Page 50 of The Wolf King's Chosen

Lexi didn’t say anything, but he could tell she was a little hurt. And he knew it was because he had never told her.

TWENTY-FIVE

LEXI

She hit her training as hard as she could. She needed to burn off the extra energy.

Harper was doing her best to keep up with the princess, which was a challenge today. Lexi was annoyed, angry even, about the information that Xander had divulged to the entire pack at the party. Why hadn’t he told her first?

She wasn’t ready to bring up the topic with him just yet. She had very diligently trained her mind to ensure she was able to use her best diplomatic demeanor at all times. But this broached a different level. She had serious emotions tied to this.

Lexi was raw with frustration about why pack members were so against her that they would attempt to kill her. She had racked her brain for many hours to figure this out. And then Xander …

She couldn’t believe Xander announced the engagement with the caveat that she was, in fact, his fated mate. She didn’t know much about fated mates and the like, but it would have been nice to hear it from him before he told the whole pack.

So, she decided to do physical exertion in the outdoor training field. She sparred with Harper, she kicked the punching bags, and she threw the sandbags.

It would keep her in shape as well as keep her from doing something she would regret, either with her fiancé or with whoever was trying to hurt her. Since she didn’t know who that was, anyone in the pack was at risk of her fury.

Harper watched her bursts of rage with a look that Lexi believed to be pity. Harper may be her best friend, but she did not get to look at her that way. Lexi was becoming annoyed with everyone around her: Xander, Harper, the healers, the whole pack …

Her parents had essentially sold her to Xander, and now the Kingdom of Obsidianvale was trying to kill her. Her frustrations had begun to spiral, and she hit, punched, and ran harder. The ache in her muscles helped her brain to think less until she finally had to stop or risk collapsing. Harper helped her find a cool, shady spot to rest and went to get her some cool water. Unfortunately, this left Lexi to her thoughts once more.

This time, she thought of Xander’s admission. Were they really fated mates? What did that mean for them? She hadn’t felt the mating pull. Of course, she wouldn’t. She was too human. Did shifters really have human fated mates? Or had he just lied about it to save her life? If he did it to save her, why? Why her?

Harper returned with Lexi’s water and sat next to her. For a minute, the girls said nothing. They watched the birds fly past and listened to the gentle breeze through the trees.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Harper’s voice seemed barely above a whisper.

“I don’t know.” Lexi’s voice wasn’t sharp like she expected it to be. She felt weak at that moment of admission.

Harper nodded, looking off into the distance. The two girls sat there for what seemed like ages.

“I mean, why am I upset about this?”

Tears had burst to the surface. She should have been over the moon that they were true mates. Harper stayed quiet but turned to face the princess again.

“That means a few things,” Lexi continued in a poignant tone. “First, falling in love with him would be a fairly safe action. He will not find someone else later and decide I’m not what he wanted.”

She would be safe and loved here. And the more time they spent together, the deeper the feelings she concealed had become. She couldn’t deny that she was falling in love with him, and while she might not be ready to admit that, even to Harper, it was something that weighed on her.

“Secondly, he doesn’t see my inability to shift as a weakness. He believes that I would be a good Queen Luna in spite of it. Hewantsme to be his queen.” Her voice sounded distracted.

That was a huge sigh of relief off her shoulders because she had been sure that would be a sore spot in their marriage. Eventually, even making him hate that about her, causing distance and resentment.

“Thirdly, that means he’s going to support me. He’s going to protect me, keep me safe from the pack and from everything else.”

As everyone in any pack knew, killing an alpha king’s fated mate was punishable by death, and her alpha king was the fiercest shifter in the land. No one dared to challenge him, but she had a feeling one was challenging her right now.

“I should be happy, shouldn’t I?” Lexi finished, looking at her friend in desperation. She was met with Harper’s stoic face, emotions in check as always.

“I wouldn’t know, Your Highness. I will never know what you’re experiencing.”

As an enforcer, Harper had taken an oath to not settle down and have a family so long as she was still contracted. The reason for this was that an enforcer could not keep both a family and whoever they were guarding safe at the same time. There possibly could come a day when the enforcer was faced with a choice, and that was a position most would prefer not to experience. Lexi sometimes forgot the privileges of the life she led.

“I’m sorry, Harper, I don’t know what I was thinking. Forgive me?”

Of course, she was being childish and almost selfish. She was given the opportunity to be a queen, and the king was actually her fated mate. Plus, whoever was after her had thus far been unsuccessful. Luck could not be more on her side.

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