Lenaleia

For six years, I was Hazel, girlfriend to the future Alpha, Julian. I thought we had forever, a cherished place in our werewolf pack, even as a human. Then Mate Hunt night ripped it all away. I woke up lost in the forest, only to find Julian with her – his true fated mate. His words hit harder than the forest floor: I was just a 'placeholder.' Six years together, and he tossed me aside, his fingers bruising my throat as he growled that I meant nothing. My world, my heart – shattered.

Left for dead, freezing and injured, a different kind of predator found me. A colossal black wolf, eyes glowing gold, big enough to swallow me whole. But instead of tearing me apart, he curled around me, a warm, terrifying shield against the biting cold. For a moment, I felt safe.

That safety vanished when my pack, my family, found us. The Alpha who raised me, Maxen, didn't see a survivor. He saw a disappointment. Turns out, he’d only taken me in hoping I’d magically become a werewolf like my mother – the fated mate who’d rejected him. When I couldn't shift, he cast me out, branding me an omega, the pack’s punching bag.

Now, I'm less than nothing, surviving on scraps and enduring their cruelty. What they don't know, what I don't know, is that my monstrous protector is no ordinary rogue. He's Lykos, the wolf of Kael, the Lycan King. And Lykos has decided I am his fated mate – a human. Kael is furious, but his wolf has a will of its own, dragging the King himself towards my abusive pack.

My old life is over. My only ally is a creature of legend. And the most feared Lycan in existence is on his way. Is he coming to save me, or is the King's arrival just another nightmare waiting to begin?

A King’s Curse, A Wolf’s Claim

"Take her with us?" I scoffed at Lykos's suggestion, pacing my chambers like a caged animal. "Are you completely insane?"


*No more insane than you planning to set her up in a human apartment after executing Maxen for essentially the same crime,* my wolf retorted.


His words hit me like a physical blow. I stopped pacing, my hands clenching into fists.


"That was different," I growled. "Maxen broke shifter law. He harbored a human within pack territory for years. He lied. He deceived."


*And what exactly would you call what you're planning?* Lykos's voice dripped with sarcasm. *Setting her up in a human apartment? Watching her from afar? Controlling her life while pretending to give her freedom?*


The accusation burned through me. I slammed my fist into the wall, adding another crack to the already damaged stone.


"I am the Lycan King," I snarled. "The law exists because I say it exists."


Chapter 31 - The King's Inner War