Lost Lycan's Mate Book 5

It didn’t take me long to figure out that the two mysteries were related.

A mated female throwing herself around at unmated males, and a depressed and discouraged alpha who still had many years left in him and yet acted like a tired old man, exhausted with life.

The answer was Jayden, a ten-year-old boy and the son of the alpha.

It was all quite laughable. The boy looked nothing like Noah, and certainly didn’t admit the aire of a young alpha about himself.

Quite simply, he was a bastard child and his mother was none other than Hailey, the mated female who didn’t seem to care about the particular fact that she was already claimed.

Yes, my potential mate was a real winner.

My eyes followed Jayden around the training arena. His teacher was definitely not the finest instructor of the bunch training their apprentices in the split-up rings. That in and of itself was odd.

The children of the alphas were almost always trained by the beta, if not the alpha male or female themselves.

Yet Jayden obviously didn’t deserve such a good teacher, not when he was displaying subpar skills.

In fact, I didn’t even think he’d be able to handle a better teacher. The kid was trying his absolute best, the determined expression on his face was enough proof of that.

That and the fact his eyes kept darting over to the bleachers to sneak a look at a very unimpressed Hailey who looked on in grim disappointment and distaste.

I had made sure to stay out of Hailey’s line of sight thus far and had been successful in passing by unnoticed by her.

She hadn’t even caught word of my presence here, this pack not being one that gossiped much.

I was surprised I hadn’t been sought out more, but the werewolves didn’t seem to care about me being here as long as I didn’t cause trouble.

I had been staying under the radar, waiting until I understood Noah before I did anything that could possibly impact him. Besides, I had no need to create a disturbance when the werewolves were leaving me alone.

Jayden was easily brought down by his teacher, his arm pinned painfully behind his back, a squeal of pain escaping from the 10-year-old’s lips. He was immediately released and offered a helping hand up.

The boy sniffled, grabbing onto the hand and slowly getting to his feet. His instructor patted him on the back before dismissing him and ending their lesson.

I cocked my head, catching the other students and teachers that had halted at Jayden’s cry of pain.

Yet no one mocked the tearful boy, nursing his hurt arm as he left the training ring and dragged himself over to his mother who had descended from the bleachers and was glaring at him.

It was surprising, to say the least, that none of the younger children had taken the opportunity to harass the ‘son of the alpha’ because of his weak display. Quite frankly it was odd.

There was a pecking order to things and everyone was always eager to bring someone from above them, down below them.

Truth be told, Jayden wasn’t a bad fighter, but he wasn’t good either. He was just average.

But since he was supposed to have alpha blood, his performance made him look bad.

Still, those other kids should have jumped at the chance to trample him, just like those brats had always done to Cleo.

Instead, they all merely turned away and resumed their practice at their teachers’ command, pretending that they couldn’t hear Hailey start to yell at the ten-year-old.

“Stop crying,” she hissed at him.

Jayden sniffled, trying to suck back in his tears, his lips quivering in an effort to hold his sobs at bay.

Hailey smacked away his hand holding his injured arm. “Stop behaving like such a baby.”

She roughly seized his injured arm and shook it fiercely. “He barely even twisted your arm and you’re acting like it’s broken.” The female threw his arm away, the appendage smacking into the boy’s own chest.

“And you wonder why the alpha doesn’t ever watch your lessons?” She smacked the back of his head, inciting a wince from Jayden.

“You’re a disgrace, a pathetic humiliation. How are you supposed to convince anyone you’re the son of their alpha when you fail like this?”

Her son didn’t answer, only hung his head shamefully.

“Huh?” Hailey demanded, smacking him upside the head again.

The boy cringed and pulled at his fingers, accepting his mother’s abuse.

No one blinked an eye at Hailey’s behavior.

This was the Forest Kingdom after all and scenes like this between children and parents were not uncommon when it came to shows of weakness and strength. After all, a child’s failure reflected on their parents.

It was not unusual for young kids to be disowned by their parents for poor performance.

It was brutal, perhaps a little unfair, but it was life here.

The strong thrived and the weak died.

“She blames him for her own weak blood,” Jayden’s instructor said from behind him.

Coda did not blink much less flinch from the sudden appearance of the werewolf because he had sensed the werewolf’s approach long before the male had spoken.

The Hunter didn’t even turn his eyes to the werewolf now standing next to him as they both watched the ongoing lecture Hailey was giving her ten-year-old son.

