Beyond A King

m******e

(Lyla pov)

Screaming there’s so much screaming, so much blood, so much death. I watch as the Angel gives the order and the slaughter begins, the alpha already lay dead at her feet, his blood coated the ground around her. The death cries of so many pack members sound out only to be silenced with the slice of a blade.

Women, pups, no one is spared. I watch on helpless as I am frozen in place, unable to break free of whatever bond that holds me, forced to watch the m******e unfolding.

I cry out for them to stop even after they are all dead they won’t stop, slicing away at flesh until there’s nothing recognisable left.

It feels like the blades are clawing at my body. I scream begging it to stop but there’s only pain and suffering. A sinister laugh echos throughout the yard that chills me to my soul, the Angel from before, now sprayed with blood that is not her own comes towards me, I want to run but I can’t move “you can’t escape your fate lyla” she sneers before charging forward with her blade.

“ aaahhhhhhhhh!!” I scream and fight for my life.

“ lyla!” I hear someone shout. All I can feel is pain and the bonds that hold me still. I scream again for help.

“ lyla wake up!” I hear dads voice.

I open my eyes and I’m back in my room, dad and Cora are sitting at my bedside both with concerned looks on their faces. It was just a nightmare, the pack, the slaughter, just a horrible nightmare, thank goddess although I couldn’t believe it had been a dream.

Dad is holding me down by the arms and I can see he has scratches on his arms that have drawn blood. They don’t look bad but I can’t help the guilt I feel over hurting him.

“ Honey, are you ok?” Cora asks, moving around the bed touching my forehead. I know without feeling that I’m sweating. The T-shirt and shorts I’m wearing are soaked. I was shaking, I was sure that dad and Cora could hear the sound of my heart trying to beat its way out of my chest.

“ I’m sorry” I whispered looking down at my sheets. I've never been able to escape my nightmares, neither could my family. Sometimes they were so bad I attacked whoever tried to wake me, it was in those moments I wondered if things would have been better if I’d never come here.

The weird thing tonight though was the nightmare itself. they usually consist of nightmares based on memories from a time before I came to Ravenwood pack but this didn’t feel like that. I didn’t know anyone in the nightmare yet it felt so real.

“ your safe baby no one will hurt you I promise” dad cood stroking my hair.

“ what happened honey, was it the witch again?” Cora asked knowing all my nightmares consisted of the monsters that had raised me before I came here.

I shook my head already. Aunt Mira was not the star tonight , I wasn’t sure what to call the woman in the nightmare, she was beyond beautiful like she had come straight down from heaven but the horrors she had inflicted showed that beauty does not guarantee a pure soul. I could feel my eyes welling up, tears began rolling down my cheeks remembering the horror. “ They killed them….. all of them… they're all dead” I gasped.

“ Who baby?” Dad whispered. It was at this point I noticed Penny and Tyler stood in the doorway. Tyler looked concerned but Penny had her usual resting b***h face at the ready.

“ Oh here we go, princess drama is at it again” penny rolled her eyes in the doorway archer appeared behind her rubbing his eyes, still half asleep.

“ What happened mommy?” he muttered sleepily and I felt bad for waking him.

My sister knelt down to the beautiful blonde pups level “ nothing baby, auntie lyla is just being a brat, nothing new”

“ PENELOPE!” Cora scolded her but that didn’t stop penny, she stood up straight with her hands placed on her slender hips. Ignoring Cora she looked at dad.

“ Seriously dad, why do you keep falling for this attention seeking” she laughed but there was no humour in her voice, she looked at me like I was an irate pup who needed a good talking to. “ Honestly my pups make less of a fuss when they have a bad dream and they don’t cry like a baby for mommy when it happens” she coed like I was a baby, my heart clenched at the mention of my mother and all the awful memories of her beaten body on the ground. All the years of suffering only to meet an end that left her broken on the living room floor and penny was making fun. No. Absolutely not.

“ Why are you even here ? Don’t you have your own fabulous home and husband to berate, why don’t you just go away you sad old has been” I snapped yelling all my anger at her.

