The Lonely Lycan Alpha Queen

Chapter Nine

MALIKA’S POV

We followed Haidar up to his office after the meal had ended. He was once again not happy to have my guards tag along, but as I had told him last time, they were a permanent fixture when I was around.

I sat in the same seat as last time and once again was flanked by my four warriors. “So, Alpha Queen Malika, would you mind if we dropped the formality of using titles and just called each other by our first names?” He asked.

As much as it irked me, I needed to keep on his good side as long as possible with what I had to discuss. “Of course, Haidar, Malika is fine,” I said again, flashing a fake smile.

“Wonderful, so you said you wanted to discuss your day? I am looking forward to hearing of your adventures,” he said and sat back in his chair, essentially handing me the floor.

“Yes, well, we went back to the mountains to do some mountain hiking…” I started and watched his expression change slightly.

“I see, well, the mountains are lovely but also very dangerous,” he said, and his tone seemed strained.

“You’re right. The mountains are beautiful. We followed what seemed like a well-worn path up the mountain. Do many people go up there?” I asked, trying to gauge how he would react to my news.

“No, well, at least not these days, many have heard the rumour of the Baihu, and it has scared them away, though I don’t believe the rumours…” he trailed off, so I continued to recount my expedition up the mountain.

“Oh, I see, well you might need to change your opinion on that. As we travelled, we came across a large feline paw print, it was the size of my hand…” I said, holding my hand up as a reference.

Haidar sat forward, eyes wide, but quickly gained his composure. “I’m sure it was just one of my kin, the werelions. I’m sure my paw would be of a similar size,” he said with a shrug.

“Oh, I’m sure that would be the case, Haidar, except it was not a werelion print. I followed the direction of the print, and we heard a loud roar before we came to some caves. We examined a few caves, but I was led further up and finally, I found a large cave that I could not see the back of. I entered the cave and could smell blood and I found bones lining the edges of the cave.”

I stopped again to see if he would try to dissuade me that it was a Baihu again, but he said nothing, so I continued.

“I ventured further into the cave and heard a growl, when I stopped still, I heard large paws heading toward me and saw bright blue eyes shining in the darkness of the cave. He then continued forward, and I saw his face. A massive white tiger.”

I stopped as Haidar jumped up from his seat. “Malika, are you telling me that you actually saw a Baihu? A real-life white tiger shifter?” he all but shouted. My guards tensed around me ready for action.

“Yes, but that is not the end of the story,” I said, and he flopped back down on his seat and leaned forward, resting his chin in his hands like a kid being read their favourite book.

“Um, well it would seem the goddess has decided that two sole survivors of their species should be paired together…” I stopped and waited for his reaction, but he just stared at me unblinkingly.

“Did you hear what I said, Haidar? The Baihu is my mate.” I decided it would be better to say it outright instead of alluding to it this time around.

“Wait, what?” Haidar said, sitting bolt upright. “That’s impossible, there has never been a mating between kingdoms before. Sure, there have been the odd mating pair within the different species of the same kingdom but never in different kingdoms. You must have been mistaken.” He said, shaking his head as if I had just told him something that was an obvious lie.

I stood and allowed my aura to radiate from me. Unfortunately, it dropped my guards to their knees, but I would not tolerate this so-called king questioning my words.

“King Haidar, I am no liar and I know without a doubt the Baihu is my mate. He reacted to my scent just as I did to his, even in his feral state his eyes flashed between blue and purple. His beast recognised me as his mate and he was trying to reach his human counterpart, I am sure of it.”

The King was shaking under the pressure of my aura. “Wh… What do y…you intend t… to do n…now?” he managed to get out. I dropped my aura, allowing my guards to stand and retake their positions.

“I intend to sedate and transport my mate to the Canidae kingdom where I will commence rehabilitating him,” I stated, hoping he would not try to fight me about this but knowing full well he would.

He rose to his feet once again. “What? No, you can’t. The Baihu is a member of the Felidae Kingdom and cannot just be removed without my permission or his own consent for that matter.” Haidar was flourishing his hands around.

“Only a few minutes ago, you told me you believed the Baihu didn’t exist and now you are telling me I cannot take my mate to rehabilitate him?” I asked, glaring at him.

“Well, it’s just… He belongs here with his own kind and…”

I scoffed, “His own kind? Everyone is petrified of even the thought of a feral Baihu in the area. I am the only one who will be able to get through to him if he is to be brought back. You either give me your permission to take him, or I take him by force. I will leave and give you time to make your choice.”

I stormed out of the room without giving him a chance to say a word. I was fuming, how dare he try to tell me I could not take my mate with me.

My mate is not the leader of this land, so he would have had to come with me even if he was in his right mind as I was the ruler of another kingdom. That is how it works with mates if they are from different species.

I stormed through the hallways, and everyone ducked for cover as they felt my rage. I needed to burn this off. I spotted a timid-looking maid who appeared to be a werecat. She tried to look busy as I approached her.

“Excuse me, Miss, is there a gym in the castle or anywhere nearby?” I asked, shoving my rage down so as not to frighten her any more than she already was.

She nodded and pointed to the hallway off to the side of me. “D…down there t…t…to the left and a…at the very e…e…end there is g…glass doors.” She stuttered.

“Thank you.” I gave a curt smile and turned down where she said. I was hoping there was a boxing ring because I really needed to hit someone, and my warriors were used to me beating the daylights out of them in training.

I found the doors and the gym was almost empty besides a couple of young guys doing weights. I spotted the large boxing ring at the back of the building and instantly made my way there, followed by my warriors.

“Alrighty boys, you know the drill,” I said. They grumbled as they got themselves gloved up. I got a set of gloves down for myself. I took off my shoes and outer shirt, so I was just in a pair of tracksuit pants and a tank top.

Once we were all gloved, the guys opted for head protectors as they knew what they were about to experience, and we started with four-on-one.

Several hours later, my guys were all in various states of recovery around the ring. I had a few rapidly healing cuts and bruises myself and I finally felt tired.

A throat cleared at the edge of the ring. “Excuse me Alpha Queen, King Haidar would like a word please,” The man said, not looking up from the ground. Dammit, I had just calmed my Lycan and now he wanted a word.

I climbed through the ropes and jumped down in front of the messenger. “Help me get these off, will you please,” I said to him, thrusting my gloves in his face. He jumped back in shock before nodding and helping me get my gloves off.

My guys also de-gloved and were standing around me by the time I got my shoes back on. “Ok… ah what’s your name?” I asked.

“Zane Ma’am” he replied quietly.

“Well Zane, lead the way.” As we walked, Zane turned slightly to regard me.

“Is it true, ma’am? Did you really find a Baihu?” he asked almost excitedly. I stopped walking.

He turned to see why I had stopped, and I took a moment to study him. He was an older gentleman with greying hair and sparkling green eyes. The excitement was clear, though he was trying to hide it. “Why do you ask Zane?” I enquired.

“Oh, I’m sorry ma’am, it’s just I used to teach history and the Baihu has always been something I was fascinated with, what with being a weretiger myself.”

I smiled, he was genuinely excited and not for nefarious reasons. So, I answered him. “Yes Zane, I did see the Baihu with my very own eyes.”

He actually squealed with excitement. “Oh, this is so wonderful,” he said, turning back and resuming his walk towards the King’s office. I liked this guy.