CHAPTER THREE: LOVING THE ENEMY’S DAUGHTER

EMPEROR BOND POV

My father was called the Mad Emperor for a reason. He was brutal in his own way; he was regarded as the strongest being on earth, but there was a prophecy.

He plundered the village of the witches, killing the leader of the coven. The witches cursed him; they prophesied that he would bear a child twice as strong as he ever was. They predicted the night I would be born, and that my father would fall sick with the palsy and only recover on the day of my circumcision.

They prophesied that the child my father bore would despise his ways, that the child would inherit a corrupt empire but would abolish the laws the mad alpha had built over the years. The child would stand for what is good and render all corrupt practices of the father null and void.

The last prophecy broke my father. They said the night I turned nine, he would die in his sleep—a mysterious and inevitable death. My father moved with resentment against the witches of the clan.

He went after the last heirs of that coven and killed even the little toddlers. But the night my mother bore me, he fell ill. The doctors confirmed he was sick with the palsy.

The sickness was not genetic, so my father knew it was the making of the witches, and he could not be cured even if the doctors spent the entire day working on him.

On the day of my circumcision, my father regained his vitality and frantically sought solutions against the prophecy of the witches, but nobody could offer him a lasting solution.

I grew in strength, and when I was six, I already showed extraordinary power. My father’s last resort was to kill me so I would not reach the age of nine, but he could not bring himself to do so.

The prophecy became his nemesis and retribution, and I basked in strength and wisdom. He hired assassins to kill me when I was eight, but even at their peak wolf form, they were no match for the divine strength and wisdom I possessed—and I had not even awakened the wolf in me yet.

I was as strong as a gorilla moving a massive boulder, and fearless against the attacks he threw at me. One day, he sent an alpha named Colt to kill me when we went hunting.

Colt transformed and attacked me in the bush, but I was prepared. I stabbed him with a knife laced with wolfsbane. When I was about to sever his heart, he broke down and confessed.

He told me he was sent by my father to end my life. I freed him, but I held deep resentment against my father from that moment on.

Releasing Alpha Colt was the biggest mistake I ever made.

I promised myself that I would abolish my father’s laws and reshape the empire in my own fashion. But for now, I had to leave the empire before this mad Lycan King succeeded in killing me—just to preserve his rule and evade a curse he had brought upon himself.

My ninth birthday approached like a cheetah chasing its prey. I escaped the empire and travelled with wandering werewolves, distancing myself from my father. But unfortunate news brought me back.

Alpha Colt had formed an alliance with Jerry the Great and several other alphas to kill my father and destroy his empire.

The fight was brutal, but my father overcame them and recklessly slew those alphas. They came in their dozens, but after a vicious assault and an inevitable defeat, eight alphas fled, leaving my father brutally injured and desperate.

My father sent for me, and I returned. The next day was my ninth birthday. Emperor Fenrir Vselvav, the Lycan King, was wounded, but he emerged victorious from the coup.

That day, he did something that changed the way I saw him forever. He apologised for his wrongs and convened with the elders to crown me the next emperor upon his passing, rewriting the law that prohibited young kings from ruling so early.

He made me promise to hunt down the eight traitors who led the coup against him and the pack. That night, he died in his sleep, and the next morning, I was announced as the new emperor.

My name was revered among the wolves—the Lycan King, the New Alpha, the Great Emperor Vselvav Lyr Bond, Fenrir Vselvav Jr. I was called many names.

People expected me to continue in my father’s beastly methods, but I had a different perspective on rulership.

Over the years, I cemented my throne in the kingdom of respect, like a lion claiming its pride.

I exerted my gentle storm of dominance and established my supremacy as the Lycan king. I hunted down the traitors and forgave one who turned a new leaf. Alpha Jerry the Great managed to evade retribution, and people undermined my authority because of this.

Fate had its way of playing tricks on me. I was fated to the daughter of this traitor. The first time I visited their city to bring Jerry to justice in a peaceful manner, without hurting the innocent wolves aligned with him, he disrespected me.

He mocked me in front of his weaklings. I could destroy his whole city, but fate was cruel. My wolf chanted MATE! MATE!! MATE!!! when I saw his daughter. My heart raced, and I fell in love with her that instant.

She was like a diamond, a prized jewel that tore through my defences. Thoughts of her sent shivers down my spine; I couldn’t even look at her straight up. I knew I was in big trouble from then on. This enemy would never release his daughter to me.

I left the territory of Jerry, and news spread like wildfire. People said the great Emperor Lyr Bond was weak, but nobody was bold enough to confront me.

I sought counsel from elders, and they made me understand the situation I was in. Though I was fated to Aria by the Moon Goddess, I couldn’t act on my feelings, as if the Moon Goddess knew that I would one day destroy Jerry and placed his daughter as a mediator between me and him.

I did the best I could to resolve the bad blood between us. I offered Alpha Jerry the Great amnesty in exchange for marrying his daughter. I would drop every judgment against him and cease going after him, but he was damn stubborn. So, I did something I wasn’t proud of.

One fateful evening, I took Alpha Damon from his pack and another alpha. These two had allegiance to their packs and were masters in their own worlds, but for a mystical being like me—the strongest shapeshifter alive—and for the favour I would bring, they aligned with me on this mission.

Damon had sought my help in the past when he was threatened by an enemy pack, and just my presence alone gave him ultimate victory. He owed me.

I took Damon and another alpha and marched into the territory of Jerry the Great. We waged war against their pack. He was gaining the upper hand against Damon and the other alphas, but when I joined the assault, he was no match for the sea of strength that surged from my bowels.

I was a deadly beast, empowered by years of fighting experience. Even my father, the old Lycan King, couldn’t take me head-on. At age seven, I was already killing alphas, even without shape-shifting.

I tore through the wolves that aligned with him, took down other alpha werewolves that collaborated with his empire, and when he faced me, he knew just how terrible I was. In two minutes, I broke his arm and tore through his defences.

I burned down his city, and his minions rushed at me. They couldn’t stand by and watch their alpha get killed so easily, so they fought me with everything they had. Their tenacity and relentlessness made escape possible for Jerry.

He escaped that time. But his wolves were collateral damage to the assault.

Over the years, he gathered wandering wolves, took rejected mates, and sheltered many outcasts under his wing. They called themselves the Deviant Splinters, but I chased him to the ends of the earth.

This time, not just because of revenge, but because my fated mate was in his tent.

Fate delivered him into my hands, and I gave him one last chance at redemption. But he threw it in my face and attacked me, so I killed him without breaking a sweat.

With him dead, I was one step closer to meeting my fated mate. I pursued them, making enquiries as I travelled.

The wings of fortune divinely carried a premonition in its womb, and the Moon Goddess delivered her to me.

That awkward day, I heard noises and ordered my men to scout around. I saw road bandits ambush a woman and her daughter. The woman was killed instantly, and when I saw the daughter wounded, I moved to save her.

And I couldn’t believe my eyes.

It was my fated mate—Aria.

She was in critical condition and needed urgent medical care. I stepped in, assessed the situation, and sent Damon and his crew to take care of the bandits who attacked their ride.

And I took her to the nearest pack hospital to get her treated.