The Wicked Wolf

Two

*twelve hours before being taken*

Breathe.

I suck in air through my nose like it is my last, feeling the rise and fall of my chest as I prepare for the inevitable. My eyes are focused ahead, unblinking and focusing on one thing; I can do this.

It is dark where I am, in some narrow path leading to where I am expected to be in a matter of seconds. I take another deep breath, filling my lungs and chanting my mantra over and over until I believe it.

I can do this.

There was a slight pressure in my chest that I shook off quickly. It’s wrong to be nervous. My father and my siblings would all tell me so if they saw me like this.

A mere minute ago, one of my sisters came to walk with me. She is the prettiest of us, mated and expecting.

“Perfection is what our family is, and it is what you will be too. No matter the cost.“ She tells me, her eyelashes long and fluttering as she spoke. The wind seemed to blow her blonde hair perfectly and her alabaster skin appeared to be glowing from the sunlight that wasn’t there. “No weaknesses. No imperfections. Nothing.”

She is perfect.

She is everything we are.

Our family’s greatest accomplishment.

When it comes to pedigree and lineage, no one, and I mean no one, is close to how obscenely meticulous my family is when it comes to bloodlines and breeding. My father, his father before him, and many more generations of Rhys’ have spent countless years doing their best to make our family perfect.

Our pack might not be the strongest, but we sure are the most sought after.

For before a Rhys marries, we spend every waking second of our lives training, preparing and mastering everything. For years, as early as toddlers, all our time was put into learning to be proficient in battle, in language, in history, in proper etiquette and in our emotions.

We are not permitted to stop until father deems us flawless.

And he can be very particular.

My sister Venus smiles at me, her teeth radiant and the curve of her lips just right. Her eyes glowed gold, drawing everyone in easily. She looked just like me, like all my sisters, but she was always more. Everything about her is flawless and unmatched, like she’s spent years rehearsing to be this— which she has, which we all have. “Our blood comes from the powerful, the true, the perfect. Our name is a badge of honor, and you will bring us the distinction we deserve.”

“Of course.” I answer, trying to be just as flawless as she is. “I understand. I won't fail.”

“You got this, Vasi.” She reaches for my cheek affectionately, careful not to smudge my makeup that she spent hours on before leaving me alone in this darkness. “You know what to do.”

She doesn’t say it out loud, but I know what she really wanted to tell me: This is all for show. Nothing changes.

Except for the fact that my father is all about the show. And everything will change if I don’t do as well as he expects.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I tugged on the sleeves of my exceptionally tight leather shirt, my eyes carefully inspecting every small detail. I brushed my fingers against the small patch on my chest— a diamond stitched with actual diamonds that stated I was a Rhys when I overheard the hushed voices of usual gossips that come to these events.

“He’s here today.” The quiet whispers say, the sound carried by the stale air from above me.

“Who?” Another voice asked. “Who came?”

“The Wicked Wolf.” I could feel the shudder coming off of the one who spoke as if the mere mention of his name was a curse.

They are not far from the truth.

He is a curse.

The terror that comes from the inaudible gasp is immediate and understandable. “Why would he come? He had never come before. Not in the four years he’s been king.”

A clamor of agreement came from above me. “What is there to see, but future Lunas already promised to Alphas? It’s not as if he can take any of them. The Alphas would never allow it.”

A small cackle fills the air. “Maybe he’s here to watch the Rhys girl like we all are? It’s always entertaining when another one of them presents themselves for mating, though this one isn’t as pretty or as smart as the last.”

The blatant comparison between Venus and I does not hurt as much as I expected it to.

After all, it was true.

There was just something about Venus that I could never be.

“No. He’s here for something else. Something wicked.” If possible, the air stills and the place chills like all the world has frozen to hear the next words. “The Wicked Wolf wants to make sure the new Alphas know who he is and what he’s like, what he can do.”

Everyone knows what he’s like.

It isn’t news.

He’s wicked. Worse, he’s cruel. Just like his name.

We had a different king once. Not him. The old King had died mysteriously in his sleep and overnight was replaced by his wickedly demented eldest son who poisoned and k i l l e d the entire royal family, leaving no one but him alive.

“I don’t have to remind you how he slaughtered them all. His own family.” The hushed whispers continued. “The women, the children, leaving nothing but blood and death and the stench of poison.”

My father was one of the few Alphas that saw the aftermath the following day. He came home to us angry and smelling of something so sharp and so sour and so incredibly vile that it made my tongue pull back to my throat.

“That’s the way of the werewolves and of Kings,” Someone argues, but the voice is meek and fearful. “Only the strong can keep it.”

“Not like this.”

And I couldn’t agree more.

“Not by your own flesh and blood, and not by betrayal.”

My family and our whole pack have always been strong supporters of the last King. My father was his most trusted friend and the King was often at our home, treating us like his own children. We still haven’t completely accepted the fact that another has taken the throne, even if it’s already been four years.

