Rejected, Then Reborn
Chapter 21

Long after Anaya was gone, her words still continued to haunt the human girl.

The Alpha King was betrothed.

Betrothed!

Lacy still couldn’t wrap her head around it all, for it just didn’t make any sense to her— the entire thing made her… angry.

If he already had someone, why in f**k’s name was he keeping her around under the guise of some stupid s*x contract? Some contract that was, especially when they had barely done anything that could be deemed s****l in the first place.

I mean granted, he had already made her aware from the get go that she meant nothing to him, but he already had someone for crying out loud… had someone he had already planed the rest of his entire life with, and it certainly wasn’t her. He could have sent her away since he had doubts about her claims, but like a selfish bastard, like Oliver Twist wanting more, he had decided to have her imprisoned, kept against her will so he could so use her whenever he pleased, without giving her the f*****g acknowledgement she deserved—the very one the Moon Goddess had bestowed upon her… getting the two for the price of one— a powerful she-lyken to hang on his arm and warm his bed, and then a weak human slave to satisfy his every whim and desire.

She’d be damned if she spent another day over here living like this, for she had finally had enough.

Truly, she had.

She was going to escape, and she was going to do it tonight. She didn’t even care about the f*****g consequences that would come her way were she to be caught.

Now, she just had to bid her time.

Lacy had nothing planned, but the arrival of her evening meal quickly snapped a strategy into place. She wolfed down as much of the meal as she could even though her tummy desperately wanted to reject it, because if her plan was successful, who knew how long it was going to take before her next meal came? When Lacy was done with her meal, she went into the closet, grabbed a pair of dark sweatpants with a matching sweatshirt and quickly donned them, tying her jet-black curls in a messy bun. Then she flung her arm across the coffee table violently, the force sending the ceramic bowls her meals had come in clattering to the ground, shattering into a million pieces and then some… and then she sprawled across the ground haphazardly, letting out a low, painful g***n that seriously deserved an Oscar for being so fear inducing.

But there was no response to all that excellent acting.

Lacy tried again, and then this time she heard it clearly,

A knock.

“Are you okay in there, human?”

“H—HELPPPP… S—SOMEBODY P—PLEASE,” She wheezed drily, trying to crawl to the door. The door burst open in that moment, concerned looks on the faces of the two guards that were seconds ago stationed outside her room as they rushed to her side. “I—I can’t br—eaathhhe,” She explained, trying to check if there were any more guards hovering outside the room. There were none.

With that part confirmed, Lacy shot up so fast, completely taking them by surprise. She was no fighter, and had it been one man, she could have had some luck and taken him on, but they were two, and so she did the only thing any other reasonable person would have…

SHE RAN!

Locking them in the room she had been in seconds ago for extra measure and some more time. Genius, right? As Lacy silently ran through the well-lit hallways, she faintly wondered why she had never tried to escape before, wondered why it had taken finding out that the Alpha King was betrothed to snap her back to her senses, but Lacy was not the kind of girl to cry over spilt milk… naah. She was the type to grab her bucket and head back to the wild cow, fully determined to replace what she had lost once more… and so she wasn’t going to cry?

She was just going to escape.

Lacy did not know that she’d be this grateful for their late afternoon walks as she sucessfully made it outdoors, the chilly night wind biting her skin, for she knew the huge castle grounds to an extent now, and thanks to them, she actually knew which areas had the most protection, and the areas which did not have that much. Her outfit turned out to be an excellent choice to an extent, for she fully blended with the shadows.

But why wasn’t she being followed or something?

This was going so easily that she couldn’t help but be slightly paranoid.

Nevertheless, Lacy continued on, tiptoeing, and then running, and then peeping, and then standing as still as she could be. She knew that the Lykens could smell her if she was not careful, and so the cunning human did her best to stay as far away from any guard she met so they didn’t catch her scent, and for a while, it seemed to work, but Lacy suddenly heard a loud howl, one that was quickly responded by a chorus of the same terrifying sound, and just like that, her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach in fear.

He was coming!

The big bad wolf was coming for her. No one told Lacy to take to her heels, for in that moment, all that flashed in her mind was the beast’s b***d crazed red eyes as it chased her through the woods that first time. It was very much apparent that she was going to relive that memory any moment from now. Lacy spotted it just when she was about losing hope and breath. A ginormous silver gate.

This was it!

