The Lycan King's Second Chance Mate: Rise of the Traitor's Daughter-Chapter 185: The Goddess of Fire and Fury

Griffin~

I stayed in the room longer than I care to admit.

After Zane—Cole Lucky—humiliated me in front of Natalie with that smug confidence and that soul-shattering stare, I wanted the floor to swallow me whole. I knew what I had done to Natalie in the past, and Zane made damn sure I remembered it. Not with words—but with the way he stood between us like she was his entire world.

It stung.

I was her mate once. I was supposed to be her protector, her future alpha. But I rejected her... because I was a coward. Because of Darius and his mark on her skin. Because she didn’t have a wolf then. Because I was blind and stupid and everything a leader shouldn’t be.

And now, she was so much more than any of us.

I curled tighter on the guest bed, my jaw clenched, my fists burning against my own skin. Outside the room, I could hear people bustling around, but I couldn’t bring myself to face any of them—not when my insides felt like ash.

Then it started.

The first rumble shook the windows like a distant quake. I sat up, heart pounding, blinking at the wall like it would explain something. Then came the second explosion—closer this time, sharper, almost angry.

I froze.

Shouts echoed through the hallway. Running footsteps. Screams. Something—someone—slammed into a wall. A guard? Furniture shattered. Another explosion rocked the floor beneath my feet, and I could swear I heard someone cry out in pain.

What the hell was going on?

I hesitated, but then a scream tore through the house—raw, terrified, and real. My instincts overrode my shame. I leapt to my feet and flung the door open.

Chaos.

The hallway was torn apart. Walls cracked. Smoke coiled from the corners. Burnt claw marks gouged deep into the wood. And blood—so much blood—splattered the floor, the ceiling, even the damn chandelier that now hung lopsided.

I stumbled back a step. My wolf roared in my head, but I shoved him down. I had to move. Had to see.

I rushed down the corridor, dodging a half-burned body of a guard slumped against the banister. Not one of ours. This one wore black and gold—royal colors.

Palace guards?

I burst through the shattered front doors and into the courtyard—

And everything I thought I knew about power unraveled.

There she stood.

Natalie Cross.

The girl I once dismissed, abandoned, rejected.

She was not that girl anymore.

Gold fire bled from her skin, weaving through her veins like stardust and wrath. Her eyes glowed like the center of a dying star—bright, unforgiving, ancient. Her hair whipped around her face, caught in the wind she controlled with the flick of her fingers.

Blood covered her bare arms—some of it hers, most of it not. Around her, the bodies of at least a dozen palace guards lay dismembered, their armor shattered, their weapons nothing more than twisted metal.

And still... she stood.

A storm in human form.

And she was winning.

"Goddess," I whispered, breath stolen from my lungs.

But she wasn’t alone.

Five of them surrounded her—beings of such divine presence that even the earth bowed under their weight. Her brothers. The gods.

Jacob—Mist—stood in front of her, radiating calm authority, but I saw the strain in his posture. I’d only heard whispers about him, legends too wild to believe... until now.

Fox circled her with fire dancing on his palms, eyes gleaming with mischief and fear. Eagle hovered above, silver wings slicing through the sky, trying to pin her with gusts of wind.

Bubble raised glowing hands, vapor coiling like smoke around his fingertips, while Tiger—massive, silent, and terrifying—stood back like a wall of death.

They weren’t just fighting her.

They were trying to contain her.

And she... was not backing down.

I crouched behind a broken pillar, heart hammering, too stunned to even shift. From this distance, I could hear their voices—raw, strained, desperate.

"Natalie!" Jacob shouted, holding up a glowing shield as she hurled a blast of energy at him. "This isn’t the way!"

"You think I care what’s right anymore?" she snapped. Her voice didn’t sound human—it rang like a bell forged in stars, echoing through my bones. "My son bled, Jacob! My son!"

"You’re stronger than this!" Bubble called out, dodging a whip of gold light that shattered the earth beside him.

"I’m done being strong. I want revenge!"

Fox appeared beside her in a blur, trying to grab her wrist. "You’re gonna level the whole estate, Natalie—"

"GOOD!"