Not even if he’s the king’s eldest son.

My father always tells us that the Wicked Wolf is a reckless psychopath, a man that lost his mind. A werewolf that would happily d i e because of his actions. The only thing is… he’s very good at not dying.

The whispers quieted as if whatever they were about to say next was punishable by death if they were heard. “He is quite handsome though, don’t you think?”

Handsome? I blanched, shaking my head, the mere thought of him as anything else, but a wicked man felt traitorous.

I already feel as though I should be beheaded.

“Exceedingly beautiful.” A tinier voice agrees. “And young too. He’s not even thirty.”

Granted, I’ve barely seen him up close. Not since we were children at least. I remember very little of him. Snarky and mean. Growing up, the king’s family kept to themselves in their fortress carved into the mountain. And now, as the new King, the Wicked Wolf is always hidden in a circle of his men, only allowing a few blurred glimpses of him from time to time.

My father would drag me by the hair before I could take a closer look. He has forbidden all of us from ever associating ourselves with him, reminding us that this new King is not like the old one that we loved despite their blood relation.

But I have heard the rumors.

Not much older than I was, the Wicked Wolf’s appearance is said to be so captivating that a mere look at his face is enough to cause most women to swoon and men to turn green with jealously.

“He’s unmated.” It was a fact that power hungry Alphas and their daughters couldn’t seem to forget, happy to turn a blind eye to the blood in the Wicked Wolf’s hands for his title. My own father would be one of them if he wasn’t so angry with the current King. “He is said to be very particular with his women too. He has all the packs under his rule and in four years he still hasn’t found someone to be his Queen.”

That or no one of note wanted to mate with someone like him unless forced.

Because who wants to be mated to a man that k i l l e d his own family for power? He could have simply waited a few years as he was the next in line.

How could anyone sleep in the same bed, let alone the same roof with a man like that?

Another long silence stretched before they spoke again. “He rejected Venus Rhys, and she’s supposed to be the best. The prettiest. The smartest.”

Of course, they’ll mention that.

It is not every day that a Rhys is turned down.

Father didn’t even want Venus to be chosen by him, forced only because every pack must present one candidate to be Queen or concubine. Still, it was a great insult when she was spurned.

“What do you think he’s looking for? What does he want?” They continued, making me think about it as well. “There are beautiful women who throw themselves at him daily and there are countless more fathers begging for his attention towards their priceless daughters. I hear people have offered wealth, body and countless more things, but he has refused each time.”

What is he looking for?

Kings often have a lot of women and even more children.

Yet he has none.

I shake myself out of these thoughts as I hear the clamor of bells, signaling the start of the presentation.

“May we present this year's Lunas,” My name was called along with a few others, echoing through the arena.

I strode forward, ignoring how restricting my tight leather leggings were as I left the darkness behind me and walked to the light at the end of the tunnel. The arena is intimate but wide, a circular stadium with plush seats crawling a few feet high from the ground.

Alphas and Betas and warriors of all shapes and sizes litter the luxurious cushioned seats. Dressed in their pack colors, they watch on as I stop in the middle with the rest of the women that are called.

I feel the weight of a thousand pairs of nitpicking eyes on me, but it’s really only a hundred or so. Maybe less.

Only high ranking wolves were invited to the presentation of Lunas.

I am used to the stares by now. Rhys’ are always stared at. It is a big thing among werewolves whenever a Rhys is to be mated. My father made sure of that. He made us the most desired, a rare trophy for only the richest, the most powerful.

My training comes into play as I put my chin up and gaze at the audience that has come to watch. A large crowd has gathered this year and with the way they’re looking at me, I’m sure they have come to see the latest and last Rhys prepare for marriage.

Hugo Bastian, my betrothed, is in the crowd sitting with his friends. He proudly shows his support, pointing me out to anyone that would listen. His blue eyes were bright as he winked at me, a handsome lopsided smile lazily on his face.

I find my family immediately after him, our signature champagne blonde hair a stark contrast to everyone around them. My brothers have come to support me as well, their pretty mates wrapped around their arms, the only color among the soft blondes. My sisters, prettier than everyone else, smile and wave at me. They glowed like the rare gems that they are. And as such, they are almost never alone, closely accompanied by their Alpha husbands, who sit beside my father and mother.

I fight not to smile back at them.

To show them that I adore them all so very much.

That I’m here because of them and the hard work that they put in for me.

But I keep my expression calm, controlled.

My father doesn’t directly look my way, but I know he’s looking, observing me with keen eyes.

I pull my gaze away from them then, remembering how I was under a microscope at the moment and that I should be at my best, at my most perfect.

Though it wasn’t my plan to find him, it was easy enough to do because the crowd was parted right down the middle where the new King sits. No one dared to be close except for his own people. All of which are tall and monstrous in size. They looked like shadows, waiting to pounce and devour whoever moved too close.

With my view unobstructed like this, I got to see all of him for the first time in four years.

I froze, mid breath.

It can’t be.