Bryan

As I stared at myself in the mirror while fixing my tie, I could see an exhausted wraith looking back at me. I had dark, nearly black circles under my eyes from years of little to no sleep piling up against me.

It had been a long five years since I took the throne from my father, and there was still so much left to do. There was always something to address. For every item I crossed off my list to build the pack in the way I envisioned, fresh, new hellish problems emerged that I had to deal with-problems that haunted me every night, issues that plagued my thoughts on repeat, attacking my weary mind. For me, sleep meant worry, not dreams.

Between creating the patrol charts, organizing the schedules, and overseeing every other detail while running the pack, my job never seemed finished. Yet, the urge to find my mate grew.

I tried to dismiss it, as finding a mate felt like a distraction from getting the real work done, but I could never fully suppress the urge of the beast inside me.

So, I made time to look. I visited many packs throughout the kingdom over the last five years in search of her. My lycan, Shawn, constantly paced within me, making me feel like a caged animal desperate to find her.

A mate could ease the growing tension between Shawn and me. As much as I understood the need to find my mate, I didn't want to feel chained to someone for the rest of my life just yet or to burden someone else with my mountain of problems.

My father always said it was better to be with a mate than with other females, but I was still young. Thirty is young for a lycan. It isn't until someone reaches over one hundred that anyone starts to call a lycan old. I still had time to find her.

Maybe I should take a break from this distraction and refocus on my work. I needed to get into a better headspace to find a mate.

My eyes flashed blue as Shawn surged to the surface to confront me. No. Find a mate now. End the curse.

It always annoyed me when he chose to do this. The constant push to find my mate only frustrated me. Shawn acted like one of my annoying advisors or needy subjects, but I couldn't shut myself away from something that could boil up inside me. I could see the redness of my skin creeping up my neck as I contemplated throwing my lycan into a mental cage just to make him stop.

Unfortunately, most of the time, that didn't work either.

The anger grew as I realized what Shawn had mentioned: the curse. That fucking curse.

Following my father's sudden death and my subsequent ascension to the throne, I began casually dating to find a mate. Nothing ever serious, but at least a few months to find someone to choose as my luna, in case I never find my mate. Not everyone finds their fated mate in this world, and I refused to believe I would find mine.

It was only a year or so ago that the other alphas in the neighboring kingdoms found their mates. Alaric's mate, Tala, turned out to be a white lycan, bringing peace to their kingdom like nothing I had ever seen before. If only there were more females like her, then I would be on the hunt daily to find mine. But alas, there is only one white lycan. Even Talon found his mate, but that's only recently been solidified. It took them a few years to find theirs, so I knew there wasn't much of a chance I'd find mine within a short time frame.

So casual dating became, and it led me to being cursed.

Witches weren't common throughout the kingdoms, but they existed. There were far fewer witches than lycans, and sightings were rare. Some didn't even believe they existed. Yet I found one at a tavern during one of my trips to visit a pack. That woman must have bewitched me because I couldn't stop myself from taking her to my bed. I heard rumors that witches were wild in the bedroom, and those rumors were true. I spent two months with the witch before I realized it was nothing more than sex and that it distracted me from my pack duties. I called off the relationship.

She was a witch, not a lycan. I couldn't mark her even if I wanted to.

And then the bitch turned around and cursed me in a language I didn't understand. Whatever details there were about what she did to me were known only to her.

Since then, my hunt for a mate and my sex life had become painfully slow. Every female I met felt off-putting. Grating. Nothing about them made me want to bring them to my bed for some fun after realizing they weren't my mate. It frustrated me to no end, with the witch's laugh echoing in my mind each time I turned down a female.

I pulled out the hair product to slick back my dark blond hair when I caught the sound of approaching footsteps inside my room. The growl ripped through me, as everyone in the pack knew I preferred my privacy. The outline of my beta's lean build came into view first before his citrusy scent hit my nose. I tapered down my growl and returned to looking in the mirror.

"What do you want, Gunner?"

He chuckled. "Looks like not getting any lately has really messed with you. Maybe you should apologize to that sexy witch of yours so you can get laid."

Another growl emitted from my throat as I sprayed the mousse into my hand and threaded my fingers through my hair. "Annalise is long gone. Not sure if that hag is even lurking around in our kingdom anymore. She knows I've sent scouts out to find her."

