Chapter 20

VIOLET'S POV

"You're still not leaving?" I asked, rising from the bed to stare at Kyran, the man who had been with me ever since we'd arrived at the Lycan Pack.

He wouldn't tell me why he was staying. He simply stood by the window, gazing outside with his arms crossed behind his back.

"Not yet."

He gave me the same two-word reply he'd been giving me every time I asked why he wouldn't leave.

I appreciated him staying with me, but it felt strange, as though he were watching over me like a watchdog.

I wouldn't run away if that was what he was worried about. But I doubted the man cared whether I stayed or left.

"Have you always been like this?" I asked, dragging my feet toward him until I was standing beside him, looking up at the night sky.

It was already dark outside, and I wondered how long I would be confined to my room before someone finally came knocking.

"Like what?" Kyran mumbled without taking his eyes off the sky.

I stood beside him and followed his gaze, hoping to see something out of the ordinary, something extraordinary in the sky that had kept him staring for hours.

There was nothing interesting up there. Just a sparse scattering of stars decorating the inky sky.

"You seem to enjoy stargazing. Have you always been like that?" I repeated, resting my arms on the windowsill and leaning against the wall.

"No."

He let out a deep sigh and moved away from the window.

I turned to watch his retreating back. He looked gloomy, and I wondered what was going through his mind.

"I hate stargazing. I hate stars so much that I curse at the sky every time they appear."

My eyebrows shot up in shock. My mouth fell open, and I couldn't seem to close it.

His answer wasn't what I'd expected, leaving me with a thousand questions. Questions I hoped he would answer.

"Are you okay?" I whispered, studying the man before me.

He looked sad. Really sad.

Something terrible must have happened to him in the past. Something that had broken him apart.

Kyran suddenly burst into strange laughter, pacing around my room until he seemed unable to laugh anymore.

"Easy, werewolf girl, or I might think you're worried about me."

He chuckled, wiping his face.

"Why? Can't I worry about you?" I asked, my eyebrows slowly rising in bewilderment.

It was strange how easily I could sense his pain when I knew absolutely nothing about him.

It was even stranger that I could worry about a Lycan when I'd harbored hatred for his entire species since childhood.

My people had made it clear that Lycans were our enemies. They were vicious bastards, and we were taught to think about driving a dagger into the nape of any Lycan we encountered.

Otherwise, we might lose our lives to those animals.

Just as I'd been taught.

"I'm not weak." He growled, his expression darkening as he glared at me. "Only weak people appreciate it when someone worries about them."

He muttered the last words before looking away.

I saw his eyes flicker beneath the amber light.

I was about to explain that I wasn't worried about him because I thought he was weak. I was simply curious about why he'd been staring at the sky for so long if he hated the stars so much.

But then he said something that changed the subject entirely.

"You should worry about yourself instead. It'll save you from a lot of danger."

He shrugged and sank into the only chair in the room.

"You think I'll be in danger?" I gasped, my chest tightening with fear as I took a step forward, hoping he would tell me what I was up against.

I'd already suspected I might not last a day in the Lycan Pack, considering that our two species were sworn enemies.

But hearing it directly from a Lycan made the odds seem even worse.

I wasn't safe.

I wouldn't be safe living among the Lycans.

What the hell had the Lycan King been thinking when he asked me to come with him?

He should have left me to die. He should have ignored me when I'd needed help.

Instead, he'd traded one hell for another.

"That depends on your situation, I must confess."

He chuckled as though everything were a joke.

"You'll get on the bad side of every Lycan, that's certain. But that doesn't mean they'll want to murder you. Your identity isn't what will get you into trouble, though."

My heart hammered against my chest.

I swallowed hard, bile rising in my throat at the thought.

Why had I agreed to come with them? Why hadn't I simply let Alpha Ansel do as he pleased with me?

"Whoa, there." He raised a hand and sat upright. "Don't overthink it. Just do everything you can to avoid that woman. Nothing good will come from getting in her way."

That woman?

Who was he talking about?

My heart skipped a beat as I tried to figure out whom he meant.

When I was almost out of possibilities, my mind drifted to the angry-looking woman I'd seen earlier.

A gasp escaped my lips.

"Th-the Lycan King's fiancée?"

My eyes widened in shock as I slapped a hand over my mouth.

"I'm glad you still remember who she is."

He rolled his eyes and settled deeper into the chair.

Why would I forget her?

How could I forget that the man who had marked me as his, even though I wasn't his mate, was going to marry another woman?

Soon.

"How... How could I get on her bad side? What can I do to avoid getting on her bad side?" I stuttered.

My mind screamed at me to run away. To walk out of the door and never look back.

But I couldn't.

"My advice? Don't go anywhere near her. If you hear her voice anywhere, run. Do it before she even discovers you're there," Kyran said, staring at his hands.

He seemed not to care about anything.

He was warning me, yet he acted as though he couldn't care less if something happened to me.

Who the hell was that woman? What authority did she possess that made everyone so wary of her?

"Will she do anything to me because I'm a werewolf and the King brought me here?" I mumbled, my eyes growing glassy as tears threatened to fall.

"Leila wouldn't care that you're a werewolf. You're already beneath her."

He smirked, a smug smile forming at the corner of his mouth.

"Then... what would—"

"Like I said, your identity might earn you a few bruises and a lot of bullying. Other than that, they probably won't kill you."

He shook his head, smiling as though he could already picture me getting beaten for being a werewolf.

I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. I clenched and unclenched my fists, wishing there were something I could do to erase every trace of my werewolf identity.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" I asked, glaring at the nutjob Lycan who wouldn't stop laughing after telling me I might get into trouble.

"Oh, no."

He cleared his throat and shook his head.

"That mark."

He pointed at my neck.

I immediately pressed my palm against the back of my neck, covering the Lycan King's mark.

"What about it?"

"That thing might get you killed if you let anyone in the royal household find out about it. Especially that woman."

He made the announcement so casually that I almost missed the significance of his words.

My heart skipped a beat.

Fear seized me.

"Wh-why?"

My entire body trembled with fear. I felt as though I might collapse if I remained standing for another minute.

"You could stand in the way of her becoming Lycan Queen, especially since His Majesty hasn't marked her yet. He never planned on marking anyone, and the fact that you're the exception could make you a threat to Leila and everyone else who wants to be with His Majesty."

He leaned back in his chair.

"That mark could give you a claim to the position of queen. I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but I never wanted Leila as queen anyway. So I'd love to watch you try."

He beamed at me.

His silver eyes sparkled beneath the light, but there was something in them that screamed danger.

He remained calm, yet I couldn't shake the feeling that he wanted something. Something no one else knew about.

Something greater than himself.

"I never wanted to be queen."

I shook my head as tears streamed down my face like a burst dam.

All I'd ever wanted was to live a simple life. I never wanted to be known, and I certainly never wanted to become involved in a power struggle.

"I have no desire to be the Lycan Queen."

"Even if you don't want to be queen, you're still a threat to those who crave the position more than they crave oxygen."

He shrugged.

"No matter how hard you try to explain yourself, they'll still see you as a threat, and your life will remain in danger. Unless you run away or make sure no one ever sees that mark."

My knees gave way, and I sank to the floor.

My heart pounded as I tried to process everything he'd just told me.

I couldn't even imagine defeating one Lycan, let alone an entire pack of them.

My life could end in the blink of an eye, and no one would care.

I was still struggling to catch my breath when Kyran said something that frightened me more than anything else he'd told me.

"Think of that mark as a curse. No matter how hard you try, it's either you kill or you get killed."