Heart Of A Lycan King
Chapter 48

I kicked the rock beside me as I jogged around the enclosed space. It was almost eleven in the morning. The morning of the fight. The morning I make the silly excuse of a human pay for hurting my woman. After making a perfect example with him, I plan to fish out every single one of them that had dared to hurt her from the pack and make them pay.

Kane and I were standing in the middle of the arena, a circular open space with a few rows of seats surrounding it. The centre was a wide oval-shaped ground, similar to a coliseum. The elders’ seats were on a raised podium, away from the centre of the arena where I was going to defeat Matteo once and for all.

I would make him regret ever coming to this world. I would make sure of that.

‘Let me take over,’ Leo snarled. He had been agitated since yesterday, the same way I had been. ‘I can finish the fight in mere seconds.’

‘I don’t need you to finish off the b.astard, Leo. I can deal with him my way,’ I replied, bending over with my hands clasped behind my neck, legs wide open so I could stretch.

“I still think you should have told her about this,” Kane’s voice drifted to my ears. Currently, only he and I were already in the fighting ground. The Council of Elders and Baba were yet to arrive.

“And risk having her worried or getting attacked again? No, thank you,” I grumbled as I stood up.

“But what would she think when she finds out…”

“There’s no way she’s finding out now, unless of course, you decide to tell her.” I glared at him. “ I plan to explain everything to her after I have gotten rid of him,” I explained.

Kane sighed. “Why do I feel like you are underestimating her strength?”

“Excuse me?” I snapped, feeling the slow thread of anger weaving itself around me.

“Well, that’s what it looks like to me. Like you see her only as a broken woman whom you can fix. But if that’s how you do see her, then I’m sorry, but I’m disappointed in you. And that is the only explanation right now for why you didn’t tell her about this when the main reason you are doing this is because of her. It makes no sense that she doesn’t know.”

“Kane…” I growled.

“I know, I know,” he raised his hands and took small steps back. “I’m overstepping my boundaries by saying all that. But I’m here today as your friend and not your Beta, and I’ll be damned if I do not tell you the truth.”

“You know nothing…”

“I know everything. It shows in how you treat her. You wouldn’t even let her investigate the accident when she had so much faith in you. You had me remove all the major findings we got from our investigation before she asked. I didn’t want to say this, but that is no way to protect her. This is you shielding her from exploring all of her potentials. I’ve spent time around her, I’ve seen what she is capable of. If I remember correctly, you bragged about how she handled the Grand King just recently. I don’t think you are giving her the accolades she deserves.”

I stared at him for a while, taking in all he had said. Was that what I was doing? Shielding Nala from her potential? Would it make her sad when she finds out? But I am only trying to protect her. Nala had been hurt for so long and I don’t ever want to see her that way again. It’s not like I’m deliberately doing this. I did set up the team she wanted, and in a way, I’m giving her a chance to do it all alone. But I know that is all just an excuse right now.

I hid them from her because I was scared she’d get hurt again.

“I know you don’t mean for it to be this way, and I’m certain you’re doing all this to protect her. However, when she finds out, how do you think she’ll feel? Betrayed, Aiden; that is what she’ll feel. You’ll break the trust you’ve been trying so hard to build between you two. I’m telling you this from experience and you know that as well.”

Yes, yes I do. I knew all that. Yet, at the time I was making all the decisions to hide the major findings of the accident from her, because it is obvious the accident was meant to lure and hurt her, I thought it was the best decision. I also thought it was the right thing to do by hiding this from her.

But right now, after what Kane had said, I wasn’t sure anymore.

“I only want to protect her,” I sighed, running my fingers through my hair before I bought them back to scratch my beard. “After all the pain she went through, how broken she was the first time I met her, I simply wanted to keep her safe.”

“Not this way though. You can have her do things she likes. By supporting her, you’re also protecting her. You’re giving her a chance to find her true self. When you tell her about things that involve her, she learns to trust you even more, enough to share her troubles and pains with you at some point. When she finds out from someone else, Aiden, it’ll hurt her more than when she hears it from you,” he explained.

I nodded. He was right. I was mad that I didn’t even think about all this before I made the decision. I have been trying my best with her, and she was doing her best as well. My heart had swelled with so much pride with the way she handled Baba, how she gathered the courage to go to the ceremony, the courage to shift. How she slowly began to accept all of this. Within that hard wall she made, I saw her tender side, and I didn’t want to bring the wall back.