Penny paled for a moment, I don’t think she had been expecting a comeback, it wasn’t my usual style after my nightmares. I’d be so shaken by the whole thing penny was usually safe to get a few free hits in but my outburst had taken her by surprise causing her armour to fall for a moment and I noticed in her flimsy slip of a nightgown how scrawny she looked, the dark circles under her eyes made it look as if she hadn’t been sleeping so I hadn’t woken her up.

Before I could look any more she was gone storming off back to her old room, leaving Archer calling after her in her wake. I rolled my eyes at her actions.

….and she says I’m the brat.

Tyler rubbed the back of his neck feeling the tension before going to Archer “ Come on buddy, let's get you back to bed” he scooped up Archer and carried him off.

“ why do you do that to your sister?” dad scolded, giving me his best ‘ i'm so disappointed in you look. I felt my stomach twist, hating that he was making me feel bad for saying something after she insulted me, he’d sat there and said nothing while she did it too.

The room suddenly felt suffocating with everyone’s eyes on me. I refused to apologise. It wasn't like I wanted to wake up screaming. I wish they would go away with their judgemental looks. I wish everyone would just go away.

The silence was deafening and I couldn’t take it anymore. Jumping up from the bed I rushed towards my ensuite ignoring Cora’s calls. Slamming the door behind me.

I turned on the shower and stripped out of my ruined pyjamas. Slipping under the spray I finally let go, crumbling to the floor I brought my knees to my chest and sobbed. My heart was breaking for the families and pack members that were slaughtered in my nightmare. It was stupid I knew that but it had felt so real, like I had really been there. Their screams still filled my head, making me cover my ears, trying to drown them out.

Once the water had washed away my sorrow I got up off the ground and dried off. Going back into my bedroom it was now empty but Cora had changed the bedsheets for fresh ones and I smiled at the gentle nature. She always thought of little things like that, knowing that the last thing I’d want was to get back into my sweaty sheets.

There was a knock at the door. I expected it to be Cora coming to try and smooth things over or ask me to apologise but to my surprise Kayla came into the room. “ I thought you might need some water” she handed me the glass in her hand. I smiled sadly, taking it from her.

She sits on the bed while I find fresh pyjamas “ she doesn’t mean it the way it comes out you know” she says picking at the bedsheets. It takes me a moment to realise she means penny.

“ oh I think she means it exactly as it comes out” I scoff pulling my clothes over my head. We’ve never been bothered about our nudity around each other, with so many in one house it’s hard to get any privacy.

Kayla frowned at me and her gentle expression was replaced by anger “ you know everyone has their own stuff to deal with lyla, ironically you and penny are very similar, you both use aggression to mask your pain” she huffed running her hand through her blonde hair.

“ Should I be like you and just fake illness every time life gets too hard?” I snapped, hating that she is also defending Penny after she was such a b***h to me.

Kayla’s face dropped and she looked down at the comforter I sighed feeling guilty, I shouldn't have said that to her it wasn’t her fault penelope couldn’t stand me “Kayla I’m sorry, your right I hate fighting with Pen, I guess I thought her attitude towards me would change with me being away so long” was it too much to ask that she might have missed me being around. I was hurt that she had never contacted me other than on the Group FaceTime, which I knew she only did because it would be noticeable to dad. Why did she hate me so much.

“ she missed you, even if she won’t admit it, she always used to ask about you whenever any of us spoke to you, it drove Tyler crazy” she chuckled to herself, Tyler had a short fuse and I could remember a time he was making toast, penny was moaning about getting to the butter and in the end he grabbed the butter and shoved it at her smearing it all over an expensive outfit, I had laughed about it all day.

“ I think stevens is cheating on her” Kayla whispered so quietly it was as if she hoped I hadn’t heard it without her advanced hearing.

I wasn’t even sure I’d heard her right “ what? since when ?” I came to sit in the bed beside her.

Kayla shrugged “ She turned up one night with the pups a few weeks ago, apart from the night you came home she’s been here, she says it’s because Steven is working in the city and doesn’t like her at the house alone but one morning last week we woke up to her screaming”

“ what was happening?” I asked.

She shook her head at me “ I don’t know, dad made us leave her room after she insisted” she started sobbing and I wrapped her in my arms “ it was horrible lyla she was clawing at her chest” she cried into my shoulder.