Gunner's shaggy black hair and gray eyes came into view while he wore a smirk. The asshole was far too laid back for a lycan, in my opinion. The dominance in him could rival my own if he found his mate before I found mine, and I didn't have the power of all the lycans in the kingdom tied to me. Dominance equaled power. Power made lycans crave violence. Yet Gunner was the least violent person I knew. He could wipe the floor with anyone who challenged him, but he also never sought a fight. There were times I purposely stirred the pot in a bar just to fight. Not Gunner, though.

"Seriously, dude. I just think you need to get laid."

"If only that could happen, but Anna's curse makes every female repulsive to me. At least, that's what I think the curse did to me."

"You told a witch you didn't love her, after she confessed her feelings. It sounds like the perfect excuse for her to curse you, so every female looks hideous to you."

I sighed. That could be it, but something I hadn't told my beta was that females still looked sexy to me. That was the problem. I had the appetite, and I wanted nothing more than to take them to my bedroom and make them scream my name. However, the urge to actually act on these impulses and desires wasn't there. It was as if the witch made my dick stop working. That was a problem for a lycan. We craved touch, craved sex.

Not me.

Not anymore.

Anger surged inside me. "I could kill the bitch for doing this to me. She had no business cursing a king!" I gripped my sink, and I heard the crack from the marble as my anger coursed through me. This was why I didn't think about Annalise. Thinking about her made me want to tear everything apart.

Another reason to have the scouts looking for her. Over the years, I had delved into the lore of a witch's curse and how to undo it. Most of the lore stated that only the witch could remove any spell she had cast on you. It was her magic that needed undoing, and only hers could reverse it. Considering that the use of magic was limited to magic wielders, it wasn't like I could find ingredients and perform a spell myself. That would be too easy.

If she wouldn't remove this blasted curse, then the lore said I could kill her to lift it.

Killing something right now sounded incredible. Killing Annalise sounded much better than that.

My silence must have made my beta uncomfortable. It was his throat-clearing that pulled me out of my thoughts. Bloodlust had a scent, and I must have smelled like it for Gunner to look at me the way he did. I let myself relax just enough for that look to disappear.

Gunner crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the door frame when I calmed down. "You just need to find your mate, boss."

"Like that is simple to do," I snarled.

He chuckled. "It would be if you actually planned a route through the kingdom. It would be good publicity for you as king to visit the packs. It's also a way for you to meet unmated females and find your mate."

That wasn't a bad idea at all. I had done something similar over the years, but nothing too lengthy because I didn't want to be away from the pack for long. It could take me a couple of months, but I could travel through the kingdom to find my mate.

Gunner wasn't mated, either. If I found my mate and brought power into the kingdom and pack, it would be even better to have a mated beta as well. But there was the concern about leaving the pack without an alpha or a beta. I'd have to leave the kingdom and the pack in the hands of my third. The man was good as a gamma, but he didn't have the experience running the pack like Gunner did during the last time I left for a few weeks.

"Before you try to back out of that kind of plan just because you don't want to leave everything to Eric, stop."

I looked over at my beta, and his gray eyes hardened at me.

"You are a king. If you want the kingdom to thrive, you need your queen at your side."

That was a sobering thought. A mate was about to bring balance to the lycan, and mine was throwing himself at the cage to be let loose to run. He didn't like the idea of not adventuring through the kingdom to find our mate. Maybe if I did this and found her, I could finally get some rest.

"What would be the best route through the kingdom?" I asked Gunner.

He smiled, and I could scent his happiness. Gunner seemed to have hoped I would ask that question from the look on his face. "If that means I get to plan the trip because I'm coming along, I'm in. My lycan has been craving a mate for the last few months. No one in our pack has caught his fancy."

This was why I figured I'd be leaving everything to Eric, my gamma, while we were gone. Wherever I went, Gunner followed. That's how it had been since we were kids, and it hadn't changed. I chuckled. This was why I needed Gunner as my beta. His laid-back energy and jokes made the day breeze by. "Sounds like a plan. Want to talk about it after we go for a run?"

He smiled. "Fuck yeah! Let's let the lycans out and then plan our way through the kingdom. Maybe during the trip, you can get laid to settle down."

Leora

The energy in the air today felt...different.

As I cleaned up the mess left behind by the entire pack after the full moon run, I could feel an energy in the halls that I had never felt before. There was a buzzing energy, as if something big was about to happen. I couldn't tell what, but many of the packmates were excited about it. For some reason, the females were especially enthusiastic about what was set to happen in a few weeks.