‘No. We did the right thing by keeping this from her. We are protecting her with whatever it is we have. She’ll understand when we explain later,’ Leo said.

I shook my head as I turned away and began running through the field. I needed to clear my head before the fight, but instead of that, my mind drifted to my conversation with her last night and this morning before I had left.

I had gotten home late yesterday, and surprisingly enough, I found Donald there, sleeping in the living room with Nala sitting beside him. He looked haggard and worn out, like he hadn’t slept in days. But when he woke up, he simply bade me goodnight and asked if Nala could escort him to his car. I didn’t argue, but I certainly didn’t like it.

Somehow, it felt like he was hiding something from me.

When Nala returned, she looked exhausted. We both were exhausted from the looks of things. I, with the new issues from the border and the pending fight, plus trying to find as much as I could before it is too late for all of us.

After we both showered —separately, of course— and prepared to sleep, Nala began asking strange questions. Like how long I’d known Phil and if we ever dated. She went to ask if Phil was currently in a relationship, to which I answered no, based on what I knew so far. Then she asked a very strange question.

“Was she Mav’s mate before he left?” she had asked quietly.

“What? No. Mav had no mate when he left,” I answered, furrowing my brows. “Mav and Phil never even liked each other right from the start.”

“Did you all grow together with your cousins and her?”

“Yes. But while growing up, Phil and I were closer. Phil, Kane, and I were inseparable, that is, until she went to medical school. So, it was just Kane and I afterwards before Donald joined the circle. David was always the quiet one. I bet you know nothing about him currently.”

She nodded. “Donald did mention you and Phil were close. I just wanted to be sure,” she murmured. “But are you certain she is not currently in a relationship? No mate?”

“I would know if she had one. I’m her friend before the king who would officiate her ceremony,” I answered.

“Hmn,” Nala hummed thoughtfully as she set the hair dryer on the dresser. “So Mav was not her mate and she isn’t in a relationship…” she mused almost to herself. “Can I stay back after my therapy with her for a while?”

“Why? Is something wrong with her?”

“No no,” she replied. “I just want to bond with her,” she said.

But I didn’t trust her. Not after I had gotten a call from the hospital that Phil had resigned and she and her family would be leaving for a while.

“Listen, Nala. If there’s something going on…”

“I promise it’s nothing you need to worry yourself with,” she took my hands in hers and lightly squeezed. “If something was wrong, I would tell you. But can I stay back with her after my session? Also, can you have someone take me tomorrow? Donald is sick and I told him to take a rest tomorrow.”

“Was that why he looked grumpy?” I asked, while she packed her hair into a messy bun as we both stared at the mirror.

She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. I knew something was wrong. “I guess so.”

“Well, you could’ve stayed back and bonded with Phil if she hadn’t turned in her resignation. She and her family will be going away for a while. I don’t know why but her dad already met with Baba about it. I’m certain it is something to do with their family so I didn’t want to pry too much.”

“She’s leaving?” Nala’s eyes widened as she pulled her hair from my grasp and turned to face me. “Phillison is leaving? Why? Where is she going?”

“You are scaring me, Nala,” I furrowed my brows. “Is something going on?”

“No. I’m just shocked she’s leaving,” she replied, biting her nails. “I’ll call Donald and ask him to take me for therapy. Don’t worry,” she smiled.

As we got into bed, I knew in my mind that something was going on. I also debated if I should tell Nala about the fight or not. Alas, I didn’t and we slept off. But this morning before I left, she had asked if I could do her a favor by finding out where Phil was going.

I promised her I would.

But I knew that I had planned to find out why she was suddenly obsessed with Phil and handle whatever was going on. Perhaps, it had to do with the reason she wanted to leave. Now, however, as I jogged around the arena, I was considering Kane’s words.

And so, I made the decision to let her handle whatever this was, no matter how hard that would be for me, especially if it wasn’t something safe.

‘We just arrived. The Elders are here too, Your Eminence,’ Kamal’s voice floated through my mind.

I paused beside Kane, breathing heavily. I looked up and tapped him on the shoulders. “They are here,” I mumbled. “And Kane? Thanks for the talk. You’re a very good friend.”

