Saving the Last Lycan King

Chapter 9

Liam

I woke up earlier than I had expected with a dreadful feeling in my chest. Something was definitely wrong. The house was very quiet and the usual sounds of crickets had disappeared. Pushing myself up in a sitting position, I glanced over the pillow fort to check if Sophie was still sleeping, but a clicking sound made me look towards the window. I snuck out of bed and, with my back pressed against the cold wall, I stepped closer to the window. My heart was pounding, not because I was scared on my own behalf, but because I was scared that I couldn’t protect her.

I stood beside the window and kept my breathing under control, waiting for another sound, but when it didn’t come, I took a chance and glanced out through the transparent curtain hanging in front of the window. Something moved behind a tree on the other side of the gates and when another movement further to the right appeared, I knew we would have to act fast. I hurried back to bed and while I pulled the clothes on my body, before waking her up.

“Sophie… Sophie, wake up!” I shook her gently and watched how she, with hooded eyes, gazed up at me, her dark hair messy from sleep.

“What?” She whispered, sounding slightly annoyed with me.

“They’ve already found us, we have to go. Now.” Luckily, she didn’t question what I said. I pushed the duvet away from her warm body and pulled her out of bed. She was wearing striped pajamas and I figured it would have to do for now. I helped her with her sandals and tossed my sweater at her, urging her to put them on. With her purse in my hand and a backpack secured over my shoulders, I gestured for her to follow me out of the bed chamber, but halted for a moment once I had opened the door. The sound of glass breaking downstairs reached my ears and I cursed myself for being too slow. With a quick glance down the corridor to both sides, I thought about our options for a successful escape. If we went through the kitchen, we could reach the hidden tunnels underneath the house, but that meant we had to walk downstairs to where the intruders already were. If we went through the office further down the hall, then we had to sneak down from the roof, but I wasn’t sure if Sophie would be comfortable with that. A door opened further down the corridor and I noticed the old gentleman poking his sleepy, but alerted face out, looking around desperately. When he saw me staring back at him, he gestured for us to go to him and I grabbed Sophie’s hand and tugged her after me as we snuck towards him.

“I’ll stall them. Take this,” he said, as he handed me a key and a small vial. He pushed a large chest away from the wall, revealing a small opening, “Once inside, turn right and crawl down the ladder. You’ll find yourself behind a hidden entrance behind the old fountain in the garden.” This secret tunnel must be a new addition. I looked at him appreciatively, but pursed my lips, knowing what probably would happen to him.

“Don’t look back, Your Majesty.” He had made his decision and I reached out to squeeze his shoulder briefly when the sound of breaking wood resonated through the house. He gave me a curt nod and I turned around, only to find Sophie halfway through the hole in the wall. Good girl. I followed behind her, trying not to get distracted by how close her behind was to my face and, once inside the wall, we both saw how the chest was placed back against the wall to cover the hole. The secret passage behind the wall was narrow, but high enough to let us stand up to our full height. I pushed past Sophie, our bodies briefly brushing against each other, and crawled down the wooden ladder. She hesitated for a moment, before turning around to crawl down the ladder and I held out my hands, ready to catch her if she would slip.

The sounds of men talking and shattering wood were a lot louder at the ground level and I noticed how Sophie held her breath, trying to keep a calm composure despite the chaos around us. Just ahead of us, a wooden latch came into sight, because of how the light from the rising sun was seeping in through the edge of it. Using my hearing, I made sure no one was on the other side before I carefully unlocked it with the key and removed it. We were right behind the old stone fountain, just as he had told us, overlooking the garden from its spot against the wall. When Sophie was out, we briefly exchanged looks, before I gazed back out the garden, trying to find the best way out of there.

“Liam.” Sophie whispered so softly her voice was barely audible. She probably knew that I would hear her because of my hearing, and I felt proud of her smart thinking. She pointed towards the shrubs ahead of us. They were tall and wild enough to cover our bodies from the hunters and I nodded my head, surprised that she was the one finding a way out of here instead of me. We rushed towards the bushes and, once in the cover of them, we followed them to the end of the garden.

“What now? There’s nowhere to hide now.” Her eyes were traveling over the flat landscape ahead of us and I felt the vial in my hand, knowing that this was something the old man also had thought about.

“Sophie, I need you to trust me.” I turned to face her, my free hand cupping her cheek as I begged for her to place her trust in me. When she nodded, my heart fluttered as if a million butterflies were inside it and I pulled out the plug before gulping down the contents of the small vial. “Please, remember that I won’t ever hurt you,” she looked at me with a concerned expression on her face, “we cannot afford for them to find us now.”

I felt how my muscles started to contract and relax simultaneously. My heart pounded and sweat covered my skin like a second layer. Goddess, it has been a long time since I last shifted into my beast. Before my bones started to break, I quickly undressed, not even noticing how Sophie reacted, and tried to open the backpack to push it inside. I wasn’t fast enough and whatever had been inside the vial, it was working fast. My bones snapped and I was almost afraid that someone could hear me shifting. It hurt a lot more than I remembered and I tried to muffle the scream that threatened to leave my lips as I felt the final snap of my bones, indicating that my body was done transforming and rearranging.

I shook my body, making my fur ruffle from side to side, and my beast longed to release a loud howl, but fortunately it knew that now was not the right moment. I glanced over at her and took in her shocked demeanor, her mouth agape along with a rapid breathing. She was trying her best to not hyperventilate on the spot and she actually collected herself quicker than I had expected her too, so when I gestured for her to grab the backpack, she did it. I crouched down onto the ground and waited for her to climb up on my back, which she did after taking a deep breath as if encouraging herself. Her warm fingers hesitantly dug into my fur, searching for somewhere to hold on to. Before I knew it, she leaned forward, pressed her thighs together a tiny bit and fisted some of my fur on the back of my neck.

“Mate can tug my fur anytime she wants.” His deep voice echoed through my mind and I couldn’t help but scoff as he leapt forward, desperate to create some distance between us and the hunters before they noticed we were gone.

***

Sophie

Holy mother of gods, this wolf was running fast! My face almost hurt from all the wind. I hadn’t even realized it was there before we started to run. I hoped that he wouldn’t be mad at me when he shifted back, because my grip might be a little too hard for his liking, but I was so scared that I would fall down and he would leave me behind. Hopefully, these hunters hadn’t noticed us leaving the house, so maybe we could get a head start before they realized we were gone.

My heart was pounding so fast inside of my chest, both out of fear, but also excitement. Who would have thought that I was going to sit on the back of a royal Lycan wolf as he sprinted away from the dangers following us? Huh? Not me! But seriously, I can’t remember when I had last felt this alive and somehow, I had momentarily forgotten that I had a life back in London, with my friends and, hopefully, my job waiting for me to get back. Did I even want to go back to that? The wolf slowed down, panting lightly as he trotted towards a small group of trees and I looked around, trying to figure out where the hell we were. My butt was sore and I could barely stretch my fingers out to release my grip on the poor animal’s fur. He had been running for so long, I had lost track of time, but judging by the position of the sun, it must be around noon. The wolf gently lowered himself to the ground and I slipped off as elegantly as I possibly could without ending with my face on the ground.

“I can’t believe that this is my life now…” I whispered mostly to myself, but I knew that he could probably hear me from wherever he was. “Finding a living corpse, who is apparently my mate. Oh, and riding on the back of a giant wolf while being chased by hunters with bows and arrows…” I scoffed, but almost choked at my own choice of words, as I saw a very naked Liam stalking towards me…