Slave to the Ruthless Lycan King

GLOOM

XAVI

I felt it. I felt it before she mind-linked me that she was dying. I had gone for the Alphas meeting and left my pregnant Luna back in the pack. Usually, I don't go anywhere without her, especially since I found out she was pregnant with my heir. The other Alphas congratulated me at the ceremony as I came, but now my heart was almost breaking in my chest as I ran through the forest to return to my pack.

I could feel their sorrow, but no one wanted to speak with me, no one wanted to tell me what was going on, and even Zina, my mate, was silent. I tried talking to my servants, but it was as if someone had instructed them to block themselves away from me. I raced through the forests, not minding if I wounded myself or not. When I finally got to the pack, it was dark. It was a day's journey to the Alpha of all Alpha's palace, and I was so out of my mind to travel with my horse or wait for the ceremony to end or travel in my human form.

My pack was dead quiet when I arrived. Almost as if the moon knew about the gloom, there was no moon in the sky.

"Zina! Zina!" I yelled as I stormed into our territory. "Zina!"

"Alpha Xavi?" Mia, Zina's sister, called me from behind.

I turned immediately to see her face soggy with tears. Running up, I grabbed her shoulders and bent to her level. "Where are Zina and my pup!"

A tear dropped from her eyes, and she shook her head, unable to speak. I shook her violently as if that would shake the truth out of her.

"Alpha Xavi." I raised my head to see Malik, the pack's joker, and my Beta's brother. "Your Luna is inside, follow me."

I left Mia, who broke down crying. I followed Malik to the healer's home and saw members from Zina's pack seated at the front of the tent. They all had tears in their eyes and looked at me with hate. Winter pack was our rival pack before Zina and I were mated. Our mating resolved the conflict between us, but it never stopped them from not liking us. Her father, Alpha Murdock, never liked me because of my fame. I was notorious and was themed a ruthless Alpha, but Zina calmed me. I was also known to be a whoring Alpha before I met Zina, but it all ended when I met my beloved Zina.

Alpha Murdock was a strong man, but his strength was no match for mine, I descended from the family of Lycans, and we possessed ten times more strength than any werewolf. I could defeat five strong Alphas put together by hand, even in my human form, and I could kill over twenty mortal men put together. I was the last of my kind unless I produced an heir that would succeed me and take my strength. Everyone anticipated our baby, we had to go to the seer on Aragon mountain to confirm his gender, and we were thrilled that it was male.

Making more lycan was more like giving more strength to the werewolves, and soon we will conquer and rule even humans, but now, why is everyone crying? Alpha Murdock grabbed my neck once he saw me and stared into my eyes with bloodshot eyes.

"You promised to protect her!" he barked.

"Murdock," Layla, his mate, called and rushed over to him. "Enough. It wasn't his fault."

I still didn't understand what was going on and didn't want to believe anything else until I saw my dear Zina. "What wasn't my fault?" I asked once Layla pulled Muddok away from me. Why is everyone gloomy? Why is everyone weeping? I ran into the room that Layla came out from, and there lay Zina on the bed.

Still. Cold. Dead.

She looked like she had been burned, and even though she wore new clothes, the blood still soaked them from her wound. I went over to her bed and sat beside her, tears ran down my cheeks, and I didn't even know when. This can't be happening; this has to be a dream.

"Zina, Zina," I called as if I was trying to wake her up, but she answered with silence. I held her up to my chest, hugging her and weeping. Beta Dwayne walked inside and clutched his hands in front of him, his head hung, and his eyes fixed on the floor. "What happened?" I demanded in a gruff voice.

"Alpha Xavi, I am sorry this ended like this." I saw a shiner around his left eye and a cut on his temple.

"Sorry? Is that what..." I huffed and stood. "You all had only one job, to protect her! Who did this?" but even before I got the answer, I already knew who it was. It was the humans. They are responsible for this, but what was Zina doing in their territory?

