Page 13 of Lycan King’s Claim (Lycan King’s Reign Duet #2)

O ut of breath and disheartened, I pause to catch my breath, my eyes lifting to meet Adina's unwavering gaze.

"You've trained before?" I state, my voice laced with a mix of curiosity and incredulity.

The notion seems peculiar to me, considering her regal stature as a queen.

Also, I believe she would give her husband a good ass kicking if she wanted to.

Adina remains silent for a moment, a shadow of something flickering in her eyes.

"Did Rehan train you?"

A soft chuckle escapes Adina. "No, my father did."

"Was this when you still lived with him?"

She shakes her head. "No. The first thing he taught me? Was to block."

She swings. I barely duck in time, missing the other hand that catches me under the ribs.

"He taught you to punch too?" I gasp, clutching my side.

"No, I taught myself. So did a few of his guards. They couldn’t handle watching him beat the shit out of a teenage girl every day."

I swallow hard. Guilt knots in my stomach.

"It is what it is. Don't feel sorry for me. I'm still breathing while he’s rotting in the ground."

She waves me forward. "You and I aren’t so different. We both had shitty childhoods."

"Does that make you feel better, knowing you destroyed mine?"

A snarl rips from my throat.

She moves fast, going on the offensive. I try to block, though I still end up on my back, staring at the ceiling, wind knocked from my lungs.

"Javier said you killed your father?" I wheeze, trying to catch my breath.

She nods, offering a hand. I take it, letting her pull me to my feet.

"Yeah. After I retrieved my sister. Not that it saved her. By then, the damage was already done." Darkness shadows her face.

"He attacked here. Killed Rehan’s father."

I don’t wait for her response. Swinging hard, I catch her under the chin. Her teeth smash into her bottom lip, and blood dribbles down it, making her smile.

At that moment, Adina's past unfolds before me like a dark tapestry, exposing the depths of her resilience and the scars etched upon her soul.

"So your father was a king but killed your mother? I thought kings go crazy without their mate?" I ask her.

"He's the reason the law was made, he wiped out half his kingdom by the time I was a teenager, took down two others," she tells me.

"Why did he kill her?" I ask, intrigued by this horror story. "Because she rejected him," she answers. My brows furrow.

"Rejected? I don't understand," I admit. She smirks. "Bet you wish you knew that before Xandros marked you," she laughs. "Yes, she rejected him, it breaks the bond, unless you've been marked already. Then it's too late."

"Why did she reject him?" I ask curiously, sitting down on the mat, trying to catch my breath.

"My father was at war with her parents' kingdom; the treaties were broken.

He went to try to make a new agreement. When he spotted her, she was 16.

He refused to leave without her. She didn't recognize him.

We don't recognize our mates until we are of age to shift, yet we can still reject them.”

“They weren't sure if he was her mate, but she was underage anyway. Her parents told her to reject him, and she did. It started a war that got her kingdom wiped out and her kidnapped." My stomach sinks at the thought of what her mother endured.

"He raped her. Obviously, he needed an heir. Months later, I was born, but I was born a girl."

"So he killed her because you were a girl?" I ask horrified.

"No, he was always going to kill her, because she rejected him.

Me being a girl was just an added disrespect in his eyes, my father told me he didn't even let her hold me, just snapped her neck the moment the midwife delivered me, when he went to pick me up, he realized I was a girl not a boy like my mother told him. " Adina drops onto the mat next to me.

"He couldn't have a boy, so he treated me like one; I became his punching bag. I ran off when I was the same age as my mother. Fled to Rehan’s Kingdom, only when I was brought before his parents he realized I was his mate. It was almost like history was going to repeat itself," she chuckles.

"Only he was kind. He refused to mark until I was of age, so I knew for certain, but back then I would have taken his word for it if it meant escaping my father.

" she laughs bitterly. “A few decades later, not long after I had Xandros, the Council got fed up with my father killing innocents, and his kingdom was pulled down. That was when I found out I had a sister. I was curious, so I went to visit her and went to confront my father.”

