The Lycan King & I

Four.

Just two more blocks, your majesty." I hear Esmere's clear voice ring, though I was hiding mostly in the fabric of the Lycan's cloak. I dragged my feet desperately against the floor the entire walk out of the Town Hall, trying to break loose of the grasp I was in.

    "Sorry, little Luna." The Lycan had lifted me without issue after growing tired of my resistance, slinging my flailing frame over his shoulder like a rag doll. "I'm Wells, by the way."

I had stayed silent, his large hands on me reminded me just how easily he could snap me- like a toothpick. Lycan's were bigger than the Shifters of the middle kingdom. They had to be, to withstand the harsh conditions of the mountains. I heard the steps of our group as we made our way through the town. I kept my eyes slammed shut.

    "This is your Underling housing?" I hear a gruff voice in the group grumble, as Wells set me gently onto the walkway. Sure enough, in front of us was the familiar building of my home.

"Yes." Our group consisted of the King, who was leading the way with Esmere and Wells. The Lycan with the scowl glued to his face was hovering around with six other Lycans. They were part of the King's guard, I could tell by the concentrated and dutiful looks on their faces.

I enter the familiar wooden doors of the boarding house in the middle of our group. The men were so large they had to enter threshold one by one. Two waited outside.

"It's small." Wells comments, his hand holding onto my upper arm with a firm grip, looking around the foyer of my house. I never thought of it as small, until I watched the Lycan's have to duck their heads when walking in the front door.

    "Humans are small," Esmere snorts wryly and wipes her hands on her pants, finally looking to me. "I trust you can lead the way." I nod, my face turning rosy red and eyes falling to the floor as I felt everyone's eyes turn to me.

    "Will you be needing anything, your majesty?" Esmere asks the King. I hadn't peeked at him since we left the Alpha's office in the center of town. I don't hear an answer but assume he shakes his head, as Esmere gives a respectful bow and steps to the side.

    Wells releases my arm, and I hadn't noticed how tightly he was grabbing me until the blood rushes back into my fingers.

    "We go back North now." I flinch slightly at the King's strong voice. He had the type of voice that commanded all to silence. His words confirming some cruel fate. "Wells, I want just our top guard to ride in our skin. The rest of the guard is to run alongside."

    Run, like run. I didn't want to see that. I didn't want to hear their bones cracking when they shifted.

    "We will grab her belongings and be gone."

    "Yes, Alpha."

    "Eliette," The King's voice fills the quiet foyer. Keep looking down, keep looking down, I coaxed myself. "Do you know what happens next?"

    I don't move a muscle. 

    "Eliette," His voice, a hint more persuasive, "Please lead us to your chambers, we will carry your things."

I do not want to tempt the vicious anger of a Lycan by making him ask twice. I took an unsteady step forward, and I am startled at what follows. I look up in alarm as the ten shifters around me all take a heavy step forward as well.

    The floor vibrates as each man intimidatingly takes a step to fall in line behind my heels; their heat closing in on me. My mind shuts down, at the trepidation of the situation. I was enclosed, I was puny compared to the lot of them.

    They were too tall. I feel like I am being chased. Hunted.

    I know my eyes look wild as they dart around. I don't know why, but my ears actually hurt from how loud my heart was sounding in them. I involuntarily take another step forward, and there's another echo of the King's guard as they step towards me. I could not handle this scrutiny.

    "Stop." The King commands. He never seemed to raise his voice, but he always seemed to have everyone's undivided attention. He whips his head to me and I automatically avoid his gaze. "Do you want to dismiss them?"

    Is he asking me to do it, or if I want him to do it?

I look at the floor, too terrified to look up, digging my fingernails into my palms. I shake my head wildly, "t-too many..." I hadn't realised I was still weeping.

"Wait outside. Prepare for the trip," Is his next command. I shut my eyes and focus on the pain radiating in my hands, as I feel the Lycan's stomp out of the room at once. By the stillness that follows a moment later, I know they have all left the house.

