Chapter 6
Lucian's POV
I burst through the palace gates with the unconscious girl cradled against my chest. The full moon still hung high, bathing everything in cold silver light. My bare feet slapped against the stone courtyard. Blood from the rogues still coated my skin and matted my hair.
The two guards at the entrance froze mid-step. Their spears clattered to the ground.
"My King?" one stammered, eyes wide.
His face held the questions his mouth didn't dare to ask. "On a full moon night... you are... human?" I imagined he wanted to ask.
The second guard took one look at the broken chains still dangling from my wrists and backed away until he hit the wall. "The beast... it should have taken you by now. How-"
"Silence," I growled. My voice still carried the beast's rasp. "Send for the royal physician. Now. Tell him it is urgent."
They exchanged a terrified glance but bowed at once. "Yes, my King!"
One sprinted toward the healer's tower while the other shouted orders to the night watch. Servants who had gathered at the commotion scattered like startled deer, whispering frantically.
"He shifted back... on the full moon..."
"Impossible..."
"Whose blood is that?"
I did not wait for explanations. I strode straight through the main hall and up the grand staircase, ignoring every shocked stare. I kicked open the doors to my private chambers and laid her gently on the massive bed. The dark silk sheets swallowed her small frame. Her dress was torn and bloodied, her leg still oozing from the rogue bite.
I stood over her, fists clenched at my sides.
She was incredibly beautiful. Long dark waves of hair spilled across the pillow. Storm-gray eyes closed in unconsciousness. Lips slightly parted. Her scent wrapped around me again, stronger now that we were alone. Moonflowers and wild honey. Sweet. Clean. Intoxicating in a way no she-wolf's scent had ever been.
Wolfless. I could sense nothing. No wolf. No trace of black magic. No power at all. Just... human. A fragile human girl who had somehow snapped my chains and dragged the beast back into its cage on the strongest night of the month.
I would not accept this mate bond. Not yet. Not ever if I could help it. A king did not chain himself to weakness. She would recuperate here under my protection, nothing more. Once she woke I would decide her fate. Send her away. Keep her as a curiosity. Whatever kept the beast calm without forcing me to claim her.
A soft knock sounded at the door.
"Enter," I called.
The royal physician hurried in, an old Lycan with silver-streaked hair and sharp eyes. He froze for half a second when he saw me standing naked and unmarked by the full moon, then dropped into a deep bow.
"My King... the guards said it was urgent. What-"
He stopped mid-sentence as his gaze landed on the girl in my bed. His nostrils flared. He stepped closer, already pulling herbs and bandages from his satchel.
"She was attacked by rogues," I said flatly. "Her leg is the worst. Treat her. And be quick."
The physician knelt beside the bed and began examining the wound. His hands moved with practiced care, cleaning the bite and applying a thick paste. For several long moments the only sound was the crackle of the fire.
Then he paused. His fingers hovered over a small droplet of her blood that had fallen onto the white sheet. The droplet was glowing. A faint, soft white light, exactly like the strange glow I had seen around her in the forest when the rogues attacked.
He looked up at me, eyes wide with disbelief.
"My King... her blood. It is reacting to the moonlight. I have never seen anything like this. She is no ordinary human. But I cannot yet tell what she is."
I stared at the glowing droplet. In the forest I had dismissed that brief flash of white light as a trick of the mate bond. A side effect of the pull that had forced me to shift back under the full moon. Now I was not so sure.
The physician continued working in silence, wrapping her leg with clean bandages. I remained standing at the foot of the bed, arms crossed, watching every movement.
Whatever she was, she had already changed something inside me. The beast was quiet for the first time on a full moon night. The chains that had held me for centuries had snapped like dry twigs.
I did not like mysteries.
And this girl was becoming the greatest mystery of my long life.
The physician finished bandaging her leg and stood slowly. He wiped his hands on a cloth and met my gaze.
"She will live," he said. "But her blood... it is still glowing faintly. I will need more time to understand what this means."
Before I could answer, her eyelids fluttered. A soft moan escaped her lips.
She was waking.
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