The Lycan King's Second Chance Mate: Rise of the Traitor's Daughter
Chapter 279: He’s Crazy

Chapter 279: He’s Crazy

Natalie~

I didn’t think. I didn’t breathe. I simply moved.

The second I lunged at Nathan, Jasmine surged through me with a savage, gleeful roar. I could have ended this with a flick of my magic, could have reduced him to nothing in a single breath. But where was the satisfaction in that? He deserved to feel every ounce of pain Zane and his father carried. The pain I felt now. He deserved to know my strength beyond the power that frightened him.

My fist connected with his face so hard I felt bone crack under my knuckles, and his head snapped sideways with a spray of blood and spit. The sound it made was like music to the rage coursing through me.

He staggered back, but before he could recover, I grabbed him by the throat, slamming him into the marble wall with enough force to send spiderweb cracks racing across it.

"Is this what you wanted?" I hissed into his ear, my voice trembling with zero patience and a hundred percent fury. Jasmine’s white-hot power flared across my skin, illuminating the hall in a radiant glow that made Nathan’s eyes squint and twitch. His fingers clawed at my wrist, but he might as well have been a child trying to move a mountain.

But to my surprise, he grinned, blood dripping from his split lip, teeth stained crimson. "Beautiful... so beautiful..." he wheezed, his eyes shining with a sick delight. "You’re so much stronger than I imagined you’d be, Princess Natalie."

I punched him in the stomach so hard he gagged, folding in half. The echo of his pained groan danced around us like a twisted hymn. But still, he chuckled through it, a rasping, manic sound that grated on my bones.

"You think this is funny?" I growled, pulling his head up by his greasy black hair. His eyes met mine, glazed with pain but alight with something else—something feral and wrong.

"Yes," he croaked, grinning wider. "Because... you’re perfect. So perfect for me. Why waste yourself on him," he tilted his chin subtly towards Zane, who was pacing like a caged storm behind me, Red snarling within him, "when you could be mine? My bride. My queen. We’d be unstoppable, Natalie. Think about it. Think about our children—"

The crack of my slap echoed down the bloodstained corridor. His head whipped sideways, spit and blood flying from his mouth. My palm burned, but I welcomed the sting.

"Shut your disgusting mouth," I seethed, fingers tightening around his hair until his scalp turned white. Jasmine snarled with savage approval in my chest, her voice rumbling through my bones. "Rip his tongue out, Mara. End this vile creature."

Why was he acting like this?

Nathan’s madness pulsed in the air like a rotting stench, making my stomach churn. His smirk didn’t match the wildness in his eyes, nor the tremor in his bloodlust. Frowning, I reached into his mind, peeling away layers of rage, arrogance, and desperation until his thoughts lay bare before me.

And what I saw made my blood freeze.

Nathan’s plans had been to kill Zane. Kill the king. Even kill Alex. He wanted their deaths to be swift and public, to strip me of every last shield I had. Then... then he planned to take me. To bind me to him in chains of blood and terror, to force me to bear his children so he could build his twisted little dynasty upon the ashes of everything I loved.

Disgust and fury churned in my veins, roaring through me like an endless tide.

Nathan laughed softly, his lips curling into a bloody grin as if he already knew what I had seen. "Oh, I adore you," he whispered, eyes dancing with insanity. "You’re fierce. Powerful. You’d bear me perfect heirs. Imagine that, love... the power our children would hold—"

"I said shut up!" I snapped, slamming his head into the wall so hard the marble cracked and rained down in shards. "You really thought you could just walk in here and kill Zane, kill the king, murder my son, kidnap me, and raise your twisted little dynasty? You’re out of your damn mind."

His smile only widened, a grotesque slit across his bruised face. "Out of my mind?" he whispered, breath ragged with glee. "No, Natalie. I’m enlightened. I see what others cannot. You were born to stand by my side—"

I hit him again. And again. And again. Each punch rattled his teeth, made his skull bounce off the wall like a ball against concrete. Blood gushed down his neck and dripped onto my bare feet, staining them deep red. My arms burned from the force of my blows, but I didn’t stop.

Behind me, Zane’s growl was a thunderous vibration against my spine, his fury mixing with mine until we were a storm, an uncontainable tempest ready to drown this vile creature. But I needed Nathan conscious.

