THE LYCAN KING'S REJECT

FLAMES

After I was dragged out of my cell and into the clearing Marious threw me onto the floor so hard I think he fractured my shoulder. I squirmed around ‘till I was sitting on my knees. They had tied my hands and legs together with rope dipped in wolf’s bane. Now I had what looked like severe rope burn on my wrist and ankles. Carly and Marious took a few steps away from me to talk about something. And it did not look good.a few minutes into their talk they started arguing.

My body started to feel hot. Like really hot. I started panting like I had just run a million miles in the Sahara desert. The heat only got worse as the bickering couple kept yelling at each other. Then the fastest wave of a cool breeze passed through me. It shocked my body and I started hyperventilating. I could feel something trying to take over me and it wasn’t my wolf.

Lani, what is happening to me?

We are transforming.

Transforming into what? I question her. Right when I ask, I feel that same intense burning flash through me again. I doubled over in pain groaning out for help. I was on my hands and knees with my head down. I gripped the grass under me and let out a deep animalistic growl.

“Marious, what is she doing?” Carly asks, stepping in front of Marious looking furious. She stomped her foot like a child that wasn’t getting her way. “Victoria never mentioned this part of the plan. What do we do?” I can hear her panicking as I feel and hear my bones shifting. What was happening to me.

Lani what are you doing? Are you trying to force a shift? She’s never done this before. We’ve always been on the same page. I’ve never had a forced shift. Lani wouldn’t take that choice away from me.

That isn’t me. She says. It's them. They’ve fused together somehow. Who was ‘them’! My body is burning hot now. My throat starts to burn and my eyes dry. My vision blurs for a second, but I blink and it’s back to normal. My contacts fell out. I focus on the contacts on the floor trying to stop the shift. It wasn’t working.

I watch as my hands shift into white paws and fur breaks out on my arms and legs.

“Damn it, Carly kill her already.” Marious shouts. I knew from the moment I met him he did not like me. I just didn't expect him to hate me so much that he wanted to kill me. All so his dau-. Wait. he said his daughter was to be queen. Then it hit me.

FUCKING VICTORIA WAS HIS DAUGHTER!!! How did it seriously take me this long to catch on. My head whips up in their direction when I hear footsteps, and then I’m pushed into the back of my mind as that mysterious force takes over me.

It was different from when I let Lani take over. I felt like I couldn’t move as I watched the mysterious force take a few steps towards Marious and Carly.

Carly pulled a silver blade from behind her back and charged at me. At Us. Whatever is in control right now dodges her first attempt to stab us in the neck. She stumbled a little before glaring at us. She tries again but this time we pounce on her standing on her knees and arms to keep her from moving.

“Marious! Help me!” She screams under me trying to free herself.

I couldn’t help the feeling I got seeing her down. But this force, I couldn’t stop it, this was never meant to happen, it tore her neck out. I watched as the force growled in Carly’s face before sinking our canines into her neck and ripping it out. I sat and watched, unable to do anything. And the sick part is, I didn’t really care. She was a part of the people trying to take my mate from me. She was going to kill me. I watched her bleed out on the ground. Hands around her neck trying to stop the bleeding.

After confirming she was dead, we turned around to see Marious making a run for the tree line, back into the woods. We sprinted after him, catching him right before he could step foot into the forest. We sank our teeth into his hind leg and tossed him backwards a few feet. As he scrambled to get up we dug our claws into the same leg we had just bit. He screams out in pain as he gets dragged back towards us.

Lani still hasn’t said anything, she just sits and watches.

Marious starts to swing at us but misses every time. I can feel my eyes glow at him. As I look into his eyes I can see my own. One shines a bright red and the other a vibrant blue. He looks terrified. Good, he should be. We grab onto his neck and shake him violently. By the time his head has been detached from his body, I am covered in his blood and Carly’s blood. My white fur was dirty red. I felt gross. I can feel my mate getting closer to me.

When I turn around I see Enzo standing beside a smug Victoria, until she sees her father’s head at my feet. I don’t even think Lorenzo noticed the head and dead body a few feet from him. He just stares at me. I can’t feel all of his emotions but I know he was worried from the look on his face. He also looked shocked.

As other pack members, Abby and Roman appear behind Enzo and Victoria. Enzo starts walking towards me. While I’m at the other side of the clearing, the pack members are at the other end and Enzo is reaching the middle of it. He is halfway to me when Victoria runs to him, grabbing him by the neck and sticking a syringe into his neck. Before we can even take a step she pulls out a silver blade and holds it to my mate's neck as he falls to his knees before her.

She looks at me with fury and tears in her eyes. Oh she really did not like me.

