Chapter 1 - The Reason

“Your servants have complained that you are not eating again.”

Normally, that voice would have made Deborah freeze the fork's path to her mouth. However, that day, she just dipped the meat in the sauce, not even turning around when answering the King.

“I appreciate your concerns, but this will no longer happen.” she commented calmly, beginning to chew her dinner, as a menacing growl responded.

“For your sake, I hope so.” Iron spoke and finally, from the corner of her eye, Deborah noticed the stern expression on his face, plus the way Evangeline was sitting on his lap, her arms wrapped around his neck like snakes around a prey “I don’t remember giving you permission to starve to death.”

“As you wish, my King.” She just nodded softly, refocusing solely on the plate in front of her, as Evangeline murmured, her voice sweet as honey.

“Should we retire to the bedroom, my King?” Even though she wasn't looking in their direction, Deborah knew that her cousin was moving provocatively on Iron's lap, leaving a bitter taste on Deborah's tongue that, after a full year, had become familiar “We're not done with our attempts to make an heir yet, are we?” Her next words should have been a whisper, but they were loud enough for anyone to hear them, especially Deborah “I miss your touch so much...”

“Look at me when I’m talking to you, Deborah!” that growl interrupted Evangeline abruptly and, despite herself, Deborah was forced to turn around to face the Lycan King, the emptiness she felt inside making it all too easy not to flinch in the face of his stern gaze.

“Yes, my King?” she nodded “Should I leave?”

“Yes, Debbie, please. We both need privacy and, despite the King's gentle concern, I think you've had enough food. You know, His Majesty has a voracious appetite in other ways and I'm looking forward to being a mother. You are too, aren't you? I know you will be a wonderful servant to my son.” Evangeline’s clear satisfaction in trying to hurt her had once made Deborah suffer, but now, she just returned her cousin's smile calmly, not wanting to give that woman what she wanted.

“I wish you the beast of luck.” Deborah shrugged her shoulders, starting to stand up “If you’ll excuse me...”

“Stay exactly where you are!” Iron growled, causing the two to stop.

“Oh, my King…” Evangeline panted, excitedly “I know that sometimes your tastes are peculiar, and of course I will not refuse if you want Deborah to watch us. But, at least during the conception of our child, I would like some privacy...”

“Shut up.” He growled again and, with a sudden movement, stood up from the chair, almost sending Evangeline to the floor.

"Your Majesty...!" she blinked in disbelief “I'm sorry if my cousin said anything to make you so furious, but please be merciful to her...”

“I said…” it only took Iron looking at her once for Evangeline to shut up, the color draining from her face “To stop talking shit and go away. And you…” a tremor threatened to shake Deborah’s body at the intensity of hatred in his gaze, but she didn’t give him that satisfaction, even when he advanced towards her and grabbed her wrist roughly “Come with me!”

“My King? My King!” Evangeline tried to call him, but Iron continued to ignore her, leaving her alone in the middle of the dining room and the servants whispering, while all that was left for Deborah was to observe the mixture of fury and offense that took over her cousin's expression, when their gazes met.

Well, it seems that Iron managed to ruin the lives of every woman who came into his life, apparently.

“Do you have any idea...” he growled, as he forced her into his office, closing the door behind them both “What day is it?”

“Today marks exactly one year since the mating ceremony did not take place. Is that what you mean, Your Majesty?” Deborah questioned him, finding it curious how those words seemed to reach him, even though she was the only one who should be miserable with that memory.

“How can you be so cold?” Iron growled, his wolf fangs protruding from his lower lip “It's been a whole year since I rejected you... Since you became the laughingstock of the Kingdom... And yet you remain looking me in the eyes, as if none of this would have meant anything to you!” He moved closer and, if she had still been the deluded girl she was a year ago, Deborah might have even thought the emotion shining in his eyes was pain “Is this a proof of how heartless you are? Nothing I'm doing matters, because you just don't have feelings?”

"Feelings? Yes, I think I had them one day not long ago. But, you broke them with great mastery, my King.” She stared at him, his features contorted like a beast leaving her relieved; it was always easier to be humiliated by him when there was nothing to remind her of the man she loved “I'm sorry if there's nothing left to make my misery even more pleasing in your eyes.”

“How can you be so cynical?” Iron shouted, his fists grabbing her arms roughly “How can you act like I'm the monster here, trying to punish you for no reason?! It's been months and months, Deborah! At least have the decency to stop pretending! Admit you know the reason why I'm doing this!”

"The reason? Are you talking about the fact that you despised and tricked me with sweet vows of love, just to convince me to attend that fake ceremony a year ago?” she kept her chin up, knowing there was nothing to fear; he already had all the worst for her, anyway “Don’t worry, Your Majesty. I realized this only a few time after that day.”

"You...!" This time, when he growled, it wasn’t just Iron’s voice that sounded, but also that of his wolf “Are you trying to make me guilty? Make me believe that sweet girl I thought the Goddess sent to me, really exists?” He pinned her against the nearest wall, and Deborah could only imagine that this was how a deer felt, when it was about to have its neck ripped apart by a wolf “Do you want to hear me say I know what you did?! Do you want to keep looking at me with those innocent eyes until I go crazy? So, very well, Deborah..."

To her shock, Iron ripped the collar of the shirt he was wearing, tearing the fabric down to his waist, and exposing the patch of skin he never allowed anyone to see.

"Look! Look at this and dare to say that you don’t know why I’m doing all this!”

It was incredible how, whenever Deborah thought that man had been able to uproot every good feeling she could still have, her foolish heart was still able to make one sprout.

Knowing he had probably already seen her expression of pity, she stared at his now bare chest, the dark flesh disfigured in many places, contorted with deep scars. And, in the line of his shoulders, cutting from one side of his chest to the other, were words crooked and horrible to look at, forever immortalized in him by the reddish burns that formed a short but still stomach-churning sentence.

Lions’s Little Bitch.