"Nathan," I said, my voice soft, almost gentle as I leaned in close, my breath brushing his bloody cheek. "You’re going to kneel before Zane now."

His eyes flickered, confusion bleeding into his psychotic glee. "Kneel...?"

"Yes," I purred, yanking his hair so his face twisted in pain. "You’re going to apologize to him for what you did to his siblings. You’re going to beg for forgiveness before his father ends your pathetic life."

His grin faltered, replaced with a twisted sneer. "Never," he spat, blood flecking my cheek. "I’ll never bow to him. He’s nothing. You’re mine. Mine—"

I hit him again, this time with enough force to make his knees buckle. I let go of his hair and he crumpled to the ground, wheezing, blood dribbling from his lips like drool. I stood over him, chest heaving, Jasmine’s growl vibrating my ribs.

"Try again," I ordered, voice low, deadly. "Or I’ll rip your tongue out and feed it to the crows before you die."

He glared up at me with eyes swimming in pain and hatred. For a moment, I thought he’d refuse again. But then his gaze flickered to Zane, who was standing tall and cold, his crimson eyes glowing with murderous rage, his wolf Red snarling so viciously his massive paws gouged grooves into the marble floor.

Nathan swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing like a trapped insect. Slowly, with trembling arms, he pushed himself onto his knees. He didn’t look at Zane as he muttered, voice broken and dripping with venom, "I’m... sorry... for killing... your siblings."

Zane didn’t move. He just stared down at Nathan with an expression so blank it was terrifying, the only sign of life in him the violent flicker of Red’s rage through his eyes.

"Good boy," I mocked softly, grabbing Nathan by the hair again and forcing him to look at me. His blood smeared across my palm, warm and sticky. "Now... let’s go see the king."

"No—" he rasped, but I didn’t give him a chance to finish.

I focused on the golden threads of power that tied me to the world, reaching out with Jasmine’s senses. I felt the king’s energy like a dim, flickering sun somewhere far above. Clutching Nathan tighter, I wove my power around Zane, wrapping us in Jasmine’s silver light.

The world around us blurred, colours smearing into a swirling vortex before slamming back into clarity.

We were in the king’s private chambers.

But the sight that met us was like a dagger plunged straight into my chest.

The luxurious room, usually lit with warm golden chandeliers, was dark. Bodies lay sprawled across the floor in broken, unnatural angles—guards in silver-plated armour, their throats ripped out or heads twisted the wrong way. Blood soaked the velvet carpet beneath them.

The king... oh goddess, the king.

He was slumped sideways on his massive gilded bed, his beard matted with blood, his eyes closed, his chest rising and falling in shallow, ragged breaths. His usually radiant aura was dim, flickering like a dying candle. But what froze my heart wasn’t his state.

It was the emptiness.

Alexander. My mind screamed his name before I could stop it. Where is Alex?!

I felt Zane’s mind shatter beside me, Red roaring so loudly through our bond that it rattled my bones. His entire body trembled with a rage so vast I thought it would swallow the entire room.

"Natalie," he whispered, his voice raw and broken as he fell to his knees beside his father, trembling fingers checking his pulse. Relief flashed in his eyes when he felt it, but it was quickly consumed by fear. "Alex... where is Alex?!"

I spun, my grip tightening on Nathan’s hair until he howled in pain. His grin was back, smeared with blood and saliva, his eyes glazed with psychotic glee.

"Where is he?!" I screamed, shaking him so hard his teeth clattered. "Where is Alexander?!"

His laughter was a wet, ragged sound. "Gone, little wolf. Gone... you’ll never see him again."

Rage ignited in me so fierce Jasmine roared, her power flaring through my veins like molten gold. The chandeliers trembled from the force of it, glass tinkling to the marble floor in a tinkling rain.

I wanted to rip his head off. To tear his flesh from his bones and feed it to the crows. But I forced myself to breathe, forced myself to think. Alex was missing. The king was dying. And Nathan... Nathan was about to pay for everything he’d done.

I yanked his head back, forcing his gaze to mine, my voice a low, vicious snarl. "Pray to your gods, Nathan. Because when I’m done with you, even hell will turn you away."

His laughter echoed around the death-stilled room, dripping with madness, as Zane let out a roar that shook the palace walls.

And in that moment, with the blood of the guards staining my feet and the scent of death thick in the air, I vowed that I would bring Alexander home.

Even if I had to burn the world to do it.