A Blood Contract With The Lycan King

Chapter 2

Rhodes

Hospitals are usually where I leave bodies, not where I visit them.

Sterile walls. Too much white. Too much death. But I’m not here to die today. I’m here to kill.

Violet Heartlock is on the third floor. Weak. Dying because she and her sister are sharing the silver wolf’s soul. Only one of them will be able to live past the age of twenty.

And that’s going to be Scarlett, the firstborn twin and the one I need awakened.

The prophecy is clear. They can only be one awakened silver wolf at a time. And only a fully awakened silver wolf can break my curse.

I press a hand to the wall when a tremor wracks through me. My blood runs colder than frostbite, and for a few seconds, I see nothing but a sheet of ice coating the hallway floor.

Damn it. The curse is getting worse.

Six hours of suffering every day. Seven, when it gets worse. Then eight. Nine... I can’t let that happen.

I exhale and push into the stairwell, climbing toward Room 318. I could have sent someone else to end Violet. A pack soldier. But I prefer to run my own errands.

Violet deserves to see the man who will be her end. It’s not like this is murder. It will be mercy since Jasper informed me that the girl wants to die.

But when I approach the room, I hear voices.

“Scar… It’s okay…If you let them take me, you will awaken. You will survive.”

“Don’t say that. Don’t you dare say that again! You want to live, right?”

Sobs. “Y-yes…” More sobs. “But I don’t want you to...get in trouble...for my sake…”

I pause right outside the door, then open it.

Scarlett Heartlock stands in front of her sister like a lioness guarding a cub. Pale. Red-haired. Beautiful in a savage kind of way. Her back is straight. Her jaw locked. And her eyes—

Her eyes are exactly as I’d been warned. Angry, sharp, defiant. The color of an ashen ocean.

Her scowl is too deep to be called feminine. Yet somehow it makes her more arresting. This is the kind of girl who fights her own battles. She is apparently also the kind to decide her own fate since there's a half-packed bag on the floor.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” she snaps.

I lift my eyes to hers. “And you’re not supposed to be escaping.”

She glares at me. “Get out.”

I take a step forward instead. Her hand darts behind her back, and when it returns, she’s holding a gun. Silver-tipped. Deadly. Pointed straight at my head.

“You think that’ll stop me?” I ask, more amused than offended.

“I’ll put a silver bullet between your eyes and figure out who the hell you are afterward.”

I can’t help it. I grin. “Fiery. I like that.”

“Try me.”

“Relax, sweetheart. I’m not here to hurt you.”

“You’re here for Violet.”

I don’t answer. I don’t need to. She knows.

She doesn’t wait for more words.

With a cry of rage, she lunges.

The gun swings up, but I knock it aside with the back of my hand. She drops the gun. I kick it under the floor. Her fist comes for my jaw.

I let it hit me and feel it.

Not like a trained strike, but it hurts. She has strength. Spirit, even though she is a meek wolf and not a lycan.

Who trained this woman?

I’m too stunned to react for a second. She clocks me again. Harder this time. My head jerks back and I…laugh. Actually laugh at the fight she is putting up.

I stroke my jaw and chuckle. “That actually hurt.”

Her expression flickers in confusion, like she can’t believe I would laugh at her hurting me.

That hesitation is all I need.

I catch her wrist, twist, and pivot. She slams into the wall. Pinned with her face facing the white wallpaper.

“Now we’re even,” I murmur into her ear.

She thrashes against me. “Let me go!”

My lips are on her neck. “I think not.”

She tries to fight me harder.

Doesn’t help.

I chuckle. “You done?”

“Bite me.”

Another chuckle. “Tempting.”

Her eyes narrow over her shoulder. “You don’t want her. Violet’s already dying.”

I say nothing.

Her voice cracks. “She just wants to finish her bucket list before she goes.”

Now she’s begging.

“She won’t live for very long. Let her finish her bucket list. Please.”

That word.

Please.

It jolts something in me. Enough that I loosen my hold.

Scarlett takes the chance and tries to shove me back. I don’t budge, but I’m surprised that she is still trying to fight a guy twice her size. Doesn’t she know who I am? That I’ve killed people for lifting their hands against me?

I should have Violet Heartlock executed for attacking royalty. I should be insulted. Mad at her.

Instead, I’m entertained.

She thinks she can put up a fight against me. I almost want to let her try.

“Do you know who I am?”

She watches me while panting. “I’m... beginning to get the idea.”

“Oh?”

“You’re very strong.”

“I am.”

Her heart is thundering in my ears. “You’re the Lycan King.”

I smile. “Correct.”

Actual fear passes in her eyes before she asks, “Why are you here?”

“Errands.”

“An errand to kill my sister?”

I don’t want to reveal my secret and tell her about my curse that only a silver wolf can break.

Instead, I keep my smile and ask, “What would you exchange for the mercy of me not touching your sister?”

She lifts her chin. “Anything.”

