The members looked to the queen, who stepped forward and held a hand out to Kai. Kai made a move toward her, but Lucas jerked him back by his grip on his elbow. The alpha growled menacingly at his mother, and Kai shook his head at her. Lucas thought he must be concerned for her safety and rightly so. His wolf was angry and restless inside him, urging him to let it free.

He glanced over at Kai and winced when he saw the blood still trickling down the back of his neck. He hadn’t meant to hurt him enough to draw blood, but when his wolf sensed his mate trying to escape, it exerted its dominance in no uncertain terms, and he’d no longer been fully in control. Lucas lifted his head to the queen.

“Does this meet with your approval, Queen Ashlan?”

She wrung her hands a little and glanced at Kai again. “May I speak with Kai first, Alpha?”

“No,” he replied shortly. “Kai is fine, and will remain that way. There’s nothing more you need to know. ”He knew he was being abrupt and rude, but hardly cared. This woman had tried to make a fool of him, no matter what Kai had said, and Lucas’s fierce, unrelenting pride wouldn’t allow him to unbend. He was angry and frustrated. The bond between him and Kai was so strong already, that it made him physically incapable of leaving Kai behind, as his logical mind very much wanted him to do. He felt betrayed by his own body and that stupid curse, and he felt like raging at all of them. It was taking everything in him to control himself at the moment, especially after what had happened between them on the balcony.

He had very nearly fucked Kai out there. Once he felt Kai’s warm cock in his hand and smelled his sweat and arousal, he almost gave in to the strong urge to take him there against the wall, and he wasn’t normally that kind of man. Kai would have to agree to mate with him—he wouldn’t force himself on the boy, no matter how angry he was. A strong wave of lust washed over him again, just thinking of mating with Kai, and he had to clench his fists. Kai cried out softly at the increased pressure on his arm, and he forced himself to back off so he wouldn’t crush the bones under his hand.

“Well?” he asked gruffly. “Are we to have a ceremony or should I just take Kai and leave?”

He could hear the sounds of his family bristling behind him, ready to back his play, but the council members seemed to be in shock. Queen Ashlan stepped up to him, braving his wrath, her eyes flashing in her face.

“Do you guarantee Kai’s safety? Tell me the truth, Lycan. I’m aware of your strength, and I know you can take Kai with you easily. But promise me Kai will be safe, or there will be bloodshed in this chamber tonight.”

Lucas narrowed his eyes and almost told her exactly what he thought of her and her son, but managed to bite his tongue. He grudgingly admired her fighting spirit. “I guarantee it. My word of honor as a Balenescu.”

She nodded once, seemingly satisfied. “Very well.”Turning back to the council she addressed the leader. “Minister Olan, will you do the honors, please?”

The minister rose shakily to her feet and began mumbling out the ceremony that would tie Lucas to his mate for life. For Lucas it was a mere formality—he couldn’t care less about the proprieties of this little backwater planet, but he knew it would be important to Kai. Even though he was furious at him, he would allow this one thing.

After his earlier aggression, Kai seemed subdued and shocked. The minister got to the portion of the ceremony where both of them had to agree to be wed. Lucas said yes, quickly and without any hesitation, just wanting this charade to be over. Kai glanced over at him when it was his turn and took a shaky breath before answering in the affirmative.

As soon as the minister stopped talking, Lucas shoved Kai back into Blayde. Kai stumbled into his arms and Blayde was surprised, but took hold of Kai, much more gently than Lucas had done. He whispered something in his ear. Kai looked up at him gratefully before dropping his gaze to the floor again.

Lucas glared at the queen. “I’ve changed my mind about Kai’s things. If he has anything you want to send him, by all means do so, but I’ll provide everything else. ”He glanced back at Kai, an unforgiving look still creasing his brow. “Say your goodbyes to the princess, Ashlan. I’ll give you only a moment.”

The queen sighed, looking as if her heart were breaking and again, Lucas felt the strong tug of remorse. He hardened his heart to it though as she hurried toward her child and took his face in her hands. Blayde still held one of his arms, but Kai embraced her with the other arm, and said something softly to her. The boy touched her face, and then Lucas took Kai’s arm away from Blayde and pulled him away.

“We have to leave. Kai will contact you after we arrive back at Lycanus.”

“Thank you,” she said, suddenly looking her age, her shoulders drooping. Lucas turned without another word and the Lycans strode from the room, surrounding Kai, and holding their hands on their weapons.

* * * *

The first glimpse Kai got of the Lycan spaceship was alien and frightening. The place they’d brought him to was a large open area, with two seats in the middle of the room behind complicated-looking controls. What looked like comp screens ringed the entire command center, and a large screen showing their orbit around Scythia was suspended from the ceiling in front of the chairs. Kai glanced sadly at the screen picturing his planet, wondering if this was to be his last sight of home. His life there had never been easy, but it was all he’d ever known and every person he’d ever cared for in his whole life was down there below him.

