Serving The Lycan King

2

VALERIA

He sank his teeth viciously into my thigh, dragging me beneath him with ruthless control.

I fought back, screaming for help, my hands desperately clutching my abdomen to protect my pup—but his claws were lethal weapons, piercing my skin, tearing through my fragile body.

When his razor-sharp claws slashed toward my face, I instinctively raised my arms. A deep gash split my forehead and cheek, drawing a pained scream from my lips.

He exposed my stomach and struck our child.

"No, please—don't hurt the pup! Dorian, don't hurt my son!" Tears streamed down my face as I begged, but his fangs tore into my flesh, his claws digging mercilessly into my womb, trying to rip away the life growing inside me.

I didn’t know how long the agony lasted. I sobbed, pleading with what little strength I had left.

Every inch of my body burned with pain, but worse was the torment in my soul—broken, bleeding, shattered.

Discarded like trash at the edge of the cliff, I barely clung to consciousness as he shifted back into human form.

"You really thought you could chain me to you forever, you stupid b***h!" he roared, his voice dripping with venom.

His eyes were colder than I'd ever seen them—filled with pure disgust.

"Did you actually believe I loved you? That I wanted a child with you? What a waste!" He kicked me, but I couldn’t even muster a whimper.

"For three years, I stayed away from my true mate—because of you!" he bellowed, unleashing years of pent-up hatred.

"Why...?" My voice was barely a whisper, my face swollen, my tongue heavy, my throat raw from a deep wound.

"Because you—that pathetic orphan—came to the pack, and that foolish old crone claimed you'd birth the strongest Alpha, one powerful enough to elevate my bloodline." He laughed bitterly. "That crazy hag was spouting nonsense, but my mother believed her. She forced me to give up my woman for you—because you were obsessed with me!"

"She gave me three years to get you pregnant. That was our deal. If you failed, I’d be free. So today, I came to finally rid myself of you—only to find you carrying some bastard’s pup." His laughter turned manic.

"You were trying to ruin my life all over again, Valeria. Now it's over."

He stepped closer, and I saw death in his eyes.

There was so much I wanted to say... "I never knew you loved someone else. I was just a foolish girl in love—but I never forced you to love me back. How could you lie to me all this time? Our child... How could you... How could you do this...?"

I lay there, weeping, covered in blood, barely alive—utterly powerless.

I wished I could reach his wolf, scream my injustice into the bond—but I couldn’t. I had no she-wolf within me. I could only move my body, pretend. Some said it was trauma from my adoptive parents' deaths—that I was the only survivor. Others called it a curse. But I knew the truth.

I had never felt a wolf's spirit inside me.

"Goodbye, dear wife. Turns out you were nothing special after all." With one final, cruel kick, he sent me over the cliff’s edge.

The last thing I remembered was the sensation of falling into cold, empty darkness.

Above me, the silhouettes of ravens circled like harbingers of death.

I'm sorry, baby. I couldn't protect you.

"Why haven't her wounds healed yet? I could've wasted a whole bloodbag on some stranger."

"Jack's already sacrificed too much dragging her out of the Wildwood Forest. She'll have to heal on her own."

"Honestly, I don't even know how this woman survived. Poor thing... Her body's wrecked—especially the abdomen... and that face."

Voices. Hands probing my injuries. An agony worse than death itself seared through me, trapping me between consciousness and darkness.

I didn’t know how much time had passed or where I was—but when I finally pried my eyes open, I saw a white ceiling. A small room. A single bed.

"You're awake?" A woman’s voice startled me. A stranger’s face hovered into view.

I tried to speak, but no sound came. As if my voice had been stolen.

"Don’t strain yourself. Stay calm. You... I don’t think you can speak right now. Your throat..." Her expression darkened with pity.

Then, memory crashed over me.

My hands flew to my stomach. I tried to sit up—ignoring the dizziness, the pain—but she stopped me.

