"What do you think Lord Lyros really needs me for?"I help Leah carry the watering can and this time she doesn't stop me when I randomly water a batch of her roses. She always makes a point of telling me they're hers, and she treats them so tenderly like they're her children. I don't know if any of the warrior-class Lycans have children, and I'm not eager to ask.Maybe I'll ask Rhys. The thought of him brings a slight fluttering to my belly so I focus on the next batch of roses I have chosen to water.Leah stands up from the floor, satisfied with the roses she's inspected and she turns to face me instead. When she speaks she sounds slightly amused."Why would you assume I know anything about what the Lycan king is thinking?"The conspiratorial look she's giving me makes me catch on to what she's implying quickly and I flush a shade of embarrassed red."I didn't mean any of it that way.""What way Adelaide?" Okay, she's definitely amused "You think I moan the Lycan king's name at night
"Is training usually done shirtless?"There's a clack! clack! before Rhys responds to me."Lord Lyros is usually not present during training sessions. I did hear there were sightings of some rogues at the north border so maybe that's why he's here."I don't take my eyes off the two battling forms in the middle of the large room, but I don't have to before I detect the displeased notes in Rhys's voice.He's displeased at this?'My mind straight up blanks out when I see Cain avoid a hit so powerful that I'm sure it would have left an angry red bruise on his skin. My eyes are drawn to the lean and rippling muscles that make up his upper body, and damn!He looks like a perfectly sculpted piece of art. And never has a sculpture looked so good in leather pants. I would drool if I didn't value my life so much.Lyros advances on Cain again and this is the moment my heart stops. If I would drool for Cain, I would faint because of Lyros.His chest is riddled with scars. His skin isn't as pale
"Do you think Cain is okay?"The wooden pole comes crashing down against mine and I feel the force of it reverberate through my arms. My fingers are numb and my body is sore but I keep on blocking.Rhys sends another strike my way and I block. Another and I block.Another and I feel like my fingers are going to break and fall off. The wood makes a sharp clack as it comes into contact with mine and the thought crosses my mind to ask how he can keep on swinging that.I doubt he'll answer me and I block again. Rhy's eyes are dull. The bright green has dimmed to something darker, more brooding. I'm guessing he doesn't like something that happened today, but he won't say what.I feel something hit my shoulder and I scream.My pole goes clattering to the floor and I am blind for a moment. The pain is jarring. I look at Rhys and he's staring at me with a hooded expression. He looks away for a moment and drops his pole. "I think that's enough training for today. Don't go back to your room,
"Wakey wakey."Leah's voice is what pulls me out of my half-conscious state. I'm blinded by lights the minute I wake up. I cover my eyes immediately."Do the lights always have to be this intense? shit, It's not like you're performing surgery in here are you?"Leah's chuckle almost makes me forget the pain in my back.And my calves.And the lower part of my waist. Fuck, everywhere hurts!"Hey don't move!"I halt like someone pressed a pause button on me and Leah's hands as she rearranges my limbs are the only thing I can feel for a while. She must have used her gift to make my body numb, or I'm just obedient enough that I can be numb on command.I can tell the minute she's done because my body aches again and I groan. Leah chuckles and shakes her head."What were you thinking engaging in a battle with Lyros? He could have killed you."I grimace and try to move my shoulder. Fuck it hurts."I said he could have killed you, Cain.""We both know he wouldn't have."My answer comes out snap
"Can you try moving your hand a bit?" I nod and move my right hand. Leah is standing at the side of the bed, a palm on the skin of my right arm and her eyes staring at something I can't see. She looks unfocused and focused at the same time, whenever she speaks I feel tingles run down my arm. I take a deep breath and try to raise my right hand even more. It hurts like hell. Again there is the urge for me to break out in sobs but I won't do that. It'll just make me look silly. Coming in here crying and then going through a checkup sobbing. I'll definitely look silly. Another wave of tingles runs down the length of my right arm and when I focus on Leah again, I see her frowning. That can't be good. "Your arm's not totally damaged if that's what's making you turn pale so fast." I gulp and Leah takes her palm off my hand with a sigh. She sits at the edge of the bed I'm laying on and she directs a pitiful look at me. I don't know what to feel at this moment. I want to feel fear or
"Your stance is weak." Cain is still shirtless. His eyes are burning a hole into me right now and I grit my teeth in determination. It's just for a few more hours. "What exactly has Rhys been teaching you anyways?" I don't know if the words are meant to hurt me or if they're just passing commentary from him. I take a look at my new instructor and look away just as fast. It's dangerous to look at Cain while he's shirtless. Not good for the heart and equally harmful to blood pressure. If i could blow up I would have. My body still aches but it's a dull ache now. Leah gave me some pills before I left her wing and ever since then, I've been walking in a slightly buttery haze. My limbs feel strong now, but sometimes they just turn into jelly and I can barely stand. I should have gone back to my room but I came here instead. Another foolish decision, but I know there's something I'm not seeing here. Today is a Friday. In three more days I'll have to accompany the Lycan king to an