I felt sick,Kayla didn’t know but I did. I had heard enough from Alisha about what happens when a mate betrays the bond the pain penny was feeling was her mate with another woman “ Does it happen often? Her pain?” I whispered trying to stay calm.

Kayla sat up straight shaking her head but still crying“ She goes to her room when it happens but I hear her scream sometimes, though it’s muffled” obviously she is screaming into her pillow or something, suddenly her disdain for me tonight was obvious, I’d had a nightmare and the family was all over me but she was suffering betrayal pains in silence. It was hardly my fault but I could see where her anger was coming from, Kayla was right about me and penny when we were hurt we got angry.

I couldn’t believe it, Steven was a cheater. He'd always been a workaholic and he had some outdated beliefs that a woman’s place was at home cooking and making pups but I never in a million years would believe he would cheat on a penny. Aside from anything, my sister was way out of his league. Everyone had adored her when she was young, she was the outgoing one who was going to do great things but Steven was as dull as dishwater and had trampled her dreams from the minute he showed up at her birthday party.

I knew Penny and I didn’t get along but she was still my big sister. I felt anger rise inside me that I’d felt when Meg had told me about her mate Johnny marrying some slutty she wolf he’d knocked up. I could feel my magic bubbling under the surface dying to break out. I left Kayla on the bed and went to my wardrobe pulling out my moms spell book and my supplies.

“ what are you doing?” Kayla watched as I placed my mixing bowl on the bed. All witches had a sacred object to cast spells, most used a caldron but it didn’t need to be as long as it was anointed with the mark of the great mother before casting. I used a metallic mixing bowl I had painted it silver to mess with my family. I smirked when Kayla scurried away towards the headboard when she saw it. I had also wanted to be sure no one would touch it. A witches caldron was a very personal thing and you didn’t want anyone messing with it.

“ Being a good sister” Penny could hate on me and I may never understand why but she was going through hell with her mate right now and I was going to be the sister she needed.

( Lucas pov)

My eyes widened in shock as I bared witness to the horror that was before me. The scene being what I can only describe as c*****e.

I was not a man that hadn’t witnessed the true horrors this world had to offer, I had seen the after math of my own men being ripped apart by an unknown enemy when I was eighteen, I had hunted down all kinds of supernatural creatures that had broken the laws and become a danger to everyone around them, I’d even brought down drug and trafficking rings in the lowest of all places but never had I seen an entire pack so brutally mutilated as this one had.

The ground was bathed in red as far as the eye could see. Shredded remains littered the ground around us but so much that it would take forever to figure out which body part went where there was no way to tell how many pack members had been slaughtered but from the looks of things not many if any had survived the slaughter.

The only body that lay untouched was alpha keelen himself. Facing away from the slaughter towards the body of a young woman and two pups not far from her body. I knew he had a selection of females to breed with but if I had to guess I’d say she was his fated mate. Whoever did this had made him watch his family die before killing him.

I heard choking to my left and turned in time to see one of the warriors emptying the contents of his stomach onto the ground while another was patting his back. I couldn’t blame him. This had been an inhumanly brutal slaughter.

The distress signal had been sent out and we had reached the pack within an hour but it was already too late. The pack was destroyed, homes had been set ablaze and had burnt to the ground. The only thing still intact was the pack house just behind where the bodies were found.

I turned to find my general but Ronoldo was already at my side. Was it like this when the night fire pack was wiped out? I mindlinked him not sure how many already knew of the last pack wiped out.

Same MO, the entire pack was slaughtered execution style but the bodies weren't so brutalised. We could at least identify them. He took in the scene with the same horror that I had. This attack seemed more personal. Was it personal to alpha kellen or was it an attack on wolves in general? I know alpha kellen hadn’t been well liked even among our kind.

He had received some backlash from others after openly having a harem instead of a Luna. It was disgusting that he had been allowed to abuse his alpha status by breeding with his females the way he had. Something the new laws would have stopped him from doing but to have done this to him and his pack was beyond cruel.

“ Who could do something like this?” Theo muttered in disbelief beside me.

“ a mindless monster” one of the men murmured to himself.

I shook my head “ a monster for sure but mindless, no this was carefully planned and carried out” nothing about this had been mindless nothing about it was done on instinct.