My smile sharpens. “Anything, huh?”

I release her. She stumbles forward, barely catching herself.

“You fight like a girl,” I murmur.

She glares at me but says nothing.

Behind us, Violet coughs. Moans. She’s barely conscious.

What am I doing asking Scarlett what she would offer to keep her sister dead? Violet is basically already gone. I should finish what I came here to do.

But Scarlett’s in my way.

“Move,” I growl.

“No.”

There’s a beat of silence before the door slams open.

Warriors. Jasper. And another girl with honey-blonde hair hanging on Jasper’s arm as if trying to prevent him from moving.

Isabella.

Jasper’s blood, but clearly not his shadow.

“Dad, no—please don’t do this!” she cries. “She’s our family!”

Jasper yanks free, eyes blazing. “Out of the way, Isabella. You don’t understand—”

Then he sees me.

Freezes.

His entire face drains of color.

“Your Majesty,” Jasper stammers, falling to one knee. “Forgive me. I didn’t know you were—”

“What am I interrupting?” I ask. I’m still standing beside Scarlett, who looks like she wants to pick up the gun from the floor.

Jasper hesitates. Then, seeing no way around it, says, “I was going to end Violet Heartlock, to awaken the Silver Wolf bloodline in her sister. There are rogues, and we need our full strength.”

“You can’t take her!” Scarlett snaps.

Jasper looks at Scarlett, seemingly shocked that she is here, but then he sighs heavily. “I’m sorry, Scarlett. But the pack needs you to awaken as the silver wolf, and Violet is already half-dead. I know she is your sister, but there are enemies that we need to defeat. It would be quick. I can give her medicine—”

I lift my hand to silence him, and he immediately stops talking. He looks rattled, but I only have eyes for the fierce and loyal werewolf girl.

She is so family-driven that it fascinates me. Scarlett would watch the world burn for her sister.

“Anything to keep her alive, right?” I ask.

Scarlett nods, and I smirk. I have never been this mesmerized by a woman before. Scarlett Heartlock is the first woman to have insulted and tried to fight me. I like her fire. But not romantically. Scarlett isn’t the type of woman I would take to bed.

She is the type of woman I would love to break. There’s time. Her sister is already singing her last verse. A few weeks and she will be dead, and Scarlett will be strong enough to heal me.

And before that happens...

She will kneel.

I look her up and down, and try not to laugh.

Yes. Turning angry and fierce Scarlett Heartlock into my slave would be the most fun I’ve had in years. She would hate every minute of it. It would make my black heart sing.

And she would do it if I offered her and her sister protection.

“I’ll take them both,” I announce. “The sick one. And the savage.”

Everyone stares.

Did they all lose the ability to speak? Poor little wolves.

Jasper is the first one to sputter. “B-but the River pack needs a strong Alpha—”

“I will get rid of all of your enemies,” I say calmly. “All I want is for Scarlett Heartlock to become my personal maid and…pleasurer. A slave. If she agrees and decides to sign a blood contract with me, then all of you will be safe. The River Pack. Violet. Everyone.”

“A blood contract?” Isabella whispers. “But signing a blood contract with you…that would mean she would be forced to do everything you say!”

“Yes,” my smirk grows. “That’s the point.”

Scarlett narrows her eyes. “So if you tell me to lick your floors clean after signing the blood contract with you, then I—”

“Would do it,” I finish, unblinking. “It would be like a vampire’s compulsion.”

“That’s insane!” Isabella hisses.

Scarlett swallows. “What happens if I break the contract?”

“You won’t.”

Scarlett flinches at the finality in my tone. Then she lifts her chin again. That unbreakable fire in her is still blazing.

“How badly do you want to save your sister?” I ask her again, this time softly.

She finally seems to realize that I’m serious and gapes at me like I’m the villain here. I am. But I don’t care.

“No. You can’t expect me to serve you!”

“Does that mean you don’t want to save Violet?” I ask, and she immediately goes silent like a good girl.

Isabella looks at Scarlett. "Scar, I know you want to save Violet, but you need to think twice about this. People don't survive his contracts. They go mentally insane for the things he asks them to do, and then they are never heard from again."

Scarlett looks rattled. "Is that true?"

I shrug. "Maybe."

She continues looking at me until Violet moans in pain. It's then that she slumps her shoulders and says, "I will do it." If I thought she had surrendered, I was a fool. She lifts her chin, full on glaring at me. "But I will never bow down to you and call you master."

Oh, she is interesting!

I try not to laugh while everyone else holds their breaths as if they didn’t expect Scarlett to make this decision. I knew she would.

Jasper opens his mouth to object.

I look at him.

And he shuts that mouth because I’m the Lycan King, and challenging me would be stupid.

When my blood curse isn’t pestering me, I’m the strongest supernatural being alive, and Scarlett Heartlock is mine now.

She doesn’t know it yet, but I just turned her world upside down. And I can’t wait to see what she does next.