Chapter 84: Zyran’s Luna?

Adeline’s pov~

"I know you are Raven’s mate."

My blood instantly turned to ice in my veins. The air in my lungs completely evaporated, leaving me utterly speechless as my brain scrambled to process the heavy, terrifying truth crashing down on me.

How did he know?

"What... what are you even talking about?" I managed to choke out, forcing a hollow, defensive laugh that sounded desperate even to my own ears. "I don’t know what you are even—"

Zyran let out a low, dark chuckle that vibrated straight through his chest and into mine. He leaned in closer, his hand wrapping firmly around my waist, pulling me so close that there wasn’t a single breath of space left between us. Our bodies were completely flush against each other in the dark.

"Stop pretending. I know you know it," he whispered softly, his dark, dangerous smirk curling the corner of his lips. "And I know you don’t want him to find out that you’re his mate, either... So, what am I supposed to do with this beautiful little piece of information?"

I stared up into his pitch-black eyes, my mind spinning into absolute chaos. Panic clawed at my chest.

How? How does he know? How the hell did he find out?!

No one was supposed to know... no one except Sierra. Did she betray me? Would she really have told him?

"Trying to figure out how I found out?" Zyran murmured, as if he could read my mind, watching every single flicker of terror and doubt cross my face. "Well, don’t stress that little head of yours, sweetheart... I’ll tell you."

His left hand was still wrapped firmly around my waist, holding me so close I could feel the steady, powerful rhythm of his heartbeat against mine.

And yet... I had completely stopped fighting him.

I wasn’t struggling against his iron grip anymore. I wasn’t reaching for my blade. I wasn’t even trying to push his chest away.

Somewhere between his terrifying declaration and the intoxicating heat of his dominant Lycan aura, my body had surrendered to his touch.

When did I stop pulling away from him? Why am I letting a Lycan King hold me like this?

Zyran’s gaze softened just a fraction as he felt my body go still against his.

"You forgot the walls have ears in this academy, didn’t you?" Zyran murmured, his dark eyes glittering with a dangerous, amused light as he looked down into my stunned, paralysed face.

I didn’t answer. I just glared at him, my jaw clenched so tight my teeth ached, trying to mask the pure, suffocating terror clawing at my throat.

He let out a low chuckle, his hand tightening around my waist, keeping our bodies entirely fused in the dark.

"Fine, fine... don’t look at me like you want to slit my throat again, sweetheart," he drawled, his voice dripping into a teasing, rough whisper.

"I’ll enlighten you. You rushed off so frantically to find your little friend, and to tell her that she wasn’t supposed to tell a single soul about the blood. You were so desperate to make sure she wouldn’t breathe a word to a single soul about you spitting out Raven’s blood."

No. No, no, no... Goddess, please, no.

"But who would have thought that the very secret you were so desperate to hide—the exact thing you ran to her to cover up—was overheard by me? I stood right a few steps away from you, Adeline. I heard you tell her that under no circumstances was anyone to ever find out that your body rejected his blood so violently that you threw up Raven’s blood."

Goddess... how could I have been so fucking careless?!

A cold sweat broke out across my back. I felt sick to my stomach.

He leaned in closer, his lips practically brushing against the shell of my ear, sending an unwanted, electrifying shiver straight down my spine.

"So I put the pieces together," he whispered, his warm breath fanning across my neck.

"Your body healed the physical damage from the rejection, but it couldn’t hide the raw truth. You threw up Raven’s royal blood. And the exact second you realised what that meant, I don’t know how. But when you realised that you were fated as Raven’s mate, you panicked. You hid it. You lied straight to his face, telling him you never spat out his blood, all so he would never know the truth."

I pressed my lips into a hard, rigid line.

Zyran tilted his head, his smirk widening just a fraction as he leaned in until his lips brushed against the shell of my ear.

"You really don’t want Raven to find out you’re his mate, do you?"

I didn’t agree. I didn’t deny it. I didn’t give him a single word to twist or use against me. I just stayed dead silent in his arms, standing in the dark.

Zyran watched my refusal to answer, his pitch-black eyes devouring every inch of my guarded expression. The wicked smirk faded from his lips, replaced by a sudden, heavy seriousness.

"Be my Luna, Adeline."

I froze.

What the fuck? Just... what the actual fuck?!

My entire world ground to a screeching halt.

"Let me mark you then," Zyran growled softly, his thumb tracing a slow, possessive circle over my hoodie on my waist.

"Let me claim you as mine, and hide you from him forever. Forget the bond. Forget Raven. Let me put my mark on you, and I will make you the Luna of the Third Throne."

My brain completely short-circuited. I stared up at him in absolute, breathless horror, convinced my mind was playing a sick, twisted trick on me.

Did I hear him wrong? Did my mind just invent those words out of sheer exhaustion and panic? Yes, that must be it, or I had to have heard him wrong! My ears must have completely failed me... I must have gone fucking deaf! There was no way a royal Lycan Prince—the same man who threatened to destroy me on my very first day—just asked a wolfless nobody to be his Luna.

"Are you... out of your goddamn mind? What the actual fuck is wrong with you...?" I finally choked out, my voice trembling with sheer disbelief.

Zyran’s hand on my waist pulled me even tighter against him, leaving no space for doubt, no space for escape.

"If you feel like it’s rushed, then let’s start from the initial stage. Be my girlfriend, then let’s move on to the next stage..." Zyran whispered, his dark eyes burning into mine as he leaned down, his lips resting a millimetre away from mine.

"So tell me, sweetheart... are you going to be my girlfriend and then let me mark you, or am I going to walk straight to Raven and tell him who his mate really is?"