Chapter 12

Twelve

LYRA

T he next morning, I couldn't find my heat suppressant pills anywhere as I dug around my suitcase.

" No, no, no ," I said out loud to the empty room. "What did you do, Kodan?"

My clothes were scattered everywhere on the floors. I sat in front of my many suitcases, sighing in defeat, remembering our conversation from last night.

The rain started to pit-patter outside, droplets hitting the bare window, fitting my mood.

Without my heat suppressants, I was vulnerable.

I could go into heat and get pregnant by any one of these males. I've never experienced going into heat, but I've heard it was painful. Fuming, I walked towards the bathroom but stopped when I saw a large, full-body mirror sitting behind the bedroom door. There was a yellow sticky note on it:

I'm out hunting, but have a nice day, my love. Do you like the mirror? - K

The note ended with a picture of a hand-drawn heart. Oh, wow . My heart began to soften a little toward Kodan.

I traced the heart with my finger, not realizing I had a smile on my face until Luke walked into the room.

"Well," he said. "What do you have there?"

"Nothing," I said, trying to hide the note by covering it with my hand, but he had already read it over my shoulder.

"The brute actually has feelings," said Luke, kissing my neck while hugging me from behind. I leaned into him, absorbing his alpha strength.

"Of course, he has feelings," I said, turning to kiss Luke on the lips.

"I would draw hearts for you every day if I knew that would make you happy," muttered Luke.

We heard a cough behind us, and we pulled apart, startled by the intruder.

Voss was in the room, staring at us. It felt like I hadn't seen him in forever. His shiny black hair was slicked back, and he wore a nice suit. He smelled strongly of cologne, which covered his natural scent.

"Sorry for interrupting. Hello, my dear," said Voss, grabbing my hand and kissing the top of it.

"Good morning," I greeted. Voss was in a chipper mood, nearly bouncing on his feet. I thought it was cute that he was so excited.

"You should get ready for our big date today," said Voss. I'm looking forward to talking to you one-on-one. Maybe we could leave your burly bodyguard at home?"

"Not a chance. I'm coming," said Luke.

"Are you sure? You'll get bored," said Voss, trying to discourage him.

"I would prefer that Luke comes with us," I said slowly. Voss was finally showing some emotion toward me, and I didn't want to ruin his happy mood.

"Okay, no big deal," said Voss. Then he kissed me on the cheek. "How about you put something sexy on? We'll pretend your stalker bodyguard isn't there."

I couldn't help but giggle after seeing Luke's face turn red with annoyance.

Voss held a large red umbrella over us as we walked through the village.

The rain was on and off.

Today, I wore something a little more practical. Even though I had tons of dresses for my royal gatherings, I was glad I had the presence of mind to pack riding clothes. I wore brown leather leggings, boots, and a white shirt that clung to my chest, topped off with a leather jacket.

My hair was done up in a high bun to combat the rain outside.

Every day, I still wanted to leave this village. But each day, I would see Kodan giving in charity to the Wild Wolfman, and he genuinely cared about them.

He cared about them like they were his own family.

And in a way, I respected that. But I had always dreamt of setting up a beauty salon, but it looked damn near impossible here in the village.

"Luke is following way too close," Voss whispered to me under the umbrella. "I can't even sneak a kiss with you. You're hot as fuck today."

I laughed.

"You can still kiss me," I said. "I promise Luke won't bite."

"It's creepy," said Voss as we stopped in front of a market stall selling knitted blankets.

The older female behind the stall was showing me a large, knitted blue and green blanket. She was topless, with sagging boobs covered in white hair.

"It's cute," I said, taking the knitted blanket from her.

"Let me buy that for you," said Voss.

"It's okay, I brought money," I said, but before I could pull any change out of my leather jacket, Voss had already paid. "Thank you."

As we walked away from the seller, I clutched the cozy blanket to my chest. I couldn't wait to add this to the failing mattress.

"You're welcome," said Voss. "How do you like the mirror I bought for you too?"

"I thought Kodan got it."

"Kodan? Our lazy pack leader made me do all the hard work," said Voss, wiggling his eyebrows animatedly. "He thinks I have time to drive hours into the city to grab a mirror."

I laughed again. He was pretty funny, but something still felt a little off to me.

