Page 7

Kylie

I could feel my body wasting away, forgetting when my last meal had come.

My father left me inside the cage for at least a few days, judging by the patterns of movement above me.

Amara snuck down at some point to give me a few peanut butter sandwiches—something my father wouldn’t miss from the pantry because he hated peanut butter—but that had been the last time I had food.

I was going to die down here.

My lycan wasn’t strong enough to call on a shift due to the lack of energy.

She wanted to help me, but unless she could break through the bars of the cage, there was nothing she could do.

I knew she couldn’t, even though I wished she could.

I reassured her I didn’t blame her for this. This was all my fault.

I should have run away from here and become a rogue a long time ago.

It’s not like my father wanted me around.

Maybe that’s why he didn’t want me present when the king arrived.

This was just a ploy to get me out of the way so he wouldn’t have to show the king he had a weak daughter.

He had beaten and imprisoned me before, but this seemed less provoked than before.

I was being punished for his vanity, not for my wrongdoings.

Just when I felt like I was going to give up, allowing the darkness to take over for the Moon Goddess to claim me, a power washed through the house.

It caressed me in a way that my father’s never had before.

I could tell it came from an alpha, judging by the way I wanted to lower myself to the floor even more than I already was.

The king is here.

If only he knew I was down here and could save me.

My lycan surged to the surface as best she could at feeling the power.

She relaxed, and there were rumblings from my chest of contentment.

I couldn’t understand why she would feel like this.

We were dying, and the only people who knew I was down here were my father and Amara.

My father would command her not to say a word to the king about me.

Mate, my lycan said to me. Mate is here.

That couldn’t be right. The king couldn’t be mated to a weakling like me.

When he didn’t rush down into the dungeon to find me, I groaned as my heart broke. I knew better than to let myself get my hopes up. Things didn’t go my way like that, so why would they now?

The pain in my stomach tightened and curled into a ball to lessen the discomfort.

Then I slipped into the darkness.

I don’t know how much time passed. For a moment, I thought the Moon Goddess had granted my wish, but there was movement upstairs.

A male’s bellowing echoed in the distance, but I couldn’t get my eyes to open.

Everything hurt. I tried to open my eyes, but they felt too heavy.

I faded out again before I heard the metal bars groaning.

Wait. Metal bars groaning? Who could open the bars infused with wolfsbane like that?

No lycan that I knew of could. My father was powerful, but he had screamed in agony from touching the bars before.

A minty scent wafted into my nose, dragging me from the dark depths of my mind.

Something caressed my cheek, and my lycan surged with new energy, enough to make my eyelids flutter.

She was excited to be touched, to smell the mint, because it meant someone was here to save us.

He’s here. He will save us. Wake up, Kylie! He’s here to save us! She rejoiced as I slowly emerged from the darkness to open my eyes.

Thick, dark blond hair slicked back with product was the first thing I focused on.

Deep blue eyes met mine, and my lycan sighed in relief at seeing them.

A strong chin and high cheekbones registered next before another wave of minty goodness filled my nose.

Even crouched down, this person appeared to be a menacing hulk of muscle.

I sighed at the scent but then realized I didn’t know who was in front of me.

I moved away, only to be met with pain, and I winced.

“It’s okay. I won’t hurt you,” the man said, reaching out his hand.

I could feel his anger radiating off him, making it hard for me to concentrate. I had seen this look before, but only on one person: my father. This man was going to hurt me.

I was tired of being beaten and abused at the hands of angry alphas for no reason. This couldn’t be my life anymore. I pushed the thought away before feeling overwhelmed with lethargy again. “Stay back!” I croaked, my voice barely above a whisper.

Everything about this man seemed tense, and my mind wandered to how it would feel to be in his embrace.

My lycan stirred with glee inside me at the thought of him.

She repeated, Mate, in my head, but I couldn’t believe that to be true.

How was this man my mate? He looked powerful, as if he could tear through the entire house within seconds.

I was the broken daughter of an alpha, and this was clearly an alpha standing in front of me.

These two things didn’t add up, so how was he my mate?

