Claimed by the Mad Lycan King

Seara didn’t understand why she was not sad when she heard Neriah died in the fire. Probably, it was because she felt disconnected from her ever since she met her again after she ran away from the Blackthorne Pack. She felt inexplicable dread around her.

Or it might be due to Neriah’s attitude when they were at the party and how she talked about Seara’s situation so casually to Olivia.

Since they met again, Seara hadn’t felt Neriah as her former friend anymore.

Therefore, the news about her passing didn’t make her feel sad. Did that make her bad? Seara thought the sadness would come, but after some time, even though she understood that Neriah wouldn’t come back, instead of feeling grief, she felt relieved.

She didn’t need to be around her anymore and pretended that the dreadful feeling didn’t exist.

Seara felt awful thinking that she was relieved that Neriah was gone. What was wrong with her? Was she in so much shock that the grief had not yet settled in?

”I don’t feel sad for her death.” Seara lowered her head, frowning at the bowl in front of her. ”Is there something wrong with me?”

Zade hugged her lightly; he had been treating her very gently, as if she were made of glass. ”There is nothing wrong with you, Seara.” His tone was light, as if he found the question funny, and this made her curious.

”What? Are you laughing?” Seara pushed him away slightly to see his expression, and there was this self-deprecating smile at the corner of his lips.

”I am not laughing at you, but I think you asked the question to the wrong person. You are normal in my eyes. I am glad that you are not sad. I have been imagining the worst, but as long as you are fine, I don’t really care, Seara.” Zade kissed her forehead, the spot where it wasn’t covered in bruises. ”There is nothing wrong with you.”

Compared to how fucked up Zade was, Seara was completely normal, and Zade found the irony in the question.

Seara smiled at him and rested her head against his chest to feel his strong heartbeat. While she didn’t feel sad for Neriah’s passing, she thought she was going to talk about it to Jane.

She thought of her death the same way she thought about the other victims who were burned inside the hotel. She felt sad for them, but it didn’t affect her, since she didn’t know them.

”Ace said Leia will come this afternoon to bring lunch.” Zade caressed Seara’s long hair gently, while she still rested her head against his chest.

”Great. I miss her cooking.”

***

Maisie was crying because Reaper bit her arm, and it took three warriors in their beast form to chase the wild wolf away.

”What’s going on? Reaper doesn’t usually attack us,” Caylin said in her confusion, as she tended to Maisie’s arm.

Leia also looked concerned; she witnessed Reaper go crazy when the wild wolf saw Maisie and went batshit, trying to claw her.

Maisie had to shift into her wolf form to escape the wolf, but even so, she was not fast enough or strong enough to fight Reaper.

In the end, she sustained serious injuries before the warriors who heard what happened could stop the attack; they immediately forced Reaper back to the forest.

”Reaper had never attacked like this.” Leia looked distraught to see the wound on Maisie. ”We should take you to the hospital.”

They were going to the hospital to check on Seara anyway.

”No, it’s okay. I am fine. I am healing. It will only take a few hours, I think...” Maisie said between her tears. ”Moreover, we have not yet cooked for Ms. Seara.”

That was right; they didn’t get a chance to cook because the moment Maisie and Caylin came, Reaper attacked her.

Leia still couldn’t understand why Reaper would attack viciously. It was true that the wild wolf was aggressive, but mostly, he would bite to chase you away, not to kill you.

If the wild wolf had bitten with the intent to kill, Zephyr and Jeremy would have been mangled, because they were the ones who had been bitten the most often.

”No, I am fine. I will stay in my bedroom, Mrs. Sol. I am sorry, I can’t help you.”

”Don’t worry about that.”

And because Maisie insisted, they didn’t take her to the hospital, and it was Caylin alone who would help Leia prepare the lunch for Seara.

Meanwhile, Maisie left the bungalow, but she didn’t return to the omega’s quarter; instead, she went to the main building.

***

Altair and Asher came to the hospital to talk about a few things with Zade, but Seara was not happy to see both of them.

”You want to kill him,” Seara said. She glared at the two Lycans. But obviously, it didn’t have any effect on them.

”You are spot on,” Asher said. He rummaged the fridge and took an apple from inside. ”Can I borrow your mate for a while? There is something important we want to talk to him about.”

”No,” Seara replied firmly. ”You are not taking him anywhere.”

”Don’t worry, we will return him in one piece, alive and healthy.” Asher waved his hand casually while Altair sat on the sofa and didn’t seem to want to engage with the conversation.

”No.” Seara held Zade’s arm tightly.

”You do realize, right? You are here because of him, not because of us?” Asher raised his brows when he saw Seara holding onto Zade. ”How cute you are.”

Seara didn’t like to be called cute. ”You are not cute at all.”

”What do you want to talk about?” Zade asked, cutting off the banter between Seara and Asher.

”Are you sure you want her to hear this?” Altair asked. He raised his brows at Seara. ”We want to know how stable you are.”

”Unfortunately, I have not killed anyone in the past week,” Zade replied.