The Lycan King's Muse

Ep 4: 365 Days

Fire.

All I could think of is how his lips are melting my mind instantly. My legs give up and if it isn’t for his strong body, I would have crumbled to the floor. Perhaps even become a wet puddle of water because of the way he burns me.

He lets go of my hand and grabs the hair on my head, pinning my face closer to his. His breaths mingle with mine. Our scents entangled with each other, creating an addicting smell that sends shivers down to my core.

My wolf howls in excitement at his touch.

Then I realize something.

Feeling horrible, I try my best to push him away. My wolf whimpers because the kiss ends abruptly. But my conscience would just not let me continue this act.

At first, he keeps me in his embrace, still wanting to claim my lips. With my growing restraint, however, he finally lets me go, though not completely. Looking down at me, his brows are furrowed in confusion.

Thank the Goddess he doesn’t try to for.ce me. In fact, he looks… worried.

“Did I do something wrong?”

I blink.

Never in a million years would I expect a lycan king to ask me that.

“Y–yeaah,” I find my voice, “You… you’re fifteen!”

He looks at me with a blank face, before a second later, bursting into a fit of laughter. He laughs so much that he needs to hold his stomach. The sound of his laughter echoes in the room.

I am surprised that the lycan king I have heard to be cold and brutal can laugh so freely like this. He doesn’t look like a ruthless ruler. He just looks like… a boy. Well, a very manly boy...

“I’m not fifteen,” he says, “I’m around your age.”

Crossing my arms as I realize he was teasing me with his age, I co.cked my eyebrow. “Really?”

“Really.”

“How old are you, then?”

He assumes the same position as me, crossing his arms and co.cking his eyebrow up. “How old do you think I am?”

I stare at him, unamused. Is this a trick? Is this a test? Why do I feel like this lycan king is poking fun at me?

Before I can try to guess, however, someone approaches us from the direction where I was running from. “Your Majesty!” a man cries out while running, “The girl! She’s escapeeee……” The man stops when he sees me. At the same time, Lyall clears his throat and composes himself. His face becomes cold in just a blink of an eye, an impenetrable wall. There is no trace of that laughter on his face. What a transformation!

“Oh, there she is! You caught her!” the man claps like a child. This man looks older, with greying hair and hunched back. There are aging spots on his temples. “And was I being delusional or did I hear you laughing, Your Majesty?” The man looks up at the lycan king with so much hope, which is weird.

“There’s no way I’m letting her go, Albus,” Lyall says in a deep tone. The promise he has in his words makes my spine shiver yet again. Perhaps it’s the mate bond, or perhaps it’s just him. But if this goes on… I think I would be paralyzed.

“And you were being delusional,” unlike how he spoke to me, this king speaks to his subject with an icy tone. “You know I don’t laugh.”

I scoff at his words, making the two men look at me. “Everyone laughs,” I say. But the two of them look at me like I am the one who is wrong.

“I don’t,” Lyall says again.

I look at Albus, thinking he would back me up on this topic. No one can live without laughing. Humor is a natural instinct! Yet Albus trusts the king almost immediately. “Oh, that’s a shame,” Albus murmurs, “It would be nice to hear you laugh. It’s been years, Your Majesty.”

Wait… what? My brain churns like an old computer trying to decipher a new program. What does he mean by ‘decades’? Has the lycan king gone years without laughing at all? How is that possible?

“Are you guys pranking me?” I blurt out the question just like that.

Albus looks at me with pity. But Lyall? I swear I see his lips tugging upward for a sliver of a second before he assumes that cold face of his.

“King Lyall has been cursed, Lady,” Albus says, “A terrible terrible curse.”

I look at Lyall. His green eyes twinkle with amusement.

‘Play along,’ Lyall mind-links to me.

‘Are we pranking Albus, then?’

Lyall laughs but immediately disguises it as a cough. Albus didn’t catch his laughter like I did. What game are we playing, for Goddess’ sake?

“Is the council ready?” Lyall asks Albus in a serious voice.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Albus then looks at me, “Will you bring the lady to the meeting too?”

“Yes.”

“How about her… assessment?” Albus asks, “The healer is still here.”

