Rejected, Then Reborn
Chapter 6

“Mark, Rudolpho… I am very disappointed in you both,” Alpha King Reed Alderon Winchester admitted with a tsk as he absentmindedly played with his ancient wooden case of special knives, the two deviants now seated in restraint chairs at the very spot they had decided to take advantage of the dame in, numerous electrodes attached to their naked, bleeding bodies.

Lacy was thankfully gone, as he had mind-linked one of the she-Lykens to come for the human girl and attend to her. With her out of the way, he was free to deal with his men as he well pleased without traumatizing her any further… gods knew that while he wanted her scared of him, there was only so much one could take in a day.

It actually came as a surprise for the Alpha King to know that his men had dared to lay hands on the woman, for he had a zero-tolerance policy against abuse towards women, and they had witnessed his wrath unleashed on perpetrators over and over to be stupid enough to repeat the mistake, and so he did not understand. He was going to deal with them, and gods help him, their punishment was going to be even worse, because they were supposed to have known better… and perhaps, because there was something special about the woman.

There, he had said it.

He did not exactly know what it was, but the woman had barely been a day in his kingdom, and already, he was going soft, turning mushy whenever she was near. It confused him, and unnerved him greatly too. Want to know what was even more confusing? The way she acted when she was around him.

Reed had noted how much his presence had greatly brought her immense relief— the ordeal she must have endured, no matter how little, momentarily forgotten in the space that she had been in his arms, and oh, how good it had felt to hold onto her like that. He remembered how the night before, she had reacted to his touch… how her breath had picked up, even though his hand on her neck had been an attempt to intimidate her… she had turned him on, the feeling plaguing him all night. It was why he hadn’t bothered coming by to see her like he had promised, needing the space to clear his mind a bit. The Alpha King did not know what was happening, but he was certainly going to have a talk with her after he was done taking care of the men, for he needed to get to the bottom of this.

“Y—your Eminence… please, spare us this once,” The smaller guy, Rudolpho pleaded, interrupting the Alpha King’s line of thoughts, “We have been very loyal to you, please, have pity on us.”

Mark on the other hand looked the Alpha King in the eye, pride and fear equally shining in his, “It shouldn’t come to this, Your Eminence. Please, don’t kill us… especially over some w***e you just met when we have diligently served you all these years.”

Reed saw red.

If he had thought himself angry earlier, now, he was a raging bull, for his Lyken wolf, Ace had completely taken over now, but somehow he was still in his human form— a feat that was impossible for Lykens of common b***d—and for some reason unknown to it… unknown to both of them, the beast wanted b***d for the way the man had spoken about the human girl.

The Alpha King moved fast, pronouncing instant judgement with his pistol—a deadly Ruger SRC40 handgun, shooting the two bastards right in the crotch. They weren’t even worth his time and energy to be subjected to even worse torment… plus, this was just as good as any other form of torture. Reed turned his back on them amidst the wails, and the screams, and the curses, and the pleas for mercy and instant death, but he ignored them all, leaving them to slowly bleed out to death, taking solace in only one fact:

That no one was coming to save them.

****

The Alpha King went straight to the chambers he had had Lacy sent to right after he left the dungeons, replaceing that with those two idiots taken care of, he rather quickly wanted to get to the reason behind the weirdness between him and the human girl. Surprising enough, he had entrusted her in no one else’s safe hands than his own sister, Anaya.

Reed stood at the doorway for a while trying to listen in for any sounds… he was weirdly nervous, a position he hadn’t been in in a very long time, and its return unnerved him a little bit.

Eating sounds.

The girl was eating like she hadn’t had food in days, stuffing her mouth to the brim, and talking through it too. Gods, how uncouth.

Well, you never fed her.

Ace, his Lyken wolf grunted in his head, surprising Reed very much.

I thought you detest her presence.

The Alpha King was quick to accuse his beast.

I still do. Doesn’t mean I can’t guilt trip you anyways.

Okay, Reed was already feeling bad, but hearing his other half have the same view of him made the feeling a thousand times worse.

“No, but seriously, how can he be your brother? You two look nothing alike… you’re like light and darkness… in the literal sense.” Reed heard her say, his sister’s amused chuckle ringing right along with it.

Alright, that was enough.

He barged into the room without knocking, catching how quickly the smile disappeared from the girl’s face, and how suddenly she seemed on edge. “Leave us,” He commanded his younger sister, and she did as he asked, but not before giving Lacy a reassuring squeeze. “I’ll be outside if you need me.”

And then the two of them were all alone.

“Lacy Reynolds… or should I say, Lacy Smith, which do you prefer?” He asked, taking note of how all the color just drained from her face. Even in just a pair of joggers and a baggy t-shirt, she still looked every bit like the dainty princess he had rescued in her gown. “What, you didn’t think I’ll replace out?” He smirked in accomplishment, his eyes quickly turning hard. “Now, if you know what’s good for you… you’ll start talking, and fast.”

And so Lacy did.

She told him everything… every little detail, leaving nothing out, but after she was done… the Alpha King only looked at her as though she had just told the most outrageous of tales. “You do not believe me,” She dead panned.

“I wouldn’t exactly say that… it’s just some parts of your story I replace hard to believe. W—we cannot be mates!” He was lying, he didn’t believe a single word coming out of her mouth.

“But we are.” She insisted. “I don’t know why you cannot feel it, but I’m not lying—”

“Look… it’s not as though I don’t believe anything you’re saying… it’s just that us Lykens don’t experience these kind of things. It is practically impossible. Lykens actually have zero tolerance for any other species. It is why I don’t particularly like you and why my wolf completely detests your guts.” He tried to explain, but the girl only looked at him as though he had just declared that K-pop was overrated.

“Your—your wolf doesn’t like me? B—but you saved me. In the forest…”

“Make no mistake, human,” He put in when she started to trail off, feeling the need to clarify things before she began to read too much into it, “It wasn’t any kind of special preference. I would have saved anyone else just the same.”

Wow.

Lacy nodded her head, trying to remain strong even though her heart was doing the whole breaking thing all over again. Why had a part of her still clung desperately to the hope that she’d suddenly be wanted? The Lyken King had been giving her all the signs… everything to let her know that he wasn’t interested—that he’d never be, and still some crazy part of her had dared to dream. She didn’t even know why she was hurting… especially when it was all for the better anyway, and so she did her best to hide it, masking all her emotions under one big, dazzling smile. “Very well. I understand all of that… and I respect your decision. As a matter of fact, it actually makes me glad, because I can finally be done with this part of my life. I can go back and replace my human family… you know, meet someone who isn’t supernatural… you know? Settle down, have kids….”

Now why did the thought of her with another man annoy him so?

“Right, right, right…” Reed cut her off, already irritated with the line of conversation, “Here’s the thing though, you can’t leave. You already know too much about us, and so you’re going to be staying here with us, Lacy.” He announced calmly.

“Like hell I am,” Lacy shot back, standing up in incredulity, her plate of meat and veggies long forgotten. “You can’t keep me here? Th—that’s kidnapping!”

“Uhm, I actually think I can though,” the Alpha King countered cheekily, “You forget, Miss Reynolds… that this is my kingdom after all, and that I can do whatever I please.”

She raised her head haughtily at him, her green eyes shining bright with pride and promise, “I will escape if I have to—”

“And I would like to see you try.” He smirked, shooting back, blue eyes shining with the thrill of a chase. “Make no mistake, Lacy Reynolds… I won’t hesitate to throw you back in the dungeons if you do not cooperate, so do think about it,” He headed for the door, opening it, “before you do something stupid.”