Pain, shame, rage, and bitterness churned inside Battal, threatening to consume him in a storm of emotions. For decades, he had remained undefeated, a force of nature, a king who had never known defeat. And now, a mere werewolf was going to bring him down?
Battal refused to accept such a fate. He knew he couldn't return to his underground fortress in this broken, diminished state. His people would immediately deem him unfit to rule, and another power struggle would erupt over who should take the throne until his grandson was old enough to claim it.
But that wasn't even his biggest concern. There were far more important things he needed to protect, people he held dear and had been forced to stay away from for far too long. Their faces remained etched in his heart, reminding him of everything he still had to live for.
