The Lycan King’s Treasured Luna novel Chapter 2

The tears didn't stop until I had nothing left to cry. I didn't even realize I'd reached the riverbend until the clearing opened before me. Without wasting time, I knelt and began sorting the clothes into piles.

I didn't own much, just a few worn pieces handed down by random pack house members. I couldn't afford to let them pile up. Every day, I had to wash them.

Our pack was small, just about two hundred members. I knew that because every year, Alpha Joe oversaw a census himself. We weren't the only supernaturals, though.

Lycans ruled the seven realms, but people like me had no reason or privilege to ever meet one. The rest of the supernatural world existed in the background of my life, distant, and irrelevant because right now, all that mattered were the clothes beneath my shaking hands.

I scrubbed the clothes harder, pressing my palms into the fabric until my arms trembled. As anger boiled in my chest, flashbacks lashed through me.

Maltreatment. Verbal abuse. Insults. Physical blows. I felt my veins throb violently and a sharp, splitting pain ignited across my forehead like a migraine. It was so intense I thought I'd black out. Then, just as suddenly, it stopped.

By the time I made it back to the house, the sun was retreating behind the horizon.

I heard voices inside and the unmistakable voice of Alpha Joe. Confused, I pushed open the door. Every head at the dining table turned toward me.

"Alpha," I mumbled.

"I've been waiting for you all afternoon, Narine," he said.

"I'm sorry, Alpha. I was doing laundry at the river bend."

"Laundry?" he echoed, puzzled.

"Oh, Joe," Ama intruded sweetly. "Narine's such a clean freak. She complains the washing machine doesn't get things properly clean."

Joe nodded in understanding.

"Anyways," he continued, "I'm here because it's your birthday. It's custom for the Alpha to bless you and pray that Aeryna's spirit sees you through your transformation from man to beast."

I blinked, stunned. The Alpha remembered my birthday. My parents hadn't.

"Thank you, Alpha," I whispered.

"Come, sit. You must be starving." Ama beckoned.

I hesitated, startled by Ama's sudden show of kindness. But I dropped the bags by the door and took the empty seat beside Levon. I couldn't even remember the last time I'd sat here.

There was toast, chicken, prawns, pancakes, pasta, and fruits. I took a single spoonful of pasta.

"Oh, come now, sweetheart," Ama drawled in a cloying voice. "Don't be shy. Joe doesn't mind a little gluttony."

Joe laughed, and I forced a tight smile, doing my best not to react to the thinly-veiled insult. Less than eight hours left, I reminded myself. I could endure that much longer. And then I would shove my fingers right up her smug face.

"Have you always had that mark on your forehead?" Joe asked suddenly.

I touched my forehead, confused.

"What mark?" I asked.

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