Page 13 of Prey of the Lycan Queen
I keep my back to them as I prepare my coffee, the machine’s low hum filling the tense silence. “It was never about the rest of you,” I say, my voice steady despite the turmoil inside me. “It’s always been about justice. For my mother and everyone else your father has hurt.”
“And what about us?” Zeke demands, his voice echoing in the kitchen. “What about what he’s done to us? We’re his sons, Zirah, but we’re not him.”
I turn to face them, cup in hand. Their expressions are filled with anger, hurt, and confusion. I can empathize with these emotions, but I cannot afford to be swayed by them. Not now.
“You chose your side when you chose to stand by him,” I tell them, my gaze steady. “If you’re so different from your father, prove it. Show me you’re not just his puppets.”
Lyon bristles at my words, but Zeke holds him back with a hand on his arm. Zeke’s gaze meets mine, hard and unyielding. “And if we can’t?”
“Then you’re no better than him,” I say, my tone final. I take a sip of my coffee, the bitter taste grounding me. “And you will face the same fate.”
Their reactions are mixed. Lyon looks like he’s about to explode, but Zeke just watches me, his eyes filled with something that looks like . . . understanding? I don’t know, and I don’t have the time to figure it out.
“If we die, it will kill Regan,” Zeke says as I pass him.
“You forgave him,” Lyon adds, just as a bewildered Regan rushes into the kitchen. The look of relief on his face when he spots me is evident. Gnash rushes to his side instantly, bouncing on his feet with excitement.
“I woke up, and you were missing,” he lets out a breath, moving toward me.
“We would not hurt her,” Lyon says, but Regan growls back.
Regan ignores his brothers and leads me back to the ruined billiard room where James sits alone in an oversized armchair. His eyes track me as I move toward him, but there’s something eerie about him that I can’t place.
He’s half vampire, with paler skin than a full lycan, and he wears his long black hair slicked back and tied at his nape. His lips are drawn into a tight line, and he sits tall and proud, his gaze fixed on me as if he can see straight through my soul.
He exudes wisdom beyond the age he looks, and though he has an uncanny resemblance to his brothers, Malachi and Theron, he seems calmer and more level-headed.
“They’re right, you know?” James states casually. He tosses a billiard ball back and forth between his hands. “You forgave Regan,” he continues.
“I marked him. That doesn’t mean I forgive him,” I tell him, and Regan drops his head. James shrugs, standing up and stepping in front of me. I glance at my wolves, but they don’t seem fazed by this man’s presence.
“Same thing. What if I told you one of them had already earned a place beside you? Maybe both have, but I know for sure one never did,” he tells me, his eyes cutting to Regan.
Regan growls and steps forward, but I put my hand on his chest. This man, as odd as he is, there is something about him, and I suddenly want to know what he means.
He glances over my shoulder when he hears movement behind me. “Finish the maze trials. Maybe not all the paths are dead ends like you think,” he says cryptically.
“You want me to forgive them, let them live when they’ve done nothing to earn their lives?”
“Well, that is debatable. But how do you expect them to prove it if you’ve condemned them already?” he asks.
Regan’s jaw tightens as he glares daggers at his uncle. “Maybe you were too quick to forgive this one without really getting to know your other choices, Zirah.”
“Choices? I am the choice. They chose wrong.”
“Maybe so, but so did your mother. She didn’t just curse the kings. She cursed all the lycans. Now what do you think will happen when the entire lycan population finds out a female lycan exists? What do you think your kingdom’s enemies will do? They’ll come for you, and you know it. You don’t have to like them or even forgive them, but it’s better to have allies on your side than to know only enemies. Somehow I believe you’ll find they want the same thing.”
“I want revenge. I highly doubt they want the same.” I move to brush past him, but he grabs my arm.
“Who says they don’t?” he whispers.
“My brother wasn’t the best father. He has played his sons against each other from the moment they existed. How do you expect them to act differently when that is all they’ve ever known?” he tells me. I look at him, his piercing red eyes peering back at me. “Finish the maze trial for this marriage agreement, then decide. Spend time with each of them, one on one. See their kingdoms and the people they lead. If you decide they still deserve death, I will kill them myself,” he tells me, and I am taken aback by his words.
“You would kill your own nephews?”
“Ah, don’t underestimate what I will and will not do. You don’t live as long as I have by playing on the losing side. A smart man will choose the winner, and if that means ending Theron’s reign and standing by your side, then I will do it. Everyone has an agenda. Use it to your advantage. You may not want them, but one day you may need them,” he tells me.
I think about his words and what it truly means to be the last female lycan, then I suddenly think of Regan’s mother. After my mother died, Electra was the last female lycan, and whatever happened to her still haunts Regan to this day. So how will that affect me?
