Chapter 3

My stomach churns wildly. I know my baby feels my fear too.

Amid my panic, I catch the man's eyes. He gestures silently to his wound. Then suddenly, I feel an invisible kick in our mate bond. I immediately know what he means. He wants me to heal him through the mate bond. Somehow, he finds out that I am a healer.

"We can do this the easy way," Nathan says, "Or the hard way, Whitney." He takes one powerful step forward as I take one shaky step backward. As Nathan inches closer to where the man is sitting limply, he sniffs the air several times. He freezes for a few seconds before finally growling even more viciously. This time, he growls at the man.

"What a coincidence," Nathan sneers in a low tone, "But she is mine."

He bares his teeth at the dying man. Quietly, I reach down to the bond and I send him some of my magic. I weave some of the magic strands and in my mind; I wrap him with an invisible white blanket. I have never done this with anyone, not even with my previous mate. 

Without the bond, I wouldn't be able to send my magic to him without touching his skin. I hope this works.

"She is mine," the man says. I am surprised by how authoritative his voice is. He even sounds like he is superior to Alpha Nathan. But that couldn't be, right? Who is this man?

He grunts as he stands up. Just like I thought, he is very tall. Maybe six feet. Or maybe taller. His hand is still putting pressure on his wound, but seeing him already standing means that my healing power has helped him. 

It works! Soon, he lets go of his shoulder. The wound has stopped bleeding and I can see his chest slowly regenerating the flesh and skin. He turns to Nathan.

Baring his canines despite still being in his human form, he snarls, "You don't want to mess with me, werewolves."

Surprisingly, the wolves back down. Even Nathan takes a few steps backward.

"Who is he??" This question rings in my head.

"I am The Lycan King, Xander Rollins," his voice booms to the entire forest, spreading his superiority to every animal breathing in the forest. I get chills from hearing his deep, authoritative voice. Somehow, I feel

dizzy. "Touch me and there will be war."

I can see Alpha Nathan backing down. So do the other two wolves. Everyone knows how powerful a Lycan can be. They say one Lycan warrior can take down three werewolves. And this is the infamous Lycan King! And he is my second chance mate!

Nathan looks at me for a fraction of a second with disgust and hatred. "You are just a dirty whore! I, Alpha Nathan, reject you Kimberly Smith as my mate," he says before finally turning and running in the opposite direction. The other wolves follow him.

It then dawned on me that Nathan had rejected me. I didn't know how to feel or react to this. As soon as I saw their fury bodies getting smaller with distance, I let out the breath I was holding. Good. Good.

I try to settle my breath. There is no reason to panic anymore. But suddenly my vision blurs and my balance sways. The last thing I see is the man... my mate catching me.

"Whoa," he whispers. "I got you now. You're safe." The exhaustion is taking a toll on me. With my pregnancy and the constant running, and then using my power to heal the man, my body cannot keep up anymore. My eyes grow heavy.

In his arms, I feel safe. I breathe in his Cinnamon. There's a tinge of iron scent in the air because of his blood, but it does not degrade how amazing his scent smells on me.

"You're mine now." His last whisper worries me. He is the Lycan King. What if he is even worse than Alpha Nathan, especially with the mate bond? The mate bond will make anyone more possessive of the other. Will my baby be safe?

I slept off in his arms as the tiredness had taken a toll on me.

~~~~~

Waking up from my sleep, I see a chandelier hanging on top of me. I smell that strong Cinnamon smell that is familiar. My body is wrapped in a warm, fur blanket. I blink.

"Where am I?"

My cheeks are drenched with tears as I think about what I've been going through lately. When I sit up, my hands go to my stomach. It's still flat, but I can feel another heart beating faintly inside.

Thinking about it makes me cry again. I caress my womb. I sob. Then I break down into a crying mess on a foreign bed. After a while, I force myself to stop crying, saying that it is not good for the baby. 

"This is just me being hormonal," I whisper to myself while dabbing away the tears, "A lot of stress wouldn't do the baby well."

"Happy thoughts, Kimberly" I mumble, "Be strong for the baby, it's just a phase and it will soon pass." I sniff the running liquid from my nose a couple of times. 

Then I use my sleeves to wipe the tears away. That's when I notice that I have a flimsy beige dress on. Who puts the dress on me? Before my mind can find the answer, my body reacts naturally. I jump off the bed and immediately run to the door, which I guessed would lead me to the bathroom. My guess is correct.

Opening the toilet lid fast, I then puke out my guts. My head spins and my stomach churns uncomfortably. Morning sickness has kicked in, but I feel grateful for it. It further confirms to me that my baby is still in my womb. After flushing my puke and washing my mouth, my eyes flick to the entirety of the room. There is a very thick manly aura about it. The primary colors are brown and black, but it looks luxurious. Very lavish compared to my usual room.

Just one sniff of the room, and I can tell that this is Lycan's room. My fingertips feel a slight tingle to know that it's my mate's room. His claimed mate.

"The king of lycans," I murmured, "What are the odds?" My guess is he brought me to his room. Which means I am in the Lycan kingdom.

Loud footsteps from outside the door disturb my trail of thoughts. I look intently at the door, sniffing and putting my sensitive ears to good use. Lycans, my wolf says, three of them. They are approaching fast. "She is still resting inside," one of them says just outside the door. 

"The king has requested you to give her a full examination."

Examination? That means at least one of those people is a healer. And that person can easily find out that I am pregnant. What will the Lycan king say if he knows that I am pregnant? 

The stories I have heard about him are far from good, either. He is known to be cold and brutal. He punishes his people and trespassers without mercy. 

I can't let this lycan king know about my pregnancy. I won't let him touch my baby.

Before those people reached the door, I walked fast to the window and opened them. Thank the Goddess they are not locked from the outside and they are just simple latches. When the doorknob turns, my body jumps.

"Lady?" I faintly hear one of the men ask. Then my feet land on the ground below me. Thank the Goddess too that I was only on the third floor. My werewolf strength makes me able to survive the jump.

I hide behind a pillar when those people are approaching the window. They are lycans, so they have strong senses of smell too. This means I have a tiny window of opportunity to get out of this enormous castle I have never been in.

Where I land looks like a garden in the middle of the castle. Behind me, is a hallway that I assume leads to outside. So, I walk fast. I have even prepared the answers I will give people if I see any staff or lycan warriors. But so far, I have not seen any. The castle seems a lot bigger than my previous packhouse.

Yet it seems empty. I take a right turn and then turn left, which leads me to a wide room full of sofas and antiques. The walls are surrounded by large paintings. There

are two large stairs on the side of the room where I come from. On the other side... a huge white door. I can smell the grass and fresh air from beyond the door. Without thinking further, I run to it.

My hand stretches forward to reach for the doorknob. But just before I could reach it, a hand grabs my wrist and yanks me to what felt like a sturdy wall.