Offered to the Lycan King by Misha K
Chapter 229
Partially surprised, partially excited, Keya wondered if all the efforts that her parents were putting in the Alpha trials to contain the violence across the pack were worth it or not. “Really mom?” she asked again.
“Yes,” Lia chuckled. “Don’t worry, all the Alphas are going to ride along with you. There will be a few warriors around you all to form a perimeter of protection.”
Keya’s thoughts went to Alpha Ranger and a pale blush came on her cheeks. She peered around to find him. Lia took her h*and and pulled her towards her horse. An omega came to help her mount her horse. “This is Maze. Be careful with him.”
She rolled her eyes. She wasn’t that good at riding, but she was fairly okay. “Mom, I will!”
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“Keep your head up,” Lia instructed. “They all want to see you. Wave at them when needed.”
“Sure!”
“And don’t forget to smile.”
As she rolled her mount out of the castle, she saw the Alpha joining her one by one. They came and fell in a line behind her. Beau came to her right side and smiled. “How are you doing, princess?” he asked, bowing to her gently.
“I am well,” she replied, still looking for him. He hadn’t come. Anger rose in her c*hest.
“Keya!” Ethan’s voice came from the other side.
“Ethan.” She regarded him coldly, suppressing the anger in her c*hest.
“Goddess. You look sullen!” Ethan commented.
She chuckled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Why would I be sullen?”
“Well, if it had been me, I would have absolutely hated it!” he commented.
From the corner of her eyes, she saw Ranger riding on a black stallion, trotting towards them. The anger in her heart vanished immediately. With her chin up, they took their horses outside the castle. Now they were on the street that merged with the main street that ran like a ring around the pack.
“Hey Keya!” Ethan said, nearing his horse to hers. “Did you think about my suggestion?” When she didn’t reply to him, he placed his h*and on her arm and repeated his question. “You are lucky to have me around you. I can save—”
“You are lucky to have that h*and still attached to your body.” Ranger’s menacing voice made her jump. When she looked back, she found him glaring at Ethan.
Keya’s cheeks heated. She coughed and s*ucked in air sharply. Ethan glared back at Ranger. “Are you trying to win her favor?” he asked. “That’s a cheap way of doing it,” he scoffed. But he let out his words so loudly that the other Alpha looked at Ranger with suspicion.
Ranger walked his horse just behind Keya maintaining his eye contact with Ethan. “Just don’t t*ouch her,” he repeated his warning with a low growl.
Ethan gritted his teeth and looked ahead. They all started towards the main street where the pack netizens were waiting with Keya in the middle and ahead of all of them. Ethan and Beau were on her side while Ranger was behind her. All other Alpha fell into a line of two.
Keya was surprised to see that the pack members, right from small pups to elderly and women were all there to cheer her up. They had flags in their h*ands, waving at them, calling them and cheering them. They would take a selfie with her as she passed them. Keya had never been on public scrutiny so far, but this felt like she was being exposed suddenly. She had to keep up the fagade, though. So she pulled down her helmet, caught the reins of her horse a little t*ighter with clammy h*ands and rode with her chin up and a smile plastered.
The media crew was running along with them to film every little thing possible. She was captured on camera if she as much as twitched a muscle. It was all extremely overwhelming. Though there was chill in the air, a bead of sweat traveled down her temple to the chin.
Ranger’s presence behind her made her hyper aware. Memories of last night flooded and she would often find herself going back to the crest of the hill. From the corner of her eyes she would see girls fanning at the Alphas. It was all fine except that some of them were going crazy over Ranger. She didn’t know why but she felt like clawing them. She clenched her teeth, chiding herself internally for thinking too much about him. Probably she would have the same reaction towards Beau. As for Ethan, she didn’t feel like pursuing him like the last time.
“Alpha Beau,” she said. “I hope you are liking it.” She wanted to test herself.
Alpha Beau grinned as he looked at her. “Of course! I love it. And you look very beautiful, princess.”
“Thank you,” she replied with a slight smile at his compliment. However, a low growl from the back made her close her eyes with a huff. This wolf was getting all possessive. She wasn’t ready for it. She snapped her head back to throw him a glare. He raised his eyebrow. She returned her eyes to Beau. “I would like to see the Blackfoot pack one day,” she continued with her conversation.
He jerked his head back. “You can come anytime.” He appeared slightly surprised.