The buckets are filled to the brim with sand and not water when they are set in front of me. I knew it was foolish of me to think it would be water. I raise my eyes to meet Cain's and the message in his is clear. "You can always choose to give up." I won't. I grab the stick that has been attached to the handles of both buckets. They act like dumbbells now and I guess that is what they are after all. Weights to help me strengthen my body. Lifting it and placing the stick across my shoulders proves difficult but I still do it. By the time it's settled firmly, my legs are shaking. Cain gestures with a jut of his chin. "To the gardens and back. If you don't collapse then we can go further." I'm shaking like a wet chicken with each step I take and soon I feel like dropping. There's a mind-bending ache lashing down the path of my spine and by the time I get to the garden, it's doubled. I do not drop the huge buckets. I turn around and make my way back to the gates. Cain is still s
I watch as she walks behind Cain and avoids the gaze of everyone around her. My mansion is bustling with warriors and they all stare at my two hand-picked weapons. The wolf girl is far from being anything close to a weapon. She might prove useful in the future, and I believe I'll get to judge that in the next few days. My other weapon though, the gloomy silver-haired male who others have come to see as my second in command, is already known so it's normal for those around to stare at him. He hates it but he has to endure it, almost the same way he hates me but he has to endure me.The maid by my side has her eyes fixated on the floor. She's standing a few feet away and her heart is thumping in a similar manner that a rabbit's would once being chased by wolves, or rather how a werewolf's would when at the mercy of a Lycan.It brings back memories and that may be the only reason I keep her here. They all know I don't roll in the sheets with those who aren't worthy and the thought of d
Cain grabs onto my waist and kisses me, hauling me up and plastering me against him. His voice is a rough husk in my ear as he whispers “You did it, Adelaide.” Tears run down my eyes and he hugs me, holding my body to his as I sob into his chest. I don’t think I'd believe what just happened if someone told me it would a few months ago. All I wanted was to be free and run off to hell knows where, but I'm glad for what I did. Now I know I have parents, parents who loved me and a mother who would have done anything for me. I’m not just the pack omega destined to be maltreated and beaten for all of her life. The suffering I went through changed me. It gave me tougher skin and with the power of my heritage… I've just won back my kingdom. Freedom is mine if I want it. Freedom, and power, and love, if I want any of it, and all of it, and I do. I really do. I kiss Cain again, just to cement the fact that we are a thing now. We’re more than a thing. I’m wearing his ring. He’s as much
Lyros is no longer the all-powerful Lycan lording his majesty over the weak populace. We are powerful in our own right now.And in the face of real power, the Lycan king can only do one thing, cower, like a coward.Lyros attempts to run but almost like he knows it’s futile there’s no spirit in it. Lycan speed might have given him a chance, but running was just one final way of making a dash for his life.I flash and slam Lyros with my sword, the blade slapping the side of his face and drawing blood as he tumbles to the ground. I lean down and whisper close to his ear,“I don’t intend to kill you Lord Lyros.”I feel his heartbeat intensify as my words graze his ears but I continue confidently, “I intend to make you pay for all you’ve done. For the young girls you plucked from weak werewolf packs, only to kill them after torturing them, their dreams ended and hopes cut short because of your wickedness. I intend to make you pay for the cities you’ve attacked, the people you have killed,
I rip through the fabric of space as I burn.I feel the Lycan’s flame coursing through my being and it sets me on fire with the force of a supernova. I feel the strength of a thousand stars in me. The flames lick at my dress, burning it short and tattered, turning me into a version these men see, but which they don’t see at all.I wonder how many times Lyros has looked at me and seen nothing but skin. Nothing but clothes in pieces, flesh for the taking, a body to be claimed, and a mind to have fun with.I wonder how many times he’s seen skin and ignored the fire that rages in my heart. Ignored the love I have for the simple things. Ignored the fact that I am more than just skin and flesh, that I am heart and brains and emotion. That I am not his plaything.I am a Queen, and this Kingdom is mine.I kill the King beyond the border first. The battle with him takes less than an hour.In my hand is a sword hot as flame and solid as diamond. Rafie attacks me next so I slay him too.Raymel
