Page 45 of Destined to the Lycan
“Where is she?” I asked in lieu of a response, unfazed by my nudity. “If you hurt her—”
“Then what?” he interrupted in a provocative fashion. “What will you do? Or rather whatcanyou do against one such as I?”
I glared at him, searching for an appropriate response, but failing miserably. Lycans were naturally immune to many forms of mind control, even more so when benefiting from the protection of a talisman like the one I wore. The ease with which he had engulfed me in that illusion without me ever even realizing the moment I entered it blew my mind.
While the lightning streaks beneath his skin clearly gave him away as a doppelganger, he didn’t resemble any of the ones I had seen or heard of before. They normally had a very pale, grayish or off-white skin complexion. The streaks were also thinner and more discreet. From a distance, they could be mistaken for old scars. His skin was a fascinating shade of dusky blue. His streaks were far more prominent and seemed to pulse with an inner light. Unlike others of his species, he didn’t have stormy gray eyes. His were entirely red—sclera included—with vertical pupils like a reptile.
Even from where I stood, I could feel the potent magic swirling around him. He wasn’t a mere doppelganger, but something far more powerful and lethal.
“It’s funny that you should care now about her welfare when you callously abandoned her,” he mused aloud before I could come up with a proper repartee—not that I had one to begin with.
But those words felt like a slap in the face. They stung all the more that I had been berating myself for that very reason.
“I didn’t abandon her,” I snapped. “I was protecting her from a pack of Aegarims. Remaining on the path would keep her safe while I lured them away.”
“Clearly, remaining on the path did not,” he countered tauntingly.
“You shouldn’t have been there!” I spat angrily. “Your kind doesn’t wander in these parts.”
“And yet, here I am,” he replied, spreading his arms wide as he took a few steps towards me, his face hardening. “You had one task, and you utterly failed. What good are you?”
I flinched, the words cutting me deep. It took every ounce of my willpower not to respond to his provocation. He was clearly trying to rile me up, likely to push me into attacking him so that he could kill me. Granted, his kind didn’t need an excuse to take a life, but they loved to play games and fuck with their prey’s heads before feasting on them.
“Where is she?” I repeated in a controlled voice, despite the anger and worry knotting my insides. “I can’t smell her.”
He shrugged. “Not too far.”
“Take me to her,” I demanded.
He raised an eyebrow, the same whitish-blue tinge as his long, wavy hair, in a way that hinted I was being a little too cocky.
“No,” he simply replied.
I tried to dash forward to enter the cabin in search of Amara, but I was completely frozen in place.
“What the fuck?!” I muttered under my breath.
He snorted and shook his head at me. “Seriously?” he asked, as if he was disappointed by my stupidity.
“Who are you? And what are you?” I asked, hating how helpless I felt.
“My name is Lyall, and I’m a doppelganger,” he replied in a factual manner.
I shook my head, the only thing I apparently still had control over.
“You’re way more than that. Doppelgangers do not have the type of abilities you’re currently displaying and are certainly not this powerful. This is another illusion isn’t it?”
He merely smiled but didn’t answer. His species didn’t lie. Any word they spoke was either the truth or what they genuinely believed to be the truth. If they didn’t want to reveal something, they would dance around it or play word games to fuck with you. They particularly liked wording things in a way that would deliberately mislead you if misinterpreted—which was likely to be the case.
“I want to see Amara,” I said at last, annoyed when the silence stretched.
“What you want is irrelevant,” Lyall said with contempt. “You lost all rights the moment you allowed her to be captured.”
“I didn’tallowher to be captured. One such as you never should have been here,” I repeated.
“You’re correct. And I wouldn’t have been had you not allowed the word to spread about your mission. You technically lured me here.”
“What?! Lured you here how?” I asked, flabbergasted. “Amara and I are both poisoned. Sentient predators steer clear of us because eating us would cause them great harm if not flat out kill them. So why come specifically for us?”
