The Lycan King's Treasured Luna | Night Vow Books

CHAPTER ONE

Prologue I

NARINE'S POV

NARINE'S POV

The first thing life taught me was this, it owed me nothing, and it never would.

You don’t realize how quietly a heart can break until you’re standing inside your own silence, wishing for someone, anyone to hear you. But in my world, the only thing that listened back was the echo of everything I'd lost before I even had the chance to hold it.

I’ve always felt like I never belonged, not in this pack, and definitely not in the family I was placed with.

The day I took my first breath, my mother took her last. My father, unable to survive the vacuum her death left behind, followed her soon after leaving me orphaned before I could even form a memory or so I was told. I know them only through a few faded photographs, and not once have I ever felt their absence as love lost.

Alpha Joe, our pack leader, handed me off like an unwanted gift to Ama and Vargos. For a while, a sweet cruel while, they treated me like their own. Until I was seven and Ama’s belly began to swell with new life.

Then the world shifted. Suddenly, the arms that once cradled me grew cold. The eyes that once sought me out in a crowd turned past me like I was nothing more than air.

They were so obsessed with their new baby, they forgot I needed food, warmth, and love too. I learned to fend for myself, scrounging leftovers from the fridge, and burning my small hands trying to cook meals that tasted as bad as it looked.

When the baby came, they stripped my room bare to make way for his nursery and dumped my things into the storage room like I was no more important than old Christmas decorations.

The storage room had no windows. The summers baked me alive, and the winters froze me to the bone. I slept on a pile of my own clothes because they never bothered to give me a blanket.

At first, I hated Levon for stealing them away. But with time, the hatred rotted into something sadder. You can't lose what was never really yours. And as he grew, I became less of a sister and daughter and more of a servant.

And now...

Today was my eighteenth birthday.

Normally, birthdays meant nothing to me. But today was different. Tonight, under the moonlight, my dormant wolf gene would awaken, and I’ll finally be a full-fledged werewolf.

Even better, once I shifted, I could leave Ama's house, move into the packhouse, find work in the neighboring human town, and start saving enough to finally leave Khragnir and see the world.

A small, secret smile tugged at my lips. I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life.

“Narine!” Ama’s shrill voice sliced through the storage room walls. “It’s five in the damn morning! Get your useless self moving!”

I closed my eyes and breathed deep. Hold it in, Narine. Just a few more hours.

I rose stiffly from my pile of clothes and made my outside. There she was, leaning over the railing like a queen surveying her dirty little peasant.

“I’m sorry, Mother,” I whispered. It didn't matter if I was wrong or right. Apology was the only language she spoke.

Ama sneered. “Sorry? You should be. Living off our kindness all these years. The least you could do is pick up more slack. It’s the weekend.”

More slack? What more could I possibly do that wasn’t already dumped on my shoulders?

I swallowed the bitter rage clawing up my throat.

“I’m sorry, Mother. I’ll start on the chores right away.”

Nothing I did would ever be enough. To Ama, I was a burden.

I clenched my fists until my knuckles shook. Deep breaths, Narine. Just a few more hours.

“Get lost.” Ama dismissed, stalking down the staircase like a peacock, with her ginger hair bouncing with every movement. Ama was a pretty woman no doubt with her heart shaped face and striking blue eyes, it was so sad her beauty was tainted by her rotten character.

As soon as she cleared the stairs, I hurried past. Levon’s room was down the hall. I knocked lightly, knowing better than to wake him too harshly. If he threw a tantrum, Ama and Vargos would make sure I paid for it.

After a pause, the door swung open. Levon stood there with his ginger hair sticking up in wild tufts.

“It’s too fucking early, What do you want?” he growled.

“I’m sorry, Levon. I’m here to get your laundry.”

He groaned and disappeared into the room. He reappeared, shoving two overflowing baskets into my arms, and he slammed the door in my face. I gritted my teeth. It had only been six days since I last did his laundry, and somehow he’d managed to dirty a month's worth of clothes.

