The Lycan King's Human Queen

First Meetings

×Octavius×

Octavius tugged at his collar and cracked his knuckles for what felt like the thousandth time.

Alark turned to stare at him with a smug smile that made his teeth clench and he stubbornly ignored the redhead man.

He felt on edge, thirsty, slightly sweaty and his heart kept palpitating for some reason. If he did not have his supernatural abilities he would have thought he was about to die.

"I can not remember the last time you were this nervous," commented Alark who had his feet stretched out and resting on the dark-haired man's thighs.

"I am not nervous," he argued, weakly as he emptied a bottle of water into his mouth and tossed it to the growing pile on the vehicle's floor.

"You look like you swam in the ocean with your clothes on," he joked in his careless manner and Octavius pulled off his suit jacket and unbuttoned his shirt to fight the growing heat.

"Are you planning on seducing her with your nudity?"

The silver-eyed man rolled his eyes at his friend's antics and leaned against the headrest to try and calm himself, "do you know what's happening to me, Alark? It feels like I am burning up from inside and..."

"Like there's energy trapped inside of you that needs to be released?" He supplied with a knowing look and the younger lycan nodded, weakly.

"The same thing happened to me when I met Lissana," Alark recalled with a fond smile as he spoke of his mate, "I remember getting so hot I stripped down to my birthday suit and jumped into her mother's fish pond to cool down," he shuddered in disgust. "I smelt like fish for a week but I had finally found my reason for living," he ended with a small smile and Octavius smiled too.

He had heard the story of their meeting a thousand times but it did not make it any less endearing and sweet. He hoped to one day look back on his and Claire's official meeting with as much fondness as his right-hand man.

"From what I understand, the heating up of the body only happens to lycans, not werewolves and seeing as there are so few of us left, it's not a well-known fact," the redhead explained as he glanced out the window by Octavius's side, his feet still on his lap, "lucky you for having such a wise elder who is always ready to bestow his wisdom upon your ignorant, childish mind."

Octavius shoved his feet off his lap with an annoyed glare as he began buttoning his shirt, "you are ten years older than me, not a hundred."

"It feels like a hundred," the other man muttered but Octavius ignored him in favour of staring out the window.

They were almost at the town hall and he felt a spark of anger at the unnecessary gathering that was hosted. The media had blown everything out of proportion and turned what he had hoped to be a quiet and simple affair, into a big party.

He could not be too upset by the extravagance because it did come with the advantage of bringing Claire to him.

To avoid involving himself in her life and to reduce the temptation of claiming her early, Octavius had stopped spying and receiving information on her, at age five. He knew little to nothing about Claire, except her general appearance and of course, her scent.

"Do you think she will like me?" He asked his second in command as he pulled on his jacket, enduring the heat it caused because he could not, as King, attend a public event underdressed.

"Only one way to find out," the redhead answered with an encouraging smile as the car came to a stop in front of the brightly lit building.

~Claire~

Claire blinked blearily as the room spun and her stomach clenched. She groaned and laid her head on the cool table then sighed in relief.

"Are you alright?" Asked a distorted voice and Claire slowly turned in their direction, her head feeling too heavy and fragile for sudden movements.

"Candy?"

"You're wasted," the she-wolf said with a loud laugh and Claire nodded slowly in agreement.

"We should start heading home," the blue-eyed woman whispered as she stood up and then swayed, dangerously.

"You're not going to wait for the King to arrive?" Asked Stephanie with a small frown.

"Candy and I never really stood a chance," she admitted with a small shrug, "we just came here for the hell of it and..."

"Free alcohol," the older woman included with a giddy smile as she eyed an unopen bottle of wine but looked away from it and joined her younger friend to shakily stand. "When you ladies are done with my King, you can come over to my house and we'll watch cartoons for the rest of the night," she offered with a wink then giggled at her reflection on the green bottle, proving how drunk she was.

"What if one of us turns out to be his mate?" Stephanie asked with her elbows on the table as she tried very hard to appear sober though anyone with a supernatural nose could tell she was not. "Don't you want to join in the celebration?"

"I probably won't be his mate because I'm nineteen," Gloria who was the least drunk, added, "so I could help you with her," she offered to Claire who turned to stare at the purple-eyed woman who was staring a little too intently at the bottle for her comfort.

