MY DESTINED MATE IS A LYCAN KING CHAPTER 5

The royal wing was chillier than the other parts of the palace.

There were two distinguished guards standing at the doors like stone sculptures staring at me with obvious distrust while Mira whispered to them. Finally, one of them nodded and opened the doors for us.

I caught the smell right away.

Fresh herbs. Linen. Slight metallic odor of medications. All covered with some other smell more primal and mysterious that made my unborn child kick violently inside me.

Hale Cross, King of this kingdom, was laying on the bed that looked like an oversized wooden box covered with white sheets. Even unconscious he radiated authority. Tall. Handsome. Dark hair was spread on the pillow. His skin was paler than usual, but his features were still sharp and impressive – high cheekbones, strong jaw and slightly parted lips breathing in regular rhythm. Thick dark eyelashes touched his skin. IV needle was inserted into his hand.

He appeared to be a god who had fallen from grace.

Next to the bed was the infirmary’s head, a tall silver-haired woman known as Healer Vespera. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and her eyes were as sharp as knives.

“You are the river girl,” she announced without a greeting. “Isla.”

“Yes.”

“You’ll remain in this room until the next attendant comes. You’ll clean him, change the cooling cloths on his forehead, watch over his breathing. Anything that changes, you come and get me right away. Got it?”

I nodded. “I got it.”

“Good. Don’t talk to him. Don’t touch him unless you absolutely have to. And, by no means, don’t allow yourself to get emotional in here. An Alpha like this one can still pick up on your feelings.”

She walked out.

The doors shut behind her.

I remained with the sleeping Lycan King.

For the first hour, I moved like a ghost.

I replaced the wet rag on his forehead with shaking hands. I moved the blanket. I checked the monitors in the way Mira had so quickly taught me. Each time my fingers touched him, a jolt shot up my arm, warm, electrical, and searing.

I tried to dismiss it.

I could not.

When I finally took a seat next to his bed to wipe away the dried sweat marks from his face, my hand hovered just over his temple.

He seemed familiar.

Not in the same way a stranger is familiar. But in the way a forgotten dream is familiar. The way a name on your lips is familiar.

"Why do you look like someone I should recognize?" I whispered, despite the orders of Healer Vespera to keep my mouth shut.

My fingers touched his temple.

The baby kicked violently.

And then

There was a flash.

Moonlight, silver and dazzling. Muscles hugging my waist. Kiss crashing onto mine with so much desperation that it made me unable to breathe. Smell of pine and rain. A growl of voice near my lips.

“You’re mine now.”

Gasping, I pulled back my hand. 

The picture disappeared as quickly as it came.

My heartbeat was so loud in my head that I thought I would burst. I looked at the sleeping man, panting heavily.

“What was that? Reality or yet another fragmented part of my mind?”

No reply.

Only the beeping sound of machines.

I made myself move on. Trembling hands took the cloth and gently wiped his chin with it. As soon as my skin touched his skin again, warmth rushed inside me.

And the golden flash showed up.

It started as a faint glow beneath the fabric of my uniform, right over the place where the baby rested. Soft. Warm. Impossible. The same golden light that had once wrapped around me when I fell from the cliff though I still had no clear memory of that night, only fractured images and the certainty that something miraculous had saved us.

The glow pulsed once.

Twice.

King Hale’s eyelashes fluttered.

I froze.

“No…” I breathed. “That’s not possible.”

His eyes opened.

Not slowly. Not weakly.

They opened like a storm breaking sharp, piercing, molten gold ringed with black. They locked onto mine with such intensity that the air left my lungs in a single rush.

For three full heartbeats, neither of us moved.

Then his voice low, rough, unused for weeks cut through the silence like a blade.

“…You.”

I felt as though every inch of me was frozen.

It was as though his eyes were seeing through me to find every part of my broken soul that he had known since forever.

The golden light inside of me pulsed once more, this time with an increased strength. The baby inside of me gave me another strong kick and I almost screamed from the feeling.

King Hale’s eyes flickered to my abdomen momentarily before settling on my own. Darkness flickered in his golden eyes.

“…You.”

I felt as though every inch of me was frozen.

It was as though his eyes were seeing through me to find every part of my broken soul that he had known since forever.

The golden light inside of me pulsed once more, this time with an increased strength. The baby inside of me gave me another strong kick and I almost screamed from the feeling.

King Hale’s eyes flickered to my abdomen momentarily before settling on my own. Darkness flickered in his golden eyes.

“…you,” he said again, his voice hoarse and cracked from weeks of silence. “Who are you… I feel my bloodline.”

His heart beat rapidly, thunderously as if in sync with my own heartbeat. From beside the bed, the machine started beeping quickly along with the erratic heartbeats of the alpha.

Simultaneously, I felt a powerful warmth in my stomach area. As if in response, the baby inside started moving restlessly, wildly. The light in my clothes glowed brightly for a second.

I took a backward step, one hand automatically going to shield my belly.

“I-I am your attendant, Alpha. They… they have sent me here as I was healthy while others have fallen sick. I… I was just cleaning your face.”

His golden eyes never left mine.

They burned.

Not with confusion.

Not with weakness.

With recognition.

With something ancient and fierce that made the air between us feel too thin to breathe.

“Attendant…” he repeated slowly, as if trying out the word and finding it totally wrong. His eyes returned once more to where my hand lay on top of the soft bump of my stomach. The baby kicked again, with enough force for me to know he felt it.

A rough noise emerged from deep in his throat; part growl, part breath.

“Come closer.”

This wasn’t a request.

This was an Alpha’s command, feeble from lack of use but strong enough to feel like it pressed against me.

I shook my head, panic rising fast. “I shouldn’t. The healers said..”

“Come. Closer.”

My feet moved before my mind could stop them.

I stepped back to the side of the bed, heart slamming so violently against my ribs I was sure he could hear it. Up close, the intensity in his eyes was almost unbearable. He smelled like rain and pine and something darker power that had been sleeping too long and was now waking hungry.

His hand large, pale, still marked with the faint traces of IV lines lifted slightly from the sheets. Fingers brushed the back of my wrist where it hovered over my stomach.

The contact was barely there.

Yet the golden warmth in my belly surged so strongly that a soft gasp escaped my lips.

Hale’s eyes narrowed.

“You carry something of mine,” he said, voice low and dangerous. “I can feel it. In my blood. In my bones. Who are you… really?”

Tears burned at the corners of my eyes. The flashes from earlier moonlight, a desperate kiss, a voice claiming you’re mine crashed through my mind again, louder this time.

“I don’t know,” I whispered, the truth breaking out of me. “I don’t know who I am. They found me in the river. I can’t remember anything. They call me Isla. That’s all I have.”

For a long moment, he simply stared at me.

Then, slowly, the corner of his mouth curved into something that was not quite a smile.

“Isla,” he repeated, tasting the name like it was both foreign and familiar. “No. That is not your name.”

His fingers tightened weakly around my wrist.

“But I will find out what is.”