Betrayed Heiress: My Second Chance Mate is A Lycan King

Aira’s POV

And I never heard the end of it.

I did my best to zone out of Alexander’s never-ending berating, but it was as good as impossible. His voice pierced right through my walls and went straight into my brain. I tried explaining to him that it wasn’t my intention to defy him, but he wouldn’t even give me the chance to speak.

Two nurses were tending to my wounds. I sat on a stretcher alongside some other victims who had their own nurses tending to them. Alex stood right in front of me, screaming at me like a damn banshee. At this point, I couldn’t figure out which was worse.

The pain from my wounds or Alex’s words.

“Do you just want to be stubborn? Are you doing this intentionally? Or perhaps you have a death wish you never mentioned to me before. I just can’t seem to understand why you must always wind yourself up in trouble. Do you enjoy making me suffer by putting yourself in situations like these? After everything I have done for you, you still…”

Honestly, I could not listen anymore. He was not going to stop anytime soon. And honestly, I feared that if I listened to him more, I would end up in tears. I can’t do that out here.

I tried to focus on other things. Like the great damage surrounding us.

There was blood everywhere.

Wailing children, corpses, and injured men and women. There was so much sorrow. Medics, guards, and other helpers filed in to see what they could salvage. Caretakers gathered the crying children in a corner.

It did not take a genius to know that most of them were now orphans. They had to witness such a massacre, and their parents were among the casualties. My only joy was that no child sustained even a scratch on their body. But this trauma would follow them forever.

A sting I knew all too well came to my eyes, and my teeth clenched with rage. I will find out who was responsible for this. And I will make them suffer, even if it is the last thing I do on this earth. The damage they have done to these children will not go unpunished.

“Aira?”

I am snapped out of my hateful thoughts by Alex’s voice. My glazed eyes met his, and to my greatest surprise, his eyes didn’t hold even the slightest bit of anger as they did seconds ago. Now they were just thankful.

The nurse patches up my shoulder and hurries off to the next patient. When she does, Alex takes me into his arms. His touch was gentle, and he made sure not to hold me so tightly so as not to cause me any pain.

My face buried in his chest, and his scent fills me with an unexplainable comfort. My eyelids grow heavy, and I sink into him with ease. His large hand caresses my hair as he nuzzles his nose into my hair.

“I am glad you are safe.”

And that is all it takes to break the dam.

Tears spill out of my eyes like two rivers. They soak up his shirt, but he doesn’t seem to mind. He just stood there, holding me tightly in his arms as I cried into his chest.

“I promise I will find out who is responsible for all of this. And I will make them kneel before you and ask for your forgiveness.”

I pull away from him a bit and utter words that I never once thought would leave my lips.

“And when they do, we will give them the most painful death ever known.” It has been three days since the attack at the local market. If I thought Alex was being overprotective before, I was terribly wrong. Because now I can’t even go to the damn bathroom without having guards follow my every move.

It was so suffocating.

“You guys don’t have to follow me everywhere, you know? I am still in the palace. It’s safe here,” I snap at them when I come out into the garden for some fresh air, but they still waddle barely two inches away from me.

The both of them look at themselves before turning to me. “The alpha strictly ordered that we never let you out of our sight.”

“Well, now I am telling you that there is no need for that. I am more than capable of taking care of myself,” I inform them, placing my hands on my hips.

Neither of them made a move.

“I am sorry, Luna. But we cannot do that. We respect you, but our loyalty lies with the alpha.”

Ouch.

A tired sigh leaves my lips as my shoulders slouch. I suppose this is going to be my life now. How sad.

My gaze locks with the guards, but for only a second. “We will be behind those trees. If you need anything, please let us know,” one of them says, and a smile lights up my face.

“Thank you,” I tell them appreciatively, and they smile before walking off. Finally.

I released a breath I did not even know I was holding. At last, some alone time. I make my way deeper into the garden, the scent of the rose bushes filling my nose as the butterflies flutter past me.

Once I feel like I am far enough from everyone, I stop at a rose bush. There is a butterfly with red pattern designs on its wings; it sits perfectly on the blossoming rose.

A thought I never knew could come into my mind flashes. And when it does, I act on it.

A chill creeps through my veins, and a blue mist leaves my body and seeps into the butterfly and rose bush before me. They all die.

My eyes widen when all the roses around me whither and the butterfly falls lifelessly at my feet. My eyes widen, and regret instantly takes over. What have I done? Why would I want to kill such beautiful things?© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

My knees meet the cold pavement floor, and I pick up the butterfly gently in my hands. Bringing it to my chest, I whisper a silent apology to it as a tear slips out of my eye. It drops on the pavement, and suddenly, a yellow mist erupts from the spot and fills the garden around me, bringing everything back to life.

The roses bloomed even more than they had before, and my heart jumps when I feel a slight flutter in my hands.

The butterfly’s alive.

Grateful tears spill out of my eyes as I say, “Oh, thank goodness.”

I release the little fella and watch it fly away, mesmerized by its beauty.

“You are getting stronger by the day, aren’t you, little one?”

A gasp leaves my lips as my head snaps to find Uncle Richard watching me with his hands behind his back. Rising to my feet, I dust myself off.

“Uncle Richard? What are you doing here?” I ask, not bothering to hide my surprise at his presence.

He shrugs. “I have been traveling around lately and thought that I should stop by to know how you are doing,” he says, and I nod slowly. “I also heard that you and your mate have been facing some trouble. Random rogue attacks, is it?”

“You have no idea,” I exasperate, and a ghost of a smirk lifts his lips. But in a second, it vanishes.

“Well, that brings me to the real reason I am here. There is something I want to tell you: ”

“Wow! Look at all these roses. I never knew they had grown this big.”

Uncle Richard and I’s heads snap to find Carla walking down the pathway. She has a bright smile on her face and a skip in her step as she makes her way towards us. Her eyes fell on me, then on Richard; they lingered a bit longer on Richard’s.

For a moment, I almost thought I imagined the blush that creeped up her face.

“Don’t mind me, just passing through,” Carla says before walking right past us. I watch her until she is completely out of sight.

Then I turn to Uncle Richard and ask, “So, what did you want to tell me?”

He didn’t seem to have heard a word I said. His eyes remained glued to the spot Carla had disappeared into.

“Who was that?”