Traded To The Lycan King by MG Wattsons

*Hayes*

"What do you want to do with him?" Teiran asks, tipping his chin toward the now grunting ball of roots. Ezrah has

regained sstrength, it appears, as he screams in fury and tries to escape.

"I am more concerned with the dead guy over there." | mutter, holding Kyra in my arms, refusing to put her

down.

It was a dick move to not trust her enough to cback on time. Granted, we were right and we would have

ended up finding her much later had we waited for the girls not to show back up. And considering Flora is not all

that trustworthy, it was hard, even for Teiran, to muster up that trust.

"He showed up out of nowhere." Kyra says, shuddering in my arms as if a chill has run through her.

"Are you cold?" | whisper, and she furrows her brows, shaking her head no.

"When | was trying to trap the guy you are after, | felt like...a cold, wet hold on my mind. Like a soggy blanket

was placed over my powers and someone else was guiding me." Flora says, a shudder running through her as

well.

Teiran givesa look, one that tellshe notices it too, the way both women respond when talking about the

dead man on the ground. After a second of hesitation, | squat down, gently placing Kyra on the ground as | reach

out and tuck her hair behind her ear. She blushes as | stand and walk away, pushing down the fluttering in my

gut.

| circle the body, taking into account that he doesn't smell like our kind or any special kind, really. He is human in

species, but clearly supernatural somehow. Teiran stoops down, poking at the fatal wound in his chest where his

heart should be. | let out a low whistle, leaning over and glancing at it as well.

"Not a great way to go." | mutter, and Teiran chuckles.

"| can think of worse ways,"

"He must be a wizard." | sigh, pushing back the hood and revealing a tattoo on his cheek. We don't run into

many wizards or witches out here, but that doesn't mean they don't hang around or that there isn't a coven

somewhere. "That would make sense, especially with him breaking into Flora's mind." Teiran hums, almost in

thought.

"But why would a random wizard interject himself in a fight that doesn't have anything to do with him?" | exhale

deeply, then drag my hand through my hair. "When all of this started, there were wizards that used magic to

control my kind."

"lI am very much aware of that," Teiran says as he stands. He seems disappointed as he shakes his head. "You

forget | was not exiled then, only demoted in my ranking as my father's shameless lying chosen mate rained

chaos on everything I love."

His face grows red, and his eyes glow golden as steam swirls around him. Teiran has been calm and collected the

entire tsince meeting him on our journey that | forget he has the temper of a dragon, probably because he is

a dragon. "You are right, I did forget." | admit, frowning. "Forgivefor making it seem like | know it all."

"If these fuckers are back in the fray with my father, there is no telling who we can trust." Teiran growls, kicking

the ground as he paces away. | look back at Flora, who walks around where Ezrah is still literally rooted in place,

pressing on spots looking for a weakness. How the hell are we supposed to determine who we trust moving

forward?

My eyes drift to Kyra, finding her watchingwith a curious look. Her head is slightly tilted and her bottom lip

trapped between her teeth as she seems to be processing something.

There is no doubt she has already cto the sconclusion Teiran and | have. With so many obstacles in our

way already, we find ourselves with yet another one. We have captured our prisoner, but now what do we do

with him? Is the egg with him or has he hidden it somewhere?

"Damn it," | grit out, looking away.

"We can't stay here." Teiran says finally. "I doubt he is alone."

He is right, and | know it too. Humans do not wander around very far alone. Magically gifted or not, they are

creatures of companionship, much like my kind or any shifter other than a dragon.

"We need to get moving." | agree, marching toward Kyra and Flora. "Now we just have to figure out how to get

this thing mobile. Or what to do with the thing inside?"

"Can we just...take it like this and deliver it to your king and queen?" Flora asks.

"Alpha and Luna." Kyra corrects her, but Flora doesn't seem to care either way.

