My Second Life Belongs to the Lycan King’s Brother

The world was ending, and I was too weak to run.

Smoke covered the sky above me, turning the moon into a pale blur behind the darkness. Buildings that had stood for centuries were burning around the royal city, their stone walls breaking apart under the force of the attacks. Screams came from every direction, mixed with the distant howls of wolves fighting battles they could no longer win.

I pressed one trembling hand against the wall beside me and tried to stay on my feet.

My legs were barely holding me up.

Inside my chest, my wolf was even weaker.

Please, I begged silently. Just a little longer.

There was no answer.

For months, I had felt her strength disappearing piece by piece.

It had started the night Evander rejected me.

The night I discovered that my fated mate was the Lycan King.

The night I thought I had finally found the person who would protect me.

Instead, he had looked me in the eyes and rejected me in front of everyone.

I had never recovered.

Neither had my wolf.

The rejection had torn through our bond so violently that I could barely breathe afterward. I had begged for medicine. I had begged for treatment. I had begged anyone who would listen to help me.

No one dared.

I had offended their king.

So they left me to suffer.

My wolf had weakened until even shifting became painful. Then the nightmares began. The shaking. The exhaustion. The strange emptiness that settled inside me as though someone had slowly been turning off every light in my body.

And now the world was dying with me.

A loud explosion shook the ground.

I stumbled forward and nearly fell.

Somewhere beyond the smoke, people were shouting for the royal guard. Another howl rose above the destruction, followed by a terrible silence.

I looked toward the palace.

For a moment, I saw him.

Evander.

The Lycan King stood among the chaos, his dark clothes covered in dust and blood. His face was no longer cold or controlled. He looked desperate.

He was searching for someone.

Searching for me.

My heart tightened.

Why?

After everything he had done, why was he looking for me now?

“Where is she?” I heard him shout.

His voice carried through the ruined streets.

“Find Sera!”

I froze.

He was looking for me.

Part of me wanted to believe that meant something. That perhaps he had regretted rejecting me. That perhaps he had finally realized what his decision had done.

But another part of me was too tired to care.

My knees gave way.

I caught myself against the wall, breathing hard.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered to the wolf inside me.

She had stayed with me through everything.

Even when I had hated myself.

Even when I had hated Evander.

Even when I had wished I could forget the bond that had ruined my life.

She had never left me.

Until now.

A strange stillness settled over my body.

The pain in my chest faded.

I waited for my wolf to move.

She didn’t.

I closed my eyes.

“Please.”

Nothing.

My breath caught.

“No.”

I pressed both hands against my chest as panic rushed through me.

“Please don’t leave me.”

For the first time in months, I felt something worse than pain.

I felt emptiness.

My wolf was gone.

A tear slipped down my cheek.

Then another.

I wanted to scream, but my body no longer had the strength.

The ground trembled again.

This time, the sound was different.

A wave of darkness seemed to move across the city. Buildings collapsed one after another. Flames rose into the sky, and the screams around me became louder.

The apocalypse had reached us.

I looked toward the palace one last time.

Evander was still searching.

Our eyes met through the smoke.

For one brief moment, I saw something in his face that I had never seen when he rejected me.

Fear.

He started moving toward me.

“Sera!”

I wanted to answer.

I wanted to tell him that he was too late.

Instead, my body slowly slipped down the wall.

The last thing I felt was the cold ground beneath me.

The last thing I heard was Evander calling my name.

And the last thought that crossed my mind was a simple one.

I should have chosen differently.

Then everything went black.