The Play-Toy Of Three Lycan Kings-Chapter 438: Justice

ADAM

I had seen warriors before. But I had never seen anything like Sage.

She hovered above the arena like something carved from light itself—golden fire licking over her skin, her hair lifting in an unseen current, her eyes burning with a power that was not merely magic.

It was divinity.

My chest felt too small to contain what billowed inside it. Awe. Pride. And something deeper—something dangerously close to reverence.

She was magnificent!

And she was mine. My mate.

The word still felt fragile in my mind, like if I held it too tightly it would shatter.

Years ago, I had felt my heart lurch at the sight of her—before I knew her name, before I understood fate had already written her into my bones. And then she had been gone. Lost.

And I had carried that hollow ache longer than I admitted to anyone. But now?

Now she stood in the center of the arena, blazing like a newborn sun, and I lived on the razor’s edge of disbelief that I had found her again. That this time, she would stay.

That I would spend the rest of my life waking up beside her. Growing old with her. Fighting for her. Loving her.

My throat tightened as she tore the darkness out of the Queen and cast it back to whatever abyss it crawled from. The sky cleared. The air stilled. Then the arena exploded into cheers.

I didn’t even realize when I rose to my feet. Or when I joined my brothers in shouting. Or when my voice turned hoarse from it.

Noah barked out a laugh beside me and slammed his shoulder into mine. "You lucky bastard!" he shouted over the roar, grabbing my arm and shaking it. "That’s your mate!"

I laughed—actually laughed—my eyes stinging as I clasped his forearm hard.

"I know," I breathed, my voice breaking despite myself.

I didn’t care. Didn’t care that my vision blurred. Didn’t care that my hands trembled.

I pulled Noah into a rough hug, then dragged Daniel in with him until we were a tangled mess of fists and shoulders and laughter.

For a moment, I felt sixteen again. Invincible.

When we broke apart, I noticed Feliq standing a few steps away, watching the arena with a small, knowing smile on his lips.

The Prince of the Ancients. One older than most kingdoms.

And yet, I didn’t think.

I just crossed the space and grabbed him in a hug too.

He stiffened in clear shock. Then, after a second, he chuckled low and patted my back. Thank gods he had a mate, could feel emotions... I wondered what he would have done otherwise...

Maybe throw me off the bleachers.

I huffed a laugh as Darius flashed through my thoughts then, as I broke away from the hug.

My newest friend. He would have loved to see this.

Would have probably making some crude joke about how I looked. But fate had twisted kindly for him too—finding his mate in Freda. I was still absurdly happy for him.

It seemed... fitting. That we both found what we thought we’d lost.

The cheers thundered on around us. But gradually, they shifted. A murmur rippled through the arena like wind moving through dry leaves.

My smile faded when I turned. And the blood drained from my face.

The gates. The underground gates used to hold the beasts during the trials—

They were opening. One by one. With a heavy, groaning grind of stone and iron.

And from the darkness beneath, they emerged. Those monstrous beasts.

I remembered one of them. Years ago, when Rachel had released it during the contest in a desperate attempt to kill Sage—when she had been Dora then. Just one beast had nearly turned the arena into carnage.

But this—

This was not one. This was all four. And together, they blew my mind, sent my heart into panic mode.

The first stepped fully into view—a creature of obsidian scales and molten cracks that glowed between them like veins of lava. It stood as tall as the outer towers of the arena, its neck thick as a fortress pillar, its eyes twin furnaces burning with primal rage. Each step it took made the ground tremble beneath our feet.

The second followed—a pale, skeletal thing with elongated limbs and a ribcage that pulsed with sickly violet light. Its skin clung too tightly to its bones, stretched thin over something that moved beneath it. Its mouth split open vertically instead of horizontally, revealing rows upon rows of serrated teeth.

The third beast was covered in jagged crystalline growths—translucent spires erupting from its back and shoulders like a corrupted crown. Its body shimmered between solid and vapor, phasing in and out of visibility as if reality struggled to contain it.

And the fourth...

The fourth was the worst.

It resembled a wolf in shape, but that was where the familiarity ended. Its fur was a writhing mass of shadow, its limbs too long, its claws gouging trenches into stone. Its eyes were voids—empty, depthless pits that swallowed light whole.

All of them were as tall as buildings. All of them radiated violence. And together, they blotted out the sky.

A cold wave slid down my spine.

Without thinking, I moved. I would reach her... Rules be damned. The duel had been broken the moment those gates opened.

But a firm hand caught my arm.

Feliq.

"Wait," he said calmly.

I jerked against his hold. "Wait?" I snapped, fury flashing hot. "Do you want my mate dead?"

For a heartbeat, whatever fragile camaraderie I had felt toward the ancient prince threatened to shatter.

But he laughed.

Actually laughed.

My vision reddened.

Yet his hand tightened on mine. "Look," he said quietly.

So I did. And my jaw slackened. The beasts were approaching Sage, while the crowd had fallen into terrified silence.

Rachel’s shrill voice pierced through it, screaming at the creatures to hurry—to kill her... my mate.

But Sage?

Sage was smiling.

She stood there in the center of the field, golden light still humming faintly around her skin. And she beckoned. Actually beckoned them closer.

The first beast halted a few steps from her. Then... It bowed.

The others followed. Massive, catastrophic beings lowering themselves in submission before my mate.

A stunned sound left my throat.

She laughed—a bright, unrestrained sound—and reached out to touch the molten-scaled one’s snout. It leaned into her hand like an overgrown hound seeking affection.

She moved between them easily, brushing her fingers over crystal, over shadow, over bone. The wolf-like beast lowered its massive head to her shoulder.

She looked... delighted.

Rachel’s shrieks turned hysterical, as her siblings stared in shock.

But the Queen herself... She did not look surprised. She looked like she had expected it.

And maybe I should have... Didn’t the beast from years ago bow too?

Beside me, Feliq released my arm. "I told you," he murmured.

I barely heard him.

Movement near the royal stands caught my attention. One of the professors from the magic academy—Professor Bullocks, if memory served—strode forward with unexpected boldness. Two other teachers flanked him.

They stopped before the Queen’s children. Even from this distance, I saw the rage in their eyes.

I heard Bullocks’ voice carry, sharp and commanding, ordering them down into the arena to stand beside their mother.

The trio snarled in protest.

Then Bullocks lifted his hand—and magic sparked along his fingers. Disgust radiated from him, power potent enough for the Queen’s children to stiffly obey and descend from the strands, and cross into the field.

"Justice!" someone shouted, as the murmurs from the crowd began to build.

Then another. "Justice! Justice!"

The chant spread like wildfire.

Well, they were right to demand that. It’s been a long time coming.