A burst of energy knocked him off his feet. He hit a tree, bark splintering beneath him. Tiger caught him before he could hit the ground fully.

She was outnumbered. Surrounded.

And she was terrifyingly beautiful.

My breath caught as I watched her hurl herself at Eagle midair, grabbing his wing and dragging him to the ground like he weighed nothing.

Even Jacob’s shield flickered.

Even Tiger shifted his stance.

Natalie fought like a divine blade, cutting through gods and ghosts with the fury of a mother wronged, a woman burned too many times by this world.

And me?

I could only watch—ashamed, breathless, in awe.

I should’ve been there for her. Should’ve never rejected her. She had always been fire—I just hadn’t seen it back then. And now, she burned brighter than anyone ever could.

The moment stilled for a second. Jacob raised both hands, calling out in that deep, grounding voice of his.

"Natalie. Little moon. Please. Breathe."

Her body trembled.

Golden flames danced off her skin.

She looked at her hands, covered in light, shaking. I saw it—the break in her expression. The pain behind her power.

"I—I don’t know how to stop it," she whispered. "It’s all coming back. All of it."

Jacob stepped forward—calm, steady, the eye in a divine storm. There was something ancient in his presence, something unshakable. Brave. Gentle. Like he wasn’t just standing in front of a goddess unraveling—he was daring the chaos to touch him.

"You’re not that broken girl anymore," he said, voice low but full of weight. "You’re not their victim. You’re divine, Natalie. But don’t let your power become your prison."

"I can’t," she choked out, trembling, golden light threading through the cracks in her voice. "I can’t let them hurt him again."

Jacob reached for her hand—anchoring her, grounding her like only he could. "Then don’t," he said softly. "But don’t become what they made you to survive."

Her expression flickered. Fury, grief, doubt—all of it warred behind her eyes. She looked torn in half, like the battle wasn’t just around her—it was inside her. And then—

She vanished.

No flare of light. No dramatic flash.

Just... gone.

Like morning mist disappearing under sunlight.

Jacob’s breath hitched. His eyes sharpened. "She’s headed for the palace," he said grimly.

Fox groaned from where he knelt in the rubble, holding a fractured rib. "Fantastic. So now we’re chasing an emotionally unstable, wind-scorching little sister. Again."

"She’s going for the King," Bubble muttered, his voice thin. Dread, thick in every word.

Tiger didn’t say anything. Just turned toward the skies, shoulders rolling as he shifted into a beast so massive the earth itself shuddered under his weight.

Jacob’s tone dropped to something razor-sharp. "We have to reach her before she does something she’ll never come back from."

And with that, they were gone—they disappeared like smoke chasing after the storm wearing Natalie’s face.

I stayed behind.

Kneeling.

Breathing in smoke and blood.

Shaking.

Everywhere I looked, there was destruction. Burned trees, collapsed stones, dismembered guards reduced to dust and ruin.

All because of her.

Natalie Cross.

The girl I rejected. The girl I once called wolfless.

She wasn’t that girl anymore.

She had become dangerous. Divine. Untouchable.

Terrible and beautiful all at once.

And the worst part?

I’d never stopped loving her.

Not even for a second.

The first twenty minutes after she vanished, everything was still chaos—but it was quiet chaos.

Like the world was holding its breath.

I wandered through what was left of the estate, my mind struggling to reboot. I kept replaying everything I’d seen—Natalie’s glowing form, her rage, the way she held her own against gods. And then how she disappeared like a wisp of lightning.

I thought I’d seen it all.

Turns out—I’d only scratched the surface.

I leaned against a cracked marble pillar, trying to calm my breathing, heart pounding like a punches.

That’s when it happened.

Pain.

White-hot, tearing pain like someone reached into my chest and squeezed.

I gasped, clutching my heart. My knees buckled.

Then came the scream.

It ripped out of me before I could stop it—raw, primal, unfiltered agony. My vision twisted. The world spun like a carousel from hell. Everything turned into smears of red and gold and black.

Then—

Nothing.

Just silence.

Darkness.

And the last thing I remembered was her name on my lips.

Natalie.

My Natalie.

Even if I never deserved her.