The Lycan King's Second Chance Mate: Rise of the Traitor's Daughter
Chapter 57: Living and New Feelings

Chapter 57: Living and New Feelings

Natalie~

One year ago, I had been nothing. A ghost, drifting through a world that despised me.

For as long as I could remember, I had been discarded, overlooked—treated as an inconvenience. My pack saw me as an abomination, something to be cast aside and forgotten. Alpha Darius had stolen everything from me—my parents, my dignity. And Griffin, the boy who was supposed to be my mate, had looked me in the eyes and rejected me without hesitation. I had believed them when they said I was nothing. I had believed them all.

But now... now, I had a home, I was pursuing a college degree in Psychology and I was free to walk the streets if I wanted to, without having to look over my shoulders because I had five ethereal beings who made it their life goal to look after my safety even though I didn’t understand what they got out of it.

I never thought I would experience happiness again, and yet, here I was, standing in the middle of Zane’s massive estate, surrounded by people who genuinely cared about me.

A small voice pulled me from my thoughts.

"Mummy Natalie!" Alex’s excited voice rang out as he ran toward me, grinning. "Guess what?"

I smiled, crouching to his level. "What, sweetheart?"

"Daddy said we can go to the amusement park this weekend! And you have to come!"

"Oh, I do, do I?" I teased, ruffling his hair.

Alex nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! Daddy said so!"

"Daddy said what?"

A deep voice rumbled behind me, sending an involuntary shiver down my spine. I turned to find Zane leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, an eyebrow quirked in amusement.

Alex beamed. "You said Mummy Natalie has to come everywhere with us because she’s family!"

My breath hitched. Family. The word wrapped around me like a comforting embrace, filling the cracks in my broken soul.

Zane’s gaze softened as he studied my reaction. "That’s right," he said simply. "You’re family, Natalie."

I blinked rapidly, willing the sudden sting of tears away. I had never been anyone’s family—not since my parents were taken from me. And yet, here they were, offering me a place beside them without hesitation.

Alex cheered and wrapped his arms around my waist, breaking the moment before it became too overwhelming. "Yay! We’re all going together!"

Zane smirked. "I suppose I have no choice, then."

"You never had a choice," I shot back before I could stop myself.

Zane’s smirk deepened, something unreadable flickering in his gaze. "That so?"

"Uh-huh," Alex confirmed happily before grabbing my hand. "Now come play with me, Mummy Natalie!"

As Alex dragged me away, I felt Zane’s eyes on me. It was an unsettling yet oddly comforting sensation.

The night Zane found out the truth about me was the night I thought I would lose everything. I had been reckless. Stupid. I had let my guard down. When Zane started asking questions—pressing too hard, too persistently—I had panicked. I had run.

Because that’s what I did. Running was all I had ever known.

But Zane... Zane had followed. All the way to Paris. He searched for me, apologized. And just that singular act changed everything. Because Zane hadn’t cast me aside. He hadn’t looked at me like I was less than nothing.

He had looked at me like I was something worth holding onto.

Then, there was Jacob.

Jacob, my tutor-turned-friend-turned-magical guardian, who was as annoying as he was kind. Jacob, Bubble, Tiger, Fox, and Eagle had turned my once-ordinary life into something magical. I never knew that Jacob would one day become such a big part of my life.

For the first time in my life, my days were filled with laughter. And now, I wasn’t just surviving.

I was living.

Talking about living, another aspect of living was developing feelings. Back when I used to live on the streets, survival used to be my only concern—finding my next meal, a place to sleep, a shadow to disappear into. Feelings? They never crossed my mind. Romance? Even less so. But now, with those struggles behind me, my thoughts had nowhere else to go.

Now, all I could think about was Zane.

And that scared the hell out of me.

I noticed everything now. And when I say everything, I mean everything.

I noticed it in the way he looked at me—intense but also distant, like he was trying to figure something out. I felt it in the way he touched me—forehead kisses, soft brushes of his fingers against mine, the way he would pull me into a hug just because he claimed I said something cute. It made my heart race. It made my stomach twist into knots.

Yet, it confused me.