The gate that was going to take her out into the dark woods, and hopefully out into the freedom she so desperately sought. There were no guards at the post, but in that moment Lacy was not going to question the streak of luck that suddenly seemed to be on her side by wondering why, and so she instead decided to focus on coming up with a strategy to scale the huge entrance. The floor to top bars were certainly too thin to pass through, but if she gripped tightly enough, the human girl was sure she could successfully climb over them instead. And so with that all carefully laid out, Lacy approached the gates and began to climb. Genuinely speaking, her arms protested at every turn, but Lacy was determined to see her plan through, and so nothing was going to stop her.

Not even the familiar intoxicating scent nor the low growl she heard.

“You can’t escape me human,” The beast roared as it quickened its steps, trying to close the distance between them. By then, Lacy had one leg over the other side and she was trying her best to get the other one over too so she could begin her descent, but a quick glance at the Lyken King confirmed her worst fears.

He was going to catch her.

Just one swipe at her with his powerful paws and she was going to fall to the ground, probably hurting herself and who knew what else?

Jump Lacy.

Lacy heard that almost familiar sultry voice once again. The Moon Goddess!

She was back!

After ignoring her for the past arduous weeks, the deity was finally back to right all the wrongs. Lacy did not have to be told twice, she jumped down, her leg snapping painfully after she had landed, but the human girl was so charged up on adrenaline that she barely noticed. Why she had thought the Moon Goddess would cushion her fall, she had no idea, but by now, it was becoming quite obvious that the Supernatural being certainly did not have her interests at heart. A triumphant grin lit up her face though as she stared at the beast behind the gate, her chest heaving at the strenuous workout. For the first time since Lacy met Ace, she found that she had no fear of the animal. “You poor little beast,” She cooed teasingly, a proud smirk on her face, “Seriously speaking, I have no idea why I never tried this a long time ago… but who knows, perhaps I was just bidding my time,”

The beast c****d its head to the side, something close to amusement shining in its fiery eyes. “You have spunk, I’ll give you that, you stupid human… but unfortunately that spunk is what is going to kill you tonight.”

“You’re going to have to get through the gates first to kill me, you beast… but oh wait,” She clapped dramatically, “That is not going to be possible because it’s made out of silver, and you my dear, are Lyken. Good luck getting through.” She turned to leave, but a sound so terrifying reached her ears, stopping her right in her tracks. Lacy stood there, fixated, watching in horror as the five-foot-tall animal rose on its hind legs, bones cracking as it howled and whined and roared, and then the transformation was complete. The beast was now like a hybrid of sorts, half man, half beast… and gods when it spoke, it was entirely clear that his other half had joined him as well, “You. Keep. Forgetting. That. We. Are. Lyken. Not. Werewolf” The beast started to walk towards her, taking slow, tentative steps, such that its huge body could allow.

Danger was coming.

This time Lacy saw it, and so she began to run for her dear life, her subconscious cursing her out for wasting valuable time being the stupid i***t who had not only disobeyed, but had practically taunted her captor as well. And then she had forgotten on top of it all that Lykens were similar to werewolves, but were not werewolves. She had forgotten that there was a probability that they could be immune to silver as a result of that difference.

As a matter of fact, now that Lacy was thinking critically, she realised that it made no sense for them to secure their borders with the metal if they were allergic to it.

Gods wasn’t she stupid.

Her leg hurt like hell, but Lacy continued to hurry on, though it was a practically useless feat anyway, because for every step she took, the humanoid took five more, rapidly closing the distance between her. Soon enough, she was in its grasps, hovering in the air, screaming and thrashing and yelling to be released, but the beast paid her no mind, turning back instead and walking just as steadily as before, ignoring the impressive number of guards now stationed outside the castle, watching their drama unfold.

Lacy watched as they went through the huge front doors of the impressive castle and climbed up the grandiose staircase. Each ascent felt like torture, one that jolted her to her core, and made her leg pain worse, but aside the very controlled whimpers, the human girl made no other sound. They got to the crossroads of the staircase, and instead of turning right to her room, the beast took a left turn… a wrong turn.

And that was when Lacy began to panic.

“Please, spare my life, don’t kill me. I have been very foolish,” She lamented sorrowfully. At that point, she was not above groveling for with the feral way the hybrid panted, its breath hot and delicious and yet immensely frightening above her, Lacy could practically taste death. And it was not going to be an easy one.

Lacy released a deep breath when she was dropped to the ground and she took a look at her surroundings.

She was in his room.

“Welcome. Human.” The creature grinned horrendously, tossing her roughly on a huge king-sized master bed with comfortable dark covers. “Best. Start. Making. Yourself. At. Home. For. From. Now. Onwards. This. Is. Where. You. Will. Stay.”