For six years, I was Hazel, girlfriend to the future Alpha, Julian. I thought we had forever, a cherished place in our werewolf pack, even as a human. Then Mate Hunt night ripped it all away. I woke up lost in the forest, only to find Julian with her – his true fated mate. His words hit harder than the forest floor: I was just a 'placeholder.' Six years together, and he tossed me aside, his fingers bruising my throat as he growled that I meant nothing. My world, my heart – shattered.

Left for dead, freezing and injured, a different kind of predator found me. A colossal black wolf, eyes glowing gold, big enough to swallow me whole. But instead of tearing me apart, he curled around me, a warm, terrifying shield against the biting cold. For a moment, I felt safe.

That safety vanished when my pack, my family, found us. The Alpha who raised me, Maxen, didn't see a survivor. He saw a disappointment. Turns out, he’d only taken me in hoping I’d magically become a werewolf like my mother – the fated mate who’d rejected him. When I couldn't shift, he cast me out, branding me an omega, the pack’s punching bag.

Now, I'm less than nothing, surviving on scraps and enduring their cruelty. What they don't know, what I don't know, is that my monstrous protector is no ordinary rogue. He's Lykos, the wolf of Kael, the Lycan King. And Lykos has decided I am his fated mate – a human. Kael is furious, but his wolf has a will of its own, dragging the King himself towards my abusive pack.

My old life is over. My only ally is a creature of legend. And the most feared Lycan in existence is on his way. Is he coming to save me, or is the King's arrival just another nightmare waiting to begin?

The air in the room felt electrified, like the moment before lightning strikes. My mind struggled to process what was happening. The Lycan King—the most feared shifter in existence—had claimed me as his. Me. A human. An omega.


And yet here I stood, watching as Alpha Maxen and Julian slowly recovered from the crushing weight of the King's power. A power that had barely affected me at all.


Alpha Maxen's eyes darted between me and the imposing figure of the King. There was fury in those eyes—and something else. Fear.


"Your Majesty," Alpha Maxen's voice was hoarse as he struggled to his feet, "there has been a misunderstanding."


The King's expression darkened. "Explain."


Something in his tone made my skin prickle. It was the calm before the storm, a deadly stillness that promised violence.


"When we found your scent on her," Alpha Maxen said, gesturing toward me, "we assumed it was from a rogue wolf. We had no idea—"


Chapter 17 - Chapter 17 - The King's Judgment