"Are you sure, Gloria? I don't want you to feel like you have to..."

"Oh it's fine," the ravenette said with a small wave and tugged Candy's left arm over her shoulder while Claire did the same to her right.

"I'm not handicapped," muttered the older woman but she thankfully did not struggle.

"I guess I have to come too," muttered Stephanie with a tired sigh. "It probably won't be me either and I enjoy cartoons," she offered in explanation as she took their purses from them.

"Are you sure you want to come with us?" Claire asked, carefully when she noticed the pinched look on her face.

Stephanie shrugged carelessly and led the way, "I would have felt something if it was me but I haven't." She called over her shoulder and the human nodded in understanding.

The group of four stumbled out of the building and into the open air with Stephanie leading the way as Gloria and Claire carried a restless Candy.

A line of black cars was parked in an orderly fashion and Claire wondered why they were all matching and had something painted on their sides.

Candy swayed in their hold and then pulled away from them with her hands slapped over her mouth.

She stumbled over to the first car in the line and before Claire could stop her, emptied the contents of her stomach over its front tyre.

"What the f*ck do you think you are doing?!" Screamed the driver as he got out of the car and stomped towards the gathered women, his face the picture of rage.

"I am so sorry about this," Claire apologized, sheepishly as she tried to tug the older woman, who stubbornly clung to the cool vehicle, and failed miserably.

"She's drunk and..."

"I can see that you stupid c*nt!" He spat with a sneer.

Claire recoiled like she had been slapped and glared at the tall man, "I understand you are upset but that's no reason to..."

"I'm surprised the i***t even knows what a c*nt looks like," Stephanie spat with a frosty glare, her eyebrows raised as she dared him to do something.

"Stephanie," Gloria called out, cautiously as she eyed the fuming man.

"I'm not going to stand here and be insulted by a group of small-town rats," he spat as he shoved past Stephanie and grabbed Candy's hair, tugging her by it to get her off the vehicle.

Claire watched with muted horror as Stephanie jumped onto his back and wrestled him to the ground.

The she-wolf snarled, viciously with bared fangs as she drove her fists into his face, repeatedly, taking a few hits to her own but was undeterred by it.

The cold night air and screaming of her companions chased away the alcohol clouding her senses and helped her notice the smaller details.

The man, who was currently tussling with Stephanie on the floor, had a rather nice-looking suit on.

The cars lined up looked far too expensive to belong to anyone in their town and they all had the country's coat of arms painted on their sides and bonnets; two large wolves howling to the large moon with a cluster of wolfsbane in the middle.

"Oh, Goddess," she muttered as realisation suddenly dawned on her.

Claire looked around in panic, searching for the man of the hour and praying he would not see this uncouth display.

"We need to leave!" She screamed at her friends but Gloria was the only one paying enough attention to hear her. "This is the King's..."

"Convoy," The brown-eyed woman added with a nod, "I noticed the very minute we walked out."

"What do we do?" She asked as Stephanie and the King's driver were now swiping at each other with their claws. "We need to leave," she repeated and tried tugging Candy, who now appeared to be asleep and drooling on the coat of arms.

"I'll kill you!" Stephanie screeched in the background at the same time the distinct sound of someone opening a car door pierced through the noise.

Claire moaned in confusion as she tugged at Candy, harder, hoping they could leave before the King arrived and had them hanged for treason or something.

Candy stirred and Claire smiled in relief, believing the evening could still be salvaged but lost that hope when the brunette frowned in annoyance, raised her fists in the air and smashed them down on their country's national symbol, denting the metal.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Thundered a loud voice that, effectively, put an end to the madness and drew all their attention.

Claire turned slowly and was met with the familiar sight of bright red hair and gold eyes that glowed with the promise of pain for someone.

"They started it, Lord Alark," reported the man with an accusatory finger as he stumbled away from a grinning Stephanie.

"Then you should have ended it," the King's right-hand man hissed with a glare that made the much smaller man shrink back.

Claire felt the world spin as his eyes ghosted over them then settle on the dented car and Candy.

Her vision blurred and blacked out for a second as the world tilted and the sound of footsteps approaching them grew louder.

Claire felt herself slowly grow warm and desperately tried to fight the call of darkness but lost, miserably.

The last thing she heard before she felt her mind go blank, was the sound of a man's voice calling out her name, then nothing.