This Time, I Accept Your Brother's Claim
Anyone know where to find this novel ? Or have the link for it?
First Life] Chapter 1.
"Make sure the abortion is clean. She isn't worthy of bearing my pups."
Those were the last words my mate, Lycan King Alaric, spat at me before throwing me into a freezing dungeon to die.
I held the ultimate power of Holy Maiden: whoever's Claim I accepted would instantly become the Lycan King.
I foolishly gave that crown to him, only to be rewarded with fifty years of torture so he could please his ordinary Lycan mistress.
But when I opened my eyes again, the Moon Goddess had pulled me back from hell.
I was sitting on the velvet sofa in the Monroe villa.
My father, Elder Arthur Monroe, handed me a thin file folder. It displayed the profiles of the five Royal Princes of the Sterling bloodline.
"Lia, the news from the Royal Lycans is in. The Claiming ceremony can't be delayed any longer," Arthur said gently.
"As the Holy Maiden, the Moon Goddess speaks through you. There are five sons. Whomever you accept a Claim from will become your Fated Mate and the next Lycan King. Have you decided?"
My gaze swept slowly across the five thin sheets of paper.
Alaric Sterling's photo was first.
He looked cold and noble, with a high bridge to his nose and thin lips pressed into a firm line. His dominating Lycan aura was palpable even through a simple photo.
Memories of my past life came rushing back like a flood.
He had gripped my chin, hissing, "your wolf and your Holy Maiden title disgust me"
He had roared with bloodshot eyes, his fangs bared, "If I had known that becoming the Lycan King meant mating with you, I would rather be an ordinary werewolf! I just want Chloe!"
He had marked and mated me with cold indifference every night, only to pull away every morning without a single glance back.
The pain, the hatred, the nights we spent tearing at each other with our claws until we were both bloody and bruised.
My father Arthur interrupted my memories, "Alaric is a fine Royal Prince. He's the most capable. Didn't you love following him around when you were pups? How about we go with Prince Alaric?"
I closed my eyes.
When I opened them, my finger slid across the papers and tapped firmly on the fifth photo.
"I choose Prince Ezra Sterling."
Arthur was stunned.
"The fifth Prince Ezra? But he just turned nineteen last month. This..."
"I choose him," I said softly but firmly.
"Dad, I've made up my mind."
Arthur stared at me for a few seconds. Seeing no hesitation in my eyes, he finally sighed. "Fine, if that is the Holy Maiden's decision."
"I'll head over to the Royal Palace and discuss the Claiming details."
He got up and left, leaving me alone in the living room.
I reached out and picked up the folder. I flipped back to the first page of the folder. There was the photo of the eldest Royal Prince, Alaric.
The man in the photo was still handsome and arrogant, possessing an innate sense of Royal Prince's superiority.
I stared at that face for a long time, until my eyes began to ache.
The Monroes and the Sterlings were generational allies and the two most powerful bloodlines.
Every two hundred years, a Holy Maiden would be born into the Monroe family, destined to mate with a Royal Prince. A mating had been arranged between their bloodlines long ago.
But in this generation, the Lycan King had five sons.
Therefore, the choice of a mate fell to me, the Holy Maiden, the closest Lycan to the Moon Goddess.
Whoever I chose would become the future Lycan King.
In my previous life, I had chosen Alaric without hesitation, full of joy at the thought of mating the Lycan I had loved since puphood.
But I was wrong.
After the Claiming ceremony, Alaric became a different Lycan.
He stopped smiling at me, stopped calling me Lia, and his wolf wouldn't even let me near him.
On our mating night, he went straight to the Lycan King's study and never stepped foot in the master bedroom again.
I cried and asked him why, and he only replied coldly, "Thalia Monroe, you are happy with the Claim you chose. I didn't."
I only found out later that Alaric already had someone else in his heart.
Chloe Carter.
She was just an ordinary Lycan, his academy sweetheart—the one that got away.
Because of her mediocre bloodline and immense ambition, the Royals had been dead set against her,forcing Alaric to accept my choice, Claim me, and become the Lycan King.
From then on, my mating bond became a prison for three Lycans.
Alaric gave all his tenderness to Chloe. He would hunt for her, remember every little thing her wolf liked, and stay up all night by her bedside when she was sick.
For me, there was only coldness and loathing.
He wouldn't mark me, yet he was forced to fulfill his duties to the Royal Pack to produce an heir.
He fucked me every time, but he dragged me to the healer to ensure I never bore his pups.
In my last life, the words Alaric said most often were—
"Thalia Monroe, if there is a next life, choose someone else to Claim you and become the Lycan King. I am willing to give up everything I have right now just to be with Chloe."
"You ruined my future with Chloe."
"I hate you."
I let out a soft laugh.
Fine then, Alaric. In this life, I'll give you what you wanted.
Closing the folder, I went back to my room and opened the bottom drawer of my dresser.
It was filled with things related to Alaric.
The carved bone trinkets he had casually handed me, the pen he had forgotten at my house, photos I had secretly taken during the Moon Festivals, and that cufflink he had dropped in my room while drunk—the one I had kept and never returned.
I took them out one by one, put them in a trash bag, tied it tight, and carried it downstairs to the bin outside the villa.
"Thalia."
A familiar, deep voice suddenly came from behind me.
I froze, then slowly turned around.
Alaric.
He was standing a few paces away. He was wearing a simple white shirt and black trousers.
Tall, fierce, and that cold, dominating Royal Lycan aura was exactly as I remembered it.
Looking at his face, I felt a momentary trance, as if the bloody wounds and painful past of my previous life were just a nightmare.
But I knew they weren't.
I had died once, in a cold, filthy cell.
"You..." Alaric stepped closer, his piercing gaze lingering on my face for a long time.
For a moment, his lips parted as if he was about to say something significant, but finally, he just knitted his brows.
"Thalia, you were reborn too, weren't you?"