Chapter 2
The sound that came out of my throat was anything but human. It was so deep that I felt the impact in my chest. Another crack on my other leg, and I growled again, feeling my eyes roll and double in size. I wanted to claw them out. To end this miserable pain devouring me. The pain felt like molten blood pumping through every part of my body and soaring to my heart. When it reached my fingernails, I dug them into the earth, desperate to be rid of them.
My fingernails probed deep and slowly began to elongate. When I pulled them out, they were dripping with blood.
Lucian always told me that the first shift was the most agonizing thing ever. That some shifts lasted for hours, driving the person to end their own life in desperation to escape the excruciating pain. At that time, I was so consumed with the thought of having my wolf that none of it mattered. I always convinced myself that I would handle the pain like everyone else.
But if I'd gotten a taste of what it actually felt like, I would have prayed to the goddess not to unleash the beast inside me.
My claws were gigantic, and as my nails continued to recede, more blood coated my skin.
I screamed, vision turning red as the heat pumped through my blood. I felt it expand in my chest, seeping through bone. My blood was literally boiling as though someone had set me on fire.
Without warning, my claws came up to my clothes, ripping and peeling the fabric from my skin before turning to the skin itself. My skin now felt like it belonged to someone else, as though the burning was my wolf shedding it. She wanted out.
Ripping chunks of skin, my eyes widened as my claws grazed fur. Fur soaked in blood. I continued to shred more of my skin, and soon it felt less painful. But when another crack twisted my bone at an odd angle, I screamed, quickening my pace.
I hissed under my breath. The priestess didn't move from where she stood, watching us in silence.
Beneath the skin was thick brown fur with patches of silver white. I writhed in pain as my body broke and twisted at odd angles.
At some point I was begging Priestess Dahlia, pleading with her to make it end. But all she offered was silence as she watched.
Another crack, and I blacked out. When I came to, I was lying on the ground. My skin had fallen away and surrounded me in a bloody scene. I was completely coated in brown fur with white patches on certain parts. When I stood, I nearly swayed and fell. It was like starting all over again, like a child learning to walk.
It was difficult to balance my own consciousness against that of my wolf. Even though I hadn't heard her voice yet, she kept pushing through, desperate to take control.
In a werewolf pack, it is mandatory during the full moon and after the first shift of young wolves that the pack go on a hunt. The pack is led by Alpha Adrian before the newly shifted wolves are allowed to take over the hunt and make their first kill. The one with the biggest kill is considered the most powerful and revered.
Just as I turned, intending to acknowledge Adrian, my eyes found Lucian instead. He was staring at me with darkness in his eyes. The look he was sending me was cold, as though he hadn't expected me to shift tonight. Setting that aside, I was overjoyed that I finally had my wolf after years of waiting. That I would no longer be seen as the pack's defect.
In this pack, even as the Princess, I was still regarded as an omega, the lowest rank in the pack hierarchy, because I had never shifted. This was one of the reasons Adrian never let me beyond these walls. So neighbouring packs wouldn't capture and use me against him. To him, I was a liability. A weakness he mostimes saw in me and despised.
But after my wolf revealed herself tonight, I felt proud. Proud of myself, and proud of Lucian for standing by me through those difficult years. He was still standing close to Esme, and my wolf wanted to tear her away from him.
When I turned to Lucian, something twisted inside me. As if feeling the same, he turned his head in my direction and our eyes connected.
Time froze. My muscles turned rigid, then my heart skipped before pounding in a heavy, rhythmic beat. It was like seeing Lucian for the very first time, and he looked handsome with dark brown hair, olive skin, full lips slightly parted. There was nothing I wanted more than to feel the touch of his skin against mine. To have his lips all over me.
Goosebumps crawled across my skin, and the pull twisting inside me drew me forward. From the look of things, he felt it too. His cheeks flushed, and my wolf caught his slightly uneven breath as he struggled to compose himself.
Lucian. My mate. Excitement rushed through me.
Esme, as if sensing it, tightened her hold on his hand.
Red-hot rage consumed me.
Without thinking, my wolf moved forward, prepared to tear that hand away, when his voice halted me. I heard him loud and clear, deep inside my head.
"Don't come any closer," he warned.
I growled.
"Why?" I spoke through the mind link. As mates, we had the ability to communicate through thought alone.
"Don't cause a scene here, Leia," Lucian said. "Everyone is watching, including your brother."