“I’ve seen this serve as a deterrent and a motivator,” Coda said without an ounce of pity or compassion.

“His parents’ blood has nothing to do with the level of his own strength. He might not be a born alpha, but alphas can be made.”

“You speak as if you’ve witnessed this closely. The last made alpha existed before the lycans wars that nearly exterminated all of the lycans.”

Coda hummed.

“You see made alphas everywhere,” he disagreed, “almost every alpha female is made.” The hunter’s eyes slid to look at the werewolf.

“Nearly every alpha male is born and yet we consider the male to hold some type of extra strength that females cannot achieve.

“Yet when an alpha female is born and an alpha male made, they are somehow discredited because they are not common occurrences.”

The werewolf pursed his lips as he turned his attention to his pupil who was now being dragged off by his mother with a firm grip on his ear. “Do you believe that he can truly become a made alpha?”

Coda didn’t even pause before responding, “no.”

“Why not?”

The Hunter clicked his tongue. “He has nothing to prove. He knows as well as everyone else that he has no alpha blood.

“He doesn’t believe he can ever rise to the level of an alpha because he knows he’s not a born alpha. Like you he doesn’t even consider the option of becoming made because the odds are against him.”

The werewolf sucked in a breath before puffing out a sigh. “So you already figured it out, huh?” There wasn’t a note of surprise to be detected in his tone.

“The only thing I can’t figure out,” Coda said, ignoring the rhetorical question, “is why Hailey and Jayden have a protective shield around them.

“Why are they exempt from the humiliation the Forest Kingdom culture provides to knock the unworthy residing in high places down?”

The werewolf let out a long sigh before tucking his hands into his pockets.

“Think of it less like a shield and more like a barrier. Out of respect for our alpha who does not refute Hailey’s claims about Jayden being his son, we have no place to step in.

“Just like we do not ridicule Hailey for her disloyalty to her mate when Noah himself will not raise a hand against her.”

Coda’s hard eyes stared down the werewolf.

While he himself did not misinterpret Noah’s negligence of his mate and bastard son as a sign of weakness from the alpha, he was caught off guard that the Forest Kingdom pack seemed to understand it as well.

“Our alpha knows how pathetic Hailey is. He doesn’t even bother to waste the time it would take dealing with her. Nor does he even care enough about her to show any concern about his mate bond with her.

“She is insignificant and so is her son. Since he simply ignores them, we just follow his lead.”

“You all seem to have a high level of respect for your alpha, but why don’t you all chase Hailey out of your pack since you all clearly believe she is unworthy of Noah?”

The werewolf’s eyes followed the movements of a master and pupil pair practicing different methods to pin an opponent. “Because not only would we chase out Hailey but also the opportunity our alpha has been waiting for.”

Coda’s brows knitted as he analyzed the Forester’s words for a meaning he would understand. “What opportunity?”

“That woman is a whore,” the werewolf replied offhandedly, referring to Hailey, “but she’s a stupid one.

“She’s looking for a stronger male to seduce into becoming her mate and doesn’t even realize that Noah is one of the strongest alphas in the Forest Kingdom.”

The Hunter kept his face blank as he processed this information.

He knew Noah was not weak, but he didn’t know that Noah was considered above most of the other Forest Kingdom alphas.

The werewolf continued on with reverence.

“He took residence on the border because he was one of the only alphas brave enough to after the reformation of the packs.”

Coda already had a better understanding of Noah, but he still wanted confirmation about his judgment of the Forest Kingdom alpha.

“He isn’t concerned about being on the front lines if another war between you and the lycans break out?”

“To be honest,” the werewolf replied downheartedly, “I think that’s one of the reasons he took it in the first place.

“Noah isn’t someone who likes to laze around. He likes being busy,” the werewolf’s tone softened, “makes him forget about Hailey, I think.”

“Why won’t he take a new mate? What opportunity is he waiting for?”

With a bit of indignation, the other male muttered, “My alpha is a male of honor, he won’t kill her just because of her infidelity.”

“Then why doesn’t he kill the other males?” Coda easily rebutted.

The werewolf hesitated at first, giving the Hunter a long look before deciding the spilled information couldn’t hurt his alpha. “Because he doesn’t care.

“Everyone knows she’s a slut and my alpha isn’t going to fight for someone who doesn’t deserve it. Besides, he would never waste a mate fight like that. Noah has been waiting for the opportunity to die with honor.”