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

"Pick up, pick up, pick up," I mumbled, phone pressed against my ear as I paced outside the camper. My heart pounded in my chest. The line clicked.


"Hazel? Is everything okay?" Sera's voice came through, concern evident even through the static.


"The kids can't get in," I blurted out, keeping my voice low. "There's some kind of barrier keeping them out of the camper."


"Ah, that would be my protection ward." Sera sounded unsurprised. "It's keyed only to you and a few others."


"How do we disable it? We need shelter, Sera. Now."


"The ward will disengage automatically once the camper is hitched to your vehicle. It's a safety measure—the camper knows when it's in transit."


I glanced at the truck where Kael waited with the children, all watching me with varying degrees of worry. "Okay, I'll get it hitched up. How far out are you and Jax?"


There was a pause. "We've run into a complication. It might be a few hours before we catch up."


Chapter 110 - The Watchful Woods