Hazel's POV
The steam curled up around me.
The bath I was lounging in was scented with lavender and something sweeter.
I sat idly in the bath while the heat was seeping into my bones.
I allowed it to wash away the dirt of travel but not the heaviness in my chest.
That could not be washed away by hot scented water no matter what.
Three of the maids fluttered about the bathroom like nervous birds.
One of them was pouring warm water over my hair with shaky hands.
When the bath was done, they took my hands and helped me to step out.
They dried me with soft towels before guiding me into the room.
And after they were done, one of them rubbed fragrant oils into my skin.
The oils smelt faintly of coconut marinated in thyme and other sweet spices.
They combed my hair and adorned it with gold and silver ornaments.
The third maid laid out gowns in rich colors I had never worn before.
There were those of silks, velvets and soft fabrics that felt strange after years of being stuck in coarse dirty dresses.
I couldn't choose one and so the three ended up choosing for me.
I tried to stay still as they helped me into it, but my thoughts clawed inside me.
Slave or salvation.
His words hadn't left me.
Nor had the soft press of his hand around my throat or the swift way my body had betrayed me under his touch.
The gown they chose was the color of midnight, with shiny rhinestones.
It clung to my every of my curves more than I wanted and the neckline was dipping lower than modesty allowed.
"You look like a queen," one of the maids whispered with wide eyes.
I shook my head.
"No. I look like prey that is being dressed for the hunt," I mused sadly.
They didn't argue with me.
They helped me into shoes and showed me myself in the huge mirror.
I stared back at my reflection.
There was a woman who looked confused and unsure of what was going on.
I'll figure it out, soon.
The maid led me out of the bedroom and towards where food was served.
I heard them whispering amongst themselves about how the Lycan King hated tardiness.
The courtyard was already lit with several fire bowls when I entered.
There was a long dining table stretched out under the night sky.
The six elders that I had met before were already seated along the sides.
And at the far end there was high-backed chair carved with wolves and thorns.
That was where he sat.
The Alpha King.
His eyes found me instantly.
The heat in them was undeniable.
It was raw and sharp and it triggered everything inside of me.
Lust veiled his gaze, but beneath it was something else.
It was something older.
It was something hungry.
My breath caught as the bond between us pulled tight like a string snapping taut.
His wolf growled inside of my head.
You are mine.
My wolf rose in answer, low and fierce as the sound rattled inside me.
I am not yours.
His lips curved into a smirk.
"I hope you'll say that when my hands are claiming every inch of you."
His voice was loud in my head and what he implied was even more loud.
I bit down on my lip hard in a bid to stifle the gasp that threatened to spill.
One of the elders cleared his throat.
"Are we to assume, Your Majesty, that both of you are conversing apart from us?"
Blood rushed to my face.
I looked down quickly, my fingers tightening around the edge of my cloak.
Murmurs and soft laughter passed through the crowd asssembled there.
His voice cut through the silence.
It was hard as steel.
"What I share with my match is absolutely none of your concern," he snarled.
The gathering went silent.
Heat instantly flushed through me at the seductive finality in his tone.
"I am sorry, your majesty," the elder was quick to apologize for his actions.
"Keep it to yourself," he sneered. "I never asked you for it," he ended.
The statement seemed harsh.
But before I could recover, a commotion broke out somewhere at the gates.
I turned towards the shouts that echoed through the courtyard.
"What is that?" I heard Thrain as he asked someone from behind me.
"Guards!" One of the elders screamed in obvious reply to his question.
The guards came rushing forward.
"What is it?" He demanded as I turned around to watch them.
"Your majesty," the guard said as he dropped to on knee.
"Speak and stop dilly dallying!" He snapped at him in an impatient tone.
I shook my head slowly.
The Lycan King needed to learn manners because as it seems he skipped the classes.
"An omega has been wounded my lord. The pack doctors can't do anything."
"And?" He pressed.
"They have brought him here with the hopes that the healers at the palace might be able to save his life your majesty."
Thrain let out a growl.
"And you couldn't speak since?!" He bellowed at him.
The guards flinched.
"Let him in and get the palace healers before it is too late!" He ordered.
"Yes your majesty," the guard said, trembling as he stood to his feet.