"Don't move! Easy, easy!" She pressed me back down, but I had to know. I needed to know if a miracle had happened.

My gaze locked onto hers, then dropped to the thick bandages wrapping my abdomen.

"Yes... I understand what you're asking, but... I'm sorry." Her voice softened. "Your abdomen was torn open. Your uterus was destroyed. Your pup... didn't make it. There was no way it could have survived. We don’t even know how you survived."

Tears flooded my vision. I squeezed my eyes shut, my soul fracturing.

My lips trembled. My body shook. A raw, broken sound tore from my ruined throat.

Why? Why did this happen to me? Why has everything turned into a nightmare? My baby—my pup—was innocent. Why did something so horrible happen to them?

"Please, calm down! You'll hurt yourself! Aston, I need you! Bring the sedative—now, Aston, hurry!"

A scream ripped through the room—guttural, blood-chilling, the sound of a shattered heart. A woman wailing in despair.

And then I realized...

That woman was me.

The one who had lost everything.

Days Later

I learned a man had pulled me from the forest beneath the cliff. I was now in a small pack not far from Autumn Forest.

My hands were still wounded as I splashed water on my face—though I barely dared touch my own skin.

Every time I looked in the mirror, I had to gather every ounce of courage.

My face—once beautiful, once envied by she-wolves—now bore a vicious scar across my forehead and a deep gash down my left cheek.

Dorian hadn't just taken my child. My womb.

He had marked me.

The wounds should have healed. But they hadn't.

I didn't have a wolf's rapid regeneration. My body mended slowly. And scars remained.

As I stepped out of the room, I overheard the healer and the she-wolf who'd been tending to me whispering.

They were discussing how many resources I'd consumed. How they might have to send me away soon—packs didn't welcome outsiders so easily.

But the she-wolf argued my condition was still too fragile.

I was grateful for her kindness. But I wouldn't wait to be cast out.

I'd already decided to leave tonight.

Alone.

Hours later, I moved through the dark forest like a lost spirit, my soaked bandages clinging to reopened wounds, blood trailing behind me.

I didn't care where my legs carried me—as long as they kept moving.

Hiding in the brush, I studied the patrol line. I knew exactly how to slip past undetected. I had designed this defense rotation for Dorian. Just like so many other things I'd done for him and the pack.

I slipped into the shadows, moving as fast as my broken body allowed. The night and the darkness were my allies—amplifying my unnatural stillness.

In the distance, laughter and light spilled from the backyard of the house I'd called home for three years.

I walked as if in a dream, wearing the old sneakers and tattered dress the she-wolf at the clinic had given me.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Dorian's voice rang out, smooth and triumphant. "Today, I've gathered you here because I can no longer hide my joy. Finally, I will wed the love of my life—my true mate, my darling Sophia, your future Luna."

The world froze.

There they stood—Sophia, my best friend, and Dorian, my traitor of a mate—kissing before the pack that had once bowed to me.

And if their plan had succeeded, my corpse would be rotting at the bottom of that cliff.

Hypocrites.

Sophia wore one of my evening gowns, tailored from my fabrics, stealing my life without a shred of remorse. She'd deceived me all along—just like everyone else in this pack. Just like the man who'd lain beside me every night, thinking of her.

Even the midwife who'd delivered my pregnancy news stood among the crowd. Dorian must have promised her something to keep quiet.

My fists clenched, nails biting into my palms, teeth chattering with rage.

I waited—like a deranged ghost—watching their entire celebration until the lights dimmed and the crowd dispersed.

Then I climbed the stairs to the second floor, moving silently down the darkened hallway.

Their moans drifted through the cracked door of the master bedroom.

"Alpha, tell me I'm better than her… Mmm… Come on, Dorian, say I'm better than that frigid Valeria."

"You're the best, baby… Don't even compare yourself to that dead bitch."

"f**k me in her bed, then. Isn't this what you always wanted?"

Their filthy words were the final spark.

Something inside me snapped.

And I lunged.