They all froze, watching Reid breathing heavily as he stood at the entrance of the barn. He wasn’t
supposed to be here. And he did not look his usual self with messy hair and crazy eyes that were
glowing blue now. Eyes that were looking at Maya only.
“Who the hell are you?!” Brayden growled, his head snapping in his wife’s direction. However, he quickly
realised, to his own relief, that the intruder wasn’t looking at her. So he placed Maya back to her feet.
Riannon cuddled her friend at once. Nevertheless, Maya wasn’t her usual self either.
“Mate,” she whispered and, for the first time ever, Riannon saw a tear running down her cheek.
Maya never cried before. At least, she hadn’t had any memories of her doing that. Maya was tough. And
yet her mate managed to bring the emotions out of her within just a mere second.
“Mate,” Reid smiled at her, stepping inside.
“I am going to ask just one more time,” Brayden clicked his fingers to make his warriors spread out
evenly through the room, “Who are you?!”
“Brayden,” Ria snapped at him, “This is Beta Reid Frazer, he is king Gideon’s second in command. A
lycan! Didn’t you see him at the Alpha Ball?”
The warriors were visibly perplexed but none of them budged. They all stood ready to defend their Alpha
and Luna if it was necessary and Riannon felt proud of them at that moment in time. Even though they
were personally trained by her husband and not her. While she handled inner matters and politics,
Brayden was the one who took care of their army and their training. This was something he was very
good at.
But she did not want their people to fight a lycan. And Reid of all the people in the world.
“There is no need for this,” she stepped in between them hoping to negotiate. “Of course, there isn’t,” her
husband said through his teeth, “Just leave our territory and
“Not without my mate,” the lycan balled his fists, muscles flexing on his arms and chest.
“You mean Maya?” the Alpha looked at the girl who stood next to his wife and an idea struck him at once,
“Well, you need to know that from this day in our pack she is considered a traitor.”
“Brayden!” now Riannon wanted to slap him even more than when he was sleeping with Roxy in the next
room to hers. She glanced at her friend and noticed how she clenched her lips.
“Maya is a beautiful name,” was all that Reid said to them as he took another step.
“And Maya will have to leave now to the border for her punishment,” Brayden said coldly, “You can make
a formal request and…”
“She will be leaving,” Reid quirked his brow up at the Alpha, acknowledging him for the first time,“To the
border with the Lycan Kingdom. And then she will cross it to go and leave with me. Today.”
“This is not how these things work!” Brayden said with a smirk, “There are procedures
that have to be done and…”
“F***k the procedures!” Reid snarled and the warriors got tense, “I am not leaving her! She is mine! And
unless you want to offend a Beta of the lycan kingdom…”
“I can’t!” Maya said and they all looked at her. The pain was evident on her mate’s face, but he stayed
strong. “I cannot leave Riannon here alone.”
Ria bit her lip. She didn’t tell Maya that she had found her mate yet. She did not want to do that over the
phone. She couldn’t do that now. However, she was sure that it was an extremely good idea to get her
out of this pack. She would be safe with the lycans. And they would reunite after the inevitable divorce.
“As I have said,” Brayden interrupted them, “Right now you will go to the border. And we will go from
there.”
“No,” Riannon said loudly, “She will not go to the border. She will go with Reid, her mate!”
“Ria!” Maya looked at her pleadingly. She knew for a fact that her friend would be in danger here now.
She tasted it just a few minutes ago when she got framed so easily and no one could do anything about
it.
“Maya, it’s okay,” the Luna tried to reassure her friend, “We’ll take you to the lycan kingdom now and I
will explain to you everything on the way, but…”
“About that,” Brayden interjected them and they all looked at him warily, “Considering everything that is
happening lately, I think that it would be best if you stayed here, Ri.”
She froze, not knowing how to react to that. She knew that she had to come back at the end of the week,
but she sure as hell did not want to stay here today. Gideon would be back soon and she counted on
spending the little time they had left together until the big game had to start.
