Betrayed and Claimed by the Lycan King Chapter 36

**Ezra's POV**

 

The words left my mouth before I could reconsider them, echoing through the training center with finality that surprised even me.

 

*What the hell did I just say?*

 

The silence that followed was deafening. I could feel the collective shock radiating from every person in the arena—Alliance participants, trainers, even Nyssa looked like she'd witnessed something impossible.

 

Isolde's expression was a mixture of confusion and something that might have been panic. "What? Why?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

 

*Because the thought of another man touching you makes me want to destroy everything in this room.* The truth was too dangerous to voice, too revealing of exactly how much control I'd already lost.

 

I'd spent years building my reputation as the untouchable Alpha, the Lycan King who answered to no one and needed nothing. And now, in the span of a few weeks, one Alliance girl had managed to unravel decades of careful control.

 

*This is exactly what I was trying to avoid.*

 

The rational part of my mind knew I should take back the declaration, laugh it off as a training experiment, anything to minimize the damage. But the possessive fury that had consumed me watching Orion escort her this morning, seeing other men look at her like she was available for their consumption, made rational thought impossible.

 

*She's ours,* Prime stated with absolute certainty. *We protect what's ours.*

 

*She's not supposed to be ours,* I argued back. *We don't do mates. We don't do relationships. We certainly don't do public declarations of ownership.*

 

But the damage was done. Every eye in the room was on us, cataloging this moment for future gossip and speculation.

 

An hour later, after enduring countless stares and whispered conversations, I found myself walking beside Isolde through the corridors leading back to the Alliance residence. The tension between us was palpable, charged with unspoken questions and implications neither of us seemed ready to address.

 

She'd changed out of her training gear into casual clothes, but I could still catch traces of her scent—that intoxicating combination of vanilla and something uniquely her that made my wolf pace restlessly beneath my skin.

 

*Focus,* I commanded myself. *This is just ensuring she gets back safely.*

 

*Then why are we walking the long way?* Prime asked smugly.

 

I ignored him.

 

"Ezra," Isolde said suddenly, breaking the silence that had stretched between us since leaving the battle arena.

 

The sound of my name on her lips sent an unwanted jolt through me. "Yes?"

 

She stopped walking, forcing me to turn and face her. Her dark eyes searched mine with an intensity that made something in my chest tighten uncomfortably.

 

"Yesterday night," she began carefully, "when Beta Nathaniel came to get me from the executive service... why did he do that?"

 

*Straight to the point.* I should have expected she'd ask eventually. Isolde was too intelligent to believe Nathaniel had acted on his own initiative.

 

"I'm not sure what you mean," I said, though we both knew it was a lie.

 

"Yes, you do." Her voice was steady, but I caught the slight tremor underneath. "Beta Nathaniel doesn't make decisions like that without authorization. Someone told him to get me out of there."

 

*Tell her the truth,* Prime urged. *Tell her we couldn't stand the thought of those men touching what belongs to us.*

 

*No.* The very idea of admitting how far I'd compromised my principles made my jaw clench. *That would only confirm what I'm trying to deny.*

 

"Nathaniel is capable of making his own judgments about Alliance welfare," I said finally, the words tasting like ash in my mouth.

 

Isolde stared at me for a long moment, and I could see her processing my non-answer. She was too smart not to read between the lines, too perceptive not to understand what my silence meant.

 

"I see," she said quietly.

 

*She knows.* Of course she knew. And now she knew that I knew she knew, creating a strange loop of unacknowledged understanding between us.

 

The silence stretched again, heavier this time. I should feel relief that she wasn't pressing further, wasn't forcing me to admit what we both understood. Instead, I felt something that might have been shame.

 

*When did I become the kind of man who rescues damsels in distress?* The question gnawed at me as we resumed walking. *When did I start making decisions based on what she wants?*

 

The answer was obvious, and that's what bothered me most. From the moment she'd first looked up at me with those defiant dark eyes, I'd been compromised. Every interaction since then had been a steady erosion of the boundaries I'd spent years building.

 

*First, I personally intervened in her disciplinary punishment. Then I had my Beta rescue her from executive service. Now I'm publicly claiming her as my exclusive training partner.*

 

The pattern was undeniable, and it revealed a truth I wasn't ready to face.

 

*I'm not the man I used to be.*

 

*The old Ezra would have let her serve her punishment and complete her executive service assignment. The old Ezra would never have cared enough about one Alliance girl to risk his reputation and authority.*

 

*Is she changing me,* I thought to myself as we approached the Alliance residence building. *or she already has?*

 

There was an easy way to find out.