Chapter 126
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Third Person’s POV
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Lance looked at her and said, “Lycan Erasmus has given you three months to find a mate, or you’ll become a priestess in the palace, right?”
Adelaide wasn’t surprised he knew and simply nodded.
Lance asked bluntly, “Do you want to be a priestess?”
His pupils gleamed amber in the candlelight.
Lance’s cedar pheromones, mixed with the scent of pine needles, washed over her. Adelaide’s wolf suddenly pricked its ears deep in her consciousness.
The temporary mark on her nape tingled.
She looked at him and asked, “Did Lycan Erasmus send you?”
She clenched the wolf–head bone token in her fingertips, trying to suppress the abnormal heat in her glands.
“No, I wanted to come,” Lance replied.
His pheromones suddenly turned scorching, enveloping her wolf spirit like a winter bonfire.
Adelaide met his gaze and suppressed a low howl in her throat, “No, I don’t.”
“Do you have an Alpha in mind?” His nose twitched slightly, catching the subtle fluctuations in her pheromones.
At the same time, he watched her closely, not missing a single change in her expression.
She replied, “No.”
“What about someone you have a liking for?” Lance pressed on.
“Nor that,” Adelaide answered.
Lance knew he held no place in her heart, but hearing her say she had no affection for anyone still stung a little, like a bee’s prick.
Yet it was better–she felt nothing for anyone.
Noticing his momentarily pale face return to normal, Adelaide set down her water cup and pondered, “Alpha Lance, are you here to help me with this?”
After a silence, Lance gazed into her eyes and said, “I like you and want you as my mate. Will you accept?”
With a clatter, Adelaide’s cup hit the floor, shattering. She stared at Lance , stunned.
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Lance’s cedar pheromones intensified, engulfing her like a snow–sealed mountain. “Do you feel even a little for me?”
Adelaide’s wolf wagged its tail uncontrollably. Her knuckles whitened as she gripped the table edge. “Alpha Lance, you must be joking……”
Adelaide hurriedly stood, shaking water stains from her skirt. The usually composed woman was momentarily incoherent.
“It sounds…… Though we’ve known each other since childhood, I’ve been in the Shadow Peaks since I was seven or eight. Even if you visited annually, we never met……”
“Enough teasing,” Lance smiled at her flustered state.
He gently pressed his fingers to the cup. “Saying I like you was a joke, but asking you to be my mate is serious. After reclaiming the Southern Border, Lycan Erasmus sought a mate for me, but none appealed.”
“I heard Lycan Erasmus gave you three months to find a mate or become a priestess…..”
He lifted his cup to drink, only to find it empty and gulp dryly.
Continuing, he said, “You don’t want to be a priestess, and I don’t want a arranged mate. Perfect, right? We bond, solving our problems. If you later find someone you love, I’ll grant you an annulment,”
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It made sense, yet Adelaide hesitated and said, “If those arranged she–wolves don’t suit you, why doesn’t Priscilla keep looking? Surely a fit will turn up.”
“No fit exists. The one I want has already bonded with another.”
From his wry smile, Adelaide sensed his helplessness. She didn’t expect someone as exceptional as him to also be parted from his true mate.
Lance said softly, “So why seek others and waste their lives?”
Adelaide was touched. Alpha Lance was more devoted than she’d imagined.
Her wolf pawed restlessly in her mind, tail wagging at his cedar pheromones, but she restrained it.
She said, “Lycan Erasmus ordered me to find a mate in three months. He likely aims to nominate someone to the Royal Elder Council. If I bond with you, Lycan Erasmus might object.”
Lance hadn’t anticipated this line of thought. She clearly didn’t grasp Erasmus’s intentions.
He pondered briefly, then appeased her, “Don’t worry. I’ll handle Lycan Erasmus. His concern is probably that you’ll pick another heartless man like Ulrik.”
Though a somewhat underhanded dig at her ex, it sounded plausible.
Hearing “Ulrik” left Adelaide unfazed, yet Lance’s words held a grain of truth.
When Lycan Erasmus had mentioned her future mate gaining a council seat, he hadn’t anticipated she’d
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earn respect from Alpha Bentley’s former subordinates on the battlefield.
Now that he knew, he wouldn’t easily accept her choice.
His priority was the royal family, not her happiness.
This could easily leave both parties unsatisfied.
Following her logic, Lance easily gauged her thoughts.
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He said, “I’d given up on finding a mate. But since Lycan Erasmus insists , I’ll comply. Better you than a stranger.”