“But I am not done with the work in the lycan kingdom,” she said calmly, concealing all of
“I am sure your work was very productive.” Brayden looked at her with veiled anger in his eyes, “I felt it
even when you were far away from me.”
She knew what he meant. And she knew that she had been defeated in that argument already. He
wouldn’t let her go and she had to suck it up.
“Very well,” Riannon nodded curtly, “But Maya goes with Reid.”
“She is a part of our pack for now,” Brayden sneered, even though he actually wanted the Beta girl gone.
But he knew that he had to make Riannon struggle with this one to make her think less of herself.
“Well, I am the Luna!” she snapped, “I let her go and live her life with her mate!”
“Ria,” Maya sighed with regret in her eyes. Reid was next to her the next second, pulling her in his arms
and taking a deep breath, inhaling her scent so that it would feel his lungs for the first time.
“No, worries, little one,” he said to her, “Everything is going to be okay.”
“He is right,” Riannon smiled at the two of them, “Go, M. I will pack your things and Dean will bring them
to you.”
“But,” Maya was still not sure what to do. For her, Ria was not just her best friend and
Luna, she was her Alpha.
“It is better for me if you go now,”
Riannon mind-linked her, “ Just trust me on this one, okay?
Maya nodded and Reid pushed her towards the door. He knew that he would be in huge trouble with his
king. Because right now, to get his own mate out, he lost the one who belonged to Gideon.
At the door, he turned to look at Ria and she gave him a reassuring nod, letting him know
that she would be fine.
“Go,” she mouthed to him and he took it as an order. Maya looked at her with worry written all over her
face. The girl was panicking but her mate hugged her tighter as he led her out.
The doors behind them closed and Ria felt sad and happy at once.
“So, this is done,” Brayden exhaled as if he was relieved and she hated him at that moment. He was very
happy with himself, even though everything in the pack was a mess.“
Roxy,” he turned to his mate, “Leave now. I will see you tomorrow.”
Riannon wanted to follow her example but at the last moment, she turned and immediately met the gaze
of their prisoner.
“Ash,” she said to their Beta, “Take him to the underground prison. Use chains and whatever else we’ve
got there to keep him locked. Use only the guards that you personally trained. No one else.”
“You pay him way too much attention,” Brayden chuckled as he laced his hand around her waist.
“He just framed my best friend,” she tried to shake his hand off but he held her in place almost forcefully,
“He did not speak a word of truth and I am sure he knows a lot of useful information. I want him
imprisoned until I am done with him.”
“I love it when you are feisty,” her husband growled and commanded their warriors, “You all heard your
Luna. Ash, do as she said.”
She looked at their prisoner again and for a mere moment there she could swear that she – saw a smirk.
She did not like it one bit but at the moment a much bigger problem was pulling her out of the barn.
They walked towards the mansion slowly and met quite a few people as it wasn’t that late yet. The pack
members were smiling at them and greeting them, probably thinking that the happy couple had finally
reunited as Brayden had his hands wrapped around his wife.
Ria was thinking hectically of what she could do or say in the situation she was in. She wasn’t surprised
when he led her straight to her bedroom. But she really did not like it when he locked the door behind
them.
“Was all that really necessary?” she asked, walking deeper into the room and going behind her desk, so
that there were more obstructions between the two of them, “Did you believe even for a second that
Maya was a traitor? Or was this all just to get back at me?”
“It was both,” he admitted without any kind of hesitation, “My main aim was to get my wife back home.”
“What for?” she looked at him, unimpressed, “Did you get bored with your sweet little mate?”
“I missed you,” he got closer and then sighed, “Look, I know that I hurt you. And it was wrong of me. But I
had to obey my wolf’s needs! And what you did with the lycan…”
“Was obeying my wolf’s needs,” she chuckled, “You are not the only one with a wolf, you
The Alpha slammed his fist on the desk between them so hard that a crack formed in the wood…
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