The wooden door was locked."Common, knock again," Lucas said impatiently.Dolph rapped on the door again with his knuckles and a groan came from inside the small, but beautiful bungalow where the pack's seer stayed. Madeline was a woman of sixty-two who had this special power of vision right from when she was a child. She had been the pack's seer for the past thirty-eight years but Lucas himself hardly consulted her. Dolph did because everything she had predicted happened, Lucas only went to her reluctantly and when it was very necessary, like now. The wooden door swung open slowly and a frustrated voice from inside said, "Now who the bloody hell is that knocking on my door crazily by this fucking time..." Her old but strong and firm voice trailed off when she set her eyes on Lucas. "Oh, it's the king." Her tone changed but the bored look in her washed-out blue eyes didn't. "Please, come in."She ushered them in and looked into the dark before closing the door behind her. "So, wh
Wendy was so furious.She could have just walked in there and murdered the stupid seer. How could she say such stupid things to Lucas? How could she fill his head with such jargon? Such gibberish? She clenched her fists as she eavesdropped from an open window of the bungalow. Even while she listened, Brenda had already made up her mind, Madeline had to go. Lucas sat quietly for a long time, just contemplating and thinking of what to do, of what to say, of how to handle this situation. "So, what made her run away? Is it this same realization?" He asked. Madeline shook her head, "No, Riley is pregnant with your cubs, Lucas."It couldn't stop, it couldn't just stop. The shocking news seemed to go on and on and Dolph couldn't take it anymore. He rose to his feet, running his hands through his hair and blowing air furiously at his cheeks. "Oh, no way!...No way!" He mumbled in disbelief and walked over to the window Brenda was eavesdropping from. When she saw Dolph coming, she got over
Brenda forgot something.The point she was supposed to have considered a long time ago only struck her when she arrived at her pack in a feat of rage. "That bitch!" She yelled suddenly as she held a glass of water in her hand. "How did I just remember this now?" She asked herself. "Fuck!" She bellowed.Her grip on the glass tightened so hard until the point that it shattered and the water splashed everywhere. A maid who had been observing ran towards her with a look of shock and horror, "Oh my goodness, Princess Brenda!" She exclaimed and bent to pick up the splinters of the glass.She suddenly paused, the water spilled on the floor was turning pink, no it was a deep shade of red. When the maid looked up, she saw that it was Brenda who was bleeding from a cut on her fingers. "Dear me!" The maid rushed out of the room and came back holding a napkin. Brenda was still fuming, completely oblivious to the scene the maid was absorbed with. How could Lucas do this to her? That wasn't even
They moved in the dark like the highly trained professionals they were.They were so stealthy that when they walked into the house Brenda didn't realize it until they were next to her. She almost jumped when she saw Shaw and his men, dressed in all black. "Oh, my fucking goodness! You startled me!" She exclaimed with sleep-laden eyes.She looked at the huge wall clock in the living room, it was almost three in the morning, she stared at Shaw eagerly and questioningly. "We are sorry to have startled you, Princess Brenda. " He said slowly. "The work is done." Just the news she had been waiting for all these hours, it was a melody to her ears. She nodded at him, not wanting to show how excited and satisfied she was about Madeline's death. No one, absolutely no fucking person could talk about her in such a way and go off so easily, it couldn't just happen. "Good, but that's not all, Shaw." She said and he raised an eyebrow at her. She didn't even need to ask if he had carried out the m
When her eyes opened again, Riley's blood turned cold immediately.A very fetid smell came to her nostrils and she suddenly realized what was happening when her blurry eyes saw the black, ominous objects around her. Vultures! They had surrounded her, four of them, thinking she was dead. She was so tired and weak, but the fear of the sharp beaks of the ugly birds digging into her flesh made a rush of adrenaline fuel her for a short period. The birds watched with their crooked necks and hideous bald heads keenly and when their prey moved, they took steps back. Riley's groping hand found and gripped a stone and she hurled it at one of the big birds. They scampered away, but not too far, they hung and waited on low branches of nearby trees. With a desperate effort, Riley struggled to her feet and tottered forward. Her knees felt wobbly and like they were going to give up on her anytime soon, her body was burning with exhaustion. She was starving, her whole body was weakened, languid,
"Nothing? Nothing?" Lucas bellowed as Dolph walked in with the news.Dolph sat down on a chair and breathed deeply, "You've got to relax, Lucas. The men haven't found her yet but I assure you, they will." He said. "There's no fucking way she can outrun them for long, you know, those are trained men and they know the forest better than she does. They'll surely get her.""I'm not fucking convinced, if she remains in that bloody forest for too long, who knows what will happen to her!" Lucas said, his voice angry and worried. "You know her scent, don't you?" Dolph nodded, "Yes, I do." He replied."If by this evening, those men do not have anything reasonable to report to you, we'll move in tomorrow," Lucas said, his face contorted and his eyebrows furrowed. "I won't let her get away, not with my child in her womb and not after all that stuff Madeline said.""Thought you didn't take Madeline's answers that seriously," Dolph remarked. "Well, this is different, when I get fed up with this
