Mated To The King’s Gamma By Jessica Hall

Chapter 35

Abbie POV

I was waiting with Clarice for the burial to start. We were holding a luncheon in the ballroom for the staff, but I wouldn’t be attending. I had agreed to meet Kade this afternoon, but still, I helped set it up after my altercation with Gannon. I noticed Gannon come down with the King. It saddened me when he looked my way, only to look away. Guilt coursed through me and I turned my attention straight ahead, holding back the emotion that threatened to choke me. In an ideal world, Gannon would have been my mate, however I have a mate and can’t throw him away either. I have never had anything, and Kade was mine and I would fight for that, even if I didn’t know what I was fighting for exactly.

The ceremony was just beginning as everyone waited on the hill. It was only moments later when I noticed movement at my side and I glance in that direction to find Ivy.

My shock must have been apparent because she smiles sadly before looking ahead and I don’t miss how her eyes instantly seek out the King. I grip her fingers giving them a squeeze. She had missed so much and I had so much to tell her, but for now, it would have to wait,

The king is standing at the front where I see 13 fresh graves dug. He is staring off vacantly toward the path leading to the surrounding forest. I felt Ivy’s arm brush up against mine, and I could tell she was trying to figure out what was going on.

Time seemed to stop, and the only noise was the soft breeze and the birds in the trees. I swallow when I see the open graves that had been freshly dug. Glancing around, we see movement in the far corner before a succession of coffins being carried to the grave sites where the king is standing.

Most of the coffins belonged to children, making me think of Tyson. What if he was one of the children? What if Mrs. Daley had killed him? It made my heart clench in my chest. Most of them weren’t large

enough to be adults. Four of them, I could tell were adult sized coffins, but the other nine were children’s coffins.

The guards carrying them stopped by a grave and they set them down before music started playing from the violinist who stood by the river. It was complete silence while we all waited for the coffins to be lowered into each grave. Nobody speaks or even whispers. We merely watch.

When it finishes and the coffins are laid to rest, a horn blares again. After a few minutes, everyone starts climbing the hill and leaving to go back to work. The place is packed with people, but I only pay attention to the most important person to me here, Ivy. I grab Ivy’s arm and tug her up the hill, back toward the castle. Excitement bubbled within me as I tried to contain my excitement about having her back in a semi-normal state.

This place was lonely when I was the only werewolf in the castle besides her. Not that she had shifted yet, but now she had returned to me; I felt like! could finally breathe again. Finally, I could let go of the pressure building on my shoulders because with her it was a little bit lighter and I would endure it for her, knowing she was by my side. We go back in through the laundry, following behind Clarice. The moment Ivy steps inside, I wrap my arms around her and so does Clarice.

“You’re back?” | murmur while squeezing her tighter. Clarice cups her face in her hands, her eyes teary, and she lets out a breath that could not be mistaken for anything other than relief. Ivy grips her hands and opens her mouth to say something when the King suddenly enters the room. She stops, staring over her shoulder at him and I notice Gannon step in behind him.

“Get back to work!” the King snaps at us before stalking past us without so much as a backward glance. I press my lips in a line when I see the heartbreak on her face. Is the mate bond not the same for Lycans? How could he treat her so badly?

I swallow and look away as Gannon and Damian follow after him. Gannon doesn’t even look in my direction, just clenches his jaw as if he couldn’t bear to be near me I bite the inside of my lip before returning my attention back to lvy.

“He will come around” Clarice tells her, gripping her shoulders. Ivy shakes her head and looks at me. I smile at her sadly, and I hate how she put on her old maid’s uniform. She was supposed to be happy! Happy because the King was her mate, but here she was forced back into a position I wished I had never needed to see her in again. She ignores Clarice’s protests that she wasn’t a servant and shouldn’t help me when Ivy insists.

“I want to help Abbie. I am not his mate anymore. He has made that perfectly clear,” Ivy tells her.

“You’ll always be my Queen,” Clarice whispers and I see Ivy swallow. Seeing her sadness just made the decision to leave with Kade all the more torturous. I couldn’t leave her with the King while I ran off with my mate. Ivy follows me to help me do my chores, which I was excited about. It was the most time we had really spent together since being here.

