Chapter 3

The Awakening & Betrayal

Ayla’s eyes opened and she felt like she was laying on the ceiling and looking down on the floor. She tried getting up, but felt lightheaded and stayed back down.

She caressed her forehead, wondering what made her lose consciousness. Upon hearing Alpha Asher’s voice Ayla stood up to find Luna Kali awake and in Asher’s arms.

“Luna Kali,” Ayla’s voice was filled with excitement. “You are finally awake,” Ayla couldn’t contain her excitement. This was something she had wished for since she got the Moonlit pack.

“And you are?” Luna Kali asked, seizing Ayla up. Wondering who the woman who has been laying on the floor since she woke up was.

“I’m Ayla Stormbringer, your caretaker and healer,” Ayla responded then looked at Alpha Asher. “I’m also…”

“A nobody..” Alpha Asher interrupted before she could speak. “And you need to leave now!” his voice echoed in the entire room. Ayla wept as she scurried away.

As Ayla ran, the trees blurred together, their branches twisting overhead like bony fingers. Her heart pounded, and her breath came in ragged gasps. It felt like she was running from her own pain and rejection, shadows that never left her side.

She needed to get away from there, away from the horrors and pain of her life. Seeing Kali wrapped around Asher’s arm brought ache to her heart. She had thought her husband would give her a little bit of his love now that she had done what was required of her. But it looks like his love is just reserved for his first wife.

“Ow!” Ayla yelled as a sharp piercing pain filled her feet. She jumped on the other until she got a hold of a tree. She then looked at her surroundings and realised she had raced into the forest.

Ayla gently lifted her foot to examine it. A small, jagged rock had pierced the skin, causing a tiny pool of blood to form. She winced, cleaning the wound with her sleeve.

As she sat there, the forest seemed to grow quieter, as if the trees were watching her. Ayla felt a huge volume of loneliness, remembering the rejection she had faced from Alpha Asher. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, she tried blinking them back, but her emotions consumed her.

“A nobody,” the memories of Asher’s words cut deeper, just like it would when you have devoted yourself to someone only to be cast away. 

A snap of a twit jolted her out of her thoughts.

Her breath caught as she stood up and scanned her surroundings. The forest was quiet, too silent. She suddenly felt a chill on her skin. Somebody was watching her.

Ayla heard another snap behind her and with her heart pounding in her chest, she turned.

And froze.

Laying just a few feet away, hidden underneath the bushes was a large wolf. Not just any wolf but a Lycan. Even though she had her wolf, Ayla knew there was no way she was outrunning a Lycan.

Ayla cursed herself silently wondering how she had wandered within the borders of Lycan’s territory. The Lycan roared, not a pleasurable one for finding a prey but one of pain and urgency. 

Suddenly Alya wasn’t scared anymore. All she felt was pity.

The Lycan, King Slade of Mercia kingdom, always used the forest within the borders of his kingdom to crawl through the pains in his legs where no one would see him and attack his vulnerability.

“Don’t come any closer,” Alya gasped at his voice. She knows the only reason he is speaking in his voice is because he is a very powerful Lycan.

“You look hurt,” she responded, unafraid.

His form was twisted in pain, his breathing ragged. Blood soaked through the tattered remains of his clothes, deep gashes in his chest and arms. His dark hair was matted with sweat, his jaw clenched as if he were barely clinging to consciousness.

Every fibre in her body was screaming for Ayla to run, flee for her life. Lycan were dangerous, known for their ruthlessness and unpredictability but something held her in place.

His eyes blinked open, looking into hers. There was an intense colour of gold. Ayla had never seen anyone with gold coloured eyes before.

He tried to move, but his body betrayed him, collapsing back onto the ground with a sharp groan.

Ayla hesitated, even though her mind was screaming for her to look the other way, to leave him there. To turn around and pretend she had never seen him. But she couldn’t.

Carefully, she took a step closer towards him. “You are in a lot of pain,” she muttered, kneeling beside him.

He let out a low, humorless chuckle, though it quickly turned into a grin of pain. “You don’t say.”

His voice was rough, filled with exhaustion. Alya chewed on her lip, her fingers curling into the fabric of her dress. “I can help,” she said before she could stop herself.

His golden eyes narrowed. “Why?”

She didn’t have an answer. Maybe she was trying to prove something to herself. Telling herself, she is more than just the caretaker of her husband's real love and first wife. That she is the one that saved the powerful Lycan in the forest.

Swallowing her fear, she reached out, pressing her palms gently over one of the deep gashes on his shoulder. Warmth pulsed from her fingertips, a soft glow emanating from her hands.

His breath hitched. Shock flickered across his face, quickly replaced by something unreadable. “You’re a healer,” he murmured.

Alya didn’t respond. She doesn’t know what that means. focusing instead on the wound beneath her touch. The torn flesh slowly began knitting together, the bleeding slowing. It wasn’t much—her strength was already drained from the night before—but it was enough to keep him alive a little longer.

When she pulled away, a shiver ran through her. She had pushed herself too hard. A wave of dizziness threatened to pull her under. She staggered a little but regained her stance.

Then she heard a groan from Slade, it wasn’t one of pain that she had earlier heard. It was one of pleasure and taste of meeting a prey and she knows he won’t be able to stop himself.

Slade must have sensed it too. His body tensed, his sharp gaze flicking toward the approaching her. “Go,” he ordered, his voice firm despite his injuries.

Alya hesitated.

“Now,” he growled.

Ayla ran as fast as her legs could carry her, she got to the wooden door that led back into the palace. She glanced back, and didn't see anyone behind her. Closing the door behind her, Ayla rests her back against it. She caressed her palm she used in touching Slade wondering what he meant when he said she is a healer.