40

Chapter 40

Lucas's POV

I knew it was getting late. I was buried in paperwork, trying to distract myself from Kayla. She was driving me crazy by avoiding me most days, and the only time we were together was when we were working with her parents. While walking, I often made it a habit to brush my arm against her to touch her. My struggle against this mate bond was failing; the only way I could break it was by sleeping with someone, and that wasn't going to happen. I put the last of the paperwork aside, shut the computer off, and then locked my office door—a habit I developed after finding Angie in my office, half-naked in my chair. I had to warn her that if she did not leave me alone, she would be banished from the kingdom.

“Is it her? That human girl is your mate. It's the only reason you dumped me.”

I didn't say anything at first, but when she screamed at me, I looked up with fury in my eyes. I slammed her naked body against the wall. She yelped in pain, but I didn't care.

“Listen to me, and listen well, young lady. We were just having fun; that's all it was. I told you I will not make anyone my queen but my mate. So if you do not shut up and leave me alone, you will be banished from the kingdom. Get dressed now and leave my office.” She hastily got dressed and ran out. Since that day, I've been locking my office. As I was close to my bedroom, with my hand on the doorknob, I wanted nothing more than to take a shower and relax for the rest of the night. However, when I opened the door, I received a mindlink from one of my guards.

“Your Highness, the people you invited here are in the backyard. They're just standing around like they're up to something. Should I confront them?”

“No, don't do that. I'll be out there shortly.” Damn it, I thought I was going to get some rest tonight. What the hell are these people doing out here in the middle of the night? I rushed outside and found them just standing around. I saw Ishai looking at his watch. What was he waiting for? Was something about to happen?

“What's going on here? Why are you all back here? My guards sent me a mindlink, telling me that you are standing around. What did you find out?” At first, no one would say anything. I was starting to think they were just traders. I was about to call the guards to take them to the dungeons when Kayla let out the loudest scream I had ever heard in my life. I felt my feet leave the ground.

“What the f...” I didn't finish my sentence. Trust me; I had a lot to say. I watched as she fell to the ground, hearing the first breaks of her bones. Holy shit! She was shifting for the first time. At first, I didn't know what to do, but I couldn't bear to see her in so much pain. I kneeled down, running my hands in circles on her back to try and soothe her. It felt like I was taking some of the pain away from her. When she finished shifting, she was a beautiful silver wolf. I had heard of these wolves; they were powerful and had many abilities. Anyone would love to have a silver wolf to do their bidding, so we needed to be careful. Her mother told me she wasn’t done. What did she mean she wasn’t done? And then it started again. What in the hell is going on? What's happening now?

Ava POV

We were just laying down after our showers. I was feeling a little ill, so all I wanted to do was lay down, watch a little TV, and go to sleep. We were watching a show called Jail. He wanted to watch a show called Graveyard Cars. I wanted to watch the show Jail, so we switched it back and forth. I was yawning, finally feeling sleepy when Isaiah suddenly said that Kayla needed us. I looked at the time because I knew tomorrow was her birthday. "Sh*t, let's get to her now," I said, so we hurried outside and found her in the middle of the yard. We needed to get to the backyard because there were guards back there, and they would keep us safe.

When it turned 12 a.m., we wished her a happy birthday. We thought she was going to start shifting right away, but nothing happened. Lucas came out, telling us that his guards mind linked him, informing him that we were out here. "What was going on? Did we find out something?" he asked. Kayla fell on the ground screaming, making Lucas jump. I wanted to laugh, I think we all wanted to, but we didn't. Right now was not a laughing matter.

When she was fully done shifting into a silver wolf, I realized that if the wrong people saw her wolf, this could be very bad. They would stop at nothing to get hold of her, so we needed to be very careful. I told Lucas she wasn’t done. I knew he was wondering what I meant by that. When she screamed again, this time, he didn't jump. He stood there watching to see what was going on. When she shifted back to human, she thought nothing was going to happen now, but that wasn’t the case. Her lycan wanted her to rest for a second, and then it started happening. She didn't fall to the ground because Lucas grabbed her, helping her stand. I think he sensed what was happening since he was a lycan as well. He almost let go, letting her drop to the ground when she screamed out. He picked her up, and she gave him a dirty look.

"Will you please not let me fall again, I'm already in pain, a**hole," she said. He chuckled, knowing this wasn't going to be the last time she tried to be mean to him. He wasn't going to give up so easily. We heard her legs snap again as her feet started to grow, followed by her arms and hands. Her body started growing fur on it. That's when she screamed again. I knew her body was itching like crazy with the fur growing on her body. She was almost done. It wasn't so painful. I think her lycan and wolf were trying to help her, with the help of Lucas, so she could bear the pain.

I knew she wasn't going to like this. She screamed out one last time when her face started bulging out once more. Her ears grew on either side of her head, and she had a little tail. When she had finally shifted, she was looking at her claws on her hands, then at her fur. This time she was a black Lycan, meaning she was an alpha lycan. Oh, Lucas was going to have fun with this. No wonder why she was always so strong and willing to train.

I noticed a young lady hurrying over with a sheet and a gown. What was this girl doing? When Kayla finally shifted back, she fell to the ground. The young girl kneeled beside her, covering her up, and then she laid Kayla's head on her lap. I looked up at Lucas as he watched this with a smile on his face. He looked over at me.

‘Her name is Amy. She's our healer for first-time shifters. She allows them to rest on her as she hums to them, which helps them relax as she heals anything that was torn inside of them while they shifted. She will be done in a few minutes, don't worry.” I nodded as I watched her do whatever she needed to do; I was hoping nothing was torn while she shifted. Once Amy's eyes opened and the humming stopped, she helped Kayla up, covering her with a sheet as she put on the white gown. Once she was done, she lowered the sheet.

“She's okay; she has healed herself. Her lycan and wolf are very powerful. This young lady has many powers. In the wrong hands, they could use her to destroy the king, this kingdom, and many more packs. You must help her train with her powers, but only in the eyes of her loved ones, which includes you, your family, and her mate. I must head out; it's already late, and I need my rest now.” She left in a hurry. We didn’t know we were being watched. The watcher arrived when she was shifting into her lycan; he didn't see when she shifted into her wolf. We headed inside so she could shower and rest.