Bullied Mate Of The Lycan Kings
Chapter 68

Ren's

POV

"You look like you have something to say." Rhea's mother said as she dabbed at my forehead gently with the wet cloth and my face turned red with embarrassment at how easy it was for her to have seen what I was thinking. Reminding myself that she was not my mother and it was okay to ask questions, I finally spoke. "Wh- who are you?"

She frowned. "I'm sorry that I have not introduced myself. My name is Ariel and I overheard my husband's conversation with your mother asking for money to take you to the hospital and because I suspected something was amiss, I decided to pay her a visit to see you for myself. The last thing I expected to find instead of your mother was you lying on the cold ground unconscious with your hand twisted in such a..."

She trailed off but I could feel her rage and knowing that it was not directed at me but at my mother for harming me made my little heart feel whole.

"I'm just glad that you are okay. Tell me, what is your name?" She asked, her face a lot calmer now and when I tried to sit up, she helped me and I saw Rhea's head peeking into the room from the slightly ajar door. Her white blond hair was askew and her toothless grin was wide as she mouthed the word 'Ren' at me.

"You do remember your name, right?" Ariel asked and I hesitated, looking back at Rhea who kept mouthing 'Ren' over and over again with a thumbs up.

Ren. It was a simple name. I liked it even more because it was Rhea who gave it to me.

With a smile, I finally answered.

"Ren. My name is Ren."

Ariel smiled brightly.

"That's a wonderful name. Ren, would you like to stay here with us?"

My eyes widened in surprise and I took her hand with my free one, the other still held in a cast.

"Really? I don't want to go back home to my mother. I promise that you won't regret letting me stay here. I won't be a bother. I can make my own food and my bed and clean the house. I don't take up too much space and I'll work really hard to earn my keep around the house too."

The last thing I expected was for tears to trickle down her cheeks as she pulled me in for a hug.

"Oh, my sweet boy. You won't have to do a single thing here. As from today, you are now my child and will be treated like a prince. I promise to love you completely and care for you for as long as you want me to. All you have to do is recover now. Okay?" Her response was all it took for me to hug her tighter and break down in tears.

"I know you asked me to leave but I was worried."

Snapping out of my reverie, I looked up to see Mauve looking down at me with worried eyes and when I looked around, I realized that I was still sitting on the ground in the basement lounge, my school tie loose and some of my buttons open. "You have been out of it for the five minutes that I stood watching you. What's wrong?"

Maybe it was the way she asked that question or the fact that it was not her I wanted to ask that question but she was the only one here right now seeing me at my worst but it broke me.

I fell apart and held my head in my hands, struggling as I cried for the first time in a long time.

Mauve quietly helped me up into a chair and perched herself on my lap, holding me to her as I shook silently. I didn't even want to look at her because I had never been this vulnerable before in front of her.

A part of me expected her to be very happy to witness this moment and rub it in my face but all she did was hold me tighter and clean my cheeks, tilting my chin up to look into my eyes.

"I know you're in love with Lily and I know things are bad between the two of you because of me. I'm so sorry."

My heart clenched at the sound of her name; the reason why I had fallen deep into the clutches of my childhood memories, sparked by her words of rejection and I shook my head. "I don't want to hear her name."

Mauve smiled, biting her bottom lip and tracing my chin.

"Do you want to forget about her? Let me help you do that, Ren. It's the least I can do for you."

Perhaps it was because I was angry at Lily or at myself but I didn't push Mauve away as she covered my lips with hers, kissing me hungrily while she slipped her hand into my shirt.

My mind however could not get Lily's face out of my head and how it had felt when our lips brushed against each other, something so light and almost as if it had not happened and yet I had been turned on like I had never felt in my life but kissing Mauve now, I felt absolutely nothing.

Instead of stopping, I kissed Mauve harder, trying to forget about Lily. Trying to ignore the ache in my chest.

Mauve's hand went between my legs to slowly unbuckle my belt and when I tensed, she pulled away to smile at me.

"You just need to relax, baby. Let me make you feel good. You don't have to do anything."

She was unzipping my pants when Lily's face appeared in my thoughts again, her crying face flashing in my head and I knew that nothing would make me feel good right now. No one but Lily would.

Shaking my head, I lifted Mauve from my thighs and placed her on the chair beside me, rising to my feet and buckling my pants.

"Thanks for the offer but I'm not in the mood, Mauve. We should get to class." I answered, my voice laced with steel expecting Mauve to certainly throw a tantrum but she smiled and stood, walking up to me and fixing my tie. When she was done, she cleaned my lips and showed me the lipstick smear she just removed.

"Alright then. How about we go on a date tonight? Bills on you of course."

It didn't even take long for the real Mauve to appear after all.

I sighed and palmed my face, too exhausted to even look through her thoughts and find out what she really thought she was going to achieve with this idea of hers and what she really thought of me. Maybe she believed that I was pathetic and weak like she had always thought before.

A big part of me encouraged me to not bother looking, because it didn't matter anymore. What Mauve thought did not matter. Nothing mattered anymore and ignorance was truly bliss.

But as I walked out of the classroom, I knew that getting Lily out of my head and heart was going to be nearly impossible and that it would be my undoing.