The Lycan King’s Second Chance Mate by Sumi

ASHANTI'S POV.

"Alpha Reagan." My voice comes out as a miserable whisper. Tears well up in my eyes as I turn to face him fully.

He's here.

It's seven am in the morning and he's here.

"Ashanti." His voice is almost inaudible. He looks so sad, so broken. The devastation in his tone is almost palpable. Just the sight of him has triggered my tearglands to start producing tears.

God, I hate that he has the power to makeso emotional.

"Good morning, Alpha Reagan." Tessa's quiet greeting breaks the awkward silence in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Tessa." He returns her greetings.

Tessa bows to him before turning to faceagain.

"I'll give you two sprivacy." I start shaking my head and holding her back.

"No." I whisper with a shaky voice. "I don't want to be left in here alone with him. Please don't go." "I have to." She gives a gentle pat on my hands. "You two have to talk. I'll be right outside." I try to hold her back, but she peels my hands off her arm and walks out of the kitchen, leaving just Alpha Reagan,and my ragged breaths.

I don't know why I'm so nervous, but God I'm nervous. I run haphazard fingers through my hair. It's useless. I'm standing there like a lump of nonsense. I flush a glance at him. I'd like to die a little. My heart jumps in my chest when he darts towards me. Soon, we are standing barely inches apart, facing each other. My heart is pounding in my ears. My knees are about to break.

"Ashanti." His baritone voice utters the letters of my nagain. I feel oddly warm and numb at the stime.

This is a man I know inside out. I have slept with him. Spent good times with him. We've had our ups and downs in our past relationships. The last thing he is tois a stranger and I should not be feeling all these things I'm feeling now, but I am anyway.

I clear my throat. Give him a stern look and pray in my heart for my facial muscles not to betrayand keep that serious look.

"What are you doing here?" I try but fail to keep my voice firm and serious. It comes out like a nervous, pathetic sound that mocks my efforts to keep it stern with this man standing before me.

"I cto see you..." His voice is low. His usual powerful and domineering demeanour is nowhere to be found. He looks broken... devastated and there is something lurking in his deep brown eyes. Semotion I cannot even begin to identify. "To know how you're faring." "As you can see, I'm doing alright. You can leave now." "I am not going to leave, Ashanti." "But you should. Go be with Selena. She surely needs you." At the mention of the nSelena, he exhales so hard I feel his breath fan my face. "Ashanti..." "Don't you see..." My pitch rises and so do my shoulders. "This is a sign." "There is no sign. We're still carrying out an investigation on the issue." "I'm not fit to be your Luna. I have caused you nothing but problems, I even left you at a very crucial time. I went out of sight for two good years. That certainly angered the Moon goddess. It got her to understand that I was not a good match for you, that's why she brought back your first mate. You have to go back to Selena. She's the one for you." "Ashanti no. You're wrong. That's not how this whole mate thing works... I..." His words are interrupted by the sound of his ringtone. He shoots a glance at his jacket where the sound is coming from and waves and looks away, ignoring it.

"That's not important." "You don't know that. Answer it." "Ashanti it's not..." "I said answer the fucking call!" My lungs nearly collapse from that scream. The poor guy quickly retrieves the phone from his pocket and answers the call. I know I shouldn't pay attention to it, but I do and my mood turns even more sour when I hear the person on the line say; "Selena is awake and she's crying again. Nothing we do or say to her has succeeded in getting her to calm down. You need to cover right away. We are out of options." Alpha Reagan quickly ends the call and looks at me. His expression is like someone who's about to burst into tears.

"She needs you." Those words slice my heart in two halves as they burrow their way out of my chest.

She needs you.

That sounds ridiculous! "I don't want to go and see her!" 'I don't want you to either, Sir!' "But you have to. She's your mate and you have obligations towards her. Go fulfil them, lest you anger the Moon goddess." "Ashanti please..." "Leave." I don't dare to meet his gaze as I say that word. I couldn't. It hurts too much to say that to him.

"That's not what you want."

"What I want isn't important right now. Just go. Please." My eyes are filling with tears and I'm blinking them back and I'm feeling the burn in my throat and everything hurts. Stupid heart. Stupid tears. Stupid Selena! Stupid life! "Alright then..." His deep voice breaks the miserable silence. My heart lurches. I look at him without meaning to.

"I'll go, but I'll be back. Soon." "I'd rather you don't cback here." I lie.

"We both know that's a lie, Ashanti." His voice is dangerously husky. His words tingle on my skin, "You wantto cback and I will." My entire body goes stiff when he takes two steps closer. Now, our bodies are almost touching. I stare up at his face. His handsome, perfectly sculpted face.

His deep, charming brown eyes are staring down atand oh, how I want to reach out with my fingers and trace the perfectly sculpted lines of his face that's nothing but muscle.

Perfect.

That's what he is.

He leans forward, his face inching closer and closer to mine, his lips aiming for my forehead where they leave a gentle kiss on it. A kiss that drugsinto a delirium I never want to escape.

"You are my life, Ashanti. Tellingto give up on you is like askingto give up on my life. I can never do that. I promise to make this work."

And with that, he swivels and makes a majestic exit from the kitchen. L h stand there, perplexed dumbfounded with my heart racing through my blood and spinning everything into a cyclone of intensity. What the hell was that? And why does it makeso happy?