The Lycan King and his Dark Temptation novel Chapter 115

VALERIA

She started walking again toward the Vampire King. I knew it—he was deceiving them by drinking my mother’s blood, the one that had been meant for me. She was confused, guided only by the instinct of the bond she had left behind to strengthen me.

"I have your blood too, Gabrielle! How can you not recognize your own daughter?!" I shouted, furious.

All the guardians were now turning toward me—suddenly, I was the intruder. The Vampire King was disguising himself as one of them, as a Selenia, and Gabrielle's blood was far more powerful than my flawed power.

What do I do? Damn it, what do I do? I was going to die for sure. I could never withstand their attack, and while I perished, he would steal the heart.

That’s it—the heart!

I looked toward the unguarded fountain. The seconds were slipping away. I had to make a decision—now.

“Steal the heart, Valeria! Take it and free your mother, hurry!” The voice inside the pendant urged me to do something reckless.

I spread my wings and flew like the wind. In the face of so much Selenia power, I stretched my sharp claws and dug into the stones and silver, feeling the surge of magical energy coursing through my fingers as I grasped it in my hand.

Screams and wails erupted behind me, the splashing of feet and the powerful presence of the guardians rushing toward me. I flapped my wings harder than ever before, flying frantically back along the path, adrenaline pumping through my veins, my lungs burning as the guardians chased me, desperate to recover what they had guarded so jealously for millennia.

The prison bars trembled, the entire realm quaked, and the barriers grew thinner. In the far-off darkness, I heard the roar of something terrifying—enough to make even the bravest tremble with fear.

But I never looked back. As the ruins crumbled behind me, I only pressed the searing power against my chest and fled.

The piercing sound of a door slamming shut reached my ears—the entrance was sealing off, the only way out I knew of from this place. Without hesitation, I launched myself into the same abyss I had crossed to reach the island, pushing my wings to their limit.

Every inch of my body ached, my mouth hung open in desperate gasps for air, my dwindling power stretched beyond anything I had ever forced it to do.

As I left the island behind, anguished cries echoed in the distance, and for a brief second, I dared to look back. Statues of women called out to me, stretching their hands, kneeling, trying to pull me back—begging me to return, to prevent catastrophe. But I wouldn't go back. I was sorry, but I wouldn’t die here.

"YOU DAMNED ABOMINATION!"

A curse echoed dangerously close, and my heart nearly stopped when I saw the mist chasing after me. The Vampire King had freed himself.

I had to escape. I did everything to trap him inside, he couldn't leave—but the colossal entrance door was nearly shut, with only a small gap remaining.

Darkness surrounded me, specters lurked, my vision blurred, and I lost my sense of direction. The moonlight was smothered by the thickening gloom.

No. No, it couldn’t be. He didn’t have time to escape—no!

But he did. I turned, and in slow motion, I saw the Vampire King charging toward me in a furious rage, ready to kill me on the spot and steal the power of the Selenias.

I braced myself to stand, Quinn and Celine screaming behind me, struggling to break free and help me. I was ready to fight to the death—I was the only one who could defend myself. Or at least, that’s what I thought.

But then, incredibly, a massive raven flapped its wings in front of me, launching itself at the Vampire King.

Feathers turned into fur, the creature’s size increased rapidly, claws stretched longer, and its beak shifted into the snout of a wolf—filled with pure rage.

He roared, shaking every wall of this sanctuary.

"Aldric," I sobbed from my knees, watching the enormous Lycan King charge at the Dark King, fighting him savagely and fiercely—deadly and unstoppable.

Murder was in his every move. He was fighting to the death for me.

He was fighting for us.