Reborn To Save The Lycan King

CHAPTER 2

LARA’S POV

The truck drove away after that shocking scene. I was shaken to my bones.

“At least he put him out of his misery quickly,” Kamara said, as she paused her whistling. I looked at her with wide, shocked eyes, and she shrugged, “What? The last time I was there, he had wrenched out the guts of a man, it was so disgusting, absolutely horrifying! I tell you, and he had left the poor guy to crawl about, bleeding like a f*****g cow until he passed on into a painful death. Ciaran is a different breed of evil.”

I stared at her in confusion as what she said occurred to me, “What do you mean by the last time you were here?” I queried, squinting at the side of her bruised face curiously.

“Tale for another day, child.” She replied and looked away, but I wasn’t having it, my curiosity was far too aroused.

I nudged at her arm, “No,” I snapped. “Tell me what you mean by that.” I breathed heavily all of a sudden as the bloody courtyard scene flashed in my mind again. “I can’t trust another day to come, I cannot just believe that we will live that long, not after what I’ve seen and what you’ve told me!” My voice rose hysterically, alarming the other ladies. “So, tell me what that meant, right now.”

She stared at me silently for a while, then sighed. “Fine, seems like the stench of death here is already getting to you. I was captured when I was younger, let’s say when I was your age. What are you? Seventeen? Sixteen?”

I frowned, “I’m eighteen.”

She nodded to herself and looked away, “I was nineteen when my mother sold me off to Crestmoon city about twenty years ago. This same pack we’re trapped in right now was to be run by Ciaran’s father at that time but I managed to escape. A day before I was supposed to be killed, I managed to seduce a guard and trick him into giving me his keys.”

I grimaced at her and she shrugged again.

“I did what I had to do, child.” She remarked.

“How are you back here then?” I asked softly.

“Oh, I don’t know,” She replied and blinked a tear out of her eyes. “I guess I was foolish enough to trust someone else. I found a friend in a distant village far away from here. Three nights ago, these guards stormed her hut and bundled me into the back of this truck.” She chuckled wryly. “As your father did, she also jiggled a noisy sac in her hands as they tied me up.” Her voice broke, and she cleared her throat severely before she could speak again. “I was the first one captured, I watched every single one of you get knocked out and tied up, and I watched you all regain consciousness.”

“I’m sorry…” I could only mumble, my sympathetic gaze couldn’t even fall on her anymore. “That must have been a horrible experience.”

She shook her head grimly, “No, I am sorry for all of us. Ciaran is more brutal than his father ever was. I’m afraid of what is going to happen to all of us.”

The truck came to a halt in front of a stony, cave-like structure. I watched with horrified eyes as a dozen guards ran towards the truck and surrounded it. They carried swords and were covered in shiny armor, but they didn’t wear any helmets. The driver of the truck stepped down and slammed the door, making my heart skip a beat.

“Get them out and chain them up in the cave!” The driver, who turned out to be the chief guard, yelled out orders. “The king will decide what to do with them later.”

The other guards saluted and the tailgate of the trunk was pulled aside. I felt a strong hand grab my hands and lift me into the air. I tried to scream, but a palm that smelt of sweat covered my mouth. The guard dropped me on the ground and then grabbed the chain that was attached to the strap around my neck. I felt like a leashed dog, the guard that towered over me grinned wickedly and said,

“We do this easy way, you slave,” He snarled in a deep menacing tone, “I pull the chain, you crawl. I stop, you stop. You don’t crawl, I drag the chain and pull you along the stony ground until your knees bleed. Okay?”

Before I could process what he had even said, he pulled the chain and I held my neck back, dragging him back. He stopped as he regained his balance, I saw his broad shoulders rise and fall, an awkward, heart-squeezing silence hung over him and I, then he turned towards me and I knew I was in for it. His eyes blazed like embers, furious and deadly, then he grabbed the chain and wrapped it around his wrist.

“Oh, you stubborn one, yes?” His deep voice asked slowly.

My eyes widened, and I shook my head frantically, “No! No! No!” I cried, but he wasn’t listening to me anymore.

He took a step forward and dragged the chain with so much force that it pulled me along. My knees scraped against the hard granite of the bumpy ground, tearing into the delicate skin that covered my kneecap. I screamed as a sharp pain registered in my head, but he didn’t stop. It felt like a razor was tearing through my flesh as he dragged me into the dark, looming cave. My throat felt parched, and my lungs weakened as my screams went on, but he didn’t stop. I left blood trails behind, my bones scraped against the ground until tears poured out of my eyelids. I screamed and begged and cried out until we got to the cave.

He stopped walking and said, “Stubborn, bleed.” Then he let go of the chain and I collapsed face first on the ground.

I couldn’t feel anything for about a minute. I didn’t even open my eyes. The agony I felt was unbearable. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to walk ever again. Then, I felt his hands on me again. This time around my ankles, he placed my feet together and wrapped a chain around my ankles. He grabbed my wrists again and heaved me up to my feet.

I cried out, and my shrill voice echoed through the dark room. He held me upright and wrapped something around my wrists. When he let go of me, I couldn’t drop my hands again. I was dangling like a fish on a hook, except my feet touched the ground. I heard retreating footsteps, like a marching army of soldiers leaving the dark cave. I dropped my head dejectedly, blood dripped from my knees down to my ankles, the warm liquid made my skin crawl.

“You should have listened, child.” The lady’s voice weaved through the darkness and into my ears.

I sniffled as tears ran down my cheeks, “I…I-I didn’t hear him.” I whispered, and a sharp cry escaped from my mouth as I felt the wrenching pain in my knees again.

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I heard approaching footsteps, sharp and precise. Then an orange glow rose from a corner of the room, and another and another until the entire cave was lighted by the fire lamps. My blurry gaze tried to examine the blurry figure that stood at the entrance of this strange cave. I realized that I wasn’t the only one chained up this way, every other lady that had been in the truck with me was too, I could see them clearly now. They had been silent the entire time, listening to my whimpers of pain.

“Where is she?” A deep voice asked, piercing through the tensed silence.

Again, those approaching footsteps, but this time, the person was coming towards my direction! My eyes widened when I recognized the long brown hair and broad shoulders. A pair of steel-gray eyes bore into my eyes impassively as the man named Ciaran Arioch approached me. He held a fire torch in his hand that only lighted up a part of his face. The heat from the torch got too close to my face and sweat formed on the skin of my forehead and neck, then he held the fire to my knee and I screamed. His pinewood scent flooded into my nostrils and my insides curled.

He took the torch away and pointed it at my face. Then suddenly, he gripped my arm and I felt a sizzle run through my body instantly. My eyes widened and I shuddered with a gasp. As though he had just touched a current, he snatched his hand away and stepped back. He breathed heavily, then looked at me with anger and confusion in those cold eyes of his.

A voice in my head screamed, “Mate!”

“Guards!” He yelled and about ten guards ran into the cave immediately. While he spoke, he didn’t avert his eyes from me.

“Take all of them out of here and lock them up in the dungeon, anyone who doesn’t oblige, slaughter” He ordered and pointed the torch at me. “Except her.”