I Bought A Male Escort, Turns Out He's The Lycan King (by lg savage) novel Chapter 242

Chapter 242

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Hunter didn’t stop running until the cabin lights came into view through the trees, even with my shadows trying to drag me backwards the whole way. Every few steps, they clawed at the ground behind us, straining towards whatever called me, but Hunter only tightened his grip and kept going.

Even then, he only slowed because Mal got ahead of us and threw his hand out towards the front steps.

Power rolled off him in violent waves, sealing something deep into the ground around the house. It hit so hard I heard a crack in the air.

“Inside,” Mal barked.

Hunter hit the porch in two strides and shoved the door open with his shoulder. The second his bare foot hit the wood, my shadows snapped back into me as if something had cut them off. I gasped, clutching my chest.

He carried me straight through the cabin into the main room, setting me down only when April had dragged the blankets off the backrest, and Nathan shoved the coffee table out of the way.

The second Hunter let go of me, the cold rushed back. I folded forward, gripping the edge of the couch as pain seared through my chest again. It felt like something hooked behind my ribs was being reeled in inch by inch.

“Kitty.”

Hunter dropped to one knee in front of me, and his hands hovered near my arms like he wanted to touch me but wasn’t sure if I’d let him.

“Katerina,” I corrected automatically, though the word came weak.

His jaw flexed once.

“Tell me where it hurts.”

“Everywhere.”

I wasn’t being dramatic. My chest burned, my bones ached, and my skin felt too tight over whatever had woken beneath it. Even breathing felt wrong, like my body had forgotten the proper rhythm.

Malcolm came in behind us and slammed both palms against the inside wall beside the front door. I’d seen him do that before, but this time, the red pulse beneath his palm was brighter. A deeper red than before. The magic rolled through the room so strongly that it brushed across my skin even through the pain.

Silver markings spread across his hands and over the wood like veins. The wards around us surged as he reinforced layer after layer. Nathan rushed around, locking windows and checking all the rooms as if this was something they’d rehearsed. April moved around him, lighting candles when the lights flickered, dragging more blankets to wrap them around me, still not meeting my gaze.

And Kostas just stood to the side, watching them both with a look I couldn’t read. There was no urgency in his

14:02 Tue, May 19

Chapter 242

posture, no panic at all.

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After what felt like forever, the laughter that had echoed outside finally cut off, the pain in my chest eased enough for me to breathe properly again, and I slumped back on the couch. Mal released the wall and staggered against it, breathing hard as sweat dripped down his face. He looked pale, but his eyes sparked with a strength I knew I would never match. His whole body seemed to hum with it.

“They can’t reach you again,” he said.

He was so certain that I almost believed him.

April rushed back into the room and shoved a mug of something hot into my hands, and I was startled to see they were shaking too badly to hold it steady. The disconnect between my head and my body was harder to ignore. What happened should have terrified me. Adrenaline should have been flooding my veins. My wolf should have been clawing to the surface, ready to hunt whatever had come for me.

Instead, I sat there watching the liquid tremble in the mug as if all of that had happened to someone else.

April handed a couple of blankets to the brothers next. Her cheeks flushed when Nathan wrapped one around his naked body. Kostas’ gaze stayed on them a second too long.

I forced myself upright and fixed my stare on my brother.

“You said I’m running out of time.”

Kostas looked at me from across the room, his face unreadable. His neck was bruised where I’d grabbed him.

“You are.”

Everyone in the room exchanged looks before settling on the couches. They obviously knew more than I did. Since Nathan was here instead of his lodge, my guess was they were the ones who’d brought me. Hunter sat beside me, keeping only a small gap between us. Possessive habit, protective instincts. It was the same to me. I could still feel him through that space.

“Explain.”

I sat back and listened to what Kostas said. The three witches had anchored themselves to me to grow their magic. They didn’t care whether I lived or died in the process, only that I was strong enough to make them stronger.

My fists clenched in my lap. For the first time since I’d woken in the woods, my wolf stirred, and I felt her rage flare before the strange magic wrapped around her again, cutting her emotions off from mine.

“To what end?” I asked. “Why do they want all this power?”

They were already stronger than anyone I’d ever encountered.

“I don’t know,” Kostas said. “Greed. Maybe revenge.”

“Revenge?”

14:02 Tue, May 19

Chapter 242

“Descendents of the Ironclaw pack have a lot of pent-up…rage.”

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Kostas looked at Nathan as he said this. The room temperature dropped a few degrees; I felt it even through the cold already trapped in my body.

I ignored their uncomfortable history and circled back to my earlier question.

“Why did you say I was running out of time?”

Kostas’ gaze shifted back to me.

“Because they can already control you. They can drag you wherever they are without you even realising it’s happening.”

I thought of waking barefoot in the woods and the blank memory.

“But we’re safe here now,” I said, glancing at Mal. “Right?”

“The only thing protecting you earlier was my barrier,” Mal said. “They can’t get in physically, but they can still pull you out. You’re only safe from their influence only while you remain inside this cabin.”

“If they can’t get in, what was that behind the roots?” Hunter asked.

“Magic,” Nathan answered. “Their magic can breach wards even if they can’t. But I don’t think that was their full strength.”

“It wasn’t,” Mal confirmed. “The wards around the property did what they were meant to do.”

Then he looked at me more closely.

“But now that Kat mentioned it, I’m curious, too. Why her? It can’t only be because she’s a white wolf.”

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