The Lycan King's Outcast Omega (by Cara Anderson) novel Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Alaric

Her distress hits me like a physical blow, the mate bond pulsing with pain that isn’t mine. I find myself outside her door before conscious thought, her scent tinged with salt and sorrow.

When she opens at my knock, the sight stops my breath. Her face is carefully composed, but her eyes are red- rimmed, and she’s methodically folding clothes into a small bag.

“Don’t.” The word comes out rougher than intended.

“My King-”

“Don’t,” I growl again. “Don’t use my title. Not now.”

She turns away, but not before I catch the shine of fresh tears. “I won’t leave without saying goodbye properly. I owe you that much.”

“You don’t owe me anything.” I move closer, my beast straining toward her pain. “But I deserve to know why.”

“You know why.” Her laugh holds no humor. “The pack will never accept me. And you… you can’t keep defending me without undermining your own authority.”

“So you’d just leave?” Something dangerous edges into my voice. “Run away in the night like a guilty thing?”

“Not in the night.” She straightens her spine, trying for dignity despite her tears. “In the morning. Properly. With my head held high.”

“Because of some destroyed plants? Some malicious rumors?” I don’t mean it as a chastisement but it comes out that way, prompting her hackles to rise.

“Because every time I try to build something here, it gets torn down!” The words burst from her like she can’t contain them anymore. “My garden, my medicines, my attempts to help – they destroyed it all. And you…” Her voice breaks. “You couldn’t even defend me without risking your position.”

The accusation cuts me like a blade, but she’s not finished.

“I saw your face in that meeting. When they questioned my loyalty, my methods. You couldn’t say anything without proving their point about my influence over you.”

“Sage

“And I understand. I do. You’re the Lycan King. You have responsibilities, duties. I won’t be the reason you lose the pack’s respect.”

My control splinters. In two strides, I cross to her, catching her face between my hands. “You think I care about their respect more than I care about you?”

Her breath catches. “You should.”

“I don’t.”

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Chapter 50

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“Alaric-”

“Look at me.” I wait until those violet eyes meet mine. “You think I don’t see what they’re doing? The whispers, the accusations? You think it doesn’t take everything I have not to tear apart anyone who hurts you?”

“That’s the problem,” she whispers. “I’m making you choose between duty and-” 1

“You.” The word carries everything I can’t say yet. “I choose you. Every time.”

She tries to pull away but I hold her gently, my thumbs catching tears on her cheeks. “You can’t—”

“I can. I do. Moon help me, Sage, don’t you know what you are to me?”

Something shifts in her eyes – hope warring with fear. “What am I?”

“Everything.”

The word hangs between us, heavy with truth I can’t fully reveal yet. But I can show her this much.

When my lips meet hers, the world stops spinning. She makes a small sound of surprise that turns into something else, something that makes my beast howl with triumph. Her hands fist in my shirt as I deepen the kiss, pouring months of longing and restraint into this one perfect moment.

She tastes like moonlight and healing herbs and everything I never knew I needed until she stumbled into my life. The mate bond sings between us, and even if she can’t feel it yet, she must feel this connection, this rightness.

When we finally break apart, she’s breathing hard, her lips slightly swollen. I rest my forehead against hers, breathing in our mingled scents.

“Stay,” I whisper. “Stay and let me prove they’re wrong about everything.”

“Alaric…” Her voice trembles. “I don’t want to cost you your pack.”

“You won’t.” I brush another kiss to her temple, her cheek, the corner of her mouth. “You make me stronger, not weaker. Let me show them that.”

She sways slightly, and I guide her to sit on the edge of her bed, kneeling before her. Her fingers are still tangled in my shirt like she’s afraid to let go.

“I’ve never…” she starts, then stops, color flooding her cheeks.

“Never what, sweetling?”

“Been kissed like that.” Her voice drops to a whisper. “Like I matter. Like I’m precious.”

My beast roars at the implication that bastard Cassius, treating our mate like she was nothing. I catch her hands in mine, pressing kisses to her knuckles.

“You are precious. And if I have to spend every day proving it to you, I will.”

“The pack-”

2/3

Chapter 50

+15 BONUS

“Will learn.” I cup her face again, needing her to understand. “You’ve already won more of them than you know. The young healers who defend your methods, the warriors whose lives you’ve saved, the pups you treat with such gentleness…”

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