Lucas' POV
"Alpha Lucas!" Dr. Jafar exclaimed, rushing to my bedside. "I saw the changes in your vitals on the screen and came as soon as I could. This is a miracle! You woke up!"
I dismissed Jorah with a nod, and he left reluctantly, his eyes lingering on me as if afraid I'd vanish.
"Dr. Jafar," I said, my voice low and urgent. "Did you perform the disguise surgery on Leah?"
He hesitated, then nodded. "Yes. It was Finn's order, but it was my work. We had to change her appearance - everyone was hunting her..."
"What exactly did you do to her?" I asked.
The doctor looked hesitant, but eventually he said, "We had to apply bionic skin, but her body rejected it at first. We had to keep injecting her with suppressants. And we… we reduced her height with bone surgery. It was painful, but necessary. Alpha Lucas, I felt so guilty about what I had done. That was why I was trying to remind you of her presence. I tried so hard to push you two together, but..."
My stomach churned as he spoke, the details of Leah's transformation painting a picture of suffering and loss.
"Was she pregnant when you found her?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
Dr. Jafar's face fell. "No," he said softly. "By the time she was pushed on my surgery table, the child had already been lost."
The pain was unbearable, a crushing weight that threatened to suffocate me. My child was gone. Leah had been by my side all along, but I hadn't recognized her. I hadn't realized how important she was to me, just like the time we were married.
Only this time, I no longer have a heart to bleed - the Moon Goddess has taken my heart, severed the bond between us, and left me blind to the truth.
I howled, the sound raw and guttural, a cry of anguish that echoed through the sterile room. Jorah rushed back in, his face pale with fear, and Dr. Jafar quickly prepared a sedative.
As the drug took hold, my vision blurred, and I saw Leah's face, her eyes filled with tears.
"Where is my child, Lucas?" she asked, her voice a whisper in the void.
I tried to answer, but the darkness claimed me, and I slipped into oblivion, her face the last thing I saw before the world faded away.
Finn's POV
I woke with a headache that felt like a blade splitting my skull. The room was dark, the air thick with the stench of sweat and spilled liquor. Bodies of whores were strewn across the floor, their limbs tangled in a grotesque dance of exhaustion. I pushed one away, my hand meeting clammy skin, and stepped over the others as I made my way to the window. My coat hung on the back of a chair, its fabric stiff with dried blood and dirt. I shrugged it on, the weight of it pressing against my shoulders like a shroud.
The French window creaked as I pushed it open, the cold night air rushing in to bite at my skin. Outside, the lake stretched out like a sheet of black glass, its surface undisturbed by the chaos inside the house. This place - this lake house - was a gift Lucas had given to Leah. A sanctuary, she'd called it. The first place she'd brought me after pulling me from the wreckage of Sak's Sheridan Club. I'd been half-dead then, my body broken, my mind a shattered mirror. She'd pieced me back together, or at least tried to.
The moonlight bathed the landscape in a silvery glow, but it did nothing to soothe the restlessness clawing at my chest. I raised my hand to check the time, the face of my watch glinting faintly. Today was Sak Doyle's memorial day. The realization hit me like a punch to the gut, and I fumbled for the pack of cigarettes in my coat pocket.
The cigarette felt foreign between my fingers as I lit it, the flame flickering briefly before I let it burn. I didn't smoke it. It was a ritual to memorize him. I remembered the day Sak pulled me from the slave market, his voice sharp and commanding as he'd always been, "From today on, you are my property. I will protect you, as long as you work hard for me."
I'd hated him for it. Hated the way he'd owned me, the way he'd carved a place for himself in my life. But he'd been right. He did provide me with a shelter in his own way.
The cigarette burned down to the filter, the heat searing my skin before I tossed it to the ground. I reached for the pack again, but it was empty. The Sheridan Club logo on the outside was faded, the edges worn smooth from years of use. This was all he'd left me - a damn cigarette case.
I stared at it, my fingers tracing the letters as if they could bring him back. The night sky above me was vast and indifferent, a canvas of stars that had witnessed too much. A meteor streaked across it, a fleeting spark of light that vanished as quickly as it appeared.
My phone rang, the sound jarring in the stillness. The caller ID was unfamiliar, but the voice on the other end was unmistakable.
"Where the fuck are you?" Lycidas demanded, his tone sharp with impatience.
I hesitated, my grip tightening on the phone. "Your Highness," I said, my voice calm despite the storm brewing inside me. "How did you find my number?"
"Are you fucking ghosting on me?" he snapped, ignoring my question. "If I don't call you, you'll keep ghosting on me, won't you? You fucking slut."
"I didn't mean to disappear on you, Your Highness," I replied, my words measured. "His Majesty has been unwell. The kingdom's affairs are getting… complicated. So..."
"Are you at the slave market right now?" he interrupted, his voice cutting through my excuses.
"No, Your Highness. I'm at..."
"Go to the slave market and stay there. Now. Call me when you arrive. I'll fuck you there."
The line went dead before I could respond. I stared at the phone, the screen darkening as the call ended. My reflection in the black glass of the lake was a ghostly silhouette, a shadow of the carcass.
I couldn't believe he fucking came back. He was way for 20 fucking years and now he came back to the Kingdom for no one else but me.
I guess true love does exist.
I looked at my reflection in the lake water. My face was twisted by a dark smirk.
I stripped off my coat and stepped into the water, the cold biting at my skin as I waded deeper. The lake swallowed me whole, the weight of it pressing down on my chest as I sank. The anger inside me burned hotter than the cold could quench.
"Those fucking Lycans. I won't let any of them go," I thought, the words a silent vow.
Then, as if the water itself could speak, I heard his voice. Sak's voice, low and familiar, echoing in the depths.
"I know you miss me, brother. If you want, you can stay here with me. We'll enjoy each other's eternal company."
"I'm not your brother, you idiot," I replied, the words bitter on my tongue. "I will go back to you when my work is done. I swear. But not yet. Not tonight."
"Why do you treat yourself like this? You don't have to punish yourself like this. You've done nothing wrong," he said, his tone softer and soothing now. "Lycidas is in a rage. The most ruthless Lycan Prince and his famous temper. He will fuck you with no mercy. He might even kill you."
"Not before I kill him first," I thought, the resolve hardening in my chest.