The Lycan King's Second Chance Mate: Rise of the Traitor's Daughter

Chapter 281: A Mother’s Fury

Natalie~

Nathan’s laughter grated against my bones like sandpaper against raw flesh. It echoed in the king’s dark chambers, bouncing off the gilded walls with twisted delight. Each ragged wheeze of his amusement made Jasmine, snarl so loudly in my head that I thought my skull might split in half.

"You think this is funny?" I snapped, my voice trembling with barely contained rage. "Do you think this is a game, Nathan?"

His head lolled back against my grip, his blood-soaked hair smearing thick crimson across my palm. "Oh, little wolf," he rasped out, his teeth bared in a bloodstained grin. "Everything is a game."

Behind me, Zane’s breathing came in jagged, choked gasps. His aura burned so fiercely it felt like standing next to an open furnace. Red, snarled within him, his rage rattling the chandeliers until their crystal teardrops shivered in terror.

"Where is my son?" Zane’s voice was a guttural rasp, shredded and raw, like his throat had been torn open by grief. "Where is Alexander, you sick bastard?!"

Nathan’s eyes rolled towards him, gleaming with unhinged triumph. "Gone," he whispered, "gone forever—"

"That’s it," I said sharply, cutting him off before his madness could infect me further. My stomach twisted in revulsion at his smug expression. I wasn’t about to waste another breath asking a lunatic for answers.

I closed my eyes, inhaling deeply through my nose. Jasmine’s energy coiled inside me, molten gold laced with furious white lightning. Reaching out to the golden threads that tied all living things together, I wove my power into the fabric of the king’s chambers, pulling on the memories imprinted upon the very walls, the floors, the air.

Images flickered before my eyes like an old reel film.

A swirling darkness. Screams cut short. The sickening crunch of bones breaking under invisible force.

I watched as the guards collapsed one by one, their silver-plated armour crumpling like foil under the pressure of an unseen force. Blood sprayed across the king’s embroidered drapes in wide, arcing fans. The servants tried to flee, but shadows snatched them mid-run, snapping their necks with vicious cracks that echoed through the chamber.

And then she appeared.

Kalmia.

My breath hitched, fury and horror coiling in my gut. Her form rippled with obsidian-black smoke, eyes glowing like molten lava, her cruel mouth twisting in amusement as she surveyed the carnage she had wrought.

The demoness sauntered to the king, her claws dripping with fresh blood. With a casual flick of her wrist, she sent him crashing back against the headboard, knocking him unconscious. Then her gaze fell upon Alexander, who lay curled in a blanket on the king’s bed, his tiny face soft and peaceful in sleep.

"Such a precious boy," Kalmia cooed, her voice like shards of glass dragged across metal. "Let’s see how much suffering your parents can bear before they snap."

"No..." I whispered aloud, the image slicing through my chest like a serrated blade.

She scooped Alex into her arms and disappeared in a swirl of black smoke, leaving behind only the scent of sulphur and blood.

My body trembled as the vision faded, replaced with flickering flashes from a different lifetime. Memories I had locked away burst open with violent force, tearing through me.

I was no longer in the king’s chamber. I was standing in a temple carved from moonstone, bathed in silver light. My son—my beautiful Alexander—was running towards me, his hair glinting like woven sunlight, laughter bubbling from his lips.

Then... darkness. Screams. Chains rattling.

A goddess stood over his broken body, her face twisted with spiteful glee. Her eyes burned with jealousy and hatred as she snarled at the Moon Goddess, my mother.

"You mated the mortal I loved with another," she hissed, "so I will make you suffer as I have suffered."

She drove her spear through Alexander’s chest.

My scream in that life had torn the skies apart. I had searched every realm, every life, until I found her. Until I tore her apart with my own claws, rending her divine flesh until there was nothing left but dust and echoes.

The Moon Goddess had made sure that worthless, low-level goddess never saw another dawn. She erased her from existence without a second thought. But Alex... oh, my sweet, beautiful boy... he wasn’t so lucky. He was reborn decades later, far away from me, and I had to endure an entire lifetime without his warmth beside me. Without his laughter filling my days. Without his arms to remind me I was home.

And I will never let that happen again.

Not in this life. Not in any life after this. Never.

