Defying the Lycan King

Oh boy, Lux drawled inside her. Talk about a fucking plot twist.

Several things happened at once. The first was Kira moving, fast and without a single thought behind it, her hand already swinging towards the face of the man she’d spent weeks believing was her twin brother.

The second was Lydia catching her arm with surprising strength, stopping her short before her hand can land.

Kira strained against her grip, breathing hard, and felt her anger swelling inside her until it almost choked her.

Braxton had been her friend. He’d saved her. He’d stood beside her at the hearing and given her his blessing, worried over her, checked on her, told her family was family and looking after each other wasn’t a favour. Now it was clear that every bit of it had been a lie.

He hadn’t just betrayed her. He’d sat in her room and let her thank him for it.

"You fucking traitor," Kira hissed, and this time the tears that came were real.

The ones she’d given Lydia hadn’t been. She’d summoned those on cue, blinking hard, letting her voice crack in all the right places, playing the moved and lonely girl while the woman poured out her sob story about the Morathi and stolen gifts and peace.

Because Kira had clocked the bracelet on Lydia’s wrist the moment she’d walked into that throne room. Identical to the one Viktor had given her with that sweet little note about good luck charms. She’d known then that it meant something.

And the instant Lydia had hooked a finger under her chin, looked deep into her eyes and let those tears fall, Kira had known exactly what she was dealing with.

A siren.

That was how she’d kept Rolf eating out of her palm for years. That was how she’d slipped a tracker into Kira’s own wedding ring without Kira feeling so much as a flicker of it. The tears weren’t grief. They were the weapon.

And the bracelet Viktor had given her was no gift either. It was a leash, and Kira had worked that out before she ever set foot in this place. Wear it, and her power stayed muzzled, and a muzzled Nexus was a soft, pliable, easily twisted thing.

That was why she had remained calm, letting them all believe she was under their control. She had not forgotten what she had heard about the Shadow shifters twisting Nexuses into something darker for their own ends against the Lycans.

But this. Seeing Braxton standing there in the middle of it, hands in his pockets, entirely at ease, went into her chest like a blade.

She’d loved him. She’d properly loved him.

Braxton waved a hand at her, dismissive. "Oh, please. Spare me the theatrics."

Memories came at her all at once, tumbling over each other. Braxton watching Derek across a room with an expression she’d mistaken for protectiveness. Braxton pushing back every time she’d defended her marriage. Braxton always there, always so conveniently there, at every turn of every crisis.

How could I have been so stupid?

"How could you do this?" she said, her voice shaking. "To me. To Mum. To your entire species. I trusted you as my brother."

"Why?" Braxton’s eyes flashed as he turned on her. "You actually want to know why?"

"Humour me," Kira snarled.

"It baffles me that you can stand there and pretend you don’t already know." His voice dropped into something calmer. "As if you haven’t spent every single day of your life casting a shadow I’ve been living underneath."

"How?" Kira yelled, blinking hard.

She had to stop crying. If she was going to rip his throat out any time soon, she couldn’t keep bleeding on his behalf.

"Kira, the beloved daughter." He spat it out. "Kira, who our mother loved so much she barely looked at me for twenty years because she was too busy grieving for you. Kira, who’s about to inherit Moonfang as if she fought a single day for it. All that glory, handed to her, and none of it was ever hers."

Kira went very still and stared quietly at her twin brother. "So this is jealousy," she said quietly. "That’s it. That’s the whole thing."

"Call it whatever you like."

"Is that why you gave them Nana?"

Braxton shrugged one shoulder. "You’d want the company, wouldn’t you?"

"You despicable fool. I hope you die miserable and alone." She took a step towards him.

"You want to talk about suffering? You? I was the one who grew up without a single parent to love me. I was the one being poisoned every day of my life so I’d stay weak enough to handle. I was the one they threw at the Lycan King the second danger showed up at the door, like a bone tossed to a dog."

She closed the last of the distance and jabbed a finger hard into his chest.

"My entire life hung on a one-year contract. One year. I played every card I had just to keep breathing. And you?" Her voice cracked with fury.

"You grew up a prince. Treated like royalty, handed a pack, made an alpha before you’d earned a single scar. And you’ve got the nerve to stand in front of me and talk about a miserable life."

For a split second, Kira thought she saw a flash of an emotion in Braxton’s eyes. A flash of remorse, but he masked it instantly and looked away from her, his face hardening into something darker as he looked back at Lydia.

"Your Majesty, I understood we were here to discuss matters of importance. I certainly didn’t expect to be accosted."

Lydia smiled. She had underestimated Kira’s mental shields before, but the girl was proving a difficult nut to crack. She enjoyed this vulnerability. She needed Kira open if those shields were ever going to fall.

"Very well," Lydia said smoothly. "Shall we move to the dining hall? You’ll join us for lunch, Kira."

"I hope you both choke on it and die screaming."

Lydia laughed, delighted, as though Kira had said something charming over tea. "You’ll come round, my dear. You’re here now, whether you like it or not. Soon enough you’ll understand that we were never your enemy."

"Derek will tear you limb from limb the moment he finds this place," Kira said. "I promise you that."

"The same Derek you’ve already betrayed?" Lydia’s smile turned razor thin. "You called his grandmother an old bat in front of a room full of my people. You handed us the blueprint for taking him apart."

Kira felt Braxton’s gaze swing towards her.

When she glanced over, his brows had drawn together, and there was a question sitting plainly on his face that he hadn’t asked out loud.

She opened her mouth to say it. To say she hadn’t meant a word of it, that she’d been buying Nana’s life with her own tongue, that the whole thing had been an act.

Then she shut it again. Shutting her mouth was the safer option here.

Lydia watched her say nothing, and her smile widened. "Exactly. And what do you imagine he’ll do when he finds out?"

Kira knew better. Derek would believe her. He’d trust her before he trusted anything that came out of an Umbra’s mouth, and she’d have bet the pup she was carrying on it.

But she let them see the fear on her face anyway.

Two Umbra guards took her by the arms and steered her towards the doors, and as they crossed the marble, Lydia’s voice drifted after her.

"How about the Alphas?" Lydia asked.

"Ready to act," Braxton replied. "Waiting on your command. Though I’d like to know what all this business about luring King Derek out is really about."

The door shut behind Kira, cutting off whatever answer Lydia gave.