"Well, I really appreciate the mirror," I said as we continued walking around the village. The villagers seemed a lot kinder to me today. Or maybe it was because Luke was standing protectively behind me like a menacing bulldog.

Throughout the day, we ate croissants and walked some more. Voss asked me several questions about myself and what life was like at the palace. He seemed genuinely curious, and I was more than happy to talk about home. I told him about Vanessa coming into the family and how much I despised her.

We began walking along the shoreline, and the villagers were following us for some reason. Every time I looked back, I saw more and more people gathering.

"Why do you hate Vanessa so much?" asked Voss out of the blue.

"How would you like it if someone broke apart your family?" I said.

A dark look came over his face, but he shook his head and covered it with a big smile.

"I understand one hundred percent."

"Come on. You can tell me," I said, chewing on the remaining piece of my croissant. "You looked like you remembered something."

"My entire family was killed," said Voss. "I would be grateful even to have one family member remaining."

"What happened?" I asked, shocked. I wasn't prepared for this type of revelation from this jolly alpha.

"Your family, the Royal Pack, killed my family," he said.

"That's impossible. Why would they do that?" I wasn't sure whether he was kidding, but his face had all kinds of seriousness written all over it. He wasn't joking in the slightest, but I didn't understand.

"It was during the Great Moon Revolt. When these villagers went under attack for supporting a sigma, they were badly attacked by the government," said Voss. "My family was part of it. Even my little brother was killed."

His voice choked up on the last sentence as he looked away from me.

"I just don't believe my family would do that stuff on purpose," I said. "It's just…unbelievable."

"So you're telling me you didn't know," said Voss, turning to me.

"I didn't know," I said in a low voice.

"Well, it's too late now," he whispered, stopping suddenly. I looked around to see why he had stopped. We were standing in front of the narrow stone path that led directly to the Shadow Wolf's cave.

"What do you mean? Why did you bring me here?"

Even as I asked the question, a sinking dread dropped like a boulder in my stomach. His resentful attitude toward my family and the full moon above us all came together. He was going to put me up for the omega sacrifice.

Ducking under the umbrella, I turned to run, but the villagers surrounded me in a small circle, pushing me toward the cave. I screamed for Luke, but I did not see him anywhere.

"Luke isn't here, my dear," said Voss evilly. And he was smiling as he gazed upon the cave.

"What did you do to him?!"

"Oh, Princess Lyra," said Voss, sticking his hand out for me to take, which I didn't. "You should be honored to be the next omega sacrifice. The Shadow Wolf is waiting eagerly for you."

"What's the point of sacrificing me?" I shouted, looking around frantically for help, holding my arms straight out and trying to block any of the Wild Wolfmen from touching me. My heart was beating wildly as I backed away slowly.

My back was to the cave, but I could see I was getting closer and closer to its entrance.

A loud howl sounded from the cave, and I froze. The howl was as chilling and paralyzing as the first day I was here.

"You will appease the Shadow Wolf," said Voss, clapping, and the people cheered. The crowd was barking and howling at my demise. "And the villagers will love me forever after this, and we will take over the kingdom."

"My family will come after you. Kodan will come after you," I threatened as they crowded me closer to the cave entrance. I turned towards the cave, horrified to see an endless dark cavern. I couldn't see anything inside it.

Where was Kodan? Did he know about this?

Voss shoved me inside when I turned my back to him. I screamed as I fell forward onto the damp cave floor, falling forward on my face. I scrambled to right myself, but my hands slipped over the slick surface.

Harsh breathing sounded to my right, and I screamed, holding onto the rock walls to stand up.

My heart pounded in my chest.

I stood still, trying not to breathe too hard or make any sudden movements, blinking several times to get used to the darkness around me. There was a rank smell in the cave, which smelled horrible, like rotten eggs.

I turned to my right and saw him.

The Shadow Wolf was in the form of a werewolf, standing tall, as high as the cave's roof. This wasn't a normal werewolf. His hairy body was enormous and towered over me. His red, piercing eyes glared at me in the dark above his large snout and dripping fanged teeth. And all around the cave were the scattered skeletons and skulls of his past victims.

Fear gripped me like nothing else.

I stood frozen against the wall, unable to move.

This was real. He was real.