“ Why slaughter everyone but leave the pup alive?” I looked to one of the healers we had brought with us sitting in the vehicle.

When we first arrived on the scene the pup was lying next to one of the more recognisable bodies. I assumed his mother since he was clutching the hand sobbing.

The healer told us he was suffering hypothermia, since he had no wolf yet his healing was similar to a human and it was hard to determine how long he’d been out here but the healer had said for a werewolf to get hypothermia he’d have needed to be out here at least 8 hours in the current weather conditions. One thing we knew was he had been out here all night. How awful it must have been for the poor boy.

“Look at him, the entire pack wasn’t just murdered they were shredded yet in the midst of it a little pup comes away unscathed” I could see then upon closer inspection Theo could see what I saw, the pup was unharmed not even a scratch, he was drenched in blood but it was not his own.

He was catatonic yet he kept saying over and over again that it was rogues but no other details at all. As if his memory had been erased. There are a few creatures who could do something like that.

All these clues were carefully placed to look real, none of what we were seeing was a coincidence, the pack being unrecognisable, the distress signal going out only an hour ago, I had seen enough dead bodies to know the dried blood on the ground was from last night. The murders sent out the distress signal once they were finished so we would find the bodies before any real rogues came across it and destroyed their evidence.

“ this has been staged, the bodies, the pup, everything.” This was not a mindless and unplanned attack, this enemy had a larger plan and they weren't finished yet, they wanted to scare us. They wanted me to know I couldn’t protect my people.

“ Your highness, should we cancel tonight ? Put everything on lockdown?” Theo asked.

“ Why would we do that?” I queried.

“ your majesty anyone of the packs could be next” another warrior spoke but instantly turned away realising he spoke out of turn.

“ if we cancel the ball it will cause a panic” that’s probably exactly what they want and any of the other leaders could be attacked on the journey back home. Perhaps this is what this enemy is hoping for.

“ but my king…” the young mouthy warrior spoke out of turn again but I didn’t let him finish this time.

“ The people believe we can keep them safe and that is what we shall do ” I interrupted the warrior. If we lock down the packs my leadership will be brought into question and the people will doubt our ability to keep them safe. I would not let us fail at the first sign of trouble.

“ besides we don’t know that the enemy isn’t one of the packs”

“ sir this is clearly rouges” the same warrior spoke again.

“ Are you doubting your ability to protect warrior?” I asked sternly. The boy was at a loss for words.

“ don’t believe everything you see, we are only seeing what they want us to see” the big reveal was still to come this was merely a distraction. What wasn’t I seeing?

“ Theo, let's clean this up and lock it down before word spreads” hopefully we could keep it quiet for now until the leaders had returned to their homes.

“ Ronaldo I want a body count” I heard a gasp and turned the warrior that had vomited he was still hunched over looking pale, he formed who had been comforting him looked at the bodies and began turning rather green.

“ we need to know if the whole pack is here, perhaps some escaped into the forest, send scouts to check the area” it was unlikely but I had to be optimistic.

We walk towards the pack house to see if we can find any more survivors again. It's unlikely given that the pack was killed execution style but I have to hope.

“ just doesn’t make any sense” I hear Theo behind me.

He was muttering to himself “ you wipe out a pack to take the land or pillage the resources” he looks around the pack house as the three of us enter and sees the same as me, nothing is out of place, aside from the areas where there was a clear struggle, nothing is disturbed or missing “ slaughtering the pack and leaving everything intact makes no sense, what would be the point in slaughtering the pack that way just to leave them for us” I entered the communal area, the tv was playing and there were toys scaterd where there must have been pups playing before they were all dragged from their home. It was heartbreaking to see the scene of what was a happy life before these monsters came and ripped it apart.

“ I don’t know but it all means something, they wanted it to look like a random rogue attack which means there’s something bigger happening, let’s make some enquiries at the ball, see if any other packs are experiencing problems and Ronaldo let’s double the security tonight ” something big was coming I could feel it.

(Lyla pov )

I woke up in the morning feeling sluggish after my nightmares, all I could hear was the screams of the pack every time I closed my eyes.

