CH8

Chapter 8

Tanya

A sudden ruffling of the leaves forced me to snap out of my thoughts.

Fuck me.

How could I have been this easy?

I asked myself.

Bracing my body into his, I was finally able to push him away. A figure appeared overhead, and he seemed to remove his fingers from my pussy lips almost immediately.

Even he recognized that it was a wrong position for him to be in with someone, and yet he had been with me.

"Alpha!" the voice called.

A man rushed towards him immediately, inspecting him as though I had done something awful to him.

Then his gaze met mine.

It was cold. Malicious even.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" he snapped at me the second his senses recognized what I was.

A werewolf.

I said nothing, wanting to use the distraction to get away, but I was held back almost immediately.

"She's my mate," the Lycan King said at once, dragging me along with him.

"And my slave," he added when he noticed his second's stare linger on me and the mark around my neck.

"You bound her?" he muttered, his eyes immediately settling on the mark.

"She belongs to me and wanted to run. She dares not. I'll find her wherever she goes," he muttered.

"Is your lycan acting again? Didn't you scent her? She's a werewolf. You can't bind a werewolf. You're the Lycan King."

Finally.

Someone who was reasonable.

I only hoped he would be able to convince his king to let me go. If he did that, then the Moon Goddess would forever be on his side.

At least, that's what I told myself.

But there was a deadly silence for a while before the Lycan King finally spoke.

"Novak."

His voice was so cold and filled with such distaste that even I felt cold shivers run down my spine.

"What are you?" he added.

Novak immediately bowed his head in reverence, looking as though he had suddenly been scared out of his wits.

"I'm your second-in-command, Alpha," he answered immediately.

"You forget your place."

The words were simple.

Quiet.

Yet somehow they felt more dangerous than a roar.

"I'm merely looking out for you, Alpha. The elders won't accept her, nor the mark on her. She's a werewolf. Have you forgotten? Decades we've been at war with them. You can't just bring one of them back with your claim on her."

There was a sudden ripple in the air.

Everywhere.

The pressure hit me so hard that my knees nearly buckled beneath me. The only reason I remained standing was because of the tree I held onto.

Novak wasn't as fortunate.

He crashed to his knees.

The Lycan King had used his authority on him.

The sight alone sent fear clawing through my chest.

"I dare advise..." Novak added from his knees.

It wasn't voluntary.

I could see it in the way his muscles trembled. In the way he struggled to remain upright while waves of the Lycan King's aura crashed into him again and again.

The air itself felt heavier.

Colder.

As though it carried the weight of a mountain.

Novak was fighting to stay conscious.

Fighting to keep speaking.

Fighting not to break.

And he was terrified.

Absolutely terrified.

Sweat beaded across his forehead as he forced himself to lift his head despite the crushing pressure bearing down on him.

The Lycan King hadn't moved.

Hadn't raised a hand.

Hadn't even changed his expression.

Yet the power radiating from him was enough to bring another powerful lycan to his knees.

A frightening reminder of exactly who stood before us.

If Novak was this scared of him...

How much more me?

"Who is your king?"

Novak's head immediately met the ground.

"You, Alpha is my King. The revered War Father. The indestructible one. The most powerful."

I scoffed from where I stood.

Such an arrogant man.

Using his strength to force others into submission. Into praising him.

He must exalt himself far too much, even more than he was worth.

I thought to myself, canceling every possibility of finding even a fragment of good attributes in him.

As arrogant as he was, it wouldn't surprise me if he proved to be even worse than Tovar.

"Answer me. Who is your king?" he shouted once more.

The force behind his voice made the air itself seem to vibrate.

"Forgive me, Alpha!" Novak pleaded.

His head never rose from the ground where it was bowed.

"Who do you answer to?!"

The Lycan King's voice thundered through the forest.

Novak flinched visibly.

He looked so mortified.

So pitiful.

Kneeling there at his feet and begging.

I couldn't understand why he was trembling so much.

I stood where I was and hadn't felt anything.

Nothing that could explain the terror written across his face.

Why was he trembling that much when the Lycan King's aura had already forced him to his knees?

When he was already in submission?

When there was nothing else for him to do under the force of that authority?

Yet Novak continued to shake.

As though something invisible was crushing him.

As though he was carrying a weight that only he could feel.

The Lycan King suddenly seemed to release some of the tension in his muscles.

Immediately, Novak collapsed to the ground.

He clutched at his neck tightly, gasping.

Struggling to breathe.

His chest rose and fell rapidly as though he had nearly drowned.

"I am your king!" the Lycan King roared.

The fury in his voice made even my heart jump.

"You obey me, not those belly-fat old men who call themselves elders of the kingdom!"

His eyes blazed with rage.

"They will accept whomever I do. Whoever I mark as their Fang Mother. And whatever decision I make!"

"Yes, Alpha," Novak choked out from the ground.

"Whoever has a problem with that should confront me."

His voice dropped lower.

Far deadlier.

"He should challenge me to a duel."

The corners of his lips curled slightly.

A dangerous expression.

"He should take my throne away from me."

The words echoed through the forest.

A challenge.

A threat.

A declaration.

Then he turned and began to walk away as though the matter had already been settled.

As though no one alive possessed the courage to oppose him.

I stared at his retreating figure.

Wondering what manner of man he truly was.

What manner of power and authority he possessed to have reduced a perfectly confident Lycan into this trembling, groveling creature before my eyes.

The Novak I had seen earlier had been composed.

Confident.

Capable.

Now he looked no different from a frightened forest animal trying desperately to survive.

"What are you doing there?"

The cold voice suddenly broke through the silence of the forest.

I froze.

Slowly, I lifted my gaze.

He was standing there.

Watching me.

His eyes were fixed on mine.

Not shifting.

Not moving away.

Not even for a second.

I hadn't even seen him stop walking.

One moment he had been several feet away.

The next, he was simply there.

Waiting.

Watching.

"I... I..." I stammered.

My throat suddenly felt dry.

"Who gave you permission not to follow?" he snapped.

His voice was as cold as ice.

So cold that I found myself wondering if a werewolf with a face identical to mine had once caused him some great agony.

Perhaps even killed someone he loved.

Because nothing else could explain the hatred that seemed to flash in his eyes whenever he looked at me.

I tried to straighten myself.

Tried to stand taller despite the fear creeping beneath my skin.

But suddenly he was right in front of me.

The abruptness of it made me gasp.

How could he do that?

How could he be standing somewhere else one moment and then appear before me the next?

It wasn't normal.

I hadn't seen him move.

Not even a little.

One blink.

That was all it took.

Then he was there.

Close enough for me to feel the heat radiating from his body.

Close enough to make my pulse quicken.

Before I could react, I felt myself being lifted from the ground.

A startled gasp escaped my lips.

He carried me to his side with one hand.

One hand.

As though I weighed absolutely nothing.

As though I were some pet he was carrying around at his convenience.

The humiliation burned.

The anger burned even more.

"You don't get to do things without my permission."

His grip tightened slightly.

"From now on, even your life belongs to my permission."