Filed To Story: Traded To The Lycan King Novel (Colette & Merikh) by MG Wattsons
“Yeah, well…it’s obviously not a fairytale considering her current location.” She chuckles.
I look at her weirdly and she grins, then rolls her eyes. “Because she is six feet under. Pushing up daisies. Yeesh, slow on the uptake today, Luna Letty.” she mutters.
“It’s a little weird how excited her death makes you.”
“If Alpha weren’t so hurt by it all, everyone would react like this. Lauren deserved her ending.”
“And yet you still tell me nothing.” I remind her.
“Okay, okay,” she sighs, peeking around the hall as we get closer to the room. “Lauren grew up here, everyone. sort of…
well… she wasn’t everyone’s favorite pack member, but when they realized they were mates, it didn’t matter and it seemed like she changed, truly changed.”
“What happened?”
“She was a spy,” Penny says, a cloud of anger hovering around her now. She is hiding behind her jokes, but I can feel how much she truly detested the luna before me.
I give her an incredulous look. “A spy? For who? The rogues?”
“Worse…” she grins, waiting for me to guess. I swallow, not wanting to look like an idiot, as I rack my brain for a good guess.
“The…wi-“
“Vampires.” she cuts me off and I say it with her like it was totally my guess too. Then my eyes nearly bulge from my head.
“WHAT!?” I cry out loud and she slaps her hand over my mouth, shoving me into the room.
“The vampires, damn, why are you so surprised? They are the most back-stabby supernatural being there are.”
“Right, obviously,” I try to play along.
It’s not like I didn’t know they existed, except that’s sort of exactly what I thought. Like I know, Merikh has said that there are other supernatural beings out there, but that was early in our relationship. I couldn’t joking or not.
“She wasn’t just giving them information but as Luna, she was able to invite them into pack grounds in the middle of the night. We didn’t just lose twelve warriors to one vampire, we lost our former alpha, Alpha Merikh and beta Hayes Dad. They found Lauren talking with the vampire in question about where to find Merikh to kill him next over his father’s blood let b*dy.”
My heart feels like it’s in a vice grip and I clutch my chest, hoping to relieve some of the tension there.
“So he killed her.” I whisper, and I find I can’t blame him. I would have done the same thing without a second thought.
“No.” she shakes her head. “He had a public execution and had her beheaded.”
The blood drains from my face, but not because of how he executed her or that he sentenced her to death and watched it. But at how much it must have hurt him and his lycan to watch his mate die. To be the one to order it before his whole pack. Acknowledging he was wrong to choose her. His wrong choice led to a devastating loss.
No wonder he doesn’t want to announce me to the pack yet. Holy crap, no wonder he chose me. I am too weak to do anything like that and get away with it. He chose the weakest option, with no ties to anyone desire to find his second chance mate. How could he ever trust someone when the mate bond blinds him?
Steam rolls off the glistening pool, beautiful purple petals dotting the surface with sprigs of lavender and other various herbs melding together to make the perfect recipe for calm and healing. It smells amazing “It feels amazing, doesn’t it? The air?” Penny says, releasing a satisfied groan. Then she moves around me with a plush navy robe and a set of slippers. She sets them on a chair near the steps of the water ar much.”
“Is everyone allowed to use them?” I ask her, and she shakes her head.
“Yes, but this one is for the alpha family’s personal use. We all have one in our own homes, but without all the marble and ornate gold displays. Also, much smaller, like ten person bath, not 200 person pool.” She gives me an amused wink.
“I see.” I mutter, moving over to the chair and slipping off my shoes.
Penny apparently figured out my clothing size and sorted out a bikini for me. Not that I’m not grateful, but this might be more revealing than the underwear I own. I’m not quite comfortable in my skin, so I wait for her to give me a nod as I release a nervous sigh and undress down to my suit before taking one last look at the untouched water. It’s amazing how much it just looks like it will heal me. So I step in, dipping my toes into it first as heat s “Healing water, my ass,” I mutter to myself. “More like boiled Colette soup with how hot that is.” I bite my bottom lip, groaning in lead up before I gently step down onto the first step, holding my breath to keep from letting out a squeal.
The liquid burns my skin, the oils and herbs latching onto my flesh as I step down one more and then another. until I am fully in the pool. I bend my knees, allowing the water up to my n*ck as I exhale in relief, Every Achey muscle seems to meld with the water, feeling like it is just an extension of me. It almost tickles, the way it swirls around my skin and draws out my pain with something as simple as heat and medic herbs.
I reach up and pull my hair out of its elastic band and tilt my head back, submerging it up to my hairline as a satisfied gasp dances past my lips and I smile. My wolf is happy. Each moment leads to more relaxa washes away.
For a second I feel the pull to put my head under the water, but my stomach tightens in fear and I decide to give myself a little more time. The last time my head was fully submerged was in my nightmare state. at least not at this precise moment.
Instead, I move to the stairs and sit, resting my head on one of the upper steps as a sort of anchor, then I allow my b*dy to float up. My b*dy is weightless, my mind free as my eyes fall closed and my wolf pran Since being here, since losing Grady, she has done nothing but hide, only doing what she must to keep me aware of her presence. It felt like we were no longer in sync- well, for years really, but now, she has allowed me back in. Her presence growing stronger by the second. And my heart and soul feel at ease.
I hum in the large room, my voice echoing back to me. I’ve never had an affinity for music, but it feels natural to sing when you are at peace and right now is the most at peace I have ever been. My mind wanders many places, from the dream to my terrible past and back to the present where I am.
Then suddenly, I am suffocating. I sit up, my hand on my throat as I choke on the air, looking around frantically, watching as the room fades away and I am back in the swamp. I can feel where I am, my hands and legs wet and warm grounding me in knowing I am still physically in the healing waters. But mentally, visually, I am lost and scared. I drop lowe There are no green orbs, no other person other than me, and a voice. Her voice. Then she appears and I watch as my mom takes a seat and rests her head back, closing her eyes and she sings. “A longing for the tales,
one of legends told,
I’ll sing to you, my love, in the ways of the old,
For when a mate cries out in the dark,
The other must always heed,