"The humans attacked us unexpectedly, they were fully prepared, and we couldn't do anything. Luna wanted some fresh air, so we allowed her to run under the moon...

"You all should have died in her stead! She is carrying my heir!" I barked, and my eyes grew darker. Malik came inside and tried to calm me down, but I stormed out of the room, and they followed me. They knew me, and they knew I act and think later. I went to my palace, grabbed my golden sword, and started heading out of the pack land; Malik and Dwayne followed me.

"Alpha Xavi, wait," Dwayne tried to persuade. They were the only ones courageous enough to speak with me. Everyone from my pack was scared of me, especially when I was furious. I didn't listen to him. I kept walking. "You have to wait and think about this."

"Alpha Xavi, there is something you should know!" Malik called, and I came to a stop. I turned to look at him, and he looked uncertain.

"What do you want to say?"

"Luna Zina was killed because of a little human girl."

"What?"

"She fought like the warrior she was, but they killed her to protect the girl. She is Orlando's daughter."

My hands tightened on my sword. Orlando has been a terror to us for a long while now. Every werewolf knew his story, and we even had a song with his name. His was from a descent of wolf hunters, and when they discovered our weaknesses, they chased us away from among them, chasing us into hiding, but even at that, they still hunted us. I have heard stories about Orlando and have a drawing of him in my library. He is also in our history books. I have never seen him before, but I know his face. Malik was the adventurous one among us. Sometimes, he goes up to the humans and stays amongst them for a day or two, learning their ways.

I never crossed the boundaries because I won't be able to hold my anger if provoked by humans; most significantly, I won't spare Orlando if I saw him. Orlando has beaten more than he could chew for touching and killing my mate and my unborn heir. Malik fell to my legs.

"It's all my fault, Alpha Xavi; please kill me," he cried. I stared down at him in confusion. "I was so overwhelmed that I shifted into the human territory. I think they saw me and decided to hunt."

My fingers tightened around my sword until my knuckles grew white. What was Malik saying right now? I was just a few moments away from striking him down with my sword before he spoke again.

"But I have a solution." My hand hung in the air. "I don't know much about her, but I know her father treasures her so well. She is to be married to the great prince of Ashdown, Prince Anthony Albrecht, and the marriage will provide her small village with wealth. The whole village would protect her with their lives, and you can get your revenge on Orlando."

My hand came down, and I looked over to my Beta; he nodded. I could not see the way it was going to work. I just wanted to kill at that moment; I was bloodthirsty, and hearing what Malik had to say meant going back to the pack, sitting down, summoning the pack's elders, and presenting it to them. It means drawing up a strategy. All these processes wasted time. All I wanted to do was go into that village and kill everyone I saw.

~~~

"I will go into the village as usual, and I will get to know her more," Malik said in the presence of the elders once we had gathered them."

"So what do you intend to do with that?" one elder asked.

"Revenge is a dish best served cold, don't you agree, Alpha Xavi?" I shot him an icy glare, and his face became serious again. Stupid Malik never knew when to joke and when not to. "Her marriage is near, and they look at her like the savior of their clan. She would bring plenty of riches to them. We can attack her marriage day and kill everyone in the village because the whole village will be there to celebrate. I will extract information from her about their security system and how her father operates."

I saw the elders nodding to his suggestions, which gladdened my heart.

"It's a brilliant idea," one of the elders chimed. Malik beamed with pride, and I felt like shooting up from my seat and strangling him to death.

"What if we don't kill the girl?" Dwayne asked. He was our voice of reasoning. Everyone turned to him. "What if we don't kill her parents too?"

"I require you to keep shut if you have nothing to say," I growled.

"Death is an easy punishment, don't you think, Alpha Xavi?" he challenged me. As much as I hated it, he was annoyingly right. "Let's say we snatch their source of hope and light and watch them suffer. What if we take their treasure and make it our rags?"

A wicked smile lit up my face. Dwayne was a man of wisdom.