Betrayed and Claimed by the Lycan King Chapter 291

EZRA'S POV

"None of your business."

The words hit me like a fucking sledgehammer to the chest. I sat there in the driver's seat, staring at Isolde's retreating figure as she walked toward her house, and I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't think past the rage and disbelief coursing through my veins.

*None of my business?*

Isolde was going to have dinner with some guy named Daryl. Some stranger who had the audacity to call her "Iso" and ask her out.

I wouldn't let anyone take her from me. I *couldn't*.

The sound of my phone ringing cut through the violent storm in my head, jolting me back to reality. I glanced at the screen, expecting to see Orion's or Nathaniel's name, but instead saw a contact that made my chest tighten with a sharp stab of pain.

*Lillian.*

I answered, my voice coming out cold and tight. "Lillian?"

"Alpha Ezra... please forgive me for disturbing you like this. I had no choice." The voice was panicked, breathless, definitely not Lillian.

"Who is this? Where's Lillian?" My blood ran cold.

"It's me, Emma, sir. Lillian's sick, has been sick for two days. She refuses to go to the hospital or let us call the group doctors. She also won't let us contact you, but we're very worried about her condition. Please come."

The words hit me like ice water. "I'll be right there." I gripped the phone so hard my knuckles went white.

"Cade," I barked to my driver. "Take me to Lillian's apartment."

"Right away, Alpha."

I leaned back against the leather seat and closed my eyes, feeling my stomach churn. This was exactly what I didn't need right now. Isolde was preparing for a date with another man, and Lillian's health was deteriorating. I had to make a choice between them soon, or I was going to lose my goddamn mind.

The irony wasn't lost on me. Isolde was getting ready to go out with someone else while I was rushing to take care of my first mate. The mate bond was supposed to be sacred, permanent, but here I was, torn between past and present, duty and desire.

I had to accelerate the investigation. I had to know what happened to Lillian during those five years, and I had to figure out what the fuck I was going to do about this impossible situation.

---

We reached Lillian's apartment complex in record time. I took the elevator to her floor, my wolf pacing restlessly beneath my skin. When I entered her room, the sight that greeted me made my chest tighten with guilt.

Lillian lay in the massive four-poster bed, pale and fragile as always. Her golden hair was spread across the pillow like spilled sunlight, but it looked lifeless, dull. When she saw me, her eyes widened with surprise.

"Alpha Ezra," she whispered, her voice so weak I had to strain to hear it.

I approached the bed cautiously, and she struggled to sit up. "Don't," I said gently. "Stay down."

Up close, I could see how much worse she looked since I'd last seen her. Her eyes were sunken, dark circles beneath them more pronounced than before. Her cheeks were more hollow, more gaunt. She looked like she was wasting away.

The guilt hit me like a physical blow.

I sat down carefully on the edge of the bed. "Lillian, when did the fever start?"

She raised an eyebrow weakly. "Who told you I had a fever?"

"Emma called." I pressed the back of my hand to her forehead. She wasn't burning up, but her temperature was definitely elevated, and she was sweating heavily.

"She shouldn't have bothered you. I'll be fine." The dismissive words made anger flare in my chest.

I sighed impatiently. "When did it start?"

"The night you last came to see me. It started that night."

"That was three days ago, Lillian. You've been running a fever for three days and didn't tell me? Why didn't you contact me?"

She wouldn't meet my eyes, instead fidgeting with the silk sheets. "After you left that night, I thought you'd come see me the next day, but you didn't... I figured you must be tied up with company business. I didn't want to be a burden or trouble you."

Her words cut through me like a blade. *She was right. I hadn't come to see her because I'd been consumed with thoughts of Isolde.*

"Lillian, you're never a burden," I said, my voice hoarse as I took her hand. "Taking care of you is my responsibility. Please don't do this again, okay?"

She nodded slightly, and I felt my heart shatter into even smaller pieces.

"I'm taking you to the group medical center right now."

"No!" The panic in her voice shocked me. "Please, don't. I don't want to go back to the hospital." Tears started streaming down her face, and I stared at her in amazement.

"Please," she sobbed. "You can bring the doctors here, like you used to do. Just don't take me back to the hospital. I'm begging you."

This wasn't the Lillian I remembered. Before her disappearance, she'd never been this complicated, this difficult to understand.

"Alright," I said finally. "I'll have the doctors come here." I sat back down on the bed and pulled out my phone to contact the group physicians.

"But you have to promise me you won't hide your illness from me again. If you're sick or need anything, don't hesitate to tell me. Understood?"

She looked up at me with tear-filled eyes. "Do I really matter to you?"

"Of course you do!"

A brilliant smile spread across her face, and she quickly wiped away her tears. The speed of her emotional shift set off alarm bells in my head.

"Really?"

"Yes, Lillian. You matter to me." Even as I said the words, Isolde's face flashed through my mind.

"Thank you."

Suddenly, Lillian threw her arms around me, clinging to me like she was afraid I might disappear. I looked down at her, my hands hovering in the air, unsure whether to embrace her back.

"I'm so happy," she said, her voice suddenly filled with enthusiasm.

"Why are you happy?"

"Because I still have a place in your heart. I'm still your queen and your first priority."

*Fuck. This isn't true at all.*

I knew I needed to tell Lillian about Isolde soon, but this clearly wasn't the right time.

How could I tell a sick, traumatized woman that she'd been replaced in my heart? How could I tell her that while she'd been missing, presumably suffering, I'd found someone else who made my world make sense again?

I was trapped between what I owed Lillian and what I felt for Isolde.

And somewhere across the city, Isolde was getting ready for a date with another man.

*What the hell am I supposed to do?*