Was he just being friendly? Or was there something more? And if there was something more, what did it even mean for someone like me—a girl without a wolf, a girl with a past too painful to put into words?

Even when I tried to keep my distance, Zane refused to let me slip away.

"You have good taste in books," he had said one evening, casually leaning against the counter as I flipped through one of my novels. "There’s this old bookstore I found, but I can’t decide if it’s worth visiting. Come check it out with me?"

I had barely managed a nod, my pulse already hammering at the thought of spending more time alone with him. Then, there was the time I had offhandedly mentioned wanting to try Japanese food.

"I always see it in movies," I had said to Alexander once, sighing as we watched TV together. "It looks so good."

Days later, Zane had brought it up like it was nothing.

"There’s this French-Japanese fusion place I passed by the other day," he had said, barely glancing up from his laptop. "Didn’t you say you wanted to try Japanese food? Let’s check it out sometime."

I didn’t even know how he found out. Maybe Alexander told him. But I had stammered out a response—probably something embarrassing—and he had only smirked, as if he knew exactly what kind of effect he had on me.

And it didn’t stop there.

He would always frame our outings as if they were casual favors.

"I was going to check out this vintage record shop, but it feels weird going alone. You want to tag along?"

"I need to find a birthday gift for Alexander, but I have no idea what he would like. You’re my only hope."

"You mentioned you love live music. There’s a small jazz band playing on Friday—I think you’d love their sound."

Everything felt so natural, so easy.

With everything Zane was doing for me and with me, I found myself sinking deeper into something I didn’t quite understand. I had always known he was attractive, but now? Now I was painfully aware of him. Of his lips when he spoke, of the way his hard eyes softened when he looked at me, of the way his hair always looked effortlessly tousled, as if he had just run his hands through it. And his body?

Goddess help me.

I found myself daydreaming about him in ways that made my face burn. Imagining what it would be like to run my fingers through his hair, to feel the warmth of his skin under my fingertips. Worse, I caught myself wondering what it would be like to kiss him—if his lips were as soft as they looked, if he would pull me close the way he did when he hugged me, if his body was as hard as it felt through his shirt.

It was maddening. I had never felt something like this before; not even with Griffin who was supposed to be my fated mate.

I needed to talk to someone about it before I lost my mind. But who? Jacob, Bubble, Tiger, Fox, and Eagle were out of the question. They already teased me relentlessly about Zane, their knowing smirks making it impossible to have a serious conversation with any of them. I needed someone who wouldn’t just make jokes at my expense. A girl would have been ideal. The problem? I didn’t have any female friends.

So, I kept my feelings bottled up, pretending they didn’t exist, even though they threatened to burst out of me every time Zane smiled in that lazy, knowing way of his.

One morning, Zane dropped me off at college as usual. I never stayed in the hostel because the guys—Zane especially—had all but forbidden it. The school was close to home, so there wasn’t any real reason for me to stay on campus, and according to them, they "preferred me where they could keep an eye on me."

Overprotective hotheads.

As Zane pulled the car to a stop, I turned to thank him, but before I could say a word, he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead.

I froze.

It wasn’t the first time he had done it, but something about the way his lips lingered just a second longer than usual made my pulse stutter. And then, as if that wasn’t enough, he wrapped his arms around me, holding me close in a way that felt—different. I could feel the warmth of his body, the steady rise and fall of his chest against mine.

Breathe, Natalie.

I knew if I stayed in that embrace any longer, my thoughts would spiral into places I wasn’t ready to confront, so I quickly pulled away, forcing an awkward laugh.

"Okay—uh—bye! See you later!"

I scrambled out of the car before I could embarrass myself further, slamming the door shut and practically sprinting toward the school gate.

My heart was still hammering in my chest when—

BAM!

I collided with someone at full speed.

We both went tumbling to the ground, my bag slipping from my shoulder and spilling its contents all over the pavement. Groaning, I pushed myself up on my elbows and turned to the person I had just body-slammed.

"I am so, so sorry," I began, brushing my hair out of my face. "I wasn’t looking where I was—"

And then I saw her.

As soon as our eyes met, my breath hitched in my throat, my entire world coming to a screeching halt.

What the hell?

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