For six years, I was Hazel, girlfriend to the future Alpha, Julian. I thought we had forever, a cherished place in our werewolf pack, even as a human. Then Mate Hunt night ripped it all away. I woke up lost in the forest, only to find Julian with her – his true fated mate. His words hit harder than the forest floor: I was just a 'placeholder.' Six years together, and he tossed me aside, his fingers bruising my throat as he growled that I meant nothing. My world, my heart – shattered.

Left for dead, freezing and injured, a different kind of predator found me. A colossal black wolf, eyes glowing gold, big enough to swallow me whole. But instead of tearing me apart, he curled around me, a warm, terrifying shield against the biting cold. For a moment, I felt safe.

That safety vanished when my pack, my family, found us. The Alpha who raised me, Maxen, didn't see a survivor. He saw a disappointment. Turns out, he’d only taken me in hoping I’d magically become a werewolf like my mother – the fated mate who’d rejected him. When I couldn't shift, he cast me out, branding me an omega, the pack’s punching bag.

Now, I'm less than nothing, surviving on scraps and enduring their cruelty. What they don't know, what I don't know, is that my monstrous protector is no ordinary rogue. He's Lykos, the wolf of Kael, the Lycan King. And Lykos has decided I am his fated mate – a human. Kael is furious, but his wolf has a will of its own, dragging the King himself towards my abusive pack.

My old life is over. My only ally is a creature of legend. And the most feared Lycan in existence is on his way. Is he coming to save me, or is the King's arrival just another nightmare waiting to begin?

I woke with a start, heart hammering against my ribs. For one blissful moment, I didn't remember where I was or what had happened. Then reality crashed down on me like a physical weight.


The pack house. The Lycan King. The massacre.


I bolted upright, eyes darting around the unfamiliar room. I was lying on a plush bed in what appeared to be one of the main lodge's guest suites. Sunlight streamed through partly drawn curtains, illuminating ornate furniture and thick carpets.


How did I get here? The last thing I remembered was being dragged from the blood-soaked great hall, the King's grip firm around my waist...


My stomach lurched. I scrambled to the window and yanked the curtains aside.


Outside, pack members were dragging bodies across the lawn. Not just injured wolves—actual corpses. Piling them like firewood at the edge of the property.


Chapter 18 - Chapter 18 - An Unhinged King's Obsession