V: Feral For You

V: Feral For You

~ROENNA~

“Please…” a loud cry ripped from my throat.

My eyes snapped open before I realized the horrific beast chasing me was only a nightmare.

I sat up, air rushing through my lungs at every breath.

It was morning already and as I raised my head, the King was seated across the room, watching me with those dark eyes of his.

“Good morning, Your Majesty." I lowered my head, rushing out of his bed immediately.

He didn't respond. He kept watching me until I reached the door, about to pull it open.

"Wait.” He ordered and my feet stopped.

I turned slowly, my face to the ground. Franca had told me to make sure I woke before him if he ever asked me to stay in his bed. Silly me had slept off.

“Are you fine?" He narrowed his eyes, walking towards me. Even though we'd had sex, it didn't put me in any place higher than being his breeder.

"Y-y-yes, your Majesty.” I answered, shutting my mouth to avoid the quivering breath escaping me.

He placed a hand on my shoulder, planting his feet behind me. "Are you sure?”

"Yes. I am fine,”

After I answered, he allowed me to leave. My chest tightened at each step I took toward my room.

That dark, womanly beast from my dream resurfaced in my head, and each step felt heavier than the last… breathing became heavy, and my wolf ached within me.

I planted my hand against the pillar for support as my vision blurred.

"No…” I shook my head, squeezing and opening my eyes.

“Are you okay, Miss Lancaster?" Franca's figure appeared from the corridor, coming towards me. Her voice was faint in my head, yet it echoed.

Whispers filled my ears, and something crawled beneath my skin with a shivering sensation.

Franca held me, but before I could say another word, my knees buckled and I fell to the ground.

“Help!" She cried, holding me up in her arms. Her voice was faint in my ears. I could hear her, but I couldn't move.

A heavy weight pressed against every part of me and my wolf screamed beneath my skin.

~XENOS~

How did she walk out of here? I'd spent the entire night watching her, paying attention to the slightest breath she missed.

Each time her breathing skipped, I checked her nostrils again…. And I hated that I couldn't be the Xenos who'd impulsively sent for her.

"Your Majesty.” The door of my chambers flew open, barely five minutes after she walked out.

Franca rushed in, panting. “Your Majesty," She gasped, pointing outside.

“What is it?"

The look on her face told me just enough. The girl.

“What happened to her?" I rushed outside, leaving Franca to catch up with my pace. Damn me. I'd been so eager to know if my curse was really going to affect her, but—

“She's in the healing room, Your Majesty."

“Send for Lowell at once. He has to see it for himself—"

“He's there with her." That bastard. He'd be happy by now, wouldn't he?

I walked into the healing room, pushing the door wide apart. She was on the bed, eyes wide open.

Tears were falling and she looked so far from consciousness. “How is it Landrace?" I asked the healer, ignoring Lowell who stood as confused as ever.

My wolf had never been this distressed, yet I tried to play it cool even though it was the hardest thing to do at the moment.

“Your Majesty," Lowell lowered his hand when I glanced at him but before he raised it, I turned my face back to Landrace.

"Her veins are darkening and it keeps spreading to every part of her body. It's even faster than I'd ever seen," Landrace was right. The vein lines on her body had started darkening.

“What are you doing—"

“Like the prophecy, we must leave her to fight it, Your Majesty." He bowed again. For a minute, I wished I could grip his neck tightly, slam his back against the wall and tell him what awaits him if he fails to save her life… but then again, I remembered that her life wasn't anyone's to save. It was the gods.

"And if she doesn't fight it?” My jaw clenched. I turned to Lowell whose gaze had already dropped to the floor.

"I'm sorry to say, but…—”

"That's enough, Landrace.” I turned and walked out of the room.

My chest tightened with something that wasn't just guilt. It was pain, fear, grief and a deep sense of loss all twined into one dark feeling that settled heavily upon my chest.

I shouldn't have let my wolf's urge take over. Why had I even done it, knowing fully well I'd never be in any position to determine if she survived it or not.

After last night, we'd cuddled to bed… I’d watched her Iike a child and her innocence made me more aware of her than I wanted.

“Your Majesty," I almost turned. Lowell. I didn't bother turning. Instead, I kept walking to my study.

At least, he wouldn't be able to walk in there anyhow.

"Your Majesty.” He increased his pace and all of a sudden, I didn't want to run anymore.

I wanted to drive a gut-wrenching punch to his face and watch him taste a little portion of death but when my feet stopped right before the door to my study, he drew back.

“Why are you running?" I turned, my eyes searching through his even though I had every damn answer I needed.

“You need to hear me out, Xenos—" he stepped closer.

“I am your King, Lowell. K-I-N-G." My palm tightened around his throat, my claws stretching out of my fingertips.

“This is the front of the house, Xen—”

"I dare you one more time —”

"You're losing control. You're losing it, Xenos.” He was right. I was losing it for a thousand reasons I didn't even know, but my wolf wanted to thrust those claws in his guts.

Before he became my best friend and Hand, my wolf had always been brutal… but right now, I myself seemed to have lost all the reins.

Lowell looked at me as though I were being ridiculous. He looked at me like he knew I was only bluffing.

Yes, he was right, but he was also wrong. I pressed tighter until the veins on his forehead bulged before throwing him against the wall..

He crashed against it with a groan, but that didn't stop me from wanting to teach him a lesson—not an actual lesson, but something that'd be just enough to….

Wait. It didn't dawn on me until that moment that my wolf had been reacting to the wrong person, wrong cause and wrong—

Why…why…why was I even blaming him? He had played a part in driving me, but he hadn't forced me to.

“Get out, Lowell." I could feel my wolf snapping through me, and I was warning him with the last shred of humanity I had left.

"You're losing control, Xen.” Lowell stepped closer, his claws stretching from his fingertips. He was ready for a brawl and here I was in all glory, on the verge of losing my sanity.

“Don't come closer. I will hurt you," My wolf, Xen was biting its way through my skin.

No. I couldn't shift yet— not yet. I couldn't run wild.

The curse. Ah! “Lock everywhere, Low—" my knees buckled, and my bones snapped into position. A loud groan escaped me at each crack of my bones.

I could hear him ordering that everywhere be locked. This was not even a full moon. Why?!

My mind darkened with that one thought again: Death. Kill. Blood.

Against my will, my wolf snapped against me and I shifted completely. My senses had sharpened a million times more.

Everywhere had been locked, but my mind had been far too consumed in those dark thoughts.

I rammed into those doors, but none of them even cracked the slightest.

I turned to a familiar scent from the corridor. Lowell. He was standing there— confident, naked.

No. no. I begged my wolf, but control had broken too far.

I— not me, because I would never have— ran towards Lowell. My limbs stretched mid-air, ready to pounce on him and tear him apart.

“You touch me and the girl dies. The healers will stab her on my command." He yelled.

The main entrance collapsed to the ground. Franca stood out there and my focus shifted. Franca then, not Lowell.

"You touch Franca or anyone and she dies.” The healer wheeled the girl out in a sick bay with a sharp silver knife pointed directly at her chest.