The Lycan king-Chapter 39

*Leonora*

I could hear birds chirping and the sound or water. There was a soft gentle breeze dancing on my skin. I gently opened my eyes and was met with the sight of a man dressed in only his pants. He had his back turned to me and all I could see were marks all over him. Who was he and where was I?

The last thing I could remember was falling off the cliff. I didn’t realize before it was too late that I had missed my turn. I remember closing my eyes and succumbing to my death. Everything after that, I couldn’t remember. I slowly sat up and looked around the room. It was a make shift building made with woods and leaves. I didn’t quite understand how it was made. Then again, I wasn’t a construction worker.

"Good morning." I heard him say as he turned to me. I gasped lightly. He reminded me so much of Jax. His hair was grown out and he had the same chiseled chin. I could have sworn they were related but it wasn’t possible that someone like him would be related to Jax. "So what is your name?" He asked with a husky morning voice. I looked down at myself and realized I wasn’t wearing my dress.

"Where is my dress?" I asked and he chuckled. "This is not the time to be funny!" I said as I threw my legs off the makeshift bed.

"Your dress is outside drying." He said as he pointed outside. There was a makeshift rope line where he hung my dress and other clothes. "I found you naked. Your dress must have come off as you fell and washed into the river."

"Oh." My cheeks reddened at his revelation. "I’m Leonora." I said and he nodded. "What’s yours?"

"Luke." He said and I nodded in response. "You’re welcome." He said and I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t thanking him but I was grateful that he saved me. "Why were you on the run?"

"It’s a pretty long story." I said as he sat down on a small tree trunk that acted as a chair. He gestured for me to go ahead and I sighed. "My mate rejected me and sent someone to kill me because I didn’t accept to be his mistress."

"Oh wow. That’s brutal." Brutal was an understatement. Jax had pretty much made it clear that all that I could be to him was a mistress just like that girl he couldn’t even remember her name. It was my fault for believing Jax could feel something other than lust. I couldn’t believe I let him and lust cloud my thoughts. I had planned that my first time would be special. It would be with someone that genuinely loved me. When Jax said he loved me, my wolf was over the moon. I thought we were even going to mate but we didn’t. Maybe that was enough proof that our mate bond was broken and that the moon goddess made a mistake. She should have paired me with anyone else and I would have been happy living a normal life.

"Brutal is not strong enough. If I were to go into details, we’ll be here for days but he hurt me and he thinks I’m not fit enough to be his Queen. Right now, I’d rather be dead than be his Queen." I said as he frowned. He bowed his head for a few moments as if he was thinking. He rose his head and his expression had morphed into realization.

"When you mean Queen, are you trying to say Jax is your mate?" He asked me and I was taken aback. Who was this fine man? How does he know about Jax? "Jax is my younger brother. He banished me after he won the title of King and that’s how I founded The Cave. That was ten years ago." This was too much. Why would Jax banish his own brother? This doesn’t even make any sense! "I can totally understand what you mean when you said he hurt you. He has hurt everyone living in the cave and we will get our revenge someday."

"Wait. I think I need a bit of time to process this. You are Jax’s brother?!" I had so many questions but one that plagued my mind was why I was always getting entangled with Jax. I left him and now I was with his brother. I don’t understand the sick joke the moon goddess was playing.

"Yes, but I don’t like to tell anyone so you better keep your mouth shut. No one knows about it and I’ll love to keep it that way. I can also keep your secret. Tell them I found you trying to escape from rogue wolves and I saved you." He said and I smiled a little. I didn’t want anyone else to know about my baggage. I just wanted to be free of anything Jax related. "But if you want to stay here, you have to join us. We are going after Jax and his pack. Its either you’re with us or I take you back to the river."

"I’m definitely with you. I don’t care about Jax. As long as that toxic hierarchy is over." I said and he nodded smiling at me. Maybe this was fate. After all these years of suffering, I finally found people that could bring down the people that made me suffer.

"Let me introduce you to everyone." He said as he got up and I followed suit. I wore the slippers on the floor and he led me out of the small house. We turned into a corner and I kept seeing more houses until we got to the middle which was a large clearing. There were children playing. Young girls were seated in a corner gossiping, the young guys were playing football. Some women were attending to laundry while some were with their children. The men were at one far end of the clearing, training.

"Welcome to The Cave."