Page 1 of Prey of the Lycan Queen (Unwanted #2)

Chapter One

Time seems to stand still in this damp dungeon, and it feels like the stone walls are closing in on me. My chest is tight as I pace back and forth, the flickering torchlight casting eerie shadows on the walls. Zeke sits in a corner, nursing his injuries, his face a mask of pain and anger.

Decades ago, Father had the steel bars infused with water hemlock and wolfsbane. You’d think it would have worn off by now, but my hands are bloody and badly blistered from the contact. All three of us are burned to pieces from trying to pry the bars apart.

Lyon stares vacantly at the remains of the curse on the blackened walls. A curse I have committed to memory—not that it has done me any good over the years. However, Lyon is trapped in the confines of his mind, staring at it like he can figure out the curse if he reads the broken lines enough.

The guards are useless because our commands to be set free won’t override our father’s authority.

We did try. One guard even passed out from resisting our commands, and he’s still bleeding from his ears on the cold concrete.

He’s the youngest guard here, and since he resisted our commands, his healing will be painfully slow.

Heavy footsteps echo through the corridor, and Malachi appears, his eyes wild with fear and urgency.

He’s been running; that much is clear. He glances around as the guards turn to see the intruder.

Gnash growls from beside me, and his fur brushes my leg.

For a few tense seconds, the guards stare at him warily. “Stand down,” Malachi snarls.

“They can’t. My father commanded them,” I tell him. Malachi curses and shakes his head while the guards nervously look at each other.

“Forgive me,” Malachi whispers, and without hesitation, he launches into action.

His movements are swift and precise, and considering he trained these men, it doesn’t surprise me how fast he uses their own moves against them. He plays them like a fiddle, taking them down one by one as he moves effortlessly.

A spinning kick sends one guard crashing into the wall just as another guard dives over his fallen allies. Malachi snatches the vampire midair and flips him over his shoulder onto the hard stone floor. In a matter of seconds, the guards are sprawled across the corridor unconscious—except for one.

Breathing heavily, Malachi grabs the collar of the last guard, Elias. “Where’s the key?” he demands, his face only inches away from the guard’s face.

Elias, bloodied and bruised, manages to wheeze out, “King Theron...He has it.” With a furious growl, Malachi delivers a knockout punch to his face, sending him to the floor in a heap.

Turning to us, I can see his face etched with panic. “We need to get you out of here. Your father has lost his damn mind!”

My heart pounds as I step forward, gripping the bars between us. “What’s happened? Where is she?” I demand, my voice laced with the same terror coursing through my body. My bloody palms heat against the poisoned iron.

Malachi hesitates, his eyes full of worry. “In the town square,” he finally answers.

Zeke moves to stand beside me. “The town square?” he asks.

Malachi nods, glancing up at the bars and the rusted hinges.

“Malachi! What’s going on?” I demand.

He pauses. “History is about to repeat itself if I don’t get you out of here,” Malachi states, touching the bars and hissing as he jerks his hands back.

My fists tighten around the bars as fresh blood seeps from between my fingers. Gritting my teeth, I ignore the pain and focus all my strength on bending the steel. My need to save Zirah overrides everything else.

Zeke pushes me aside and grips one bar with both hands, nodding at me to keep going. The agonizing heat melts the skin on my palms all the way to the bone, causing a feral roar to rip from my throat as I pull harder.

My hands begin to slip, but the smell of burning flesh only drives me to pull harder. Zeke’s eyes glaze over with a faraway look, his knuckles whiten, and the pool of blood between us steadily grows wider.

Finally, the bars creak and bend, and seeing the gap, Gnash leaps through it instantly, followed by Hunter and Shadow. Gnash hesitates, almost as if he is waiting for us, but the gap is too small. It is a tight fit for them to escape through.

“Get to your master,” I command Gnash. “And kill anyone that gets in your way, friend or foe,” I tell him. He whines but obeys, darting up the basement steps before tearing off out of the dungeon.

“Quick!” I tell Zeke, whose hands are a bloody mess. Sweat coats him, and his arms are burned from leaning on the bars.

Lyon shoves Zeke out of the way, half his skin remaining on the bar as his hands tear away from it. Lyon and I use our combined strength to bend the bars farther apart. The strain on our muscles and the burning sensation of the poisonous metal is almost unbearable.