The king.

This was King Maximus.

And he was my mate.

How was this possible? The Moon Goddess had a twisted sense of humor to give me a mate like him.

“Are you… King Maximus?” I squeaked out, needing to know if my assumptions were correct.

“Yes,” he replied as he got to his feet, not once loosening his grip on me. “And you are?”

“Kylie.”

“Kylie. Who did this to you?” he growled as his eyes scanned my body.

My breath hitched in my throat at his words.

He seemed furious. No, worse than furious at the sight of me.

I let out a whimper, feeling embarrassed, knowing I looked like hell.

I felt like hell had worked me over, and I was sure I was covered in bruises and blood.

I looked away from him, hoping to disappear so he wouldn’t see how frail I was at that moment.

If this man was my mate, he needed to know I was worthy.

Looking the way I did right now wouldn’t inspire the confidence an alpha would want in a mate.

“Tell me who did this to you so I can make them pay!” he said through clenched teeth.

I knew better than to answer that. If I told him it was my father, he’d either not believe me or cause a problem with my father. Neither option sounded good.

“I don’t—”

He growled, and I felt his hands on my body. The warmth from his touch eased my muscles, and I let out a sigh. He pulled me off the ground and into his arms, where I could breathe in his minty scent again. Everything inside me relaxed as his power washed over me. His chest rumbled, making me smile.

“Tell me, mate, or I’ll find out for myself. It’ll only be worse for the person who did this to you if I discover who it is myself.”

His touch had me relaxed enough to allow my lycan’s small amount of strength to rise within me, sensing the truth of his words.

This would end badly, from what I could tell.

If this man wanted to know who did this to me, then I should reveal it to him.

What did I have to lose? I was close to death as it was, and if I died right now, at least my father would be punished for his crimes.

Yet, the part of me that believed my father would come after me if he survived made whatever this man planned to do to him rise to the surface. What if he got away with it like always?

The man’s blue eyes found mine, and there was a fire behind his stare that told me everything would get better if I trusted him the way my lycan did. The corners of his mouth tilted up, and he lifted my face to his just enough to place his lips on my forehead.

“Don’t you worry, little omega. I won’t let anything like this happen to you again. Name the people who did this to you, and I will make them pay.”

My lip trembled as I tried to find the words I wanted to say. Another fear was that he wouldn’t believe me even if I told him who did this to me. My father was an alpha, and I was an omega. His word was law, and my words were ignored.

I could feel the alpha on the ground as he cradled me in his arms. There was a warmth in my chest that bubbled into something more than just his touch.

He moved my clothes around to expose parts of my skin, and soft growls escaped his throat as he did.

I could feel his anger as if it were my own, and I winced again, knowing he wouldn’t like the answer to his questions.

“Alpha Alexander. These were punishments for not getting the work done as he requested and for making a mess of things.” It was hard to say any of that, and I purposely didn’t mention that it was my father who did this.

Another growl escaped him, but when I nuzzled my face into the crook of his neck, it softened into a low, contented sound deep in his chest. This man felt like a wall of muscle yet so soft to nuzzle against. The way he responded to my touch had me sighing as I leaned into him.

The pain from the beating dissipated as he ran a hand down my body.

It ignited a fire low in my belly, and before I could stop it, a moan escaped my lips.

“That’s it, little omega. Trust me, I am here to help you and take you away from all of this. Alpha Alexander will pay for this.”

“Please,” I whimpered, “don’t hurt him.”

He growled again. “Oh, I’ll hurt him regardless of what you ask. He should have never raised a hand to you. No alpha should.”

“It was my fault.”

He pulled me closer to his chest. “No, it wasn’t. Nothing you could have done should have led to this. He is a monster, and I refuse to let him get away with doing something so disgusting to you.”

I looked into his face, and his blond hair and blue eyes reminded me of the man I saw in my dreams. Was this real? I knew I had dreamed of this man, but having him here in this moment sent every tingle and fire through my body, just like in the dream world. There’s no way this was real.

“This is a dream, right? I’ve seen you in my dreams before, so this is a dream.”