The other maids in the house stared at her as though she was an alien that had just fallen from space. This town was so small and old-fashioned that a visitor was such a rare thing. In the room Riley had been kept in, from time to time the maids snuck in one by one to have a look at her while the others peeped from the door which was left ajar.Riley had been unconscious for almost six hours and she woke up when she felt something poking at her face. Slowly and with a groan, she opened her eyes and stared at the startled maid who was poking at her cheeks in awe. The maid froze, terrified, she let out a scream that rang throughout the room and Riley was so surprised by her actions. The other maids at the door, noticing what had happened scampered away but when they turned, they froze as they saw Caleb staring at them."What the hell are you all doing here?" He bellowed and they bowed their heads and walked briskly away, leaving the frightened maid stranded in the room. "Ugh! They can b
Caleb was extremely nice to her and he had no other intentions towards her other than to help her recuperate fully. The only doctor in the small town was quite busy when Caleb walked into his small office in a stone building. When the bald, middle-aged doctor saw that it was Caleb and he noticed the urgency in his voice, he decided to suspend what he was doing."What's the matter, Caleb?" The doctor asked."You need to come with me, doctor, I've got an injured girl who fainted on my doorstep. She's got bruises all over her." Caleb replied in haste.The doctor frowned but he didn't ask any questions until they were on their way, walking briskly towards Caleb's beautiful house. "You said she fainted on your doorstep? Who is she?" The doctor asked.That was a question Caleb couldn't answer, he didn't know who Riley was or where she had come from, all he knew was her name. "I don't know, doc." He replied and the doctor shot a stern look at him from the corner of his eyes and asked in bewi
Riley struggled to contain her temper, she wanted to hurl at Lucas so badly, but she held back the urge.The startled lady jumped off the desk and straightened her skirt with a look of embarrassment and shock on her face. At that moment, the secretary ran in, panting heavily and her eyes widened as she saw the scene in front of her. “King Lucas, I’m so sorry, I couldn’t restrain the queen from barging in.” She said apologetically, afraid that she might lose her job. Lucas, who had recovered from the brief moment of shock, waved her away. “It’s okay, you can go.”The secretary couldn’t have gotten out of there quicker, it was as hot as a hell hole due to the heat between Riley and Lucas.Riley glared at the lady and suddenly became angry that she was still there. “Get the fuck out, you fucking whore!” She bellowed spitefully and the lady, who was shivering from head to toe, rushed out. Riley slammed the door after her and faced Lucas, who was now on his feet with a cigarette and lig
Riley cried bitterly that night, she felt so betrayed by Lucas that she thought all the love for him she had left was gone, but it wasn’t. She still loved him dearly, but she hated the guts he had to put her through this sort of torture. Ignoring her and making her feel less of a woman wasn't enough for him, he had to sleep around too and that hurt her. Worse was the fact that she was sure he didn't care about her feelings. He knew he was doing this to her intentionally, but it had gone way too far. “What an asshole you are, Lucas, a fucking asshole!” she cried and buried her face in a pillow.She cried herself to keep and all this while,Lucas didn't step foot into the room. “Now you’ve messed up big time, how do you explain this?” Dolph asked, running his fingers through his hair in frustration, this was complete madness! Lucas's face was unconcerned and he just shrugged, “Explain? To who? I owe nobody an explanation for anything, Dolph.” He said flatly. “Yeah, no one except yo
Dolph cleared Lucas's desk before leaving the pack office that evening.He was exhausted and there were some documents he had to drop off at the pack house so Lucas could sign them the next morning before coming to the office.He drove to the pack house, his eyes heavy and tired, he strolled in to find the queen seated in the living room."Hey there, Riley." He said languidly as he walked past her.Riley who had a frown on her face turned to watch him walk away, it seemed like Dolph was dragging himself rather than walking."Hey, Dolph." She said, but he was already out of sight.Riley was getting tired of this pretty quickly, she just wished Lucas would come to his senses soon. His negligence of her and his ill attitude just made her stay here unbearable.She wasn't just some doll or effigy he kept in his house to portray the crown of the queen. She wasn't an object of the throne, she was a human too, who had feelings and emotions and needed care and love. Lucas ruthlessly denied her