"In theory, that would be the best thing. Just drop it off and be gone." Teiran says, as if the thought process is

feasible.

| break into a deep laugh. The

thought of rolling that asshole there

in one of those pet balls the humans put those rats in for running. He would tumble around and around, likely

getting sick and dizzy. But as amusing as it sounds, the thought is incredibly absurd and not at all

possible.

"We will need to break him out and drag him along with us." | tell them, meeting each of their gazes.

"This is the guy that beat your brother, Hayes," Kyra says in a gentle tone to not offend me.

It shouldn't botherthat she underestimates me, she knows pastthat was more words and less fight.

Merikh was always the bigger one, the more skilled fighter. But what I lacked was proper motivation like he had. |

found that when | becthis disfigured monster, | am.

"Merikh gave up." | remind her with a raised brow. "That is something | will never do, for any reason."

"He was going to kill Luna Colette, of course he gave the egg up." She rolls her eyes. "We all know you would

have done the sfor Leandra."

My mouth goes dry, and | press my tongue to my inner cheek, trying to control the rising anger in my chest. She

makes assumptions she has no right to make.

"I have nothing here of importance tothat can be used to sway my actions." | bite out at her, taking two

strides in her direction. Kyra looks away as if | had slapped her with my words, her hair flying out and covering

her face. "Good to know." She whispers.

"Are you dense?" Flora scoffs, looking around at all of us like we are idiots. "We have a freaking dragon." She

points to Teiran, who arches a brow in confusion.

Then she rolls her eyes, groaning in annoyance as she stomps over to the roots and presses her hands to it. The

ground softly rumbles, roots twisting and turning through loops as a handle grows and she falls to her knees,

sucking in air. "Dragon heir turns into dragon. Lifts the damn thing and flies it back for you." She says, her words

soft and breathless. "For being high ranking in your species, you both are slow on the uptake."

"I refuse to let him out of my sight." | argue, my finger pointing at the bulbous wooden cage. "The fucker in there

has led to two years of war and that egg, that bastard... refuse to let them go from my side until they are

delivered to my brother safely." "You could ride him." Kyra offers a twitch of a smile on her lips as | glare at her.

"I have never ridden on a dragon and do not plan on starting that now." | grit out.

"Hate to say it, but | agree with Hayes. Colette riding onwas one thing, but Hayes? No, thank you," He says,

shaking his head like I've offered him the largest spider | could find as a snack.

"Fine." Kyra shrugs. "We can sit here

until I heal and hope no other

wizards or witches show up, then release the bastard so we can fight him. Which | am sure will go

fantastic based on previous

attempts. Then, if we win,

vel.

we

can

drag him all the way back over days

of travel-"

| cut her off with a groan, throwing my hands up in despair.

"What was your original plan?" Flora asks, her nose scrunching in curiosity.

"Kill the fucker, take the egg." | shrug.

"Quick and simple." Teiran mutters, "I like it. | say we go with Hayes' plan."

"Merikh would like him alive." Kyra says, her eyelids falling as she struggles to stay awake. It takes immense

effort to heal a wound, more so to heal a broken bone.

"Well, that's too bad." | shrug, walking toward the wooden orb. "Open this up,"

Flora looks atlike I turned into an alien as she shifts uncomfortably before she stands up and moves toward

Kyra. My, how quickly alliances can shift. | see what is happening and | chuckle bitterly. Of course, this is the shit

that happens.

| should have just kept the rest of

the group with me, but no, my dumbass split us all up and now I'm stuck with a stubborn lycan, a dishonored

dragon and a loopy Fae who lacks serious social skills. To think that this will go in my favor is a pipe dream filled

with gasoline and placed on a damn stove.

"So mutiny, then?" | arch a brow, my spine shivering in anticipation. A fight doesn't sound too terrible, not that |

plan to fight Kyra, but the other two...I wouldn't mind slapping them around a bit.

"Call it what you must," Kyra says, a frown on her pink lips as she glances away, unable to lookin the eye.

"Oh no no, Kyra. If you are going to fuckover, at least dothe service of lookingin the eye." | growl at

her, watching as she flinches.