All Chapters of THE LYCAN KING’S CLAIM: Chapter 131 - Chapter 140

Elara’s POVI met his eyes across the council chamber.For a heartbeat, just one fragile and utterly foolish heartbeat… I thought he might hold my gaze.I thought he might soften up and maybe let out a tear or a smile.I thought that he might see me and understand that I was drowning too, that I was suffering just as much as he was.But Aldric didn’t.He pulled his eyes away from me almost immediately, his jaw tightening and his expression hardening into something cold as stone.That single action pierced deeper than any shout or any accusation ever could.My chest ached painfully, breath hitching as if someone had reached inside me and twisted something vital.I slowly sank back into my seat, my fingers curling into my palms and my nails biting skin as I fought the sudden sting behind my eyes.From his reaction, it felt like, he wasn’t just angry at me.It felt like he was done with me for good.And that realization hurt more than anything else that had happened since I came to this

Aldric POVI slammed the door shut behind me, the sound thundering through the room like a thunderclap.My breath came hard and fast, my lungs burning as if I had just ran for miles now.The room around me felt small and suffocating.I didn’t even realize I had moved until the table left my hands.It crashed against the far wall, the wood exploding on impact.The splinters scattered across the floor, skidding and spinning, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t.The chair next to it followed, then the lamp, then anything else within reach. I needed the destructionI needed to break something so bad…But no matter how much items I threw, or the force I used to hurl it across the room, none of it eased the pressure in my chest.Not this time atleast…Elara’s face rose in my mind no matter how hard I tried to force it away.The picture of her in that moment..Her eyes were empty and distant. It was like, it wasn't fully hers.She had blood on her lips, someone else's.My stomach twisted violently

Elara POVWho would have thought, I'd meet my end by the very people I thought were the safest…The man lit the match and the flame shot out, trembling at the end of the stick.For one suspended moment, nothing happened.It was like everything else stopped for a beat.The fire danced around the stick, the flames reflecting clearly on my pupils.The wood under me creaked softly, as if it already knew what was coming.My body remained numb and useless not that movement would help me in this situation.Then the man stepped closer.He leaned toward the cross and let the burning tip touch the base of the wooden cross.At first, it was almost… quiet, like a soft hiss.A thin line of fire snaked its way along the dry wood.My breath hitched.So this was it.The fire caught faster than I expected. It spread swiftly, crawling upward on the wood.The heat around me grew drastically as the fire grew nearer.I stared at it, numbly.There was no screaming and no begging, I was unable to.I could

Aldric’s POVI stood there long after the healer’s words fell into silence, my breath shallow and my chest tight as if something invisible had wrapped around my ribs.A cost.Black magic never came without one. I had known that. I had always known that.Heck, a deep part of me knew that Elara gaining her legs again came at a cost from the very first day, yet I ignored it…I took in a slow breath, then I stepped foward. “What's the cost?” I asked.“To purge black magic, it must be transferred,” she had said. “Shared. One of you must bind your life force to hers and absorb what remains.”“It can't be cleansed or erased completely, but sharing it reduces the cravings and hunger to a fairly manageable rate.”Share? The plan was to share the dark magic wugh Elara..I could still hear her voice echoing inside my skull as she turned away from us.“I need one of you for the ritual, or any person really, but more, this bind is eternal.”The words echoed in my head.Eternal?!“Decide quickly,”

Elara POVThe scream tore through the cabin like a blade.I knew that voice…Anita.No!!!My heart slammed against my ribs as my body moved before my mind could catch up.I didn't even give it another thought before I turned around and rushed back toward the door, slamming it open so hard it rattled against the wall.“Anita!”I dashed through the back rooms and once I got into the room I planted myself in front of her without thinking.“Stay away from us!” I shouted, my voice shaking but loud. “Stay away from us!”They were already inside.Lycans.Six of them we're in here now, maybe more, moving slowly and deliberately.They began to fan out slowly and carefully until they formed a circle around us.Their eyes glowed faintly in the dim light, pupils blown wide, lips curling to reveal teeth that weren’t meant for smiling.Predators.Anita was shaking beside me. I reached back blindly and caught her wrist, pulling her closer, steadying her when her knees buckled.“I told you to run, El