I didn't care whether Adrian was watching or not.
Why do you have her scent all over you?" It was my wolf speaking. "Have you been fucking her, Lucian?"
"Have you forgotten your brother's orders about courting her?"
"What about the promise we made to each other tonight?" My wolf snapped.
"Announcing our relationship to everyone?" he countered. I didn't like the tone in his voice or the way he was looking at me. "You truly believed I was going to marry you after everything?"
His words pulled me back. "After everything? What has she been putting in your head?"
"After getting involved with Esme, I understood why Adrian wanted our marriage. It would strengthen the pack. Marrying you would do the exact opposite."
Why was he speaking like this? It was as if his words weren't his own, as though Esme's voice were sounding through him.
"You're not the Alpha, Lucian."
He smirked. "But my marriage to Esme will automatically make me the future Beta, while I remain head of the warriors."
So that was what he wanted. To be second in command to the Alpha. I guess he didn't really love her too. He was just obsessed with wanting the Beta position which would be his soon if he claimed Esme, and her already old father falls sick and dies. I'd even heard from Adrian wanting to withdraw the position from Esme father.
"If it weren't for me, do you think Adrian would have looked twice at you?" Rage took hold, mine and my wolf's both, at the betrayal. As I charged toward them, his words stopped me, cutting through me like a blade.
"I, Lucian, reject you, Leia, as my mate." He spoke aloud.
I froze, eyes wide with disbelief. His words cut so deep I felt the wound in my chest.
I was too stunned, too broken, and when the pain of the rejection hit me, I didn't feel it at first. When it struck again, I fell to my knees, and my wolf immediately withdraw, leaving me in my familiar human skin. My gown clung onto my body torn and tattered from the shift. I slowly placed a hand on my chest where our mate bond resided. My heart burned worse, even, than the shift. The pain spread fast and, and I could barely breathe.
But even as it overwhelmed me, my eyes remained fixed on Lucian, who stared back without a trace of remorse.
How could I not have seen this? How could I have been so blinded by love that I failed to notice Lucian and Esme? The way he would casually fantasise about her in my presence.
Esme and I had never gotten along, not since we were children.
My temples throbbed as I struggled to absorb the rejection, a cramp threatening to break through. After a few deep breaths, I was about to ask him why. Why did he rejected me in front of everyone? Why did he made it seem as if nothing had ever existed between us?
I was about to mind-link him when the loud, thunderous sound of heavy footsteps cut through everything. They were heavy and, marching as though advancing on war. My chest tightened. Had our enemies taken us by surprise?
Twisting toward the commotion, I stared at dozens of guards standing at the edge of the clearing.
The wind carried their scents toward us, and as it filled my nostrils, my eyes doubled in size.
Northerners. My wolf recognised them instantly.
Above their heads, crimson banners bearing the crest of a mighty black wolf whipped violently in the wind.
Time seemed to halt. Gasps echoed through the crowd, but my gaze was locked on the tall man who stepped forward from the midst of the warriors. He was tall, the warriors were imposing in their own height, but he dwarfed them entirely. His scent was stronger than the rest. Deep, dark, and heavy with authority, power, and dominance. Every hair on the back of my neck rose immediately.
The Northern Lycan King.
The scent of a male wolf's power is a combination of his physical strength and the sheer force of his will. I had never encountered a wolf's scent like this. Not even Adrian came close, and that alone spoke volumes about the power this man carried.
The Lycan King was broad-shouldered, with tanned skin, warmer than that of his warriors even though he has spent his life beneath the harsh weather of the North.
His face held a hardness to it. A strong jawline, a sharp hawkish nose, and high cheekbones that made his features enhanced. His eyes were the most unsettling of all, the darkest shade of red. They were cold and terrifying. His hair was short and black, darker than the night sky.
His scent coiled around my spine like two enormous hands, crushing and consuming me all at once. My wolf shivered, nearly whimpering in submission. Before I could think, I acted on impulse, or rather, something pulled me forward, closer to him. An invisible force that set me on edge. A responding warmth pooled between my thighs as his scent continued to invade my senses. I wanted to run from this man the moment I realised what he was doing to me simply by staring at me, or rather, at the realisation that this man wasn't just my second chance mate. He was one of the most feared and powerful rulers alive. The Lycan King of the North. And staring into his eyes, I recognised the killer of my parents immediately.