Chapter 10: The Mad King’s Daughter, Ava!

AXEL VOSS

Axel's grip tightened, fingers digging into Ava's fragile arm. The space between them crackled with an unseen energy, thick with loathing.

The scent of lavender that clung to her skin—innocent, delicate—but his mind twisted the scent into something else gradually, something darker.

Her tear-stained eyes blurred into something grotesque in his mind. He couldn't see the plea; he couldn't see the fear in her eyes anymore. His mind was twisting and morphing with every blink until all that remained was the image of the mad king grinning back at him.

The memory surged forward. He was back in that cold, firelit room at his Pack Stronghold again, and the same lavender scent that clung to Ava, with the same mocking smile, was on the mad king's face.

Axel's eyes were stained with tears. His two hands and two legs were chained to the huge ironwork antique in his father's sophisticated chamber by the mad king. He had seen his father's head cut off by the cowardly king himself.

The mad k