The Lycan King and his Dark Temptation novel Chapter 73

VALERIA

“Really?! How lucky!” Dave grabbed her shoulders, leaning in cheerfully.

“Do it for me. I love personalized things! No, wait, even better—you’ll be my maid from now on!”

“What?” Juliette raised her eyes for a second to look at him, and I saw something in her expression I had never noticed before.

She always teased the other lycans, but now that I thought about it, she had never said anything about Dave.

So this was her weakness, I thought maliciously, already plotting how to pay her back for all her teasing.

“I’ll be waiting for you in my room then, maid… What’s your name?”

“Ju… Juliette, sir…”

“Good, July. You’re mine from today,” he nodded, deciding for himself—typical lycan behavior.

“But I…”

“Hey, Valeria! We’re going on a run through the woods this afternoon. Meet us by the lake, we’re one person short. I think His Majesty will be there too—you have to be on my team!”

He added before dashing down the hallway like the hurricane of energy he always was.

“So… Guardian Dave, huh?”

“If you say one more word, I’ll spill the truth about the shirt… Your Highness, the Queen…” she threatened, speaking fast before practically running off down the opposite end of the hallway.

“Watch out for complications!” I called after her, laughing, though I honestly couldn’t imagine those two as a couple.

Then I remembered how promiscuous Dave was and worried about Juliette’s poor heart.

Well, look who’s suddenly worried about someone else’s heartbreak—the mistress of Lord Orgies himself.

*****

“I’m sorry, Lady Valeria. You are not permitted to enter the servants’ quarters or perform heavy domestic tasks.”

That afternoon, bored out of my mind, I decided to help with some laundry, but the housekeeper stopped me, unyielding.

“But… Housekeeper, I…”

“I’m sorry, ma’am. His Majesty gave explicit orders. You must discuss it with him,” she replied with her usual stern but respectful tone, even addressing me as Lady.

Truthfully, I felt a bit embarrassed, especially with the other maids watching from behind her, their faces filled with all kinds of expressions.

Astonishment, surprise, mockery—but mostly, envy.

“Fine. Then I guess I’ll stay a bit longer,” Aldric replied, never taking his eyes off me.

I approached the group of towering men a bit shyly. I still wasn’t used to this overwhelming amount of testosterone.

Celine stood nearby, with Quinn close to her.

“I propose the two females pick their team members and act as captains,” Erik, the handsome, laid-back lycan with long black hair, suggested.

“No, I think we should be together. That way, I can support her. Valeria doesn’t know how to run the course,” Celine suddenly said.

“Why would you need to support her? Valeria will be on my team. She’s going with me,” Aldric declared with absolute confidence.

I had no idea what made him so sure.

I also had no clue what this game was about, but suddenly it seemed pretty interesting. Some sort of competition between two teams.

Somehow, I ended up as the captain of one team… and Dave the other.

Each of us had to pick our players.

And some, like a certain king, were way too sure about which side they’d be on.