“One would feel that you are favoring Alpha Beau,” Ranger’s grumpy voice sounded from behind. She gritted her teeth. “I am only making good conversation with Alpha Beau!”
“Only conversation?” Beau said. “You wound my heart, Princess Keya,” he accused.
She laughed. “I am sorry but your heart is yours to be wounded.”
“There are many ways to wound someone’s heart, instead of conversations,” Ranger said darkly.
Keya snapped her gaze back at him as others looked at him strangely. “Maybe you should take lessons in the art of speaking or probably love,” she responded rather annoyed.
He didn’t reply but a hint of smile dissipated that dark look on his face. She turned her attention towards the crowd on the side that was still cheering. She waved at them. All at once, her eyes landed on a girl who was staring at Alpha Ranger and blushing. Keya glared at her so h*ard that if looks were dagger, the girl was already burning in the fires of hell. If that was not all, the girl raised a flag on which her name was written along with that of Alpha Ranger with a red heart in between that was pierced with an arrow. The gall!
The girl, Megan, called him, “Alpha Ranger, marry me!”
There was a group of other girls around her. They all laughed and giggled. Megan continued, “Please fail the tournament the next time!” More laughter and cheers followed.
Anger bubbled in her c*hest. She t*ightened her h*ands on the reins of the horse. The horse let out a soft neigh of protest. She controlled herself. She had no reason to feel this way about Ranger. She just glowered at Megan and went ahead. Megan continued to holler Ranger. Irked, she could no longer take it. She didn’t realize that what she thought was a nudge was actually a kick on her horse’s flank. Angered or nervous by her behavior, the horse took off.
“Maazzzeee!” she shouted, holding his reins, but Maze was now all the more agitated. He started galloping fast on the street. Thankfully the street was empty in front of them. Everyone watched in terror as she managed her horse. Soon she was out of the pack’s territory on the way to the hill that led to the Moon Goddess temple. She looked behind and saw a blur of someone following her.
Keya was never good at riding. Her mother had asked her to be careful of Maze. Dread blasted in her c*hest. Only if she could shift. She would have shifted and jumped down.
Usually the horses were pretty scared to live amongst the werewolves, but they had a stable where the horses were trained to live with the werewolves. However, this one was quite scared. “Stop it, Maze!” she shouted. “Someone, help!” She clutched the reins t*ightly and lowered her b*ody close to the horse’s. “I am going to die,” she whined. “Please Maze, if you can listen to me, then stop.” Instead of listening to her, Maze jumped over a large puddle of water making her shriek. She looked back. The blur had grown into the size of a horse with a rider. When her gaze met that of the rider’s, she realized that it was Ranger. He was looking at her with full concentration. Suddenly, the horse jumped again-this time over a boulder. She shrieked in panic, grabbing his hair. Now it was galloping up the slope. If the horse slipped, she was sure to break her n*eck. “Help!” she shouted. Hearing her shouting, the horse tried to go faster. It veered left and galloped over the fallen logs and boulders. They reached a precipice which the horse wanted to jump to reach the other side. “Noooo!” she shouted, sure that she was going to fall down to her death.
The moment the horse jumped, a strong arm came around her waist, lifting off the horse. The next instant she found herself going in the opposite direction. Ranger had grabbed her t*ightly in his arms taking her away from Maze. When they reached a safe place, he stopped and made her sit on the horse like she was feather-weight. Keya was trembling so h*ard that she clutched his c*hest and sagged against his. He wrapped a protective arm around her and stood still until she settled. Only after his shirt got wet where she had rested her face, did she realize that she was crying. But she didn’t get up because strangely she was feeling very safe. She tipped her head up and found him looking at her with concern written all over his face. “Thanks,” she murmured. “I guess you don’t know how to ride a horse,” he commented, making her chuckle through her tears. It was then she saw that she was sitting, facing him. “I don’t,” she replied.
He wiped tears from her cheeks. Curling his f*inger beneath her chin, he lifted it up. “Though I don’t want to take you back, we have to. There’s a whole commotion out there.”
She nodded, understanding the situation. He nudged his horse to move but she refused to turn around and sit. She became conscious of how near she was to his c*hest, but this seemed like the best place in the world. She closed her eyes, enjoying the lazy gait of the horse as they walked out of the woods towards the path that led to the temple. She felt a k*iss on her head and she sighed, basking in its warmth.