Traded To The Lycan King

*Merikh*

My neck throbs in pain as I frown at Ezrah. This is someone I trust, someone I considered to be a friend or at least friendly, even when the council refused to be that way with me. But Colette is right to question him and where his allegiance stands. Too much is happening, too much doesn't make sense and he might just be that missing piece.

Hybrid Lauren wasn't created on purpose. She was an accident, but who the hell put her back together enough for her body to heal? There is so much that doesn't make sense.

Things that go against the natural law or things we understand as supernatural beings. My head hurts and a wave of exhaustion floats over me, lingering just out of reach to shoo away or catch and nap off.

"You are choosing our side?" Colette asks Ezrah, who looks sad, but he nods in agreement.

"Yes,"

"Why?" she retorts, her eyes narrowed as she waits for the truth.

"Fae have special gifts, and jobs we take seriously," he explains.

"I already know that." She grits out and he frowns.

"And you know that I have the ability to move very fast, to deliver messages and talk my way out of situations."

"Not doing a very good job of talking yourself out of this one," she snorts, and he shakes his head in disbelief.

“Luna, I am trying very hard to be cordial."

I sigh, a heavy exhale as I punch the bridge of my nose.

"We don't need cordial, we need honesty." I tell him and he nods solemnly.

"I know." he paces over to a chair and plops down, looking torn. "This has been my life for hundreds of years, this is what people with my abilities do. To share with you secrets I have been sworn to protect is breaking everything I know and believe. I will have no family after this."NôvelDrama.Org exclusive content.

Colette softens in her anger and she frowns before she reaches out and takes my hand in hers.

"Ezrah, if you choose to stay out of matters, it is likely you will have no family at all. I don't think Giselle will stop with just me. She has Lily, and she had Lauren. Who knows who else she has on her side that is coming to what? Capture me? Make use of me elsewhere?"

"There is no one else," He says and I furrow my brows, for the first time unsure if I trust his words.

"I disagree." I say simply, and his brows lift in slight surprise.

"If there is, then it is not someone I know, or I have at least not yet been made aware of who it might be." He corrects his words.

I frown, watching his movements closer. Every dart of his eyes or rise and fall of his chest raises suspicion now. What if Ezrah is lying or what if he doesn't know of someone else because he is that someone else?

"Have you worked with Giselle since everything has happened?" I ask him.

Colette entwines her hands with mine as we watch his jaw tighten and his eyes close in guilt as he nods his head.

"Yes."

"Is it possible that Lily has control over you, like the others?" Colette asks, and he looks intrigued by the idea before shaking his head from side to side.

"She can not control me like she does the others. I have been neutral and due to the nature of my travels, I would be too far from her to be effective," he admits. "That and I have spoken with Giselle, but never Lily. She is a traitor to my kind."

"So you do have some honor," I scoff.

“Alpha, my kindness and friendship with you has been real, and at every turn, when I felt something was amiss, I would do my best to leave hints or clues to help you with my abilities." He says, his face filled with torment and guilt. "I truly believe your kind has been mistreated for too long."

I clear my throat, looking over at Colette as she meets my eyes. Her emotions flow freely between us, hers melding with mine as we make these decisions together. She can feel the deep-seated trust I have for the fae before me and I, her wariness.

"Are you sure you wish to choose sides?" I ask him and he nods.

"This has gone on too long, and for someone to tamper with my memory, to use me to deliver an assassination attempt...it is time I choose a side as many of my kind have been forced to do." His demeanor changes, growing more frustrated with the situation the more he talks about what happened to him out loud. As if he is finally acknowledging the breach of his covenant.

Colette lets go of my hand and moves over toward him, her head tilting as she assesses Ezrah before she reaches out and waits for his hand. A curious frown tugs at his face before he looks at me for what to do. I can't help but chuckle.

"Shake it," I urge him. "You are committing to fighting with us. Handshakes are binding, like a contract."

He takes it, standing from his chair and shakes it. Colette smiles a sly smile, then looks at me and back at Ezrah.

"Welcome to the war." She says.

"Thank you? I guess?" He says back, making Colette shake her head.

A ghastly scream breaks the moment apart as I look out the window as the sun grows lower in the sky. I try to shoot up from my bed, but my legs give out like wet noodles and I tumble to the ground with a grunt.

Two sets of hands lift me, setting me on the side of the bed as I breathe through the pain that feels like a steel sponge dragging through the insides of my veins. Colette's touch helps to ease it slightly, making it much less jarring, but I look to Ezrah for an explanation of both the sound and the pain.

"What the hell is happening to me?" I ask him.

"A cleansing. One of air and light," he says, as if that makes total sense and I should follow the explanation.

"Right, care to explain?" Colette asks, her brows tugging together.

elket

"My gift is the ability to move at the speed of light. I can bend air and light to my will, in only certain instances. In this case, I forced it through your veins to kill the vampire...genes?... cells? Whatever you wish to call them. In order to save you and your lycan. And the screaming is Lauren."

I snap my head up, meeting his gaze.

"Lauren is still here?" I ask him, and he nods solemnly.

"She is indeed," Ezrah says.

"Lauren is only a vampire, her lycan is dead. She is now hiding as the sun slowly creeps into her hiding spot."

My stomach twists at the thought of her sitting there alone and waiting for her death to creep up on her. Her second death. An overwhelming urge takes over and I lick my lips, afraid to ask Colette for this favor. The one to take me to my ex and sit with her as she dies.

"It's fine." Colette whispers, a soft encouraging smile on her face. "If you need the closure-"

I bark out a laugh, realizing she feels my emotions, but she has seriously misinterpreted them.

"It's not the closure I need, my little luna. I just want to know the bitch is really dead this time. To see her turn to dust and know she can't come back as some crazy ass unheard of hybrid."

“Crazy ass unheard of hybrid, huh?" she arches her brow and I smirk.

"She was made. You were born. You are just an unheard of hybrid, no crazy ass about you." I amend and she smiles, standing.

“Ezrah, could you help me get him outside?" She asks, and he nods, looping my arm over his shoulder as he lifts me and she grabs my waist, helping me walk.

We find everyone standing on the porch looking out at the boulder in the distance, the occasional trickle of smoke and squeal as Lauren's last day comes to an end.

"This feels wrong," Melody whispers.

"Lauren killed my father, betrayed our kind, and was sentenced to death. For some reason, she cheated death, and this time...she can not escape it." I tell her and she frowns, her eyes settling on Lauren before she looks away, wincing.

"Mom, this is different from the torture you experienced." Colette whispers, moving over and taking her mother's hand. "Lauren is evil, just as bad as

Giselle."

She nods in understanding.

"Even our plan for Giselle seems less inhumane than this," she says.

I understand her thought process and her bleeding heart. This is something I have to witness, and it doesn't make me a bad person. It makes me a damaged one looking for the chance to heal, and this is the final step in that process.

"We have a plan?" Caspian asks.