The Lycan King and his Dark Temptation novel Chapter 25

ALDRIC

I didn’t know how many could be inside the old building, but I entered roaring, ready to cut off heads.

Too late—I was already a step behind. It was obvious they had fled in a hurry.

They must have realized I was closing in on them.

I shifted back into my human form, storming through the dark underground floors, kicking doors open and searching desperately.

Corpses littered the ground everywhere.

Fools who dared to make deals with vampires always ended up like this.

My heart pounded with fear, a feeling I hadn’t experienced in a long time—and even more so when I finally caught her scent.

I ran, descending a narrow staircase through a dim hallway, until I reached a massive cell.

Feminine scents mingled there, and among them, hers—Valeria's. But she was nowhere to be seen.

I spotted a dying body in a filthy corner and approached.

It was a blonde woman with a gruesome stomach wound.

She wasn’t going to make it.

As I knelt closer, I realized this must be the older daughter of that foolish Alpha.

It was only logical it would end like this.

“Where did they take the women from here?! TELL ME!” I commanded, using all the force of my Lycan authority—she was dying anyway.

“S-slave… auct…” Those were her last words before she went limp.

They took her to be sold as a slave, no longer under the protection of a pack, as if she were some rogue exile.

But they made a grave mistake.

That maid is under my damn protection.

She’s mine.

I’d find her no matter what it took—and I’d rip the heads off every bastard who had touched her.

Finally leaving that vampire lair, I shifted into my Lycan form once more, raising my head to catch the thick, bitter chocolate scent of Valeria.

The auction could be held in several abandoned places nearby.

There were too many conflicting scents.

I couldn’t afford a mistake.

Suddenly, something strange happened—the moonlight was blocked out by a massive flock of crows, circling above and cawing wildly.

They swirled in tight loops, then flew off in a specific direction.

I followed them without hesitation, guided purely by instinct, convinced this was the Goddess helping me find Valeria.

But once again, I was too late—she had already been sold.

“Give me that man's information—NOW!” I growled, holding the auction master lifted off the ground by his neck.

Slavery was outlawed in this kingdom, but as long as there were buyers, there would always be secret sellers.

“It’s…here… sir… please, no, I gave you what you wanted! Wait! NOOO—!”

I lowered my bloodstained claws and walked out of the manager’s office.

Corpses littered my path, left behind from my earlier rampage when I slaughtered everyone inside.

“Valeria, please, hold on just a little longer, little one.”

*****

I was at the very end, but I could feel the tug at my neck, dragging me roughly across the dirt.

Everything was chaos—confusing and terrifying. I felt like I was being strangled, clutching at the iron collar to keep from choking.

Screams, curses, the men trying to regain control of the panicked horses.

My body scraped across a trail of blood.

One of the other women had died, and soon, I might join her.

The chain was tangled around the back wheel, tightening further with every jolt, threatening to strangle us before grinding our bodies beneath the carriage.

A horrible scream echoed from the woman in front of me.

“Goddess, why do you always keep me on the brink of death? Just have mercy—end it now, please.”

I begged through my tears, exhausted from fighting.

But the only response was a roar so fierce it shook the heavens and froze the horses in their tracks.

A Lycan. The unmistakable roar of a powerful Lycan.

Thunderous footsteps approached my battered body, struggling for breath on the ground.

I forced my blurry eyes open, and what I saw made my chest tighten with overwhelming relief.

The ultimate form of a werewolf, the final evolution of their kind—invincible and fierce, savage and merciless.

“Aldric…” I whispered, my voice breaking as sobs poured from me uncontrollably.

The colossal Lycan crouched with surprising gentleness, his massive claws prying the iron collar from my raw, bleeding neck.

His strong arms lifted me effortlessly off the ground, careful not to harm me with his claws, holding me like a fragile, broken doll.

I clung to his rough, fur-covered chest, weeping uncontrollably into his warmth.