Chapter 5 The black wolf

"Strip off all your clothes, slave," Ardan commanded Lyra.

Lyra was stunned, but she had to obey. No one dared defy the King's orders. Until she removed her last undergarment, Ardan approached her. His large hands started trailing down her collarbone, stopping at her nipples. He pinched and twisted them with his fingers.

Lyra's body began to tremble uncontrollably.

"Mmm..." A moan escaped Lyra's lips. "Please, don't do this, my King..."

"Don't you like this, my slave?" Ardan paused, sneering coldly.

"This is all a misunderstanding," Lyra tried to explain.

"Enough!" Ardan roared. "I won't believe the excuses of a shameless whore who dared betray her mate!"

Tears streamed down Lyra's face. The Moon Goddess gave her the best, but also the worst fate.

"Reject me, my King," Lyra demanded stubbornly.

"No, I won't," Ardan flung her to the ground. In the cruelest tone, he said, "You will endure far worse treatment than this, my slave."

After Ardan left, his beta Arthur came in and took her to the car. When Lyra saw Ardan's figure, she instinctively moved farther away from him. What would she ultimately face?

***

The car ride to the palace was overwhelmed by a heavy silence, none of them saying anything to the other. This would be the perfect opportunity to reveal Devon’s true face, but Lyra doubted the king would believe her words even if she wanted to ignore Devon’s warning.

Julian’s disgust for her was so apparent he did not need to be looking at her for her to realise how much he hated being in her presence. The whole ride to the palace, he did not spare her a glance, instead working on his tablet.

Lyra stole a few glances at him now and then. He was tall, handsome, and well-built. She swallowed and looked away, not wanting to let his looks crowd her senses. He did not like her. A male like him–not just an Alpha but a Lycan King at that–must hate being mated to an Omega like her. But he was the Lycan King, who enforced the law that forbade Alphas from rejecting their mates. Surely, he wouldn’t go against his own rules, right?

After a few hours’ drive, they arrived at the royal palace. Lyra was entranced by the beauty and grandeur of the palace, not believing she was really there. As they went, various people greeted the king, with their curious gazes directed at Lyra.

Voices floated from all around them, many of them wondering whether the female accompanying the king was his mate. Everybody in the kingdom was waiting for the day the king would find his mate, so when they saw him in the company of a strange female, that was their initial assumption.

Julian avoided the whispers until one maid stepped forward, appraising Lyra. “Welcome back, Your Majesty,” she greeted. “Did you find your mate? Is this her?”

“No,” Julian denied, his voice sharp with annoyance. “She is not.” Then, he turned to his Beta. “Assign her a room in the servant’s dorm. She should stay there with the other slaves.”

Asher nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

After that, Julian stalked away, not sparing a single glance at Lyra. If she had any doubts about whether he intended on announcing her as his mate, they were settled. He was so ashamed of having a mate like her that he did not want other people to know.

Asher led Lyra to the servant’s dorm and into a small room that barely had enough size for anything else beside the bed. Sitting at the edge of the bed, Lyra felt funny. The Lycan King she had expected to save her from her horrible reality turned out to treat her in the same manner as her former mate.

That night there was a full moon. Lyra lay awake in bed, unable to fall asleep. Deep in the night after everyone had fallen asleep, she heard strange noises from outside. She lay still, trying to figure out what was going on.

When the noises continued, she got out of bed and tiptoed out of the dorm, careful to not wake any of the other servants. Some part of her wanted to stay inside and ignore whatever was going on, but another felt inexplicably drawn towards whatever was waiting outside.

It’s probably nothing, she told herself as she went. Maybe someone was in trouble and needed help. That did sound like a wolf, after all…

Once outside, she headed towards the back of the building, following the sounds. Thanks to the full moon, the area was well-illuminated. The farther she walked, the louder the sounds got. Something rustled behind a flower bush, and before she could investigate further, something jumped into her line of sight, and then something heavy pushed her to the ground.

She fell on her back and found herself facing a huge black wolf whose eyes glowed red in the night. Her heart thundered in her chest as she panicked. The wolf was male and so huge it felt like a ton of bricks was pinning her to the ground.

She froze as his crimson eyes washed over her, instilling in her a fear that she felt deep in her bones. He was an Alpha male, and the terror his dangerous aura instilled in her was so much more than what she had experienced with Devon.

The wolf was breathing heavily, as if being physically exerted. Lyra could not do anything but look back into his terrifying eyes. Even if she had the strength to fight him off, her limbs were paralysed with fear.

A squeak left her mouth as he swept his paw forward, latching onto the neckline of her dress. “Please don’t–” she began to plead for her life, bracing for pain. But instead of striking her, he tore her dress into two.

She tried to grab the two sides and pull them together, but he growled and caught the fabric between his fangs, tearing it further. Her efforts to stop him were useless, as he soon tore the entire dress into pieces until she lay on the ground naked.

“Let me go,” she sobbed, curling into herself and using her hands to cover herself. “Please let me go.”

She could not believe this was happening. Wasn’t the palace supposed to be the safest place in the kingdom?

“Open your legs,” a rough voice roared in her mind.