“SHIFT BACK NOW!” She yells to me, pressing the blade deeper into my mate's neck. At first I hesitated but I do as she says, the force letting me take over again, not wanting her to hurt him anymore. I wouldn’t want him to be hurt because of me. “You killed my father you b***h!” She seethes. “All I ever wanted was for Enzo to love me. We were supposed to be king and queen. But you just had to show up and ruin everything. I saw the way he looked at you. Even when we were together he never looked at me like that.” A few of her tears fell. Didn’t she say she just wanted money and power?

I look at Lorenzo. He looks like he’s in pain. Like extreme period cramps type of pain. His face was turning red and he looked like he was struggling to breathe.

“What did you do to him?” I ask taking a step closer to them.

“Don’t come any closer!” she pressed the blade further causing a few drops of blood to fall from his neck, and me, to stop immediately. “None of you come closer!” She speaks to the others that followed them. That’s when I noticed my parents were here. But I couldn’t really focus on them when my mate's life was being threatened. I looked back at Victoria and Enzo.

She caresses the side of his face lovingly. “ Why didn’t you love me?” She whispered to him, as she pulled his head back to look at her. His eyes started to water and it broke my heart to see him like that.

“B-because you w-weren't her.” He manages to get out,but it’s like he’s struggling to speak properly. Victoria looked furious but stayed calm.

“No matter what, you are never gonna love me the way you love her, are you?.” Her face looks void of all emotions, as he shakes his head no, like she just flipped a switch inside of her. “Then I guess she can’t have you either.”

And after that everything happened so fast. This terrifying rage took over me and the painful heat from before was back. I see my parents trying to push everyone back into the tree line. Victoria picks up the knife getting ready to plunge it into my exhausted looking mate's heart. The pain intensified in seconds making me fall to the ground on all fours. “ LORENZO!”

And then, a burst of energy leaves my body. All the pain and heat expel from my body burning the lushy green grass under and all around me. Then I see it isn’t just the grass. I see Victoria running around in circles on fire. A few seconds later she falls to the ground.

Oh god. MY MATE. Please don’t tell me I did to him what I just did to Victoria. With tears in my eyes I ran to him. He laid motionless in the spot he was just kneeling in. I kneel beside his upper body and pull his head onto my lap.

He looked fine. His eyes were closed but there were no burn marks on his skin or cuts to his throat. He looked better than when Victoria injected him with whatever was in that syringe. But he looked a little pale. He didn’t look like his normal strong self. All because of me.

“Baby. Babe wake up.” I lightly pat his cheek. He still didn’t open his eyes. He wasn’t dead. I could feel our mate bond, but the bond felt different. Like he was different.

My parents and everyone they pushed into the tree line came out, rushing towards us, stopping a few feet away. They were close enough to see their unconscious King in my arms. Tears fell as he still didn’t wake up.

My mom came to stand next to me, and gently placed her hand on my shoulder to comfort me. That’s when the tears don’t stop falling. I sobbed as I brought my upper body down over his head. I held him to me like my life depended on it, and in a way, it did.

“M-mom he won’t o-open his eyes.” I know by now I was ugly crying. But I didn’t care. I just wanted to see my mates gorgeous green eyes. I just wanted to see him. “Mom p-please tell me what to do.” I cried to her, lightly caressing his cheeks. I started to hiccup and I knew I looked really ugly now. A few pack warriors came beside me bending down and scooping my king out of my arms. “W-wait what are you doing?” They started to walk away from me with him. I can’t let them take him from me. “YOU CAN'T TAKE HIM FROM ME HE’S MINE!” I growled at the warriors that had my mate. They stopped in their tracks.

The mystery force was back but it wasn’t trying to take over, it was merging with me. It felt like it was heightening my anger. My body started to heat up again but only this time it didn’t hurt.

“You can’t have him!” Lani agrees with me.

We didn’t want them touching him. What if they were helping Victoria too, like that maid was.

“Lily, what the hell calm down!” Abby yelled at me. She looked at me in fear and confusion. Like I had grown two heads. But I took a look at myself and saw what she feared.

I was literally on fire. My skin looked like it was made of flames. And it fit how I felt. Hot with anger. I started walking towards the warriors who held my mate. Almost to them, I reached out for the closest one but was stopped before I could grab him. There was a sharp stab in my neck.

My knees start to give out and feel my legs turn to jelly. Though, before I hit the ground, firm arms catch me. My father strokes my head soothingly as my lids become heavier. I look at him in disbelief. Did he really just tranq me?

“Dad, please don’t do this.” I whispered weakly.

“I’m sorry princess.” He strokes my head as my eyes finally close. The last thing I heard him say before darkness took over.

“Sleep princess.”

And I did.