"Will you allow me to help you pack?" The King. I opened my eyes and make the mistake of locking eyes with him. His eyes.

Humans don't have mates amongst themselves, we don't have a way of knowing who is fated to be ours. But that didn't mean I was immune to the pull of the man in front of me. Looking forward into his wild eyes, I could not deny that an unfamiliar type of golden that rushed over me. There was a foreign feeling that settled in my cells at his full attention.

I don't know how long I'm frozen. He seems to allow me to stare into his blue eyes, content to just stand there. His eyes are no longer black. Black eyes are the worst. Nothing good ever happens when eyes were black. When his eyes were dark blue like this, the aura radiating off of him changed. My eyes roam up to the kings dark, ringlets of hair.

"Come." His voice jolts me out of my daze. The distraction I felt a moment ago is gone, fear replaces it. He begins the way up the staircase towards my room. I follow behind like a lost lamb. I don't know how he knows the way down the hallways or which door is mine, but he does.

"I will help you pack," He offers, looking around my bedroom. It's small, but it's mine. And it's tidy. I should've put away that brush earlier , I scold myself internally as I eye it on the bed. I am not embarrassed of my room, it's nicer than any home I ever had in the South. This is why I feel rejected when the King sighs, "Your arrangements in the North will not be like this... Where are your things?"

I stalk to the end of my bed, where my trunk sits. It held all of my clothes. I step cautiously around the room, grabbing my loose items. I didn't have much out of trunk, Thiele was very particular about a neat room. The hairbrush, the quilt on my bed, the boots drying by the door. It didn't take me longer than five minutes.

There's another thing I need- my money. It was under my mattress, hidden for safekeeping.

"You know, this will be a lot easier if you speak to me." The Kings voice fills the silent room again, and I am hyper aware he is watching my every move around my bedroom.

Underlings are not to disobey their superiors, Esmere's voice recites in my head.

"Yes, my K-king." I respond, lowering my eyes the floor.

"That wasn't an order," The edges of his lips twitch, "And I told you my name is Benjamin."

    I just stare at him, unsure if the name Benjamin is an order or not. This is too confusing. I sigh, "C-Can you close your eyes, please, your Majesty?" I stutter out.

He frowns, his indigo eyes turning a shade lighter, before he makes a show of covering his eyes with his massive hands, "Your majesty isn't my name either," I hear him sigh. Lightning fast, my hand dodges under my mattress and grabs the small burlap bag of coins, and I stow it in the back pocket of my pants.

"Thank you, Sire." I bow my head and keep my eyes on the floor, awaiting his next order.

"Elliette, look up." He commands quietly, and I meet his eyes. They are the same color as earlier; they seem even brighter against the dark midnight locks on his head. There is something behind the power and authority that was so obvious from his appearance, a sadness behind his eyes. I am not sure how long I look into them, trying to understand the feeling behind the glow.

"Shall we go North?" His curve upwards, an encouraging look on his face. North. I'd never been more North than there. The Crescent Pack Shifters often talked about the barbaric conditions of the North. Lycans of the North were a different breed- mostly ruled by their wolf instincts. Their pack mentality. Punishment was harsh, winters were brutal, no one went North unless they could survive it.

I nod for a moment, before going to grab my trunk. The King beats me to it, easily gliding across the small space with his massive steps. I follow closely behind as he lifts up the heavy trunk as if it was a small brick. We bring it to the front of the house. Esmere is waiting beside a car, a smile pasted on her face. Next to her is Thiele.

Thiele never was too motherly to me, but the look of pity in her eyes I can tell comes from her heart. She's scared for me. I am scared for me, too.

"Do you have anyone else you would like to say goodbye to?" The King asks calmly, as a nameless Lycan grabs the trunk out of his arms at once, piling it into the massive car. I had only ridden in a car once and that was when I first came to the Middle Kingdom. This one was black, and was much taller.