"I can't believe he is coming here! He hasn't visited in a long time," I heard one female say.

"I heard he is searching for his mate. That means every female in the pack will have to meet with him!" another chimed in.

Whatever was happening, it was clear that a strong male would be visiting the pack soon, and he was looking for his mate. That could be any number of powerful males in our kingdom. Alphas who weren't mated were always the talk of the pack when they planned to visit. Most of the females in our pack were omegas, and omegas tended to want an alpha as their mate. Something was appealing about being without power while the alpha held all the strength. I even hoped that I would be mated to an alpha.

But that was also so I could prove to my pack that I was worthy. If the Moon Goddess blessed me with an alpha as a mate, making me a luna, it would show everyone how I was deserving of our Goddess. That would be enough to make my life worthwhile.

Coda burst into the bathroom I had been cleaning once again to tell me the news. Her energy bounced off the walls as she spoke so quickly that it made my head spin.

"He's coming, Leora! Did you hear the news yet?"

I blinked several times at her as I tried to decipher what she said. Nothing came to me after at least a minute of staring at her. "What news?"

She rolled her eyes and laughed. "Silly girl. The lycan king! Alpha of the Seagrove Pack. He's coming to Redwood."

Ah. I shook my head. "I heard some things through the halls, but I didn't know it was him who was coming. Is that confirmed?" My muscles ached as I got to my feet. Scrubbing the floors on all fours yet again brought serious pain to my body. My wolf had been sleeping after healing me from yesterday's round of cleaning and the attack from Amarie.

"He's bringing that sexy beta of his, too." Coda bit her lip. "What I'd give just to have a night with him."

Watching my best friend swoon was a hilarious sight. Gunner Alabaster was undeniably attractive. I'd give her that. But seeing Coda lick her lips and her eyes spin in her head at the very thought of him made my week. Gunner came into town four years ago, and Coda had been hooked on him ever since. I wondered if he was her mate, judging by the way she was drooling over him. Since we weren't of age at the time, the bond hadn't shown itself, which was something she had been salty about. That made it fun to tease her.

"I heard he likes to have fun and doesn't want to settle down anytime soon," I commented.

She scoffed at me while grabbing a sponge from under the sink along with a cleaning spray. "So did the king. Maybe they both realized they needed to find their mates." Coda paused and thought for a moment. "Well, find someone to call their mate. Fated mates aren't being handed out like candy."

I stifled a laugh that threatened to escape. Comparing a fated mate to candy seemed fairly accurate. It was a gift from the Moon Goddess herself. It was said she created each of us with the perfect half of our soul. Finding a mate was difficult since there were so many of us across the different kingdoms. Most of the time, chosen mates were what we had to settle for due to never finding their true mate. Add in the fact that our species couldn't find their mate or bond with one until they came of age and their lycan's soul connected with them, and it felt nearly impossible to find our mate. Those who tossed this blessing aside were driven mad by their lycan. If I wanted out of this hellhole, I needed to receive this blessing from the Moon Goddess. The relief I felt when I realized no one in my pack was my mate... I can't even put it into words. I didn't want to be stuck here in this pack.

I wanted to be free.

Free from this pitiful life I had to call my own. Free from dealing with people who believed I was unworthy to call myself a wolf. Even to find a mate.

So many people in this pack have said the Moon Goddess couldn't be so cruel as to give me away as a fated mate, and that I would be a punishment, not a blessing. It's been said so many times over the years that I started to believe those words. Except in times like this.

If the king was traveling to find his mate, maybe when he stopped here, I could ask him for a transfer. He was the king. Amarie wouldn't allow it because it would be a "burden" to let me go to another pack when I could barely stand on my own after my cleaning shifts. The king, however, could override her.

"You think Alpha Brennan would allow me to have an audience with him just to ask for a transfer?"

Coda's eyes widened, but then softened at my question. This wasn't the first time I had talked about transferring to another pack. She didn't like the idea of that happening because it meant I'd leave her here by herself to deal with this pack. No one in this pack respected the omegas. Everyone left trash around the pack house and made everything dirty enough that it required a complete cleaning by the crack of dawn. It was a mess for the omegas to clean every day, mostly for me to clean along with Coda, because we worked harder than everyone else. I tried to tell Coda not to befriend me because she would become a pack reject, just like me. She wouldn't listen.