I let out a puff of air, blowing my bangs away from my face, and turned to leave. I heard the door open again, and I felt something thick hit me right at the back of my head, and an unsolicited grunt left me. The door shut again.

I grabbed the duvet he threw from the floor and lugged the baskets down the stairs. Ama was now conveniently sipping her daily dose of morning coffee while reading one of her highly priced fashion magazine in the living room.

“The washing machine’s broken.”

I froze. “What?”

“It broke yesterday,” she murmured breezily. “Peter from the packhouse can fix it... later. In the meantime, take the laundry down to the river bend and wash it by hand.”

I stared at her, numb. She was serious. Of course, she was. Ama didn’t joke. Not when it came to making my life a living hell. I said nothing, biting the inside of my cheek hard enough to taste blood. Without a word, I dumped the baskets by the stairwell and stalked to the laundry room for soap.

“Oh, and grab your father’s and my laundry too,” she added smugly. I curse inwardly and made my way back to the kitchen to grab two large trash bags that could fit the piles of clothes.

As I turned, I somehow managed to trip on myself, I quickly grabbed the edge of the wooden counter to break my fall. I sighed in relief, but that was short-lived as I heard a crash near me. I looked over and realized I had accidentally pushed a plate on the counter.

"It better not be what I think it is," I heard Ama’s voice right above my head.

When did she even get there?

Ama came round the counter and gasped. I quickly pulled myself up, before I could stand fully, her palm collided with my face, knocking me backwards into the fridge. I felt pain bloom on my cheeks, and my head ricocheted off the fridge so hard I saw stars for a moment.

Tears spilled from my eyes from the shock and pain.

"You stupid little bitch!" she screamed. "That was a vintage plate!"

"I’m sorry," I whispered.

"That’s all you ever say. Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry doesn’t fix your stupidity! Useless girl! You’re nothing but a migraine!”

I stayed silent, letting the insults rain down until she finally stormed off. I wiped my tears with shaky hands, gathered the broken pieces, and cleaned up the mess.

Then, without another word, I heaved the heavy bags onto my back and stumbled outside, down the long path toward the riverbend, less chance of anyone seeing me like this.

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CHAPTER TWO

Prologue II

The tears didn't stop until I had nothing left to cry. I didn't even realize I'd reached the riverbend until the clearing opened before me. Without wasting time, I knelt and began sorting the clothes into piles.

I didn't own much, just a few worn pieces handed down by random packhouse members. I couldn't afford to let them pile up. Every day, I had to wash them.

Our pack was small, just about two hundred members. I knew that because every year, Alpha Joe oversaw a census himself. We weren't the only supernaturals, though.

At the top of the pyramid were the Lycans, monsters of monsters, descended from seven ancient bloodlines. Each ruled a different kingdom in the seven realms, and our kingdom, Khragnir's supreme alpha, was Sargis, fair and just but ruthless and unforgiving. So, I've heard. He lived in the palace and unimportant people like me weren't privileged to meet him.

Werewolves, on the other hand, were a hybrid mistake. According to legend, a Lycan king fell in love with a human woman named Liyonerida. She was the first of her kind to ever capture a Lycan's heart, and also the first forbidden love of its kind.

Against all advice and rejection, they conceived a child. Unfortunately, being human, she couldn't carry a supernatural baby to term. It was the Great Witch Aeryna who intervened, inducing labor to save the baby although Liyonerida died mere days later and the Lycan king went into isolation.

Cast out and cursed, the boy grew under Aeryna's care. In a cruel twist of fate, the boy later fell in love with Aeryna, and their descendants birthed the werewolf line, basically a watered down version of Lycans. Aeryna's curse twisted the bloodline so that the gene remained dormant during childhood, only mutating fully once maturity hit. Aside from Lycans and werewolves, there were other creatures, too but none mattered to me right now.

I scrubbed the clothes harder, as anger boiled in my chest. Flashbacks lashed through me.

Maltreatment. Verbal abuse. Insults. Physical blows. I felt my veins throb violently and a sharp, splitting pain ignited across my forehead like a migraine. It was so intense I thought I'd black out. Then, just as suddenly, it stopped.

