Bought by the Beast King (Katerina and hunter) novel Chapter 180

Chapter 180

KAT

The forest thinned and died within moments.

One moment, thick, lush trees pressed in on either side of the road, still heavy with blood and magic. The next, the dry, withered trees on my father’s territory blurred past my window looking brittle and lifeless, a pale imitation of the Lycan kingdom we’d just left behind.

Nathan didn’t say a word.

Any sound would have shattered me. I focused on my breathing instead, counting each inhale, each exhale, afraid that if 1 let my thoughts settle, they would drag me under. My mind felt fragile, as if it had splintered at the edges.

After what felt like an eternity, the drawbridge rose ahead of us. My stomach twisted. In moments. I’d have to face my family. I’d have to explain about Hunter. I’d have to explain why had Kostas in the back of the car. My breaths came in too fast, my chest tightening, until I forced myself to stop thinking again.

Not thinking was safer.

The drawbridge lowered with a groan, and we crossed the murky moat into the empty streets. There were no people, no movement. Just decay and silence. And then I felt it. It wasn’t relief, and it wasn’t the safety I was supposed to feel coming. home. It was a heavy weight that sank into my bones, reminding me that this was far from over. My pack was gone, and the land was still dead. Nothing here could survive on what little it offered.

I didn’t even know if we could turn things around, or if this was the end for the Lordswoods.

Like it was the end for Hunter and me.

My thoughts circled back, and my fists curled in my lap as I tried to numb myself again. Nathan shifted slightly in the driver’s seat, and my body reacted instantly, but I didn’t turn from the window. Every muscle still hummed from leftover power, the echo of the things I’d just done but didn’t want to think about. I was hyperaware, my senses still heightened in ways they had never been before. I couldn’t run from them. I couldn’t run from myself.

The gates creaked open ahead of us, and my muscles coiled tighter. I hadn’t wanted to spend a second longer in Hunter’s house, so I was still caked in blood. It had dried along my ribs and thighs, smeared on my face and in my hair. The car reeked of it. Mine. The Lycans. Kostas’s.

The tyres crunched over gravel, the sound too loud in the quiet as the car finally stopped in front of the castle. Home. would never be the same again.

That red ooze was gone from it, but it would never leave me. It clung to my memory, to the images that flashed behin eyes. The blood, the screams, the way it felt to end lives without hesitation. How many souls would not rest in peace bet of me?

And then my thoughts circled again to the forest, to the Lycans d killed. To the monster I had become. Like Hunter.

The truth sat heavily in my chest. I was a hypocrite.

“We’re here,” Nathan said quietly.

I was startled despite,the softness of his voice. But I stared ahead at the castle doors that were not opening, not responding to him.

I walked deeper into the castle, past halls where I’d learned to lower my eyes and submit, past doors where decisions had been made for me, past memories tangled with Kostas. At the foot of the stairs to my rooms, I stopped.

What if everything were still the same? What if there had been no one left to clean the blood and bury the dead?

I turned from the stairs and walked further, to the inner keep, the other stairs. Then I walked slowly, counting every step, staring down at my feet caked in blood and mud. The sight of me would invite questions I was not ready to answer. I should have showered first, but I couldn’t think past putting one foot in front of the other.

The hallway to my parents’ quarters smelled of cleaning products. Relief loosened something inside me as I walked down. ignoring the cracked walls and the stained stone. When I reached their door, I didn’t knock.

I found my parents in their sitting room, sitting together, still gaunt and pale, but alive. The sight of them tore something open in me. I let out a shuddering breath, and for the first time since I found out about Hunter, I allowed myself to feel.

“Princess?” Father said as he released Mother and came towards me.

My strength vanished. I dropped to my knees, finally breaking.

I’d mated the Lycan King. He’d betrayed me. And walking away from him still hurt so badly that I wasn’t sure how to keep breathing.