I loved that about her.

"Well, from the sounds of it, he wants to meet with every female to find out if she is his mate or not. If she isn't, she is to meet with Beta Gunner. Use your time to ask him for the transfer if he isn't your mate."

It was my turn to scoff. "Me? His mate? Yeah, right." I returned to all fours to continue the deep cleaning of the floors. "I am weak because my wolf has no power. I'm basically a human who can somehow shift into a furry creature every few months. That doesn't sound like the makings of a queen."

Coda gasped. "Do you really think that low of yourself?"

I looked at her.

"You are so much more than that, Leora. Maybe the reason your wolf isn't strong is that you don't have faith in her."

That, I knew, wasn't true. I believed in my wolf more than anyone else in the pack. Even if she was weaker, my wolf was a patient creature. She had to be when she was tied to me. On my bad days, she was the gentle soul who coaxed me into relaxing instead of falling into the rapid, harmful cycle of my thoughts. As I healed every night from pushing my body past the limit it could handle from cleaning, she was there to work through the pain and bring me enough relief to get some sleep.

My wolf was an incredible creature. I was more than blessed to have her as mine. I just wish she had bonded with someone far superior to me. She deserved to be queen more than I did. From her patience alone, she deserved a mate who would shower her with all the gifts and love throughout her life.

You deserve that, too. Not just me, she rumbled in my mind.

I don't feel that way since I can't seem to make anyone happy, I replied.

Shush. You make me happy. I chose you because you are stronger than you give yourself credit for. You survived Amarie and the alpha all these years.

I survived because of Coda.

No, Leora. You survived because of you! You are strong and worthy of love. Coda is drawn to that, and someday soon, others will be as well.

My wolf always says these things to me, but I haven't been able to fully believe those words. It's kind of hard to believe you are meant for something greater than cleaning a pack house when you are told that's all you're worth every day since you were a kid. Mistakes happen, but to Amarie, the demand for perfection was unmatched.

"No one is perfect, little one. Not even that wicked stepmom of yours. If she were perfect, she'd treat you like a daughter and not a burden." The gentle caress of my wolf's presence flooded through me. She needed me to know she was here for me, something I always loved about her. The comfort of her presence also brought on a wave of healing, loosening the tension in my shoulders.

"It's hard not to think like that with a dad like mine," I whispered.

Coda poked her head out into the hallway, making sure no one would overhear me speaking ill of the alpha-something my father would punish harshly if he found out. She kneeled to be eye level with me and wore a sympathetic smile. "I see you, my friend. You are so much more than what your father makes you believe. If it weren't for you, this pack would descend into chaos."

Oh, how wonderful it would be if that were true! I wasn't the heart of this pack. My mother was, when she was alive, and before my father made Amarie his new bride, he was the heart-a rapidly blackening heart who ruled with an iron fist.

Leora

After Coda helped me finish up the bathroom stalls in the Alpha's quarters, I moved down to the pack house. The hall was my first port of call. The one thing Amarie did well was ensure the omegas were left to handle the cleaning and that certain areas were blocked off so we could do a thorough job before he let them back in. While I was in the bathroom, many of the pack seemed to mingle downstairs while the cleaning happened upstairs. After I finished in the bathroom, I could hear everyone throughout the house. I needed to work fast.

If time hadn't been on my side before everyone moved upstairs, I'd be in for it. My conversation with Coda put me behind my usual schedule. I normally had the top floor completely clean by now. As I heard approaching footsteps on the stairs, I filled the bucket with water and soap and pulled it into the hallway to complete my last task on this floor. The gait of the approaching person made me tremble. This wasn't who I expected to come up here at this time of day. This couldn't be good.

I moved too quickly, twisting my foot awkwardly, and tripped over the bucket. My body crashed to the ground, and pain radiated through me from the fall. I grabbed my shoulder, which had taken the brunt of it, and then something cold and wet coated my side. At first, I thought it was blood, but then I realized it would be warm, not cold. I looked over to see the bucket on its side. What I felt was the cleaning water.

With Alpha Brennan and his son Caleb coming.

And Alpha Brennan hated messes.

"What is the meaning of this?" he snarled as he reached the top of the stairs. Caleb's gaze raked over me, and when our eyes met, I felt a strange zap of electricity. "What did you do?"