My palms sweat as soon as I hear the word. My heart beats like a drum. I keep telling myself to appear calm but it is hard to press down this much panic. I look at the door again. It is only a few feet away from me. But the lycan king is in front of me and I know I won’t be able to outrun him.  

“I think she looks fine,” the king says to my relief, “The healer can go home. But if anything happens, tell him to be on standby. Although I’m sure my mate can take care of herself. She is a healer too.”

Albus’s eyes go wide at Lyall’s words. “Are… you really taking her as your official mate?” Albus asks, “What abou–“

Lyall suddenly snarls aggressively at Albus, which shocks both of us. His stance is still relaxed, but his green eyes stare predatorily at Albus. It is not an angry response, which is commonly why someone would snarl. Instead, it looks more like a cold yet chilling threat. All the while, his face remains stoic.

This is the lycan king I have heard of. Cold and impenetrable.

As the subject, Albus immediately looks down and bows his head slightly. A submissive position.

Inside me, however, my wolf howls with excitement. My wolf is praising our mate’s authority.

“I told you not to talk about that,” Lyall hisses. He then grabs my arm again and starts dragging me in the direction I was running from. “We’re going to the council meeting. You don’t have to come, Albus.”

“But Your Majes–“

“Albus.” Just one word, spoken in an icy tone, has set the old man to tremble. Unconsciously, I tug my arm away from the lycan king’s grip, but he wouldn’t let go of me.

We then leave the old man in the same spot as Lyall leads me to another hallway. During our walk, I ask him, “Why were you so hard on him? He looks genuinely concerned about you.”

Instead of an answer, what I get is a push to the pillar behind me. Lyall traps me with his body. Looking up, I no longer see that boy that was laughing. It’s like he has a different person inside of him.

“No one is really concerned about me,” he whispers. “Not even you, mate.”

I blink at his words. It sounds sad and lonely. But I can’t say he is wrong about me… a few minutes ago, I was trying to run away. I won’t apologize for that. Mate or not, this guy is a stranger. He doesn’t have any right to keep me here. I also don’t care if his status as a king. I am not his subject and will make my own decision for my life.

“But I’m willing to bet on you,” he continues, “The council will pressure me to send you back to your pack. To your Alpha. Because female werewolves are precious and keeping you here can be a reason for war. If I let you go, your alpha will hunt you. Or another werewolf pack will take you by for.ce because you’re a female. If I let you stay, you’ll be protected within our walls.”

I gulp hard. My hands feel clammy.

“I will give you 365 days to make me feel. Make me fall in love with you.”

My mind is blank. I can only blink at his words. “What?”

“Make me feel something every time I see you. Move my emotions. Make me fall in love with you in a year, during the next blue moon,” he says in a deep tone.

His words sound gibberish. It sounds absurd! A part of me thinks he is pranking me. But he says it so seriously that it is so hard to not believe him.

“The moment I feel nothing about you, I will return you to your pack. But if you can make me fall in love with you, I will fight the werewolves to let you stay.” His eyes look so serious. Between his words, is a threat to me.

This is serious! He is really asking me to make him fall in love with me!

This is madness! Me? Chasing the lycan king’s love?

But then he says in a softer tone, “You can have a life here in my kingdom. Safe from the other werewolves. You don’t need to think about preserving the werewolf bloodline. You can just be a healer or whatever you want and live life normally.”

My eyes can only stare at him. That is exactly what I want. How nice it would be to be able to just… live. To breathe normally without those extra burdens others put on your shoulders just because I am a female werewolf. On some packs, the females aren’t even given a choice. It is not fair.

I wonder what life would be like without those invisible chains. And then I remember that Ed calls our baby with ‘she.’

It dawns on me how badly I want to ensure a better life for my daughter. I want her to live life freely, to the fullest of her ability. I want her to be happy, without worrying, without fear. Without the constraints that our pack has put on females.

When I find my voice again, my lips tremble wildly, “W–wh–why?” I want to ask why he needs me to make him fall in love with me.

He leans to whisper to my ear, “You’ll see. I suggest you keep your mouth shut during the council meeting.”

Not waiting for my answer, he whisks me into the room at the end of the hall. Our presence brings a dead silence to the room full of men and women. All of them look at me, the werewolf girl, with so much judgment.

I gulp.