We all stand in wait for her.Me, Rafie, Alizadeh, and Galan, all four Lycan kings, we wait for a weak omega female and something hollow rings in my chest. It was stupid to think I could find love.Even before the truth of Elara’s betrayal was revealed to me, I already knew. I already knew something was wrong with my heart and that I couldn't love properly anymore.I should have left it out of the cards, left love to those foolish enough to crave it but instead, I had to go ahead and try to keep her. Adelaide made me imagine something hot and exciting between us, something fiery and passionate, but at the end of the day, she’s expendable.She’s always been. Only I matter.A kingdom rests on my shoulders.“Is she on her way?”Rafie’s voice grates against my nerves but I nod. I’m not angry at him anymore. He’s doing what I didn't have the strength to do.Galan chortles where he stands and I feel my hands clench. I should kill him for using his trickster magic on me, but he saved my life
“How sweet.”Cain’s hand stops immediately and my foggy brain can’t even make sense of what’s happening. Has Cain taken me to the point of release this morning? Yes.I’m worried I might be a horndog.I turn to see Safira leaning on the doorframe. Her dress is so pretty, it drapes over her body like liquid and damn, I almost forgot how pretty she was.She smirks as her eyes meet mine, “Should I leave?” Cain answers sweetly before I can and his reply makes me chuckle. He goes “Yes please.”Safira’s hand twitches and a pillow launches itself at the back of Cain’s head. I let it hit and burst into subdued chuckles when he lets out a slight “oof.”Safirs sighs and shakes her head “You have a meeting in like six minutes. Will you be down?”Cain smirks lazily and shrugs. Safira’s gaze darts to me and she fixes me with an inquisitive stare, “Will he be down?”I nod because despite how much I want him to stay with me and kiss me silly, he’s already explained to me how things are here.He has
Diane visits me one last time in my dreams. She smiles at me and though my heart breaks, I smile back at her.I know this is the end. This is the last time I will see her, and as we stand on the sandy beach, our eyes locked on each other and the resemblance undeniable, I let her embrace me as a mother would her child, and I cry so bad my heart feels like it’s going to break.Diane kisses my forehead and wipes my tears, “You’re stronger than your pain my love. You know that right?”I want to nod. I desperately want to nod. The moment I saw Cain, the reality of what had happened to me seemed to come crashing down on me. The moment I saw Lyros instead of him, saw flashes of me and him behind my closed eyes each time I blinked….. How do I live with that?How do I live with the knowledge of all the things I did with the man I hate? A man who used me?I wish I could forget.“This is fire Adelaide,” I clutch Diane closer as she pats my hair down, tears still streaming down my cheeks “Like g
Anger makes my teeth crack as Adelaide asks me a question. She looks up at me, uncertainty in her eyes, her expression scared and bleak.“Would you still love me, if I showed you what Lyros and I have been doing these past few months?”Something threatens to snap in me but I know what this is.I’ve seen this before. I’ve done this once.I nod and Adelaide’s shoulders shudder. I can see how fervently she’s trying to control herself. How ferociously she’s attacking the emotions that are surging forth.Something’s happened, and when I ask her, she tells me everything.Trapped in a memory chain of the Lycan King’s making for three months, her magic being the thing he used to fuel that spell, Lyros turned her magic into her trap, and then she tells me what the memories were about. Entire years' worth of memories of her waiting for him patiently in the fortress.Memories of how he saved her from her pack and brought her to a better life in his care, Memories of how she became his personal p
Cain and Safira comfort me and tell me it’s okay. I can feel Cain’s concern for me like eyes at the back of my head.He’s always staring at me. He looks at me with such intensity that I feel all the things in my stomach churn and my thoughts go filthy. Memories flash past my eyes each time I close them.Memories of me and him in this world.Memories of me and him in a cave, happy sated smiles on our faces and our bodies totally unclad. We’re nude, and we’re comfortable.I see memories of deep and easy loving. Love that took me to the peak of pleasure, and threw me off the edge of my climax, again, and again, and again.My body begins to warm and Safira hits me on the arm, “For skies’ sake, Focus Adelaide. Are you sure you’re okay?”I turn to her and at the sight of familiar deeply tan skin and obsidian black eyes, a smile lights up my face. “I haven’t spent a day here and I’m already being mothered.”Safira grins and chuckles at that, and I feel light in my heart.She and Cain give
My heart melts with each passing moment i listen to Cain’s words and I almost can’t believe this is happening.My mind tells me if I blink he’ll go away, so I keep my eyes wide open, and I stare at him. I know it’s real when he stares at me in that same way.The lines of Cain’s face look new to me now. His warmth feels so familiar yet so alien. There’s an air around him that I can’t place, but I love every bit of it.I love it the way I love him, and when he leans in to kiss me again, I can feel the desperation in his touch. He’s as scared of me leaving as I am of him not being real in this moment. Finding him shouldn’t be this easy.It shouldn’t have been this easy, yet it was and I can’t seem to believe that.A sudden scream makes me cling to him like a frightened puppy until my brain realizes i know that voice.I know the texture of that squeall. I’ve heard that feminine tilt before.Safira’s scent invades my senses immediately and a warm body plasters itself to mine. She’s sobbing