Page 7 of Prey of the Lycan Queen (Unwanted #2)

Chapter Seven

The sight that greets me is one I never expected. The billiard room, usually filled with laughter and clinking glasses, now looks like a battlefield. Tables and chairs are upturned, the floors are littered with shattered glassware, and the room smells strongly of blood, sweat, and spilled alcohol.

In the middle of the destruction, the men I’ve known as kings look more like warring barbarians. “Did a tornado hit this place?” I ask, my voice echoing in the silence that follows my entrance.

“Something like that,” Zeke grumbles, slouched in a chair with a bottle in his hand.

I raise an eyebrow at him. “Looks more like you have been fighting.”

My gaze drifts to Malachi, who is leaning against the wall. He has a bloody cut on his lip, and his chest is heaving.

As I cautiously step further into the billiard room, my heart pounds against my rib cage.

The air is thick with tension as I take in the scene before me.

King Theron stands panting in the middle of the room.

His and Malachi’s clothes are disheveled and torn, and James stands between them with a scowl.

The two of them seem to sway in the aftermath of their battle, as if they can still feel the fury of the fight. Around them, Zeke and Lyon stand, their faces pale and their eyes wide as they watch me.

The entire room goes still as I walk in, my feet silent against the hardwood floor. I flick my wrist, and magic spills out of me like a wave of energy, clearing a path to the door at the end of the billiard room. That door leads to the kitchens.

I begin to walk forward, but King Theron steps into my path. He stands at the edge of a broken billiard table, his presence looming and powerful. His gaze pierces me, and my mother’s face floats through my mind as if she were standing before me. I lock eyes with him, my gaze deadly.

“Zirah...” His voice is low but thick with emotion.

My heart pounds as I stare into his eyes. I want to lash out, cast a spell, and make him pay for what he did to my mother. I want to watch him burn the way she did. “You’re in my way,” I tell him.

He tilts his head, his eyes flashing dangerously. “This is my?—”

“Was...It was your kingdom, but it’s not anymore. So again, Theron, you’re in my way.”

“You would dismiss me so easily, Zirah?” I step past him without a word, moving toward the kitchens. “Fine, but at least give my sons a chance,” Theron states.

I turn my head slightly, chuckling at his statement. He must truly be a madman to think I would even still consider his sons as viable suitors.

“They had their chance,” I say, my voice cold and distant. “And they chose their path. They chose to stand by you, Sloth. I’m not agreeing to anything.”

His eyes flicker with pain, and perhaps a hint of regret, but I don’t have the luxury of sympathy—not for him. I continue my walk toward the kitchens, my heart pounding in my chest. I feel Theron’s gaze on my back, heavy and intense, but I refuse to turn around.

The kitchens are in chaos when I finally reach them, a flurry of activity that pauses when the staff notices my presence. I don’t have time to deal with their questions or their fear.

The people exchange glances, but no one speaks. They’re scared of me and what I represent. They’re loyal to Theron, their king, and they probably think that helping me is akin to treason.

“You’re scared,” I say, not as an accusation but as a statement of fact. “I understand. But I am not your enemy.” I pause, looking at each one of them, but I notice their eyes are on the door behind me.

“Where is my brother?” Zeke asks, and I exhale, not wanting to deal with him.

“Asleep,” I answer, moving toward the coffee machine. I have hardly slept, tossing and turning and waking every hour. I need coffee, and lots of it if I am going to visit Kelly later today.

“So that’s it, you just made your choice and fuck the rest of us?” Lyon snarls.

I keep my back to them as I prepare my coffee, the machine’s low hum filling the tense silence. “It was never about the rest of you ,” I say, my voice steady despite the turmoil inside me. “It’s always been about justice. For my mother and everyone else your father has hurt.”

“And what about us?” Zeke demands, his voice echoing in the kitchen. “What about what he’s done to us? We’re his sons, Zirah, but we’re not him.”

I turn to face them, cup in hand. Their expressions are filled with anger, hurt, and confusion. I can empathize with these emotions, but I cannot afford to be swayed by them. Not now.

“You chose your side when you chose to stand by him,” I tell them, my gaze steady. “If you’re so different from your father, prove it. Show me you’re not just his puppets.”

Lyon bristles at my words, but Zeke holds him back with a hand on his arm. Zeke’s gaze meets mine, hard and unyielding. “And if we can’t?”

“Then you’re no better than him,” I say, my tone final. I take a sip of my coffee, the bitter taste grounding me. “And you will face the same fate.”

Their reactions are mixed. Lyon looks like he’s about to explode, but Zeke just watches me, his eyes filled with something that looks like...understanding? I don’t know, and I don’t have the time to figure it out.

“If we die, it will kill Regan,” Zeke says as I pass him.

“You forgave him,” Lyon adds, just as a bewildered Regan rushes into the kitchen. The look of relief on his face when he spots me is evident. Gnash rushes to his side instantly, bouncing on his feet with excitement.

“I woke up, and you were missing,” he lets out a breath, moving toward me.

“We would not hurt her,” Lyon says, but Regan growls back.