Kane simply smiled and tapped my bare shoulders.

I was bare chested, dressed only in a black short which stopped at my calves. As the Elders filed in with Kamal and Matteo, my heart quickened its pace.

Baba inclined his head towards me, and I did the same. The rest of the Elders stopped before me and bowed before they each took their designated seats. Matteo came forward, wearing similar shorts but with a sinister look in his eyes. My b***d boiled at the sight of him, and I had to focus on keeping Leo back as he wanted to tear him to pieces.

Not yet, at least.

Every other thought vanished from my head as I faced my foe. All I could think about were Nala’s scars, and how this man was responsible for them. He had hurt her, and now I would make sure that he paid for his crimes. I could feel the scar on my back slowly began to heat up, and I cursed it!

“Today, Nyala bears witness to this challenge,” Elder Jarona said. “We shall have a fair fight, which will end when either party is knocked unconscious or the other party surrenders. You shall not leave the arena, and no magic of any kind is allowed in this fight. May Nyala select a victorer today, and may the odds favour her chosen one.”

A horn was sounded somewhere at the top of the arena. Matteo and I bowed to each other as that was one of the rules of the fight. I watched as he pulled his shirt over his head, slipped his pants off and stood in shorts like mine, with a belt tied around his waist. Weird. He then started walking slowly in a semicircle, keeping his eyes fixed on me. I walked in the opposite direction, keeping him in my line of sight. He seemed more confident than I expected him to be, which made me believe that he had some sort of trick up his sleeve.

Weird enough though, my stomach hurt, and I looked down briefly to see the eyes glow again. Then faintly, very faintly, I heard a hallowed voice speaking.

‘Don’t go.’

I shook the feeling off. It’s just my imagination playing with me. Nothing more.

“This ends today,” I growled. “I’ve had enough of you.”

“We’ll see about that,” he chuckled, and then he suddenly lunged at me. I saw his attack coming before he even executed it, and I stepped aside easily and drove my fist into his side. He tumbled to the ground with a loud g***n, while I turned around to face him before I kicked him in the face. He rolled away a split second too late, and my leg collided with his nose and smashed it with a loud, crunching sound.

“Did you really think you had a chance here today, Matteo?” I asked. “Did you really think that you could win today?”

He spat on the ground, a mixture of mucus and b***d. I didn’t realize why he wasn’t trying to fight back. He seemed to only want to rile me up, and it was working already. Leo was losing his mind, desperate to lunge at him and tear him to pieces.

“Fight back, you coward!” I growled, spearing him to the ground when he tried to stand. I punched him right in the gut, so hard that he doubled over and wheezed in agony. “Fight back.”

I wanted to hurt him so badly that it was clouding my judgment. I wanted him to suffer, and I wanted to repay him for everything he did to Nala tenfold. But he wasn’t trying to fight back; at least not in the way that I expected him to. He threw a few punches, but I was able to block all of them and attack him in a more intense way.

The sun was beating heavily on my back as I grabbed him by the neck and shoved him to the ground. Sweat poured down my face, and all I wanted to do was squeeze his throat until his lungs exploded. But as I drove my knee into his ribs, he suddenly flung me aside with a strength I didn’t know he possessed, removed the belt and set it aside. He had shifted before I even hit the ground.

I came face to face with his cream colored wolf. Canines bared, he growled menacingly at me before he launched his own attack. I dove out of the way before he collided with me, but he kicked back with his claws and slashed wildly at my ribs. Pain exploded across my side, and I dropped to the ground as a spattering of b***d washed over the sand. It was a sharp and stinging pain. One that shouldn’t matter, considering who I was. But the rules of the fight stated no use of magic, right now, however, I wasn’t sure if Matteo was adhering to that.

He rounded behind me before another sharp growl came, and he launched another attack. This time, I was ready for him. I grabbed him by the neck and slammed him to the ground, and we both tumbled across the sand. My vision blurred, but I made sure that I ended up on top of him so I could deliver another punch to his jaw. He kicked me away, and then he leapt at me once again.

‘Let me out!’ Leo growled, stomping away in my head. ‘I can take him.’

His thirst for b***d was overwhelming, and as I stepped away from Matteo’s bared canines, I allowed Leo to take over. A menacing growl escaped from my lips as my bones cracked, and I felt my wolf emerging. He took over completely, and I was stunned by how he immediately went for Matteo’s throat, skilled in attacks such as this.

