that ran in the center to somewhere down.
Are you taking your fill, Princess Keya?” he asked in a husky voice.
Snapping out of her reverie, she was about to deny when he twirled her out and then pulled her again to press her against his c*hest. This time he grabbed her waist with both his h*ands and lifted her high in the air. She gasped. Slowly, he slid her down his b*ody and she realized that a very long h*ardness poked in her belly. The temperature of the room increased to the point that sweat beads appeared on her brows.
For the rest of the dance, he kept her h*ard pressed against his c*hest and she was ashamed of herself when she realized that she wasn’t even trying to get away from him. She found herself leaning against his c*hest, smelling his m*outh-watering scent of mist and pine, trying to commit it to her memory. All of a sudden, the music stopped and he pulled away from her. from the corner of her eyes, she saw a beeline of girls waiting for him to ask for a dance.
“It looks like you are not invested so much in the Alpha Trials,” she said in an accusatory tone, glancing at the girls, jealousy getting the better of her.
He turned his face up and his l*ips lifted in a smile. “It seems you are favoring the bear-shifter.” He c*ocked his head and sounded c*ocky when he added, “There’s no rule that says I can’t dance with anyone else.”
“Princess Keya?” It was Alpha Jorr asking for the next dance. She gave him a t*ight smile as she took his h*and. And all the while she danced with him, she couldn’t help taking her eyes off Alpha Ranger. He danced with one girl and then he went to talk to one of his own wolves. She noticed that Ethan was staying away from him. Somehow his situation irritated her. Why did he k*ill Beta Matt? What was the reason that led him to such a drastic step? She thought that she would ask him while dancing.
In the end, when she was dancing with Ethan, she realized that she didn’t feel the same vibes with any of the Alphas other than Alpha Ranger. And with Ethan, she found him… friendly at the most. “Keya,” Ethan said, drawing her attention.
“Yes,” she asked, looking at him. “Hey, can we stop this soon? I am so tired.”
“Yes, sure,” he replied. “But I have a huge favor to ask.”
Her eyebrows raised in surprise. “Anything.”
He took a deep breath in, twirled her and when she was back in front of him, he said, “Can you eliminate me from the contest?”
Keya stopped. “Wow!” She blinked her eyes. This bear-shifter was asking her to flout the rules? “Why?” Ethan peered nervously at Alpha Ranger. “I feel he is going to k*ill me every time I look at him.”
“That reminds me,” she said, canting her head. “Why did you k*ill his Beta? I understand that there was violence going on the streets, but why were you a part of that violence? What were you doing out there?”
He shook his head. “I explained to you earlier. It was a mistake. I didn’t mean to k*ill him.”
“Then why aren’t you explaining it to him?”
“You think that he is going to pardon me?” Ethan scoffed. “He won’t even listen to me. Every time I try to go near him to talk to him, he gets all animalistic. He’s like a wild wind that can’t be tamed!”
Keya parted her l*ips in wonder as she stared at Ethan. “Are you afraid of him?”
“I am wary of him,” he sighed.
“I can’t just eliminate you, Ethan,” she explained. “The whole pack is looking at me. And after you are eliminated, what makes you think that he won’t come after you? Maybe you are safer in the contest.”
He leaned over and came close to her ear. “I am planning to leave the Dark Moon pack as soon as possible. Moreover, I already told you that I am not interested in this match.”
“Then why did you participate?” she couldn’t believe that it was a mistake.
“Whoever put my name in there is going to pay for it, Keya. Someone has deceived us.”
“But from what I heard the whole bear-shifter community is liking it.” Her grandfather had told her while they were walking to the dining hall that within a day the violence in the pack had reduced and that with participation of Ethan in the tournament, all other minor communities were feeling good about it.
“But not me!” he almost growled.
“Okay!” she breathed. “Let me see what I can do.” She wanted to protect Ethan, and was very scared for him, but now the way he wanted to run away with his tail between his l*egs, she questioned herself as to what she saw in him.
The dinner was served and all the dignitaries were directed inside the main dining room where they all seated at a large thirty two-seater dining table. During dinner, Keya’s eyes always settled on Ranger and she realized that he wasn’t looking at her even once. She hated that he neglected her and she hated more that she was getting affected by it.
Ethan was as usual sitting at the end of the table. While the dinner went on quietly, Keya could feel an underlying sense of tension. She decided to talk to her father about Ethan after the dinner was over.
At night in her bed, she couldn’t sleep. She tossed and turned. She grew breathless, flushed as the awareness of his proximity during dance redoubled. The more she tried to not think about the dance, the images of his muscles, his h*ard e*rection pressing against her belly, his large h*ands that covered her small ones, his perfect bow-shaped l*ips… the more everything came to her.
She decided to confront her feelings. Getting up, she pulled her jacket on and did something utterly reckless.