Lucas left his office later that day with an angry look on his face. He walked out of the pack office building and his chauffeur brought the car around the building. “Where to, King Lucas?” He asked.Lucas didn't want anyone to know where he was this particular night, so he decided to drive himself there. “Don't worry, I’ll take it from here.” He said to the driver who got out and handed the key to him.Lucas drove for a while, silently and just taking in the beautiful atmosphere of the night, and then he decided that it was time to leave. The more he thought about Riley, the more erect he became and his craving for satisfaction became unbearable. He drove out of the pack and headed into the city, it had been a while since he headed out alone. Usually, he went with Brenda but of course, she was unavailable and very much out of his reach.He went to a huge pub where he had been a regular before he was handed the prestigious crown of his pack, he was still remembered there and even ack
Lucas developed a habit of keeping late nights and soon, it grew into something more.From getting drunk occasionally, to going to clubs and picking up different beautiful ladies. Everything usually ended in the pub or club, but that also started changing too. That night, after Dolph’s conversation with Riley, he became more worried about the relationship between the king and queen of the pack. It was like a bond no longer existed between the both of them but everyone else in the pack was too blind to see it or detect anything wrong. He couldn’t go about his responsibilities properly for the rest of the day and that also included his favorite sport, sex. She stopped riding him for a while and just sat on him, but still it took a short while for him to realize that she had stopped.“What’s the matter?” He asked, his eyes still looking dazed from his thoughts.There was a look of annoyance on her face as she got off him and left the bed, completely naked. She picked up his cigarette ca
Staying with Lucas in the same room wasn’t going to change much or mend the acrid relationship between them but Riley was still going to give it a try.She was determined to win Lucas over again, but it proved to be a rather herculean task as time went on. She realized that at first, their love had blossomed effortlessly, Lucas had fallen in love with her at first sight, and then there was also the bond between them. Riley had forgotten how difficult it was to try and make a man fall in love with her ever since she met Lucas, but now, she was going to discover it again.She had a nightmare of Lucas treating her the same way Shawn had and the thoughts of it just became more and more frightening as she thought about it. One thing she was sure of was that Lucas would never imprison her or hit her, he also would never rape her. Whatever phase he was going through now was just the acceptance at stage all over again and once he finally came to terms with his emotions, all would be fine. But
What Riley thought was a good situation turned out to be hell and she found herself wishing she could leave the pack. Over the next four months or so, her stay with Lucas as his Luna could be described as traumatic and it got into her head so much that she often fell into depression.The next day, after her coronation, Lucas assigned her to another room and she left the maid’s quarters, but she wasn’t staying with him in the same bedroom either. He moved her and all her belongings to another bedroom and that made her confused. “Why do we have to stay separately from each other now that I’m your Luna, Lucas?” She asked.He stared at her impassively, “Because that is how I want it to be, You just wear the crown and bear the title of the luna of my pack, there’s nothing special between us.” He replied indifferently. “And what about the child? What about your child, Lucas?” She asked, suddenly developing a feeling of resentment for him. “My child will be well taken care of. Anytime y
There was a feast later on and then a dance.Lucas left her alone for some time and was lost in the crowd. She too was lost in a small circle of ladies who had gathered around her and were trying to know more about her. She was supposed to join a clique specifically for the Lunas of the Lycan queens and one even confessed something rather embarrassing to her. “I’ll be honest right now, Riley,” One of the other queens around her said. “We already had a special towel made for the incoming queen of the Shadow pack and to be honest, we already had Brenda’s name inscribed on it.” The others laughed softly and one added, “That’s no big issue, we’ll make another one right before our next meeting.”This was when Dolph stepped in and interrupted them, “Excuse me, ladies, if you don’t mind I would like to have the newly crowned queen.” He said politely and they giggled.Riley was relieved that Dolph had whisked her away from them when he did, she became bored of their company very quickly and
Out of everyone in the room, Lucas was the only one who was neither shocked nor surprised. He saw the look on everyone’s face, his eyes caught the expression on Brenda’s but he didn’t look at her or her father or the few people he had brought along from their pack. Instead, he placed his hands on Riley’s arms and helped her to her feet. Her heart was beating so fast and heavily, there were goosebumps all over her skin. She was so shy standing in front of all these people who knew nothing about her.Another thing was, she was happy, her heart busted with jubilation the moment Lucas had said that Brenda couldn’t be his Luna and that had made her smile until the moment she heard her name. Lucas gestured to her and together, they both turned and faced everyone in the hall. There was no applause yet, everyone was still recovering from the shock of what had just happened. It was Dolph who started it. He clapped and slowly, everyone else in the room joined in. Everyone except an angry Brend