The Play-Toy Of Three Lycan Kings-Chapter 395: Lifemates II

"Isla, get out here or I am going to leave you behind." My voice cut through the house, sharp enough to sting.

It was already past noon, sunlight pouring through the windows in lazy sheets, and my patience was long gone. Guards had arrived earlier in the morning and hauled most of our belongings away to the new location.

All that remained was us. Or rather—her. For some infuriating reason, Isla was still not ready.

I stood in the sitting room, arms crossed, jaw tight, already knowing without checking exactly why she was taking so long.

She had a date. Again. With the same werewolf she had been seeing for weeks now, sneaking glances and soft smiles like this was some harmless romance.

I exhaled through my nose. I hoped—fiercely—that she hadn’t been foolish enough to fall in love.

Werewolves had mates. Fate-bound, irreversible mates. And when a true mate appeared, everything else became irrelevant. Promises, affection, history—it all vanished. Isla would be discarded without hesitation.

Not that it mattered. This pack would soon be drowning in war anyway.

The ancients would realize I had escaped soon, if they hadn’t already. And when they did, they would move. I had decided that tonight, I would work out the dome. Finish everything. One clean strike, and finally have my taste at revenge.

By the time the ancients acted, the damage to Adam and his precious brothers would already be done.

The thought sent a thrill through me. I could enjoy both ends of the deal. We could deal with the consequences later.

The queen already knew I was back after all. I had reached out to her after Adam left my room in the contestants’ quarters, spun the same lie I had fed Isla. Magic gone wrong. Temporary instability. Nothing she needed to worry about.

She had believed me.

Or at least, she had pretended to.

Time will tell.

"Isla," I called again, this time moving toward the exit door, irritation crackling beneath my skin, determined to make true of my words.

I yanked it open. Timothy stood there.

Just standing. Lingering. As if he had been waiting for an excuse to breathe the same air as us? He turned to look at me, the ever present blank expression on his face. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

With my heightened senses, however, it hit me immediately—desire, poorly masked, pulsing off him in waves. He wanted me too.

I almost laughed. Shame. He could join the line.

Memory stirred unbidden. Timothy shoving me aside when we were younger. Timothy sneering. Timothy barring his sister from playing with me as if I were something unclean.

I scoffed, the sound sharp.

He blinked, clearly startled. "Did I—did I do something wrong?"

I didn’t answer. I simply looked past him, as though he were furniture, and he shifted awkwardly under the weight of my disregard.

Even if I wanted to toy with Adam’s feelings—and I very much did—I would never stoop low enough to use Timothy.

Isla appeared then, stepping into the hall in a flurry of perfume and effort. She was dressed, made up, glowing with anticipation that made my teeth ache.

I rolled my eyes and turned away without a word, heading straight for the car Adam had sent to pick us up.

The engine started moments later.

As the car pulled away from the curb, my heart kicked hard against my ribs. I felt it then—him. Waiting. Anticipating. A presence tugging faintly at the back of my mind, as if there were already a thread between us.

Wasn’t there?

He had marked me years ago. When I had been Maya. I had hidden it with magic, buried it deep, but I had never been able to erase it completely.

I wondered, not for the first time, if he felt it too.

The closer we got to the new location, the stronger the sensation became. It was unnerving. Intimate. As though distance no longer mattered.

When the car finally slowed and passed through towering wrought-iron gates, my attention snapped outward.

Noah and Daniel waited on the front porch.

Not a sign of Adam. I knew he was nearby though... I could feel him.

The house behind them was befitting of royalty—vast and imposing, built of pale stone that gleamed softly under the sun. Tall columns framed the entrance, ivy crawling up their sides like deliberate ornamentation rather than neglect.

Balconies curved outward on the upper floors, wrought with intricate metalwork, and wide windows reflected the sky back at itself.

A palace masquerading as a home.

I greeted Noah and Daniel briefly, polite but distant. They clearly expected more—conversation, perhaps, questions—but I didn’t linger. I swept past them and into the house, my steps quick, purposeful.

The interior was just as extravagant.

High ceilings arched overhead, chandeliers casting warm light over polished floors. The scent of old books and fresh wood mingled in the air. The first living room opened wide and inviting, furnished with deep sofas upholstered in rich fabrics, shelves lining the walls and filled with books that had likely never been read.

Luxury, curated to impress. Too bad I wouldn’t be enjoying it for long.

I moved through the space without slowing, passing through an adjoining sitting area—smaller, more intimate—before heading down the corridor toward what I knew would be my quarters.

And then I stopped, when I entered my room... even as I understood that all this while, I had been unconsciously pursuing the scent playing with my nostrils...

Adam was standing right in my room. Facing the wall, his hands in his pockets.

The sight of him there—casual, waiting—sent a jolt straight through me. He didn’t turn as I entered, but the intensity of the need burning between us made my breath catch despite myself.

For a heartbeat, neither of us spoke, even though I was aware he knew of my presence already.

The room felt charged, the air thick with everything unspoken.

"You didn’t think you could avoid me forever," he said quietly.

I lifted my chin. "I wasn’t avoiding you."

He sighed. "You disappeared. Again."