A bloody clash ensued, with both wolves going at each other ferociously. Leo moved so quickly that Matteo couldn’t even get close to him. He bit and slashed and snapped at him so much that all I could see was a blur. B***d fell everywhere, both ours and his.

But then, right when I imagined that Matteo’s strength was fading, he suddenly shifted back to his human form and dove away from Leo’s bite and rolled to where he had dropped his clothes. Everything happened too fast like it had been carefully planned. He turned around suddenly, a savage, satisfied look in his eyes, and he produced a powdery red substance which looked like a root in his hands. A split second before he rubbed it across Leo’s muzzle, I realized what it was. But we were too slow to react, and as soon as the root touched Leo’s muzzle, he cried out in agony and fell to the ground.

“Fiandron root,” Matteo chuckled as Leo rolled about in agony, the acrid smell invading his senses. You can never smell the root from a distance without it being brought to one’s nose. It was why we never noticed it. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you what it does.”

I knew exactly what it did. The root was a dangerous weapon against lycans, and it sent them into a wild frenzy where they wouldn’t be able to control themselves. After slowly eating all the rational thoughts in a Lycan, it kills slowly. This was why the root had been banned completely from the Kingdom, and the only place it grew was in the mountains of Jaro, the same place where the Chinani and Fifily wild plants could be found. The two wild plants hurt both Lycans and werewolves, but the Fiandron roots hurts only the Lycans.

The root shouldn’t even exit. They had been uprooted ages ago! I can be a royal Lycan, a king, but even I can’t fight the damage the Fiandron roots can do.

Once Leo started feeling the effects of the root, however, even I couldn’t stop him. And as I felt his mind slipping into a blind rage, I knew that we were well and truly fvcked.

‘Leo, you’ve got to snap out of this!’ I tried to tell him. ‘Snap out of it, Leo. You can fight this. I know you can.’

But he was lost already. Now I understood why Matteo was not trying so hard to fight. He was trying to make Leo angry, because the effects worked best if the wolf was angry. And now, there was only one intelligible word which I could decipher in Leo’s mind.

‘Kill.’

He didn’t attack Matteo, since it was impossible to attack the one who held the root in their hands. The root never harms werewolves, but causes ultimate damage to the Lycans. This made it impossible for Leo to attack Matteo. Instead, Leo charged straight at the Elders, who scattered in terror as he made his way towards them, growling and snarling at them.

‘Leo, stop! You’re going to hurt someone!’ I kept yelling, but it was in vain. He clattered through the rows of seats, and suddenly he fell over an elder who was scrambling to safety and stabbed his claws into his back. The man screamed in agony, and as I tried desperately to take control once again so I could stop Leo, but that was impossible. It was impossible to take over the mind of a Lycan who had inhaled the root. The only solution was to kill the person.

I watched helplessly as he sank his teeth into the man’s neck. A guttural cry filled the air as the man struggled to get away, clamouring towards the others with the last of his strength before Leo snapped his head off. The acrid taste of b***d made me flinch, and I was horrified as Leo flung his head to the side then ripped off one of his arms.

I heard Baba’s voice calling to us. I heard his roar, I heard the crash and clashing from behind, yet, none of them seemed to get Leo back on track. Only Kane attempted to come at us, and a single bite from Leo on his leg and a flung made him unconscious on the ground.

Somewhere behind, Matteo was laughing hysterically. Everything had gone horribly wrong, not the way I planned, and certainly not the way I wanted it to turn out to.

Suddenly, as if things couldn’t get worse, I caught a scent suddenly which made my b***d turn cold. We both sensed it, and as he looked up and sniffed the air even more, it confirmed my thoughts.

Nala was here. Dear Goddess, not now, please!

And then I saw her.

She was sprinting into the arena, with Donald, Lacie, and Tiffany trailing behind her. She stopped dead in her tracks at the gory sight before her. I watched as her eyes widened, her breath quickening. They way she began to take slow steps backwards.

‘Please, no! Please, don’t you dare do this, Leo,’ I growled, knowing certainly that nothing was going to help him now. At least, nothing I knew of.

Leo was too far gone. And as I watched on helplessly with nothing to do, Leo raced towards her. Fangs bared, raging and growling.