Claimed by the Mad Lycan King

Seara was not an expert at reading people, yet she sensed that Chloe was dissatisfied with how Zade had ended their three-year engagement.

Chloe was spoiled, and Seara could see that; she was almost like Brigid in the sense of pride. But because she couldn’t get her revenge directly on Zade, she used Seara to inconvenience his life.

However, she could be wrong. Chloe frowned at Seara because Seara had been staring at her for a while.

”What?” She lifted her chin proudly. ”I assume Zade had given you one of his cards, right?” Her eyes lit up, and Seara could almost see the scheme behind those green eyes. She changed her contact lenses again; up to this point, Seara didn’t know her eye color. ”Mom had said that we should go out together; why don’t you treat us?”

Zephyr stuffed Chloe’s mouth with peanuts this time. ”Don’t listen to her. You are going to see how much you can buy in a day. That’s not even your card.”

Then the royal gamma proceeded to complain about Chloe’s spending habits. Apparently, she had spent millions on the card that Zade had given her, fully aware that he would freeze it as soon as their engagement ended.

”I almost got a heart attack when I saw the number.”

”Well, sue me.” Chloe shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and plopped the peanut into her mouth.

”Nah. Zade will not waste his time dealing with your tantrum.” Zephyr offered the peanuts to Seara. ”Moreover, it will not put a dent in his wealth.”

”Is Zade that rich?” Seara was also shocked when she heard the number that Chloe had spent. That was only a day’s worth of purchases; you could imagine how much she had spent in the last three years of their engagement.

And based on what Zephyr said, Zade would shut Chloe up with money, letting her buy anything she wanted, as long as she didn’t bother him.

”Oh, honey! You’ve got a diamond mine if you can get him.” Chloe was not shy about admitting it. ”I miss my shopping days. My father would chew me out if I spent a few thousand dollars on clothes.”

”I wish Zade would give me one of his cards one day,” Zephyr sighed hopefully.

Somehow, hearing the two of them made Seara smile. She might not like Chloe immediately, but she found her presence was much more tolerable now.

***

The dinner went smoothly. It was uneventful, and there was nothing that could put their guard up. There was nothing worth suspicion from Oliver and Jude.

Zade asked Jeremy to reminisce about the past, and Oliver and Jude could remember them without fail.

This was why Zephyr said they were not under the influence; they were sound-minded and didn’t look confused.

But in that case, Zade’s suspicion and his assumption about what Seara could do were not right.

[Zade, I don’t think they have anything to do with the devils. Probably Seara is having a breakdown again. Just as when she was seeing things that were not there, the dreadful feeling that she felt might not be real either.] Ace mind-linked Zade, while Jeremy was arguing with Oliver about something.

Zade didn’t reply to that. What Ace said might be true, but Zade’s instincts told him there was more to it. However, he couldn’t pinpoint what exactly it was. ℯℯ𝑙.

Something that was not right.

All of them knew that the devils could influence humans and shifters alike, but their influence wouldn’t be this perfect.

It didn’t make sense that those under the influence could still remember their past and engage in an argument with others, like what Oliver and Jude were doing at that moment.

”I think it’s time for us to leave; it is a lovely dinner,” Jude said to end the night.

They then chatted a bit, and Leia was smiling from ear to ear; she loved hosting family dinner with Jeremy’s friends. It had been a while since they last came here.

And then, after some trivial conversation here and there, they stood up. Jeremy walked them out while still chatting about their plans to go on a vacation together.

”Yeah, I want to try surfing. That will be cool,” Jeremy said enthusiastically.

”That will be great. Next time we...” Jude didn’t get to finish his word when a knife stabbed his back, and Leia screamed.

Everything went down so fast, and no one expected what Zade was doing. From across the room, the Lycan king threw a knife at Jude, and his aim was perfect. It stabbed Jude only an inch below his neck.

”What the hell?!” Jeremy jumped to the side when he saw his friend was being stabbed, and out of instinct, he turned to Zade. ”Zade! What’s going on?!”

”Take Leia and Jeremy out of here,” Zade said to Caspian coldly.

It was a gamble for Zade when he hurled the knife at Jude’s back. He might have been wrong about the whole thing—about his instincts and what his mate felt as well as her dreadful feeling.

But then, Zade took it.

He would put a high stake on getting to the bottom of his suspicion.

And he was right.

The blood that oozed out from Jude’s wound was black. It was almost like ink instead of blood, and almost in an instant, the room was filled with the reek smell of a decomposing corpse.

Jeremy and Leia didn’t realize it quickly because they were still taken aback by the fact that Zade attacked Jude openly.

However, Ace and Caspian were already on edge; thus, when they saw it was not even blood that spurted from the wound, they knew immediately that Zade was right.

Caspian didn’t need to be told twice, as he tried to reach for Jeremy to step back when his son was about to check on his friend.

”Step back, Jeremy!” Caspian roared.

But it was too late; Oliver moved smoothly as he slashed Jeremy’s throat.