But, he stumbled and fell.
Thrain groaned in frustration.
"If anything happens to that omega," he thundered a warning, "you'll beat the same fate for your slothfulness."
"I am sorry your majesty," the guard began to apologize. "I am just—"
"Just gooo!" He bellowed.
The guard hurried away to do as he had been instructed by him.
And soon, the omega was brought in.
He was a small and battered boy whose condition made me gasp in horror.
His small body was torn open with wounds that should have killed him.
His breath came out in faint rattles and the blood was soaking through his shirt.
What had happened to him?
That must have been what the gatheing was thinking as they gossiped.
"Silence," the Alpha commanded.
His voice thundered through the air and shook the courtyard into stillness.
The palace healers dressed in whute robes came rushing into the quiet area.
"My lord," they greeted
He gestured toward the omega.
"See to him at once."
The healers hurried towards him just as something else began to stir in me.
It began as a spark in my palms and a heat curling under my skin.
And slowly, it began to burn more and more until I was hissing softly.
I tried to flex my hands, but the glow from it only grew stronger.
My eyes widened in surprise.
What was this?
But it felt like instinct.
It felt like something that had been waiting inside me all my life to awaken.
And before I realized it, I was moving.
"Wait—" one of the elders began.
But I pushed past them with a strength that I never knew I possessed.
That strength wasn't mine.
My body was moving as though it was being controlled by another will.
I knelt beside the boy.
My palms were trembling as I pressed them wide against his chest.
Then, light spilled from my skin.
My head began to bang with a headache I had never felt as something pulsed in me.
I heard the gasps that rose around me as the glow slowly sank into him.
My body grew weak, and it felt like essence was being drained out of me.
But, his breath steadied.
The torn flesh on him began to knit itself together the more I waited.
The blood stopped flowing freely from the wounds which was scattered across his small frame.
And within seconds, his chest was rising strong and even.
His eyes fluttered open.
He blinked severally at me with a confused gaze, and then he spoke.
"Where am I?"
He was alive.
The entire courtyard erupted.
Meanwhile, I raised myself to my feet and found myself staggering backwards.
I simply fell back to my knees to allow my body recover the lost energy.
I was completely breathless while staring down at my own two hands.
I looked up with my confusion to find that the Alpha King was already moving.
His face was pale and his eyes were laced with shock as he approached.
He strode to me and only stopped when he was towering above me where I knelt.
"What did you just do?" He asked me in a whisper and a stunned voice.
"I- I healed him," I stammered.
"That," he whispered to me in a voice that was still rough, "is impossible."
And before I could say another word, he grabbed me by my arm.
He pulled me to my feet and the dizziness inside of my head increased.
"Inside. Now."
The elders were muttering questions behind us, but he ignored them.
He simply dragged me back into the palace and slammed the door shut behind us.
He gently shoved me against the wall the moment we were alone there.
His hands were braced on either side of my head as he took a step closer.
His face was close, too close that his breath was warm against my cheek.
The mate bond roared to life between us as he pressed himself closer.
It screamed between us until every single nerve in my body was alit with fire.
"Tell me," he growled impatiently. "How on earth did you do that Hazel?"
"I—I don't know."
My voice was barely a whisper.
"I- it... it just happened. My hands were burning and glowing, and then…"
His eyes narrowed.
"When did it start?"
"I- I've never done this before," I admitted with shame thick in my throat.
His eyes scanned me and desire pooled in-between my legs in its liquid form.
"After you marked me, something consumed me, that power."
He blinked.
"That's when I felt it."
He stared at me as though I had just confessed to reshaping the world.
The doors behind us burst open and the pack seer rushed in.
His eyes were wide and glowing faintly with an ethereal light.
He stared at me like I wasn't human.
"Who is she?" he whispered.
"I—" I started.
But before I could finish, his body stiffened and his eyes rolled back.
His voice deepened into a strange, distorted tone that sent a chill through me.
"You have awakened the blood of the Forgotten. The monster has found his half, and the key to alleviate his doom."
The room froze.
Thrain's hand pressed hard against the wall beside me with his chest rising and falling, heaving in sharp bursts.
His gaze locked on me, burning with something that I couldn't name.
And my wolf whispered one word.
Doom.