Rejected, Then Reborn
Chapter 8

Lacy fell to the ground, scrambling backwards quickly and in fear, for when the Alpha King’s head shifted back to her, gone were his striking blue eyes. In its wake, were horrifying red ones. “Foolish girl!” A growl… this was most certainly not the man she had been talking to just seconds before. It was pretty obvious that his beast had taken over completely. “No one strikes us and lives to see the light of day, human… no one!” Possessed Reed moved closer to her, closing the distance between them even as Lacy continued to inch backwards. As if the scary eyes and voice were not enough, the beast began to complete the process of its transformation. “Please,” Lacy begged, tears streaming down her face, this was supposed to be her mate for crying out loud, but the Lyken Wolf hated her even more than its human half, and Lacy found that extremely unsettling and frightening, for way before she had stumbled upon the Werewolf, and now Lyken world, she used to read, and in the fantasy story books she used to read, it was always the human who tried to fight the mate bond… it was never the wolf?

And that was why Lacy was very much convinced that she was going to die.

In the illuminance of the room’s light, the creature looked even more terrifying than Lacy remembered. Standing at five feet long and weighing about two hundred pounds with jet black fur, and teeth sharpened to kill, Lacy just knew that her end had come. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath through her tears, even as the beast charged towards her, but another large growl had her opening her eyes in confusion.

“Ace, no!” A grey Lyken wolf charged at the Alpha King, taking advantage of the element of surprise to push the huge beast away from her. They charged at each other, the Alpha King getting a few hits in before the grey wolf managed to stand before her, shielding her from her supposed mate. “I can’t let you do this,” It said.

“Out of my way, Damien,” The dark Lyken wolf growled, “Let me finish what I should have done all along,”

“I can’t let you do that my King, she’s just an innocent woman, she has done nothing wrong,” The grey wolf’s stance was submissive, making Lacy briefly wonder who he was and how the Alpha Lyken hadn’t still attacked him yet.

“SHE SLAPPED REED!” The dark beast roared, startling Lacy, causing her to burst out loud in disgraceful sobs, even as the beast heaved deeply, struggling to control its rage.

All of a sudden, the animal felt guilty.

Ace didn’t know why, but despite his hatred for the human, he found that he did not like that she was crying. Her sobs were making this weird pit appear in his stomach, almost making him wish that he didn’t have to punish her… but she needed to be thought a lesson, even if death was no longer an option. “Very well, have her sent to the dungeons then,”

“Yes, my King.” The grey Lyken bowed as the Alpha took its sweet time walking out of the huge room, every step emanating grace and power. And then he was gone.

“WHAT THE f**k WERE YOU THINKING? WHY WOULD YOU f*****g DO THAT?” A human voice hissed at her, Lacy saw the grey Lyken wolf begin to shift back into human form, taking the shape of a bald, muscular, built man who was very much naked. She quickly averted her eyes, dashing to her huge bed for some sheets and covering the man. It was then she noticed the b***d, “Oh, my God, you’re bleeding,” She bent down, forgetting about his nude state for a hot minute. “Wh—what are you doing?” The man asked as she tried to observe his wounds, “Easy, easy… I’m a certified nurse, let me have a look at your wounds,” Lacy took a look, wincing at the deep gashes. He was really hurt. Standing up, she dashed to washroom for the first aid kit and some towels to use as compress, muttering something about being back soon. When she did manage to gather everything she’d need to take care of him and return, she got the shock of her life…

All his wounds had disappeared.

“We can heal very fast,”

“I know that… I’ve just never seen a recovery this fast and your wounds were almost fatal.”

“Ah, I forgot that you’ve lived with werewolves before. We heal faster than them.” The bald man explained, standing up to his feet, making sure that the cloth covered him up real well so he wouldn’t flash her a second time, “I’m Xavier Mendoza.” He introduced himself, “You mentioned you were a nurse? Well, I’m a doctor and chief healer for the clan…”

“The clan?”

“That’s what we call ourselves… kinda like how werewolves are a pack,” He explained when he noticed her confusion. “Anyway, let’s see if I can talk to His Eminence so you can volunteer at my clinic from time to time.”

Lacy wanted to scoff, wanted to tell the kind man who had just saved her the ‘beautiful plans’ his Alpha had in mind for her, but something held her back… instead she said, “I would be very happy if you could do that.”

The dashing man smiled warmly at her, the smile vanishing when he remembered what he had to do, “I’m sorry it has to come to this, but I’ve got to take you to the dungeons.”

“I can escape this very moment instead… run outside and hide until I find my way back into human territory, and you’d not be able to do a single thing about it, how about that?” Lacy challenged openly, crossing her arms, “You just got healed from a near fatal wound, and I’m willing to bet that it’ll take a while to get you to a hundred percent,”

“You want to put that to the test, human?” The doctor smirked. He could already understand why the girl was infuriating his best friend like so, and while it was nice and refreshing to see the proud Alpha being tested and challenged like that, if she went too far, she could actually lose her life one of these days. He needed to get her to see that. “I’ve already told you we’re nothing like your werewolf family… I would catch you, and I would not interfere this time when I drag you over to his Eminence and inform him that you tried to escape. Does that sound like a risk you could take?” He sighed in contentment when she visibly shivered at the threat.

Lacy gently shook her head in acceptance, not wanting to put the good doctor in any more trouble than he already was in. She allowed him to drag her away, already missing the large cozy room. f**k if she hadn’t snapped like that, she would have been wrapped up in those soft sheets. But on second thought, it wasn’t her fault? It was all his! He was the one who burst into her room spewing nonsense…

“Can I give you some advice? Lacy, right?”

She looked up at the bald man, “Yeah, and yes you can.”

“Good. I know the King can be a handful sometimes, his demands a bit too arduous… but if you want to make it out of here and back to your human family like you want, fighting back isn’t going to get you there. Whatever he asks of you, just do it, no questions asked… just do as he says, and you’d be out of here sooner than you think.”

The two walked in total silence, each lost in their own thoughts. They passed the now familiar corridors, into the grand hallway, and took some stairs down to what Lacy was assuming was the basement. They passed one guard at the entrance of the dungeons, and he nodded briskly and opened the heavy metallic door to let them in. The bald man then took her to her cell… the very one she had spent the night before in. The human girl couldn’t help it, she began to shiver, shaking uncontrollably as thoughts of what had almost happened in there filled her memory. She had been so fixated on escaping for so long that her mind had closed a tight lid on that one for a hot second, but she found that all it took to bring it all back was her standing in front of the damned spot where it had all happened. Her throat was closing in on her, and she wanted to bawl her heart out like a baby, but she wasn’t going to break down. Not in front of another Lyken she hadn’t quite figured out yet.

I mean, sure… he had saved her life, and seemed like a nice enough person, but she couldn’t trust him. It had barely been an hour since they became acquainted, and she needed badly to paint the image of a tough woman who could handle herself, so that that way, if he had any plans of taking advantage of her, he’d think again. Harsh, she knew… but one could never be too careful, and for crying out loud, people she thought she knew so well and for so long had stabbed her in the back after all, what was a man who barely knew her?

It was only right that she become paranoid.

So, despite everything she wanted to say, wanted to cry out, Lacy only softly said… “C—can I stay in another cell? Please, I don’t want to be in this one.” She knew that the kind Lyken had sensed her discomfort, and fear… but he wisely didn’t press. He only nodded and took her to another cell far away from the one she had almost been violated in.

“I’ll come and check on you tomorrow,” He promised, taking his leave of her, leaving her all alone in the cold, dark cell.