Regan ignores his brothers and leads me back to the ruined billiard room where James sits alone in an oversized armchair. His eyes track me as I move toward him, but there’s something eerie about him that I can’t place.

He’s half vampire, with paler skin than a full lycan, and he wears his long black hair slicked back and tied at his nape. His lips are drawn into a tight line, and he sits tall and proud, his gaze fixed on me as if he can see straight through my soul.

He exudes wisdom beyond the age he looks, and though he has an uncanny resemblance to his brothers, Malachi and Theron, he seems calmer and more level-headed.

“They’re right, you know?” James states casually. He tosses a billiard ball back and forth between his hands. “You forgave Regan,” he continues.

“I marked him. That doesn’t mean I forgive him,” I tell him, and Regan drops his head. James shrugs, standing up and stepping in front of me. I glance at my wolves, but they don’t seem fazed by this man’s presence.

“Same thing. What if I told you one of them had already earned a place beside you? Maybe both have, but I know for sure one never did,” he tells me, his eyes cutting to Regan.

Regan growls and steps forward, but I put my hand on his chest. This man, as odd as he is, there is something about him, and I suddenly want to know what he means.

He glances over my shoulder when he hears movement behind me. “Finish the maze trials. Maybe not all the paths are dead ends like you think,” he says cryptically.

“You want me to forgive them, let them live when they’ve done nothing to earn their lives?”

“Well, that is debatable. But how do you expect them to prove it if you’ve condemned them already?” he asks.

Regan’s jaw tightens as he glares daggers at his uncle. “Maybe you were too quick to forgive this one without really getting to know your other choices, Zirah.”

“Choices? I am the choice. They chose wrong.”

“Maybe so, but so did your mother. She didn’t just curse the kings.

She cursed all the lycans. Now what do you think will happen when the entire lycan population finds out a female lycan exists?

What do you think your kingdom’s enemies will do?

They’ll come for you, and you know it. You don’t have to like them or even forgive them, but it’s better to have allies on your side than to know only enemies.

Somehow I believe you’ll find they want the same thing. ”

“I want revenge. I highly doubt they want the same.” I move to brush past him, but he grabs my arm.

“Who says they don’t?” he whispers.

“My brother wasn’t the best father. He has played his sons against each other from the moment they existed.

How do you expect them to act differently when that is all they’ve ever known?

” he tells me. I look at him, his piercing red eyes peering back at me.

“Finish the maze trial for this marriage agreement, then decide. Spend time with each of them, one on one. See their kingdoms and the people they lead. If you decide they still deserve death, I will kill them myself,” he tells me, and I am taken aback by his words.

“You would kill your own nephews?”

“Ah, don’t underestimate what I will and will not do.

You don’t live as long as I have by playing on the losing side.

A smart man will choose the winner, and if that means ending Theron’s reign and standing by your side, then I will do it.

Everyone has an agenda. Use it to your advantage.

You may not want them, but one day you may need them,” he tells me.

I think about his words and what it truly means to be the last female lycan, then I suddenly think of Regan’s mother. After my mother died, Electra was the last female lycan, and whatever happened to her still haunts Regan to this day. So how will that affect me?

The thought of the most probable way in which Electra’s life ended creeps up my spine.

Could the lycan men have been so depraved and desperate to defile their queen in such a disgustingly brutal manner?

Will the same happen to me? Being the only source to restore the lycan population, I dismiss the notion immediately.

I have something Regan’s mother did not possess. I am the most powerful witch in existence, and anyone who crosses me will learn exactly how powerful my magic is.

“I’ll think about it,” I tell him, walking off.

“Don’t think too long, Zirah. Last I heard, we are about to wage war with the Vampiric Kingdom. Without them, that war is already lost,” James tells me, and I stop.

“Pardon?” I ask, turning around.

“Here I was thinking you were smart. The attack, the one where Zeke, Lyon, and Regan killed those vampires to save you. When you ran and crossed that border.”

The night I was nearly gang raped by those blood-sucking leeches. “What about it?” I ask.

“One of them was the son of King Slavic.” I glance at Zeke, Lyon, and Regan. None of them meet my gaze, yet that in itself tells me James is telling the truth.

“War is imminent, and I plan on being on the winning side. So do me a favor and win, but you won’t if your kings are dead or fighting among themselves,” he tells me.

“Do you think it is so easy to forgive them?” I question, wondering how he could expect such a thing.

“Forgiveness is never for the betrayer, Zirah. It’s for the betrayed.

It’s the only way you’ll find peace. You can despise them and want vengeance, but then what?

You are right. You should forgive them when they deserve it, but that isn’t the only reason you should forgive them.

You have the potential to be the most powerful high priestess that anyone has ever seen, even more powerful than your mother.

But look how it ended for your family. Don’t be your ancestors’ karma, Zirah. ”

“Their karma? The only one being served their karma is your brother,” I snarl.

“If that is so, why were you cursed along with them?” he asks. My brows pinch, and he gives me a knowing look. He then turns on his heels and wanders off.

“Who did you say your uncle was again?” I ask Regan.

“Weird is what he is,” Zeke says, coming up behind me.