Vanished Sisters The Lycan King's Slave Island novel Chapter 48

Vanished Sisters: The Lycan King’s Slave Island

Chapter 48

Natasha’s POV

Darkness.

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Thick and suffocating, like drowning in black water.

I floated in it, suspended in some space between consciousness and oblivion. No sense of time. No sense of my body. Just the darkness and a

distant, throbbing pain that pulsed through me like a heartbeat.

Am I dead?

Is this what death feels like?

But then-

Something.

A flicker of light in the distance. Pale. Cold. Like moonlight filtering through storm clouds.

I moved toward it-or it moved toward me, I couldn’t tell which. The darkness peeled back in layers, and suddenly I was standing in a place I

recognized.

The King’s den.

The stone walls. The bars. The overwhelming smell of blood and musk and something wild.

But it was different somehow. Cleaner. The blood was gone. The bars were intact. And there was light-pale silver light that came from

nowhere and everywhere at once.

And in the center of the den, standing with his back to me, was a figure.

A man.

Tall. Broad-shouldered. Dark hair that fell past his shoulders in waves.

He wore nothing. Just bare skin that seemed to glow faintly in the strange light.

I took a step forward, my feet making no sound on the stone floor.

“Who are you?” I called out.

He didn’t turn. Didn’t acknowledge me at all.

I moved closer. Another step. Another.

I need to see his face. I need to know-

“You shouldn’t be here,’ he said. His voice was deep. Rough. Like gravel being dragged over silk.

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Chapter 48

“Where is here?” I asked.

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“My mind.” He still didn’t turn. “Or yours. I can’t tell anymore.”

I was almost close enough to touch him now. Close enough to see the way his muscles moved beneath his skin. The scars that crisscrossed his

back in a pattern that looked almost deliberate.

“Turn around,” I said. “Let me see you.”

“You don’t want to see me.”

“Yes, I do.”

“No.” His voice hardened. “You don’t. Trust me.”

But I reached out anyway. My hand touched his shoulder-

And he turned.

I gasped.

It was the face from that night. The face I’d glimpsed for just a moment when the beast had shifted back to human form after-

After-

After he raped me.

But I’d barely seen it then. Barely registered it through the pain and shock and terror.

Now I could see every detail.

Strong jaw. High cheekbones. A nose that had been broken at least once. Lips that were surprisingly full, almost sensual.

And eyes-

God, those eyes.

They were the same burning red as the wolf’s. But in this human face, they were somehow worse. More intense. More aware.

And yet-

There was something in them. Something beyond the rage and the hunger

Pain.

Unbearable, endless pain.

“You,” I breathed.

“Me,” he agreed. His expression was unreadable. “Though which me you’re seeing, I couldn’t say. The man I was? The beast I am? The thing in

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Chapter 48

between?”

“What do you mean?”

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He smiled-a bitter, humorless thing that didn’t reach those tortured eyes “It doesn’t matter. None of it matters anymore.”

He reached out suddenly, his hand cupping my cheek. His touch was surp singly gentle. Warm.

“You survived,” he murmured, his thumb tracing the line of my jaw. “I did’t think you would. Didn’t think anyone could survive what I did to

you.’

1- My voice caught. “I don’t know how.”

“Neither do I. His other hand came up, framing my face between his pals. “But I’m… glad. That’s not the right word. But it’s close enough.”

He leaned in closer, his forehead nearly touching mine.

‘I’m sorry,” he whispered. “For what it’s worth. I’m sorry.”

And then his lips brushed mine-

Soft-

Achingly soft-

And I felt myself falling-

Falling-

Falling into darkness-

I woke with a gasp, my eyes flying open.

Where-

The ceiling above me was unfamiliar. Rough stone, crisscrossed with wooden beams. A single small window high up on the wall let in weak

afternoon light.

I was in a bed. A narrow cot, really, with rough blankets pulled up to my chin. The mattress beneath me was thin and lumpy, but clean.

This isn’t the storage room. This isn’t where I-where he-

I tried to sit up and immediately regretted it. Pain lanced through my abdomen, sharp and immediate. My whole body ached like I’d been

beaten with clubs.

But it wasn’t the agonizing, world-ending pain from before. This was… manageable. Painful, yes, but bearable.

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