The Lycan King’s Second Chance Mate by Sumi

ASHANTI'S POV.

It's another competition day and I'm trying to hold my organs from falling out of my body. The first session went smoothly. I csecond best after the almighty Leonard and that really boosted my confidence, but after hearing one of the judges call a design an eyesore, my confidence plummeted.

I never want to be in a position where any of my designs will be labeled an eyesore. That would destroy me.

"You look confident today." Ryan remarks as we make our way into the hall. I shoot him a brief glance and a small despite my raging nerves.

"You think?" "The aura of confidence hovering around you is palpable. It makeshappy to see you like this." "Why? Thank you. Aren't you just the sweetest?" "I know. You cannot do without me." He brags and before I can say anything to object to his statement, he hastens his steps to get farther away from me.

Typical Ryan! "Look who has arrived." A voice speaks from the front. I look ahead and notice the three girls, who seem to abnor my existence in this competition, walking towardswith smirks plastered on their faces. I stop in my tracks and wait for them to approach me.

"Ashanti Anderson." All three of them stop beforeand cross their arms over chests. The blonde haired girl is raking her eyes all over body as if searching for something. The brunette girl staring right into my eyes like she is trying to fish out a secret from them.

Sometimes I wonder if I have a bully-maon my body. Everywhere I go, I have to deal with a group of girls who want nothing but my downfall.

"Can I help you?" I ask calmly, carefully even though my mind is screaming forto do the exact opposite. What I really want to do right now is beat them up mercilessly and get them out of my way, but we all know where that would lead me.

Disqualification.

I cannot give them the satisfaction of gettingdisqualified from this competition. They will seesoar to the top.

"The confidence I see swimming in your eyes must be as a result of your rank during the first round of the competition. You csecond. That's why you're so over the moon." "Why?" I ask, chuckling lightly. "Am I not allowed to feel happy when I emerge victorious during a competition?" "Emerge victorious?" The blonde haired girl asks and scoffs. "Is that what you tell yourself? You really think you did anything exceptional to get that position?" "Are you calling the judges land incompetent for ranking a mediocre design second position out of thirty?" "I'm saying we both know the only reason why you got that position is because of your connection with Alpha Reagan. You are his mate!" "So?" I ask with raised brows, looking from one girl to another. "So what if I'm mated to the Lycan King?" I ask yet again, but there's still no response.

I can see them thinking hard. I know what's on their mind. What they believe is that Alpha Reagan has pulled strings forin this competition, but they don't have the audacity to voice it out because they have no evidence to back the claim.

Levying such a vile accusation against the Alpha without concrete evidence to back it up is nothing but a suicide mission. They know better than to embark on such a mission.

"Your beach wear designs were atrocious! You and your entire team did not deserve second position. There were others who did better than you?" That's the brunette haired girl.

I never seem to recall their names.

"For example, you?" I chuckle lightly. "You whose design was labeled an eyesore by Mr. James? You've got to be kidding me!" My eyes never leave her face as I smile at her. She quickly looks away from me, frowning like an angry bear and balling her hands into fists by her side Oh, how I wish she would attempt to punch me, she'd lose sof her body parts from the trashing I'll give her in here.

"If you don't stop doing irrelevant things and focus on improving your designing skills during this round of the competition, I guarantee you that you'll be going hwith more tears today. Now, If you'd excuse me, I need to meet my team members."

The three girls are standing before me, blocking the way but that doesn't stopfrom stepping forward. I nearly move forward with the m intention of pushing anyone I mean in my path, but they are lucky enough to split up and givea passage before I get too close to them. That's also when I noticed the silent nature of the hall. Apparently, everyone was watching our interaction. I'm not even surprised. It used to happen all the tat the Harem.

I keep walking forward with my head held up high with pride and confidence. I like how bold I've become. I will never fail to stand up to anyone who tries to intimidate me.

The judges soon cin and announce the next designs we'll be working on which happen to be night wears. Just like before, we are asked to create three different designs and have them displayed on mansions within three hours.

The hours fly by like minutes and soon, the chief designers are standing by their mannequins with the designs displayed on them, m waiting for the judges to cover and inspect. As expected, there are a few blasts from Mr. James which brings sdesigners to tears, but nothing shocksmore than when he goes over to the brunette girl whose design he called an eyesore yesterday and says;

"Do you think this competition is joke?" In a calm, but scary voice. My breath hitches in my throat and the entire hall goes dead silent again as we all watch him inspect her designs with the most disgusted look on his face. When he faces her again, my heart drops into my belly on her behalf. "You are disqualified!" Three words and all the bones in my bones have dissolved and sipped out through the pores of my skin. My scalp starts itching.

Just like that?