The Lycan Princess; Blood and Betrayal

ELOWEN “Protect the Princess!” That was the voice that jolted me from sleep. I rushed to the window, and what I saw froze the breath in my lungs. Arrows streaked through the sky. Flames devoured rooftops. Bodies lay scattered in the shadows of the night. Chaos reigned, and I couldn’t make sense of any of it. Tension had long simmered among the kingdoms, each one careful not to meddle in the affairs of the others. My homeland, the Kingdom of Owu, was said to be the strongest. It's king, my father. I am the third-born and the youngest of the royal siblings. Earlier that week, on a Monday morning, my father summoned a high council meeting to discuss an unusual move: a peace alliance with the Kingdom of Esu. The Kingdom of Esu, feared and shrouded in mystery. Legends spoke of its people as demonic, cursed with supernatural strength, foresight, and fangs. Some even believed they were vampires. My ancestors had waged brutal wars against them, reducing their numbers drastically before forcing them into permanent exile. Now, my father, the reigning king, was proposing an alliance with them. Of course, It sent shockwaves through the palace. The council of elders and our military leaders opposed it with fury. “They have super strength. They have fangs. If they had our numbers and technology, do you really think we would still exist?” That came from the Prime Minister, one of my father’s harshest critics. The room erupted. The Prime Minister’s words gained traction, turning many against the king. The council was descending into chaos until my father’s voice, steady and commanding, restored order. Then the General of the Left suggested a diversion: conquering the northern territories and smaller communities to harvest more slaves. But the Chief Engineer, a member of the influential Wright family, allies of the crown, offered a radical alternative: build a skyscraper, a monument to Owu’s power. And use the captured people of Esu as laborers. “Their strength could be of use,” he argued. “Why kill them when they can build our cities?” “No!” the General barked. “They’re too dangerous. Capture isn’t an option. Kill them, Immediately. ” The king adjourned the meeting, but the damage had been done. Whispers became rumors. Rumors became panic. Panic turned into hatred. The people questioned the King’s motives. They whispered of betrayal, of curses, of Esu blood running in the royal veins. And in the shadows, the General of the Left began plotting. He met secretly with military officers, spreading fear and planting the seeds of treason. They believed my Father had lost his mind and that the only solution was to remove him. The coup came on a Saturday night. A storm of soldiers. Flaming arrows. Fireworks masked the sound of war. Screams echoed in every corridor of the palace. It was a full-scale betrayal. I was still in my nightdress when I heard the pounding at my door. My aunt, whom I had loved and called “Mother” all my life, burst in and grabbed my hand with trembling urgency. “It’s time to leave,” she whispered. “The kingdom is no longer safe for us.” I could barely breathe. Everything was falling apart. In the courtyard, I saw my brother, my protector, his sword soaked in blood, yelling, legacy!” as his bones cracked and reshaped into his wolf form. His final stand. “Protect the family I began to cry. I searched desperately for my father. My sister. My family. But the flames swallowed their faces, and the night took them away before I could say goodbye. The Kingdom of Owu was unlike any other. We were a kingdom of werewolves, proud, fierce, and bound by the laws of the pack. Our strength came from unity. We lived in packs, trained in packs, fought in packs. The king wasn’t just a ruler, he was our Alpha, the leader of the strongest pack in the land. To become an Alpha, one had to defeat and kill an Alpha in battle—a tradition rooted in blood and dominance. That was the most common way. Another path was more merciful: an injured or aging Alpha could willingly pass on his title to a trusted family member or loved one. But then, there was the rarest of all, the one spoken of in hushed reverence and fading legends: A True Alpha. The purest. The strongest. The kind of Alpha not born from violence or inheritance, but from spirit, strength, and unshakable will. No True Alpha had been seen in over a thousand years. My father, the King, our Alpha, stood on the front lines the night our world collapsed. Even after being struck in the chest with an arrow, he didn’t falter. He roared his command and kept leading the charge, blade in hand, soaked in blood. He had always