Chapter 102: Spied by the Matriach

Author’s pov~

Down in the private vault, the air grew thick and suffocating, the dominant Lycan auras clashing in the space. The four Lycan Princes stepped into the subterranean chamber, a volatile mix of raw anger, deep confusion, madness, and dark possessiveness radiating from every single one of them.

They settled onto the dark leather couches. The newly dropped truth hung between them.

’Adeline’s body rejected both Raven’s and Keiran’s blood right after healing.’

Keiran broke the silence first, his voice dropping into a low, dangerous rumble, his jaw clenched. "So, you are telling me... that her body threw up your blood as well after healing, Raven?"

Blake leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees, and ran his fingers through his messy hair. "She told me she didn’t throw it up. When I asked her directly, she looked me straight in the eye and said her body kept it down."

"Yes, even when I cornered her and asked her, she said no," Keiran spoke up. "She gave me the exact same answer without flinching."

Raven leaned back against the couch, his shirt’s first few buttons left unbuttoned, his broad shoulders tense as a dark, dangerous shadow passed over his face.

"She lied," Raven growled. "She lied to me as well when I asked her. She said that my blood stayed inside her."

Blake furrowed his brows, running a hand over his face, before his eyes darted between the other princes. "But why? Why would she lie about something so vital? Why hide the fact that her body rejected royal lycan blood after healing? Why hide it?"

Keiran looked up, his expression hardening with cold, protective empathy. "She is afraid."

Blake asked quietly, leaning back against the couch cushions. "Afraid of what? We are the Princes of the Lycan throne. She must feel protected. What could possibly terrify her this much?"

"She is afraid of getting hurt again, Blake," Keiran said, turning his head to look directly at his brother. "Think about what she has been through. She was ruthlessly, without a single shred of mercy, rejected by those two bloody Alpha bastards at the same time. It is a pure, unbelievable, death-defying miracle that she even survived two Alpha rejections at once. Her soul is already hanging by a thread."

Keiran paused, letting the weight of his words sink in before continuing. "She must have lied because she was terrified. She knew the ancient lore of the Lycan blood bond. She knew what throwing up the blood meant, and she didn’t want to face it."

Raven’s head snapped toward Keiran, his dark eyes flashing with sudden, dangerous interest. "How does she even know about the Lycan blood-bound lore?" Raven asked, his voice sharp as a blade. "Which one of you told her about the Lycan blood lore?"

"No," Blake answered immediately, shaking his head. "I certainly didn’t. I only asked her a direct question about whether she threw up your blood or not, Raven. I didn’t explain the lore to her."

"Keiran," Raven demanded, as his gaze fell on Keiran with suspision. "How do you know that she knows about the Lycan blood-bound lore in the first place?"

Keiran stared down at his hands, a dark memory flashing behind his eyes. "That night... the night when she was wandering in the restricted wing library archives," Keiran explained, his voice smooth, steady, and calculating. "She was standing right outside this vault in the corridor when she overheard you talking about the blood and the mate bond. She heard every single word, Raven."

Keiran looked up, meeting Raven’s heavy stare. "So after that, when I confronted her. I asked her if she threw up your blood. She lied and said no. She tried to cover it up by claiming she was just there for me for the project, but she wasn’t. She was there for the historical ledgers. She used me to cover her tracks because she panicked."

Silence fell over the vault as the heavy truth settled in their minds.

Adeline knew.

She knew that throwing up a Lycan’s blood after being healed meant her body was actively fighting the invisible, terrifying bond pulling her toward them. She had intentionally hidden the truth out of pure, desperate self-preservation.

She was a broken girl whose wolf was completely dormant, terrified that accepting another bond, or enduring another rejection, would literally kill her. A rejection from two Alphas had almost destroyed her soul. A rejection from a Lycan King would be absolute death. She had survived hell once. She wasn’t about to hand herself over to another executioner. She had her own desperate, painful reasons to hide it from them.

A dark, terrifying smirk slowly spread across Raven’s lips, his possessive rage twisting into something far more dangerous.

"She shouldn’t be afraid of another rejection," Raven said, his voice low, heavy, and dripping with an absolute, terrifying possessiveness.

"She shouldn’t be running. She shouldn’t be worried about me discarding her. What she should be worried about... is how far this bond will take me... how utterly possessive it makes me of her. She should be terrified that I would go to any length, and would slaughter every last soul standing in my way, just to keep her breathing under my protection."

Zyran, who had been sitting completely silent in the shadowed corner of the lounge, finally shifted. He raised his head, his dark, piercing gaze locking onto Raven.

"How did you even find out that her body rejected your blood after healing, Raven?" Zyran asked, his tone laced with sharp curiosity. "You said she lied to you as well. So who told you the truth? How did you find out that she was lying all this time?"

Raven turned to face Zyran, his dark eyes unreadable. "My grandmother called me. She contacted me directly to inform me about the grand family dinner scheduled for tomorrow night at the royal estate. In the middle of our conversation, she brought up Adeline... and that is when she told me that Adeline had thrown up my blood."

Zyran’s eyes widened slightly, genuine shock breaking through his composure.

"The Dowager Luna?" Zyran asked, his tone laced with deep confusion and newfound suspicion. "The Matriarch of the Second Throne herself?? How did she know that?"

’ How on earth could she possibly know that?’