Kai was filled suddenly with an overwhelming sense of loss. He was leaving Scythia for what promised to be a short and unpleasant future. He had no illusions about whether or not the Lycan would kill him. Despite his promise to his mother, Kai believed Lucas would dispose of him quickly. Lucas believed Kai had tricked him and tried to make a fool of him, and the alpha was not only furious, but proud and unforgiving. He wondered why he hadn’t already been dispatched, along with his mother, but perhaps the alpha thought killing the queen and her child in her own council room might cause an interplanetary incident, difficult for him to explain to the Alliance. Kai figured they would take him off planet and arrange some convenient accident for him.

At least his hands were free, and Kai knew it was only because the alphas thought he presented little threat to them. They were probably right—against six huge Lycan alphas, he would have little chance. The Lycan standing beside him, the one who had spoken to him kindly in the council room, telling him no one would hurt him, shifted his feet next to him, and Kai’s attention moved to the gun at his side.

There might be one thing he could do to end this on his own terms, after all. One way he could wrest some control over how and when the moment of his own death might come.

“Kyle,” Lucas said from one of the large chairs he’d thrown himself in as they arrived. He didn’t so much as glance over at Kai. “Take him down to my quarters and lock him in.”

Kyle and the others looked from Kai to Lucas as if he’d suddenly taken leave of his senses. “Him?” Blayde asked in confusion, looking from Lucas back to Kai. “What the hell are you talking about? Why are you calling Princess Kai him?”

Lucas glanced at him with a bitter look on his face before rising to his feet and stalking toward Kai menacingly. “Oh, I forgot to tell you in all the excitement,” he said, his voice deceptively gentle. The tone didn’t match his eyes, which were blazing with anger. “I never got the chance to explain down there. Meet my new bride, boys.” Without another word, he ripped the robes apart, displaying Kai’s genitals. Kai cried out, throwing his hands over them in shame and embarrassment, but it was far too late. The other Lycans made various exclamations of shock, as Kai jerked the robes from the alpha’s hands and pulled them back together, casting a furious, resentful glare at Lucas.

Lucas strolled casually back to his chair. “What was it all of you told me?” He smirked, and his voice took on a sing-song quality. “Getting mated is great, Lucas—you should try it. She’s the best matchmaker in Lycanus, Lucas, really.” Throwing himself in his chair again, he glared at each of his family in turn. “Yeah, this has worked out great so far.”

“But-but I don’t understand, Lucas,” Blayde sputtered. “How can this be possible?”

“Don’t you get it? They tricked us, damn it. Tried to make a fool of me—of all of us. I guess she thought we were all too stupid to realize this…” He gestured toward Kai. “…is a damn boy. I think he must be the queen’s son, though I have no idea why he and his mother tried to palm off a male instead of a female on me. Such a ridiculous subterfuge. Obviously the deception would be discovered sooner rather than later.” He glared back over at Kai. “Why don’t you enlighten us, boy? Tell us what you and your treacherous, lying bitch of a mother hoped to gain from this?”

Kai’s felt his face flame, and without thinking it through, he lunged toward Lucas, not caring if he killed him on the spot or not. No one would speak of his mother like that in his hearing without retribution. His mother had done the best she could for him. She had saved him even though he was a non-person and protected him all his life, and though he hadn’t agreed with this trickery, he knew she had done it in an attempt to save him. He made it only halfway across the space dividing him from Lucas before he was caught around the waist by Blayde and hauled back. He couldn’t break Blayde’s hold, but he twisted his body in Blayde’s arms so that he fell against him and went completely limp. Blayde tightened his hold around Kai’s waist to keep him from falling, and this gave Kai the chance to wrest the gun from the holster on Blayde’s hip. Pulling it up in front of him, he brandished it in Blayde’s face, and Blayde fell back, turning him loose and shouting in alarm.

“He’s got my gun!”

“Damn it!” Lucas shouted, jumping back up to his feet, his face blanching. “Kai, you don’t want to do this. Put it down.”

Kai held the gun in a steadier hand than he would have imagined. He swept his arm from one Lycan to another, pointing the gun at eachof them in turn. All the Lycans were staring at him in amazement, yet remarkably, none of them seemed frightened, except for Lucas. Actually, he had a look on his face that Kai couldn’t quite identify. Part anger, part regret, part fear, and Kai knew instinctively he wasn’t afraid for himself. He began to ease toward Kai, stopping only when Kai trained the gun on him and yelled, “Stop! I’ll shoot! I swear I will.”