Pregnant for the Cruel Lycan King

Chapter 10

Alora

Chaos everywhere. People scrambling around and the pack warriors trying to get everything in order.

News had just got to us that rogues had attacked the guards on patrol at the west border.

We were all in the safe room because the severity of the attack wasn’t known yet. Speculations had gone around that it must be a planned attack or there was an informant in the pack. It had been long since the kingdom witnessed an attack, no one dared do anything against the Lycan King.

I looked around as if analyzing the room and noticed a girl who looked ten or so with tears streaming down her face. She isn’t with the other kids, she’s separated.

I moved closer to her to see that she was shaking as if in fear.

“Hey.” I said calmly when I got to her.

She looked up at me with red, teary eyes. I bent down to her level and held her face in my hands.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her.

“Rogues. Mom,dad, brother.” Was the only thing she said.

She looked traumatized, as if she remembered something horrifying.

“Calm down. Breathe in. Breathe out. In. Out. In. Out.” I said, hugging her close to me.

She did as I instructed and her breathing balanced.

“Are you okay?” I asked. Who was I kidding? The child is obviously traumatized.

“Rogues attacked our house, killed my mother, father and brother.” She explained.

Uh-oh. She remembered them again tonight because of the rogues that attacked her.

“Your parents and brother are in a better place and they wouldn’t want to see you cry.”

“What if the rogues enter here? I’d die just like them. Does that mean I’ll see them again?” She asked hopefully.

“No! You don’t think like that. They love you and wouldn’t want anything to happen to you, you need to stay happy for them so they can be at peace.” I said.

“But I’m all alone here.” She pouted.

“You are not alone. You have your parents and brother watching you from above. They come in the form of stars at night watching over you. Now, would they want their little princess sad?” I asked.

“No. But the other kids call me an orphan who was the cause of her parent’s death because I was the foolish one who ran outside to take my doll that night. I slipped out of the kitchen door. Dad came after me when he noticed I was missing and rogues attacked him. Mom died because of the pain from her mate’s death. Luke was sixteen. Out of fury, he went after the rogue who killed Dad, but he was killed instead.” She narrated.

I was teary, the little girl must be so traumatized to remember everything that happened that night.

I hugged her tighter to myself, that was the only comfort I could offer at the moment.

“What is your name?” I asked.

“Clara.”

“Clara. I need you to be strong because that’s exactly what your parents and brother want for you. You might have thought they all died protecting you, but that happened because they love you.” I consoled him.

“Have you reported the kids who mocked you to your nanny?” I added.

I released her from my grasp.

“No. They’ll call me weak.”

“It’s them who are weak for bullying you. Report them to your nanny. If they continue with their bullying, you can tell me,” I said.

“Thank you. What’s your name?” She asked, her innocent doe eyes filled with life again, unlike before when they were dull.

“I’m Alora. In case you need me, my place is in the kitchen. I’m a kitchen assistant,” I said with a smile.

She smiled, her eyes brightened with elation. “You are very nice. Everyone in this palace mostly ignores me.” Clara said.

“Well, you now have me as a friend,” I replied.

“Attention everyone!” A loud voice roared.

I looked towards the podium to see the pack’s beta, Josh.

The hall went silent and everyone directed their attention to him.

“We have the situation under control now, normal activities begin immediately,” he thundered.

My hand being tugged made me look down.

“You will also leave now?” Clara asked me with tear-filled eyes.

I bent down to her level. “I have to. I’m only a kitchen assistant, we need to prepare dinner. However, we only need to make contact since it was interrupted by the attack,” I said.

“Okay. I’ll come look for you tomorrow.” She smiled.

“I can’t wait.” I grinned back at her.

The hall was almost empty now. “Bye.” I waved at Clara and left the hall for the kitchen.

~

After the day’s work, I exited the kitchen to sleep. I was so tired.

I was looking forwards and fantasizing about how good my bed would feel right now when a guard called my name.

Not just any guard, one of Kylen’s personal guards.

“The king asks for you. He said you’d see him where you both met the last time.” He said.

He turned around to leave and I followed him. It’s a direct order from the king. I had no power to question his authority.

I’ve been avoiding seeing him since the night Aiden was banished.

He called Helen to look after me before he left the lake that day. When I see him anywhere in the palace, I avoid going near that specific place. I’ve been doing that for a week and I thought I wouldn’t have to face him anytime soon.

The guard turned around when we got to the backyard’s large door. He opened the door for me, the chill night air kissed my skin. Afterward, I went outside.

I moved towards the lake Kylen had last seen me but when it got midway, I couldn’t move anymore, the flashbacks from that night flooded my mind. How he restrained me from moving or talking, how he talked down on me by calling me the king’s slut, which made me feel worthless even though it wasn’t true, how Kylen almost best him to death which made me remember that it was the same injured way my dad was the last time I saw him.

I stood frozen to the ground, my breath coming in short pants.

Can’t breathe. Darkness.

I had almost drifted to unconsciousness when large warm hands grabbed my shoulders.

“Alora, are you alright?” Kylen asked.

I only nodded vigorously, my mouth sealed.

