The Queen's Blessing

Maya’s POV

The fire burning in my heart had me completely dazed.

The Lycan King? The most feared ruler on the continent was calling me his treasure? It couldn’t be real. Surely the fever from the storm was making me hallucinate.

Lawrence seemed to notice my confusion and my fear. With calculated slowness, he removed his fingers from my chin, although his gray eyes did not leave me for a single second. He stood up, filling the room with his imposing presence, and walked toward the door to call someone.

A few seconds later, an older woman with a kind appearance and dressed in embroidered white robes entered the chamber carrying a steaming silver bowl. She was the royal court’s healer.

“Check her bond, Elga,” Lawrence ordered, crossing his arms as he leaned against the stone wall, watching every movement.

The old woman approached me with a warm smile.

“Don’t be afraid, child. Let me see the wound on your soul.”

Elga gently placed her hands on my chest. She closed her eyes and began to murmur an ancient chant. Instantly, a silver light emanated from her palms. I held my breath, expecting the agonizing pain that Hunter had caused me, but instead, a feeling of peace flowed through my entire body.

Suddenly, the healer opened her eyes wide, gasping in surprise. She looked at Lawrence and then looked at me, as if she were seeing a ghost or a deity.

“By the ancestors…” Elga whispered, her voice trembling. “Lawrence, this is a miracle. Her former Alpha broke the bond with a cruelty that would have killed any ordinary she-wolf within hours. But she… she is not ordinary. Not at all.”

“What do you mean?” Lawrence asked, straightening up at once. His tone was serious, demanding.

“Her wolf did not die because she is protected by a layer of the purest spiritual energy,” the healer explained, looking at me with a respect that made me feel uncomfortable. “Her body does not follow the standards of warrior wolves because she was not designed for ordinary war, my King. She possesses the true Blessing of the Moon. Those curves, that softness that the ignorant pack rejected, are the physical mark of the ancient sacred she-wolves. Her body carries the gift of fertility, mystical magic, and prosperity for the pack that claims her. Her former Alpha did not just reject a woman… he rejected the salvation of his own people.”

I was in shock.

My curves? What Chloe used to humiliate me and what Hunter called “a disgrace” was actually a mystical blessing? Tears gathered in my eyes again, but this time they were not from pain, but from disbelief.

“Leave us, Elga. Give her the best nutrients and prepare the royal clothing,” Lawrence instructed in a firm voice.

The healer gave a deep bow, something no one had ever done before me, and left the room.

Lawrence walked back toward the bed. He stopped in front of a huge full-length mirror with a golden frame that decorated the side wall. He looked at me and then extended a hand toward me.

“Come here, Maya.”

Shyly, I climbed out from beneath the silk blankets. My bare feet touched the fur rug, and I walked toward him, using my arms to instinctively cover my abdomen and my hips, ashamed of my own figure beneath the wool sweatshirt.

Lawrence let out a low growl, a sound of pure disapproval at my shyness. He positioned himself behind me, forcing me to look at our reflection in the mirror.

The contrast was overwhelming: he was a massive warrior, tall, full of hard muscles and scars; and I was beside him, a she-wolf with pronounced curves, wide thighs, and soft features.

Before I could look away, Lawrence’s large, warm hands settled directly on my waist, gripping my hips with a possessive strength that made me let out a gasp. He did not try to hide my body; on the contrary, his hands traced my curves with a slowness that made my skin tingle.

“Look at yourself, beautiful,” Lawrence whispered near my ear, and his warm breath sent a shiver through me. “Those idiots taught you to hate what makes you perfect. In the Blood Moon Pack, we don’t want skeletal she-wolves who look as though they’ve been starved by winter. We want queens. Your body is beautiful, Maya. It is magnificent, it is soft, and every damn inch of your curves was made to be worshipped.”

His gray eyes captured mine through the mirror, shining with wild lust and pride.

“From today onward, no one will ever call you weak again. You are going to wear the finest silks on the continent, you are going to eat at my table, and you are going to walk by my side. I want that mediocre Alpha who cast you aside to find out that the woman he called ‘his greatest mistake’ is about to become the Queen of the entire Lycan territory.”

My heart lurched wildly. For the first time in my miserable life, I looked at my reflection and did not feel disgust. I saw the Lycan King’s hands holding my hips with pride, and a spark of ambition and power that I had believed dead ignited in the depths of my eyes.

Hunter believed he had destroyed me, but he had only pushed me toward the throne that truly belonged to me.