By the time I made it back to the house, the sun was retreating behind the horizon.

I heard voices inside and the unmistakable voice of Alpha Joe. Confused, I pushed open the door. Every head at the dining table turned toward me.

"Alpha," I mumbled.

"I've been waiting for you all afternoon, Narine," he said.

"I'm sorry, Alpha. I was doing laundry at the river bend."

"Laundry?" he echoed, puzzled.

"Oh, Joe," Ama intruded sweetly. "Narine's such a clean freak. She complains the washing machine doesn't get things properly clean."

Joe nodded in understanding.

"Anyways," he continued, "I'm here because it's your birthday. It's custom for the Alpha to bless you and pray that Aeryna's spirit sees you through your transformation from man to beast."

I blinked, stunned. The Alpha remembered my birthday. My parents hadn't.

"Thank you, Alpha," I whispered.

"Come, sit. You must be starving." Ama beckoned.

I hesitated, startled by Ama's sudden show of kindness. But I dropped the bags by the door and took the empty seat beside Levon. I couldn't even remember the last time I'd sat here.

There was toast, chicken, prawns, pancakes, pasta, and fruits. I took a single spoonful of pasta.

"Oh, come now, sweetheart," Ama drawled in a cloying voice. "Don't be shy. Joe doesn't mind a little gluttony."

Joe laughed, and I forced a tight smile, doing my best not to react to the thinly-veiled insult. Less than eight hours left, I reminded myself. I could endure that much longer. And then I would shove my fingers right up her smug face.

"Have you always had that mark on your forehead?" Joe asked suddenly.

I touched my forehead, confused.

"What mark?" I asked.

" There's a small red mark there."

"Oh, it must have been from when I bumped into a tree on my way back,"

Joe nodded, accepting it.

The conversation shifted. Vargos and Joe discussed pack matters. Levon played on his phone and Ama chirped in now and then. Dinner ended quietly. I cleared the plates and did the dishes.

I looked out the window. The sky was parting, revealing a full moon, stained deep red.

All of a sudden Heat exploded under my skin. I doubled over, gasping.

"It has begun," Joe mumbled.

"Go to the courtyard," Vargos instructed. His voice was cold and detached like he was issuing orders to a stranger. "Take off your clothes and remember to breathe through the pain."

He had never directly mistreated me, but he had also never stopped it. His indifference made him just as guilty.

Still, I obeyed.

I stumbled outside, while the others trailed behind me. I didn't even make it to the center before the first scream tore from my throat. The air howled with the rising wind. Storm clouds gathered, and lightning flashed across the sky. My own screams were swallowed by the roar of the storm as agony tore through me.

Then, rain pounded down. My bones snapped and elongated, painfully slow. I could feel my spine twisting in odd angles. The pain was so agonizing, all I could do was lay there as tears slipped from my eyes, powerless against the pain. After what felt like an eternity of screaming, the pain finally faded and I laid there panting.

I staggered up on unfamiliar legs, I watched in awe as my golden fur shimmered under the rain, with champagne hues dancing across the sleek coat. The tip of the fur blazed with burnished red that contrasted the golden undertone.

Everything was sharper now. I could smell, see, hear, and feel more than I ever had.

Far-off noises. Every leaf and every drop of water. I could see it all. I howled wildly to the red moon. Then I turned back toward the others, brimming with happiness.

Instead, they were frozen, staring at me like I'd grown two heads.

"Monster," Ama whispered.

Levon's mouth hung open. Joe and Vargos edged forward carefully, as if approaching a wild animal.

I tried to step forward, and they all jerked back.

"What abnormality is this?" Vargos muttered.

"Aeryna has forsaken you, child," Joe whispered.

Panic flooded me. What was wrong? Why were they looking at me like that?

I turned and caught sight of myself in a puddle.

My blood ran cold.

I was huge, towering over even Vargos's six-foot frame. But that's not what startled me. On my forehead, a third eye sat. Its socket was black as void, and the iris glowed molten gold, while my main eyes burned red.

I barely had time to register it before darkness swallowed me whole.