"I thought I had it bad," she laughs, shaking her head. "What he did to her, sent her insane; I couldn't leave her there, so I waited for him to leave and took her."

"He came looking for her, didn't he?" I ask and she nods.

"He killed Rehan's father, he tried to kill me, almost did too, but I got the upper hand.

I slit his throat, but not before he plunged his sword into my stomach, he took away my ability to have any more kids, I couldn't heal, he'd dipped his sword in poison. " she tells me.

She shares the harrowing tale of her mother's untimely demise, a tragic result of a mate’s rejection that unleashed a wrath that knew no bounds.

Adina herself became a victim of her father's twisted desires, a mere pawn in a cruel game of power and control.

Her words hang heavy in the air, casting a haunting shadow over my understanding of her lineage and the burdens she carries.

"So that is why Neve was your surrogate?" and she nods.

"Yeah, for decades we tried to give Xandros a sibling, and he was a grown man by the time we were able to.

He'd already taken over the kingdom. Neve offered, after watching me struggle for decades, and she blamed herself for it.

It wasn't her fault, and I told her that, but she kept insisting.

So I agreed. It was almost like since my ability was taken away, it made me desire having a baby more," she whispers.

She pauses for a second. "Come on, we should head in before Xandros does come searching for you, but we can meet back here in the morning," she tells me.

"You still want to train me?" I ask.

"Well, I didn't mention you challenging Carina for no reason. My son is trapped; the only way out is for Carina to agree or you to challenge. We are getting nowhere with making her agree; this is the only other option he has, so we'll make do," she tells me.

Two days have passed since Adina took it upon herself to start training me, unveiling a side of her that I never anticipated.

However, on the third day, Carina's entrance into the training room is met with an air of unexpected calmness.

I stare at her nervously as she stops. I've barely seen her since the day Xandros started letting me venture out of the room.

"I was wondering where you two got to," she says, looking us both over. "I take it Xandros doesn't know about this little exercise regime you got going on here?"

I chew my lip nervously, waiting for her to blow up. I'm sure she heard from the other servants about Xandros blowing up about Rehan wanting me to challenge for his son's hand.

A flicker of curiosity dances in her eyes as she watches our movements, her lips curling into a mysterious smile.

"Gotta be quicker than that to kick my ass, Anna.

You can do better than that," Carina calls out.

Adina casts a glance her way. "By all means, let her practice against you," Adina taunts.

Carina brushes her off. "I just got my nails painted," she says, holding them up to show us. "My father is returning soon. Don't let him catch you in here," she adds.

As we gather our training gear, however, a sudden wave of dizziness crashes over me, causing the world to spin.

Adina grabs my arm to steady me, and Carina surprisingly catches my other.

"Again?" Adina asks. I try to shake the feeling away, but my shoulder throbs to its own beat.

My vision blurs, and the ground beneath me feels unsteady.

I stagger, feeling sick to my stomach when darkness encroaches on the edges of my vision, and before I know it, I succumb to its relentless pull.

When I finally regain awareness, I find myself lying on a pristine white bed, the sterile scent of a hospital lingering in the air. Confusion clouds my mind as I try to piece together what happened. Adina stands nearby, her face etched with concern, while a doctor hovers nearby, needle in hand.

The doctor's voice is filled with a detached, clinical tone as he explains the situation. "We're just doing a blood test, Adina said Xandros scratched you, and she thinks the mark is infected," he states matter-of-factly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

My eyes widen in surprise and realization. The constant sickness that has plagued me, the relentless fatigue I've been battling—it all begins to make sense. Lycan scratches are poisonous, but how come I am not immune to them now I am one?

My voice trembles as I address the doctor, desperately seeking answers. "But why? Why am I feeling this way?" I implore, my voice teetering on the brink of desperation. The doctor's gaze softens slightly, his tone carrying a semblance of understanding.

"The training, the physical exertion—it took a toll on your body.

We need to ensure there are no underlying health issues; you wouldn't be the first Lycan to catch rabies," he explains, offering a small smile.

I look at Adina, hoping he's joking. Apparently, he's not as he plunges the needle into my arm.

"I could have rabies?" I blurt out.