Chapter 5 - The Lycan King.

Liam

After the Lycan bastard and his men were satisfied that my entire pack was there, we were led out of our territory. I didn’t know if I would ever see my home again. I did, however, realize that my life would never be the same again. That was if I lived to see tomorrow. My mind drifted to Helena again as we were ushered through the thick brush of the forest and into a clearing not far from my territory border.

It was a sad sight to see the moment we could all finally stop walking. All around us there were cages filled with more werewolves. What was this king planning?! Was he going to completely wipe our kind off the face of the earth?! Fear gripped my heart as I was shoved into one of the cages. I had only felt this fear once before.

The day Helena left. The day she rejected me and I forced her to leave. That was the only time I ever felt this afraid.

Helena

I noticed the rogue tracks getting closer and closer to my house, but when they disappeared again, I didn’t think about it again. I was just relieved that they didn’t find me. I had been working really hard to get stronger and I exercised every day. I could feel it in my body. The strength. As it grew.

It was a harsh life out in the wilderness on my own, but it was peaceful. I hid from rogues when I had to and only had a couple of close calls over the years. My clothes fit differently. My muscles were toned. I was tanned from working outside in my garden, and I was just about to figure out how to make some of my own clothes. My life was going really well … And that should have been the signal that things were just about to go seriously wrong!

I was still sitting in the rocking chair just admiring the stars when all hell broke loose in front of me and three enormous wolf-like creatures stepped out of the darkness and into the light of my home. They were werewolves, but not. I could hear others surrounding my house. A man stepped forward-looking pompous and arrogant and I listened while his warriors held me captive.

They walked on their hind legs even though they were in their animal form. I knew instantly that there would be no way I would be able to defend myself against these creatures. Within seconds, they had closed the gap between me and them and one of them was throwing me to the ground. Their scent was strange, and I wondered how I hadn’t smelled them before they reached my home!

“Alpha Oliver has taken possession of this territory. You are to either swear loyalty to him or be exiled from this land!” The man looked up from a piece of paper and I sighed. I was curious about this alpha that had taken control of the unclaimed territories, but there was no way I would become someone’s omega ever again.

“I choose exile!” I shouted. I noted a quick look of astonishment on the man’s face, but he quickly composed himself. I could try to claim that this was my land, but I really wasn’t in the mood. I kept telling myself over and over that I started over once, I could do it again.

“Which pack are you with?!” The one that threw me to the ground growled, and I thought that was it. My birthday was now going to be my last damn day on earth!

“I’m a rogue!” I shouted, realizing how quickly my instinctive reaction to bowing my head returned as I lowered my head but kept my eyes on them. “I don’t have a pack!” I softly growled as thoughts of Liam and the others came to mind and I shoved it all down.

“A female without a pack?!!!” One of them laughed. “We can use her …” His tone of voice left me with chills running down my body. I had never been touched in the way he was suggesting! I would rather die than have one of them touch me that way!

“Don’t be stupid!” The one that hadn’t said a word so far walked around me and stopped right in front of me. “The king said we had to bring all of them in. Even the rogues.” Before I could say another word or protest, I was lifted in the air. The thing threw me over his shoulder and carried me off into the darkness of the night. I thought about fighting but decided against it.

I took a last look at my home and wondered if I would ever see it again. It quickly disappeared as they walked on. They didn’t talk, and I was surprised to find that we didn’t go very far before I heard more male voices. As soon as I was brought before their leader, I could feel it!

“Ah, what do we have here?” His voice sent a shiver down the back of my spine. I could feel it from deep down inside of me! I didn’t dare utter the word though. I had been heartbroken far too many times to even think of hoping!

“We found this one in a hut in the forest.” The one who carried me threw me down on the ground and I got my first look at my surroundings. There were more of these creatures. A lot more! In one corner of the camp, I noticed the cages, and it didn’t take long to realize that my old pack was in some of those cages! I didn’t have time to take in anymore. All I could do was carefully sniff the air.

“Well, well, well. A female rogue. You don’t see that very often.” The amused one walked over to where I was forced to bow my head.

“She is the first one we’ve found in these parts, Your highness.” My heart stopped. The man I now knew was my mate, was the king of these beasts!

“Now what would a perfectly good female be doing out on her own, I wonder.” He walked around me and I felt as though I was going to vomit. I had again been given a pompous ass for a mate! If I could reject this one as well, I would have, but something told me I could not take that chance. Not yet, at least.

“I was exiled by my pack.” My voice sounded so soft that I wondered if he even heard that I had said something. I didn’t dare look up.

“Ooooh, she’s feisty!” My mate laughed, and it was like a knife to my heart. “If she wasn’t one of them, I might actually have liked her.” My eyes shot up to glare at him.

“Mate!” His growl echoed throughout the forest. Liam had nothing on this man! Birds took flight and if I was paying attention to what was happening around me, I would have thought that even the trees shuddered at the sound. The warriors quickly bowed their heads as the brick of a man closed the gap between us in a heartbeat. His power oozed out of his damn pores. He gripped my arm so roughly that the force snapped my head back.

“HEY! Stop! Who the hell are you?!” I shouted as he dragged me off into the forest. He stopped but didn’t look at me for a moment.

“Come off it! You have to know who I am.” He sighed, and although I had seen his face for only a short while and knew nothing about him, I could imagine he was rolling his eyes. He whipped around and a shockwave ran through my body. “I am Oliver. King of the Lycans.” He growled before whipping right back around and dragging me to the camp. “Put her with the others.” He ordered and as they dragged me over to the cages, I could finally see that four other packs were being held by these beasts. I had figured out who their leader was. Now all I had to do was figure out how the hell I could get out of here.

I hit the ground pretty hard as I was thrust into the cage. The others moved out of the way as though they were scared of these beasts.