My hands curled into fists so tight I felt my nails slice into my palms, sharp little crescents of pain that only fuelled the storm rising inside me. Blood trickled down my fingers, mixing with Jasmine’s power as it erupted within my chest like an untamed wildfire. The air around me began to hum and crackle, silver lightning snaking through every breath I took. With each furious thrum of my heart, waves of shimmering light rippled across my skin, until I was no longer just me.

I was blazing. Radiant. A brilliant, blinding white from head to toe.

And in that moment... nothing and no one could stand in my way.

"Natalie...?" Zane’s voice wavered from somewhere behind me. "What are you—"

But I couldn’t hear him over the thundering rush of my own rage. Jasmine was howling inside me, her voice mingling with mine until it became a single promise.

No one touches what is ours. No one.

I focused on Alexander’s energy. His sweet, innocent warmth lit up the dark realms like a star against obsidian skies. I didn’t think. I didn’t breathe. I simply moved.

The golden threads wrapped around me, shimmering and twisting with Jasmine’s light as I reached forward and tore the fabric of reality itself.

In a blinding flash, I vanished.

When the world slammed back into focus, the air around me was thick with choking smoke and the scent of brimstone. My bare feet sank into slick, sticky black stone that pulsed faintly with crimson light. Shadows slithered across the jagged cavern walls, whispering in languages that scraped across my mind like razors. noveldrama

I was in the demon realm.

The atmosphere pressed down on me like an ocean of lead, but Jasmine’s power held firm, wrapping me in a protective cocoon of white-hot moonlight. Every shadow that slithered too close hissed and recoiled as if burned.

"Ah... what is this?"

Her voice slithered from the darkness, smooth as oil, cold as death.

Kalmia stepped out from behind a jagged column of basalt, her crimson eyes gleaming with cruel amusement. Her midnight-black dress clung to her lithe form, flowing around her like liquid shadows. Alexander was cradled in her arms, still asleep, completely unaware of the horror surrounding him.

But the moment her gaze fell upon me, all amusement drained from her expression, replaced with shock.

"You—" Kalmia’s voice faltered for the first time since I’d known of her existence. "How... how did you find me here?"

My lips curled back in a snarl, my canines lengthening as Jasmine’s fury rose to match mine.

"You’ve made a very grave mistake," I said softly, my voice echoing with Jasmine’s layered growl. "Touching what is mine."

Kalmia’s eyes narrowed, flicking down to Alexander, then back up to me. "Yours?" she sneered, trying to regain her composure. "First of all, this child belonged to your mate and now he’s mine. He’s definitely not yours, little wolf. If you want him back, get your mother to release Shadow, then I’ll gladly give him to you."

So this was her plan all along? Jasmine was practically vibrating with rage, but I forced myself to remain still, even as my glowing aura flared brighter, illuminating the cavern with searing silver light. Shadows hissed and scattered from my presence, melting into the basalt stone.

"Put. Him. Down," I ordered, each word punctuated with enough power to crack the rocks beneath my feet.

On sensing my power, Kalmia’s gaze flickered, uncertainty sparking in her crimson eyes. She shifted Alexander in her arms, her claws tightening around his tiny form.

"And why would I do that? After all you did to me?" she taunted, but there was a tremor in her voice now, a flicker of fear dancing across her features.

I didn’t answer her with words.

I let my power speak for me.

The cavern shook violently as Jasmine unleashed her fury, the white light blazing around me until it banished every trace of darkness, leaving only the quaking, trembling shadows screaming in terror. My hair floated around me like silver fire, my eyes blazing with moonlit fury.

Kalmia’s face contorted with fury, her lips curling back in a snarl. "You will not take him from me until you release Shadow!" she spat, her voice echoing through the cavern like a threat from the depths of hell.

But I just tilted my head and let a slow, dangerous smile spread across my face, my canines glinting in the dim light. "Oh, Kalmia," I whispered softly, almost pitying her. "Watch me."

In the blink of an eye, light burst out from within me, bright and blinding, exploding through the darkness like a star reborn. The cavern was swallowed by my brilliance, each searing wave of white tearing through her creeping shadows and ripping them apart as if they were nothing but fragile cobwebs.

All Kalmia could do was stand there, frozen, her eyes wide with pure horror as the truth sank in.

Because in that single, shattering moment, she finally understood exactly who she had dared to challenge.

And I would make damn sure she never, ever forgot it.