“Your heartbeat isn’t stable and you look really pale. Is anything the pr-“ He paused halfway.

“s**t! I brought you back to where that fucker almost had his way with you!” He cussed.

“Breathe in. Out. In. Out. In. Out.” He instructed.

When I had calmed down, I smiled at what had just happened, he just did what I instructed Clara to do.

“Did you hit your head somewhere? What’s so comical about what just happened?” He asked, looking at me like I’ve grown two heads.

“I remembered something. It’s none of your concern anyways.” I brushed off.

“It must be interesting to make you laugh at the memory,” he said.

“Uh?” I asked confusedly.

“Tell me.” He commanded.

“Okay. I met a little girl that night in the safe room. She was scared and alone, she was si shaken up that she couldn’t breathe properly. I told her to breathe in and breathe out also,” I explained.

“Oh. Okay.” He muttered.

“You called for me. Did you need me for anything?” I asked.

“Not really.” He said huskily.

“Okay….” I trailed off.

“You need to know that this has been on my mind for a long time,” he said, and moved closer to me.

He cupped my cheeks with his hands and looked into my eyes intensely.

Slowly, he moved closer to me. All of a sudden, his lips met mine, it was a very slow and sensual kiss.

I was so lost in it, how his warm, soft lips moved against my skin very softly, as if my lips were a delicate flower.

He sucked my upper lip and detached it from my mouth. I resisted the urge to draw him back in a searing kiss.

Kylen looked at me with a dark, hooded gaze.

The king had just KISSED me? And he kissed me as incredibly as he looked. I was speechless after he broke the kiss, the kiss felt so wrong yet right in a lot of ways.

“You taste amazing, just like I predicted. I really needed that. My day was shitty.” He said softly.

“Tell me about your day.” I asked.

His mood switched to that of anger, as if I asked him the most forbidden question in the world.

“It’s official,” he replied sharply.

“I’m not telling you to tell me about your duties as a king, you do not need to tell me about that.”

“But I’m the king. How do I tell you about my day without talking about my duties as a king?”

I sighed. “ Since you want me to go straight to the point, I would. Something is eating you up and I have a premonition that it’s something I need to know about.” I said.

“There’s nothing eating me up. It’s just a rogue attack. We haven’t had one in a year or so.” he replied.

I inhaled deeply and slowly entangled myself with him.

“By the way, why did you run out of my room the other day?” He asked.

“You need to tell me what’s bothering you, then I’ll tell you what I saw that made me leave.” I knew I was playing a dangerous game, but I just had to do that.

Kylen sighed. “Aiden led the attack.”

It felt like my entire life stopped, Aiden? Again?

I thought I had gotten rid of him after he was banished.

“Because of me? I asked slowly.

“No! He’s just a dumbass. He’s the one who is deranged, it’s not your fault that he thinks attacking two guards would make him fine.” Kylen retorted.

“He attacked because he felt the kingdom treated him badly, which happened because of me.” I muttered, almost at the verge of tears.

Two souls, wolves, people list their lives because of me.

“ For f**k’s sake, Alora, they did not die because of you. They died protecting the pack.

~

After Kylen had managed to console me last night, I went to bed with a heavy mind, sleeping very far from me. I kept turning on the bed till sunrise.

“Good morning, Helen.” I greeted her.

“Morning, Alora.”

I greeted the other kitchen assistants and we started work immediately.

“By the way, Alora, where were you at night?” My bunk mate asked.

“Uh. I went outside for fresh air.” I lied.

“Really?” Helen asked me suspiciously.

I continued cracking the eggs for today’s breakfast, ignoring my work mates teasing about me seeing a guard.

Thank goddess, no one made a hint about the king.

After several teases on how much they’d love to meet the mystery man, we served the food. I passed by Clara and greeted her with a smile.

Since it was a Monday morning, after breakfast, everywhere became silent, which I found alarming because of how chaotic the week was.

But somehow, the peace got interrupted, brutally might I add. The main school in the kingdom is under attack.

I overheard some warriors saying the attacker threatened to burn down the school if a certain thing wasn’t brought to him by the king.

“She’s not important for that number of lives to be lost. I wonder why the king is thinking about it.” I overheard one of the maids.

Interesting, it’s a certain person.

Maybe the king has a secret lover. That thought sent an uncomfortable feeling to the pit of my stomach.

“Hey, slave. Are you so selfish that you’d allow those innocent kids to die because you refuse to turn yourself in?” A maid sneered at me, looking at me with disgust.

What is she talking about?

“If you’d be clearer please, I do-“ I started, but got interrupted rudely by the maid.

“Don’t act coy with me. The head guard said he’d burn down the school if you weren’t brought to him.” She sneered and stormed off.

No! No! No!

This can’t happen because of me again. I can’t allow those innocent kids to lose their lives because a deranged creature vowed to get me at all costs.

With every strength in me, I ran down to the school and, truly, Aiden stood there, with five rogues surrounding him and a lighter in one hand, a fire escalator in another.

He must have sensed me because he turned around immediately and gave me a disgusting grin.

“Hello, sweetness.”