The Hybrid King’s Secret Mate Chapter 02

The Hybrid King’s Secret Mate Chapter 02

“What’s this?”

Riley picked up a woven bracelet from beside the counter.

Dark red threads.

Dried blood stains.

And hanging from it was a tiny agate engraved with a family crest.

The moment I saw it, I recognized it immediately.

It was the protection charm I had made for Camden years ago.

“Is this some kind of human thing?” Riley tilted her head curiously.

I looked down at the bracelet quietly.

“No.”

“It belonged to the vampire royal family. A Rhodes family heirloom.”

“It nourishes a vampire’s core and strengthens their power.”

“It’s a magical blood amber.”

Back then, Camden wasn’t the hybrid king who ruled both vampires and werewolves.

He was just an unwanted outcast.

Half Lycan.

Half human.

Someone nobody wanted.

I found him one winter night beneath a streetlamp.

He was covered in blood, curled up in the snow.

Just before losing consciousness, he grabbed onto the hem of my dress.

He was dying.

So I turned him.

Ignoring my mother and brother’s objections, I brought the half-Lycan, half-vampire newborn back to the vampire castle.

I hired doctors.

Stayed beside him through nights of fever and unconsciousness.

And somehow, Camden stayed.

From then on, he became my little shadow.

Whenever I climbed over the castle walls to skip princess lessons, he waited below to catch me.

Whenever I was locked up for punishment, he silently stayed outside my door until midnight.

Once, when I got surrounded by rogues in the forest, he was the first person to stand in front of me.

Even after getting beaten bloody, he still refused to back down.

Then eventually, we fell in love.

We hid inside the white rose maze in the castle gardens, kissing like we had all the time in the world.

When Camden turned nineteen, he insisted on joining the harshest border military division.

“Paisley, wait for me.”

He kissed my hair again and again while holding me tightly.

“Once I earn enough merit and prove myself, I’ll come back openly and make you my bonded mate.”

“I’ll come back.”

“This lifetime, I only want you.”

That night, I cried while baking his favorite Bloody Mary cake until dawn.

Then I secretly slipped this bracelet into his pocket before he left.

Just so it could protect him.

Mother and my brother never liked him.

But they couldn’t stand seeing me cry.

In the end, they still used the Rhodes family influence to help clear his path.

Over the next two years, Camden’s name began appearing in military reports constantly.

Battle after battle.

Victory after victory.

He led war campaigns along the vampire and werewolf borders and crushed pack after pack.

The entire vampire world started talking about him.

The day he finally returned to the castle, my hands shook from excitement.

But that same day…

My identity was exposed.

I wasn’t the current Vampire King’s biological daughter.

I was the child who’d been swapped at birth by a maid years ago.

My real parents were commoners living in the slums, washing clothes for others just to survive.

I wasn’t pureblood royalty at all.

The real daughter of the Vampire King, Veda Rhodes, returned to the castle that same day.

Mother held my hand and promised gently, “Even if Veda comes back, you’re still my daughter. You’ll always be part of this family.”

My brother, the vampire prince, ruffled my hair with his usual smile.

“Paisley, nothing’s going to change.”

Camden didn’t even report to the king first after returning.

Instead, he ran straight to me and pulled me tightly into his arms.

“I can protect you now.”

“Even if your family abandons you, I won’t.”

At those words, the fear in my chest finally settled.

Maybe because of guilt, I started putting Veda first in everything.

I took her shopping.

Taught her royal etiquette.

Anything good, I let her choose first.

I was terrified she might feel even slightly uncomfortable.

And Veda always stayed close to me too.

She linked arms with me everywhere we went and called me “big sister” sweetly.

Back then, I truly believed I had the perfect family.

The perfect mate.

Later, whenever Camden and I went on dates, we started bringing Veda along too.

At first, Camden hated it.

He complained constantly that she ruined our alone time.

Meanwhile, Veda would get angry and snap that Camden was just a hybrid and didn’t deserve to stand beside her.

I spent all my time trying to smooth things over between them.

And somehow, little by little…

Things changed.

I didn’t even notice when it started.

Camden began remembering Veda’s favorite foods.

Her clothing size.

The jewelry styles she liked.

And Veda started constantly asking me about Camden’s childhood.

Then came the attack on Christmas Eve.

The rogues shattered the blackout glass windows.

And right in front of me…I watched Camden instinctively pull Veda into his arms first.

Protecting her completely.

While I was left exposed beneath the sunlight.

Smoke rose from my burning skin instantly.

Later, inside the hospital wing, Camden held my hand tightly while explaining himself.

“Paisley… I thought Veda was you.”

I didn’t say a word.

But my heart had already sunk into ice.

Somewhere deep down…

Something had completely fallen apart.

The day my stitches were removed, I left the hospital early.

Then I walked into the white rose maze in the castle garden.

And there…I saw two overlapping shadows.

Camden’s fingers were tangled in Veda’s hair as he kissed her slowly.

Deeply.

Like nothing else in the world existed.