believed that a king must protect his people, not from behind a throne—but in front of the shield wall. My elder brother, the Crown Prince, fought beside him. My sister too. But they were outnumbered. It wasn’t just an invasion. This is a real betrayal, our own army had turned against us. Traitors. Planted like seeds among our most trusted ranks. My father realized the truth only at the very end—when it was too late. He paid the ultimate price for trusting the wrong people. And with him… I lost them all. My brother. My sister. My father. All killed in one night. We escaped through a narrow hidden passage, a tunnel known only to the royal family and a handful of my father’s most loyal warriors. It was damp and pitch black, but we had no choice. My aunt, my guardian, the woman I had always called “mother” held my hand the entire way, never letting go. When we finally surfaced, the world had changed. We stood on the cliffside, watching our kingdom burn in the distance. The sky glowed with fire. Arrows lit the clouds. Screams still echoed from within the palace walls. And all I could do was watch, small, helpless, broken. Tears filled my eyes. My aunt tried to pull me away. But in that moment… something changed. An unnatural energy surged through my body. My skin tingled. My heartbeat slowed—and then quickened, steady and strong. My eyes, once dark, shifted to a glowing golden hue. It was unlike anything I’d ever felt. And I was only nine years old. In our world, a werewolf doesn’t truly come of age until their eighteenth birthday. That is when the shift is supposed to happen, if it ever does. Because not every child born of werewolf blood inherits the gift of transformation. Some live their lives never knowing the feel of fur or the strength of the beast within. But that night… something ancient awoke inside me. And even though I was just a child, that was the night I stopped being one. My aunty must have sensed the shift in me. Her hand settled gently on my shoulder. “Control yourself,” she said softly but firmly. “It’s not time yet. We need to get to safety first.” I nodded, swallowing the fury that boiled beneath my skin. But I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the flames devouring my home. I couldn’t silence the grief clawing at my chest. And then, I saw him. A tall, broad figure in full armor, standing atop the eastern battlements, surrounded by soldiers. “Wait… what?” I whispered, blinking. “Is that not General Reed?” It was. General Reed. Commander of the elite royal warriors of Owu. A living legend. A man I had trusted with my life. The Reed family had always been warriors, fierce, loyal, and battle-born. General Reed had fought beside my father in countless wars. He had even stood as best man at the royal wedding. His loyalty had seemed unshakable. And yet there he stood, on the side of the enemy. Betrayal struck like a dagger through my heart. His son, Jack, and I had shared a strange bond from birth. We were born on the same day, during a lunar eclipse, a rare celestial event that stirred whispers in even the most logical minds. According to ancient Owu legend, the kingdom’s first ruler, King Vladimir, descended from the heavens alongside his divine wife, Queen Divine. She was said to possess powers of sorcery, foresight, and healing. Together, they united the divided kingdoms and drove out the vampire clans that once plagued the land. Before his death, King Vladimir left behind a prophecy: “One day, under the shadow of the moon, I shall return in wolf’s flesh and golden flame, to restore the broken bloodlines and reclaim my throne. ” After Vladimir’s death, Queen Divine vanished, some say into the mountains, others into the stars. Her disappearance remains a mystery. But the prophecy never faded. It echoed through generations, carried most fervently by the Reed bloodline. When Jack was born under the lunar eclipse, the Reed family believed he was Vladimir reborn. They trained him fiercely, mind, body, and spirit, for a destiny they were certain he would fulfill. But what no one outside the palace knew was this: I was born that very same night. And while Jack was celebrated and hardened into a warrior, I was hidden. Because the royal family never believed in the prophecy. But they knew others would. And if word got out that the king’s daughter was also born under the lunar eclipse… it would put a target on my back. They kept it secret to protect me. To protect a child with no mother. And now, as I stared at General Reed, sword raised against the kingdom he once swore to defend, I realized, They weren’t just overthrowing a king. They were trying to rewrite prophecy.