"Eliette, I asked if there was anyone-"

"Forgive me, the child hasn't got family here, my King." Thiele speaks up with a shaking voice, her eyes lowered to the sidewalk. I can nearly feel the displeasure that radiates off of Esmere, jealously that she is not the one helping the King. But I am grateful Thiele answers for me.

"Very well." The King nods and steps towards the car, propping the door open for me. I am frozen. At a crossroads in which I have no control over. I am startled when Esmere claps me on the back like an old friend.

"Just remember everything you've learned here, and you will be great." She reminds me, but there is warning in her eyes. Is she trying to help me survive my new proposed life with the Lycan? She steps away, looking to Thiele.

I do not know what Thiele and I will do. We lived together, she was a sense of home. But we weren't exactly friends. I am stunned when she steps forward and grabs my small hand in her rough one. She has a firm hold, but different that Wells grip on me earlier. Thiele's touch is like a message. "Goodbye, Elliette. Be strong, little one." She whispers to me, and for a moment I think a tear will fall down her face.

I nod in thanks, and look up the massive car. It is too tall, and I need to climb up to slide into the door. I don't know where I was expecting the King to sit, but I jump when he climbs into the backseat with me, and jump a second time when he slams shut the door.

The seats are cold and hard. But spacious. Perfect size for Lycans, meaning my feet barely touch the floor of the car.

"Belts on?" I jump a third time when I see the driver; the scary looking Lycan. The one with the narrowed eyes, looking permanently angry. He sits directly in front of me, and I can see the scars from battle that litter his arm. My panic is coming back. "You may call me Axle, Luna. I am the King's Gamma."

Gamma. So he runs security. The pack's defenses, the description fit him well. He also oversaw the prison; where I could potentially be staying. Was it a dungeon like the rumors said? Underground like the rumors said? Freezing cold like the rumors said?

"Belts on?" Axle asks a second time after a moment of silence- I guess a polite pause for me to respond. He is speaking to me, I look at the straps that lie on my seat. I don't remember putting on belts last time. I reach my trembling hands down to grab the strap. I am aware of both Lycan's eyes on me.

"Need help?" the King offers quietly at my side, already grabbing my belt and pulling it across me, and there's a clicking noise before he lets go. I don't meet anyone's eyes. Embarrassing.

"First time seeing a car?" The driver, Axle, says wryly. Only Axle has the type of voice where every word sounds intimidating. Just another reminder of how I was the one that didn't belong.

I was just the plain underling in worn shoes, with an old trunk. These two probably rode in cars, bathed in milks, and covered themselves in furs every day. Tears prick in my eyes in shame of who I am, and I hear the King grumble next to me. I look up in fear, he is staring at Axle with dark eyes.

He was upset. And I was strapped in. I dig my nails into my palms again.

"We're all good to go," The other side of the front seat opens. And in crawls Wells- a naked Wells. The Middle Kingdom sometimes made taunts to how open the North was towards being nude. Lycans in the North were constantly shifting, and it was normal to them. I had never seen a nude man before.

"Ready for the journey, Little Queen?" Wells turns back in his seat to smile at me, shooting me a wink. And I get a plain look at.... it.

The tears already pricking my eyes open in the floodgates. I was strapped in a car with a warrior and a nude man, and the highest King in our World. I was about to freeze in the North, locked away in the dungeons. A loud sob comes out of my mouth in desperation, my despair evident as tears are already wetting the front of my dress.

"Oh, shit." Wells smile falls from his face worriedly, "It's not a bad journey-"

"Shut up." The driver- Axle- grumbles to Wells, eyeing me in the mirror warily as tears and snot overcome me.

"Out." The king orders loudly. My first time hearing him raise his voice, and it adds to my quaking. "Put on some damn clothes." He barely gets the words passed his clenched teeth, he is seething. There is no room for debate in his voice, and the power that radiates off his first word seems to invade the car. Wells complies, the door shutting behind him as the car starts.

I was already cold, as I sat my hands under my thighs, toes numbing.