I Reject a Lycan For a Rogue

Chapter Three.

Aria’s POV

I open my eyes slowly, adjusting to the light, I look around me and notice that I am laying on my bed in my room. How I got here, I don’t even know. I was just in my father’s room, but then… I pause, recalling what my father did to me. I passed out due to the bang on my head. Even my head still hurts, it must have been serious. Does he want to kill me because he has a son now? I look around my room, I am all alone. They left me all alone, unconscious. No one cares for me at all, I want my mate, maybe he will treat me better.

'All will be well with us Aria, don’t worry, we are tougher than they think.' Ylfa comforts me.

'Thanks for always being with me.' I say to her.

'All this will pass, and we are going to meet our mate. He will be strong, and he will take really good care of us.' She says. At least she keeps me company always. If I didn’t have her, then my life would have been so horrible. 'He will even have pink lips.' She adds. I smile at the mention of pink lips. She knows how I adore pink lips, and she knows how to make me smile too. She is devastated as well, but she decided to cheer me up. She is part of me, the strongest part of me, and I guess that is why her emotions are always in check. But today I can feel how devastated she is.

'I love you, Ylfa.' I say to her. I feel her smile faintly before we both stay silent.

"You are awake, my princess." I hear someone’s voice, probably one of the palace maidens. I didn’t even notice her opening the door. Likewise, I just look at her without a word.

"His majesty sent me to check if you were already awake. Your presence is needed at the party arena. Your birthday party commenced a long time ago." She adds. I can see a look of concern written all over her face.

What? They threw a party even when he perfectly knew that I wasn’t well, and he was the cause of it all. My father is a real monster. I wish I just died today, what is the point of living like this. The maiden helps me in getting ready. My head still hurts like hell, I wonder why I am not healing fast enough.

"You look gorgeous, Princess Ari." She smiles after I am done dressing. I look at myself in the mirror, and yes, I am gorgeous, but I don’t feel that way. I feel like a piece of s**t. All this will end soon, that is what I keep telling myself as she walks with me to the arena. Because if I don’t, then I am going to breakdown so easily. I am only enduring all this so that I can find him, my better half. The one who will make me whole. I descend the stairs feeling so sad, I just hope that today is the day I meet him. I sniff the air cautiously, maybe I will catch his scent. But nothing happens, the night is young, so he must be here anytime from now. The party hall is packed to capacity. Everything looks so perfect, there is music playing. The guests are dancing with their glasses of champagne in their hands. They look happier than the birthday girl.

“As I said earlier, this night is to celebrate the birth of my baby boy, Prince Reagan Ryder.” My father says as the music stops and everyone pays attention to what he is saying.

Today was supposed to be my party, why is he doing this to me. Everyone is supposed to have a party when they turn eighteen. Especially me, the princess. But look at what my father is doing to me. He is taking everything away from me.

“Long live, Prince Reagan.” Everyone in the arena chants in unison. What about me? I feel like disappearing from this place, I feel so inferior, so small. Why is my life this horrible? I feel a tear escape my eyes, I wipe it with the back of my hand.

As I am letting down my arm, I catch a glimpse of my father looking right at me in anger.

“Stop the music.” My father’s sudden voice startles me. The DJ stops the music, everyone in the room stands halt with their heads bowed. I am too scared even to look down since my father’s eyes are on me.

“What are you wearing, you insolent girl. What did I tell you?” He asks, walking towards me impatiently, taking my hand forcefully and throwing me onto the dance floor. I lose my balance due to the dress and the pain in my head, I fall down with a thud, I hurt my knee badly.

But I will heal in just minutes. I hold my tears in because I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing him break me.

He jumps after me on the dance floor and before I know it, he lands a slap on my face.

“Why did you have to disrespect me?” he asks, his mouth frothing in anger. “What I did to you earlier wasn’t enough, huh?” he asks.

“What did I do, father?” I ask. I am almost welling up now. This is the time for my mate to show up so that he can rescue me from this situation.

“Don’t call me father. And never talk back at me, you hear me.” He kicks me with his might and I fall right beneath someone big. I look up at him, but he just stares coldly at me and pushes me slightly towards my dad.

He is not the one, I have seen his face once or twice at the palace. My mate could never do that to me. Now tears fall off me freely since no one is going to rescue me at the hands of my father.

“You are such a fool.” My father says. I cannot take it any longer, I feel so awful. I stand up and start running as fast as I can.

“Don’t you dare follow her?” I hear my father’s faint voice as I run as far away from the palace as I can, but where do I go. I don’t even know the person who was trying to run after me. Probably the guards because who else could run after me. I ran as I let Ylfa take over, she is faster than me in human form.

Why does my father hate me this much? My life is a mess, I am a princess for goodness sake, but look at me, and I am treated like garbage by my own father.

I run until I cannot run anymore, I am sure I have been running for more than two hours now. Even when I look back, I cannot even see my kingdom. Now I will rest, since they can’t find me here. I am panting so hard from all the running. As I was running, someone was running after me, I presume one of the guards, but I managed to outrun them. I am good, I have been trained well ever since I was a young girl. I wasn’t even given a chance to grow up as a normal kid. I would go to school in the morning and then spend the rest of the day training. At first, it used to be so hard for me, but as I grew up, I got used to it. Now I am a pro, I could even lead the war. But the problem is that I was never given the chance, since I am a ‘woman’, as my father puts it. Now I am going to be away from that kingdom, I will never go back to a place where I am not even appreciated.

I turn into my human form, and I am completely naked. I tore my clothes to pieces as I was letting Ylfa in. Now what do I do? I don’t have clothes, I am not even near any residential place and it's pitch dark. Good thing my wolf eyes are helping me see clearly in the dark.

I suddenly start feeling the presence of that creature, I don’t even know what it is. I try sniffing the air, but I feel nothing. What I know is that someone, or something, is somewhere so close to me and has been spying on me.

“Hello, who is out there?” I ask loudly. But no one responds, maybe I am just imagining things. Am I scared? But why should I and I am the strongest creature in these areas. I mean, a Lycan is always stronger than even wolves. So, I am good by myself. I may be weak due to the beating my father gave me, but I can stand up for myself.

For now, I need to take shelter so that I can begin my journey away from this place in the morning. I need to find a nearby town so that I can at least find myself some clothes to wear. As per food, I am not hungry presently, and if I get hungry, I can hunt pretty well. I walk around, searching for a good place where I can rest for the night. After a short search, I find a perfect spot, under a big tree. It is a hidden place, so it wouldn’t be easy for anyone to see me here since I will be in my Lycan form. I let Ylfa in again and I lay down. She can survive the cold night because of all the heat she emits.

But before I can sleep, I hear something, like cries of a certain animal. That is definitely a wounded animal because the cries are of like a wailing baby. I decide to find it, maybe it may need my help.