Shit. This was not good. It wouldn't matter that it was an accident. What mattered was that I had made a mistake. Again.

"It's alright, Father. She just tripped over and fell," Caleb defended, moving over to try and help me up, but the zap of electricity made him step back again.

My wolf screamed MATE in my head, and I groaned internally.

Fuck my life.

Alpha Brennan gasped. Then his eyes hardened to two hard stones. "Caleb? Go back to the house."

Caleb stalled, confused. "But Father..."

"Back to the house with you!" Alpha Brennan growled menacingly, making Caleb squirm. The young Alpha gave me one last frustrated look before disappearing down the corridor and out of the pack house.

My wolf whined, a dull ache engulfing my chest. When Alpha Brennan's claws dug into my scalp, and I felt the pressure of my hair being pulled as I was dragged to my feet, my wolf surged to the surface to keep me calm. It didn't work. My body shook as my eyes met Alpha Brennan's brown ones, which were glowing gold with the rage warring inside him.

I cast my gaze down to avoid provoking him further. My feet dangled off the ground, and my head felt like it would explode if he didn't put me down soon. I couldn't risk doing anything to piss him off further-one wrong move, and he'd hurl me down the stairs.

His son, Caleb, was my fated mate.

I needed no soothsayer to tell me that Alpha Brennan heavily disapproves of it.

"No son of mine is having a weak excuse of an Omega as a fated mate. It has never happened in the history of our pack, and it won't start with me. I'll make sure of it."

When my feet finally touched the ground, I felt a little relief, but then Alpha Brennan yanked my hair and dragged me down the stairs with a fistful of my hair wrapped around his hand, knuckles white. I couldn't tell which hurt worse-the hairs being ripped from my head or the pressure on my scalp from being dragged. Either way, my vision blurred with stinging tears that filled my eyes. I tried to lessen the pain by putting my hands on Alpha Brennan's, but I heard him snarl in response. There was nothing else for me to do other than let him do what he wanted right then. I was at his mercy.

Which was the worst thing to be?

After two sets of stairs, my heart thumped louder in my chest than anything else. It was the only thing I could hear outside of my Alpha Brennan's growling. If anyone witnessed this, they wouldn't dare help me. Anyone who got between the alpha and someone he wanted to punish ended up dead. We could only be heading toward the dungeon.

Unfortunately, I was proven right. When we reached the bottom of a near-endless staircase, I was swallowed by the darkness of the dungeon's depths. Brennan dropped me to the ground, and I shook violently as I waited for the punishment. I knew better than to think this was over. This was far from over. His movements were fast, and suddenly, his hands were around my wrists, yanking me to my feet. I felt the rope scratch at my skin as it was pulled up above my head. Before I knew it, my feet weren't on the ground, and the rope bit into my skin enough to draw blood. I dangled above the ground, and my shoulders screamed from the pain as I waited for what came next.

The alpha stepped into view, the yellow lights above glinting off his shaved head. The menacing look on his face made my blood run cold. His muscles rippled underneath his button-up shirt as he unbuttoned the cuffs to roll them above his elbows. I knew what this meant. If I wanted to survive, I needed to drift off into my happy place. He wouldn't be satisfied with the results until I was unconscious. Sometimes, he threw a bucket of cold water on me to wake me up so he could start over again.

As I went back to that field and dreamed of my mate, who would take me away from all of this, I felt his fist connect with my side. I sucked in a breath, knowing that if I screamed, it would only send him into a worse fit of rage. If I wanted to live long enough to meet the king and request to leave this pack, I needed to endure this.

A punch to my temple came quicker than I expected. I don't know how much time had passed, but when I came to, I was in a cell at the end of the hallway. This was so that even if someone came down here, they wouldn't see me, and I'd be stuck until Brennan came back for me. Who knows how long that would be? Days, most likely. The last time I was in here, it took him four days before he released me. I expected this to go the same way.

I didn't understand how Caleb could be my mate. He...just wasn't who I was expecting based on my dreams. He wasn't the gold-eyed man who came to me.

Maybe the gold-eyed man was only a figment of my imagination, my wolf supplied in a tiny voice.

It could be.

While tucking my knees into my chest, I curled into a ball to bring myself some warmth as I lay on the stone floor against the stone wall. The bars of the cage added to the coldness of the room, and my body ached as I moved.