The house was already bustling with life, I got dressed and headed into the fold not sure what the atmosphere would be like after last night. I hadn’t woken up to banging on the door yet so maybe that was positive. I had my first shift at the hospital today so I decided to wear scrubs knowing I’d be jumping straight into the fold.

I looked down at the two vials on my nightstand one was filled with a blue liquid the other was filled with purple. I stuffed the purple one into my pocket and leave my room.

I headed to the kitchen for coffee hoping it would perk me up. I hated that I was going to be more sluggish than usual for my first day. I held in a groan when I found Penny in the kitchen with Marcus. He was pouring coffee into a to-go cup and she was making art out of the pups breakfast while they waited patiently.

Yesterday I found it all annoying,Penny's insistence to have every tiny little detail to be perfect all the time. Now with the information of stevens infidelity the scene seemed so different.

She needed every tiny detail to be perfect for her pups, she was falling apart and she couldn’t control her mates infidelity so she needed to make everything else perfect for her pups. Her family wasn’t perfect so she needed to make sure everything else was.

I noticed her hand shaking as she placed the fruit on the plate. Her other hand gripped the counter and she was trying not to cry. Son of a b***h she was feeling the betrayal pains right now. She squeezed her eyes shut and a tiny whimper escaped. “ Mommy what’s wrong?” Jade asked in her little mousy voice.

I stepped to the counter so I was opposite the pups “ nothing sweetie mommy is just really tired after I woke everyone up last night” I took the vial out of my pocket and handed it to penny. It was then I noticed her normally immaculate nails were cracked and bleeding in places from where she had been gripping the counter.

“ I don’t want any of your potions lyla” she managed to grit out but she is sweating and I can see how hard it is for her to get those few words out. My sister is Stubborn I’ll give her that.

“ it’s just to help you sleep” I placed the vial in her hand and her face softened as tears began to gather in her eyes. She looked at the vial like a lifeline, she must have been struggling for a while now. Her whole frosty demeanour makes more sense if she’s been struggling with Steve’s infidelity for a while.

Marcus stood watching the whole exchange with curiosity. I peered round Penny, eyeing him “ Do you have somewhere to be or are you just propping up the worktop?” I knew he had training but he was stalling. Usually he had Theo kicking him into gear in the mornings but now he was Beta to the king he would have a different schedule. I still couldn’t believe my brother was the new royal Beta. It was such an honour I knew he was nervous but I had no doubt he could fulfil his duties well.

Marcus shook his head and raised his canester “just getting coffee before training”

“ Well that’s a to go cup” I scowled at him with a little more venom in my voice than I meant, I was still annoyed at him for his sexist comments the other day in the dress store.

He rolled his eyes at me “ fine fine I know where I’m not wanted” he huffs kissing me and penny on the head as he passes us.

“ Mommy are you sick again?” Archer asks concerned as Penny whimpers again, this time she grabs for me and I hold her hand while she squeezes my hand. I never realised how much you can hate a person you never really knew but I hate Steven right now with a burning passion, the mate bond was sacred and he was going to feel the full force of my wrath for what he was doing to my sister.

I smiled at archer and answered for his mother “ she’s just tired buddy, mommy’s going to take her drink and go to bed, while auntie lyla takes you to school” he nodded but still looked concerned for penny.

“ silly auntie lyla its Saturday” jade giggled her little blonde curls bounced as she did.

“ We were going to my mothers” penny whimpered, I took the vial from her and poured it into her coffee that sat untouched beside her.

“ I’ll drop them off,” I said, handing her the mug, encouraging her to drink. The potion would help numb her pain and had a mild sedative in there to help her sleep.

Penny hesitates “ you know she hates you” she said, it wasn’t meant to be an insult more a warning that I would get a frosty reception when I got to the old bat's house.

Penny’s mother Diane hated everyone. She was a very bitter woman “I’ll be fine” I insisted and so would Diane as long as she behaved herself.

Penny looks unsure, I squeeze the hand she’s holding and push the one holding the mug forward and she began to sip “ take it and get some rest, you want to look your best for tonight” she nodded and downed it, she mouthed ‘thank you’ to me and kissed the pups before heading back upstairs.

I felt a sense of peace wash over me, feeling content that penny didn’t fight me. Maybe this could be the start of something better for us but I wouldn’t hold my breath. This was Penny after all.