I tell her about how the King returned yesterday morning and spent the day hand digging the graves himself and half the night, refusing any help when the guards tried to step in and take over. I also tell her about the castle gossip. However, I was too scared to tell her I found my mate and may be leaving her. Yet as the day went on and the time to meet Kade drew closer, I was becoming more excited. That giddy, excited feeling bubbling in me at knowing I was seeing my mate soon. Only for it to dampen when the guilt would return. It was like waves of pure happiness, then guilt over Ivy and Gannon, then fear of the unknown and excitement that I had found my mate, blissfully painful, a tortuous combination.

Yet when the time came, I couldn’t help the spring I had in my step as we walked into the kitchen. Clarice sighs and looks over at me, where we stood on the other side of the kitchen counter. She then rolls her eyes before speaking, “Go on then,” she says with a dismissive wave. A little excited squeal escapes me before I grab Ivy, quickly pecking her cheek, before rushing off out of the kitchen.

“Wait, where are you going?” Ivy calls after me. However, I don’t stop. All day I had been trying to figure out a solution to my problems, one being that I couldn’t leave Ivy, the other Tyson. I had to ask if there was any chance Kade would help me get him from Mrs. Daley. The other thing I had to ask was if he would allow Ivy to come with me, because if she couldn’t come, I wasn’t leaving her behind by herself.

Kade was waiting for me out the front by the gates. He smiles when I slip out the doors and I return the smile and walk over to him. He holds my door open and I don’t hesitate to climb in, loving his scent that I knew saturated his car. Kade takes me to a different place today. Instead of a cafe or restaurant, he takes me for a picnic by the bridge.

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“Are you excited about leaving in a few days?” he asks as we set out the blanket and sit on it. I frown and look at the river running under the bridge.

“I have to leave. Abbie. I can’t stay here. I have a pack to run back home,” he tells me when I say nothing. He passes me a sandwich and pulls some grapes out of a container out. He pops one in his mouth, watching me.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, watching me.

“Is it that Gannon you always talk about?” He demands, and I was shocked to hear the anger in his tone.

“Sorry. I hate how close you are. And I hate the way he stares at you.” Kade says,

“I have hardly seen him.” I tell him.

“He was watching you when you ran out to the car,” he tells me while taking a bite of his sandwich. I swallowed, tearing apart my sandwich and popping a piece into my mouth.

“Do you know Ivy? My friend?” I ask him, and he glances at me. “The King’s mate?” he asks and I nod.

“Yeah, I have heard of her. Why?”

*The King hasn’t been nice to her recently. I wanted to know if she could come with us,” I ask and Kade scoffs.

“And how would that be possible?” he laughs and my face falls. I sigh, leaning up against the tree.

“I can’t steal the King’s mate, he would kill me Abbie,”

“And I won’t go without her,” I tell him and his eyebrows raise.

“You would choose your friend over me?” he asks.

“She is more than just my friend. We grew up together,” I tell him, but he shakes his head.

“You’re asking the impossible of me,”

“We could sneak her out. The King doesn’t even need to know. He will think she ran away,” I try to reason.

“I can’t believe you are serious about this. I knew you were simple, but damn it, Abbie, the King is a Lycan. Do you have any idea what they are capable of? he says. He was right. I was being foolish. It was a stupid idea. I look away, embarrassed, and blink back tears.

“I didn’t mean to call you simple. Sometimes I forget it’s not your fault,” Kade says, reaching over and gripping my hand.

“I can’t read that doesn’t mean I am simple,” I tell him. His words stung more than he would ever know. He was the last person I expected to call me names.

“As I said, I didn’t mean it the way it came out, and I will think about what you said about your friend. Maybe we can think of something. Now what’s the other thing you mentioned in the car you wanted to ask me?” Kade says, giving my fingers a squeeze. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

I tell him about Tyson, and he listens intently, nodding his head. “I know Alpha Brock. I can request the boy if you want? See what he says,” he tells me.

“Really?” I asked, excited. He would help me get Tyson back?

“Only if you behave. And show me that you can look after him when we get back home,” he tells me. Behave? I thought his wording a little odd and wasn’t sure if it came out how he meant it to.

Yet he was going to help me get Tyson. I could keep him and raise him. Now I just had to convince him to let me sneak out Ivy. And I couldn’t wait to let her that I might have a way for both of us to be free of this place.

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