But we pry them apart just enough to slip through the gap. Before my feet hit the stairs, I stop and turn toward Malachi. “Go!” he urges. I nod once and take off up the stairs.

My heart races as my brothers and I sprint through the dark, narrow streets, our legs pumping with adrenaline as we catch up with our wolves, Gnash, Hunter, and Shadow.

As we burst into the town square clearing, we’re met with a frenzied, chaotic scene. The crowd is packed tight, their faces twisted with a mixture of hatred, fear, and excitement. Their shouts and jeers are deafening, creating a noise that grates my nerves and fuels my anger.

We push through the mass of bodies in desperation, fighting to reach the center of the square. The sight that greets us when we finally break through is horrifying.

Zirah, the woman I love, is tied to a stake and surrounded by menacing guards. The air is thick with tension and anticipation, and I know we don’t have much time.

Our wolves pounce on the guards, tearing through them with ferocious snarls and powerful jaws. The crowd gasps and recoils in fear, their cries of surprise and terror adding to the chaotic chorus that fills the air.

“We won’t let you do this!” Lyon roars, but it’s as if our father doesn’t hear a word.

“Father, stop this madness!” Zeke’s voice is desperate, his eyes wide and pleading.

“She’s not Litha! She’s not responsible for the curse!” I argue, trying to make him see reason.

“Burn her...” Father shouts, his cold eyes locked on Zirah.

My brothers and I attack the guards, trying to reach Zirah before it’s too late.

“Stop them,” our father bellows as one guard douses the pile of wood with fuel, and my heart stops. This can’t be happening. I can’t lose her.

The flames explode, and she screams as fire engulfs her legs. Her cries pierce the air, tearing through my heart and breaking my soul as I try to get to her.

“Stay in position!” a woman screams amid the chaos, and the crowd breaks. Kelly steps forward, hands raised, followed by another woman, and another.

Zeke is the first to break through the wall of guards, and his injured hands work frantically against Zirah’s chains. Her head rolls forward onto his shoulder as he tries to free her, and I can feel his panic and pain as clearly as my own.

Lyon is at her side next as I snap a guard’s neck and toss him to the ground. My father’s angry shouts seem distant as our wolves keep a perimeter around Zirah.

A phantom fire heats my legs, and I know we are running out of time. As I break past Kelly and the formation of women with their arms raised, recognition hits me. These are the daughters and granddaughters of Litha’s coven.

I rush toward Zirah, flames licking my skin as I try to help Zeke with the chains, but we’re losing her. Her head swings limply as I shake her shoulders, and the flames sear my legs as we struggle with her binds.

Without thinking, I lean forward and sink my teeth into her soft flesh. “I won’t let her die!” I scream toward my father, toward my brothers, toward the dark sky twisting above us.

The taste of her blood fills my mouth, but something is wrong.

Instead of the warmth and connection I expected, I choke on the metallic taste like its charcoal and embers scorching my throat, leaving a rancid taste in my mouth.

My body is weakening as I realize that marking her isn’t healing her but poisoning us all.

The coven’s magic crackles around us as their words weave through the stormy night, and Zirah’s eyes flutter.

“Shadow Mystics weave magic, strong and true,

As one we stand together, a coven formed anew.

Beneath the moon’s shadow, our sisterhood holds.”

Their voices grow louder and more powerful with each line, and as I glance up at their faces through the wall of flames flickering around us, my heart clenches with a mix of awe and fear.

The coven steps forward, one by one, continuing the rites of their mothers and grandmothers, standing defiant against our father and his tyranny.

“Stop them!” our father orders, but their magic is strong, and as they chant, I can feel the energy pulsing through the air.

“I call upon the timeless force to guide our path and set the course. From the flames she rises, fierce and bold.”

Before I can stop him, Lyon sinks his teeth into Zirah’s exposed neck, marking her just as I did. His eyes flash to mine with confusion just as Zeke strikes, plunging his teeth deep into her shoulder.

Zeke chokes violently and clutches his throat, and understanding seems to wash over us all at once.

If we can’t save her, we’ll die alongside her by our father’s hand.