The Lycan King's Muse

Ep 4: 365 Days

Fire.

All I could think of is how his lips are melting my mind instantly. My legs give up and if it isn't for his strong body, I would have crumbled to the floor. Perhaps even become a wet puddle of water because of the way he burns me.

He lets go of my hand and grabs the hair on my head, pinning my face closer to his. His breaths mingle with mine. Our scents entangled with each other, creating an addicting smell that sends shivers down to my core.

My wolf howls in excitement at his touch.

Then I realize something.

Feeling horrible, I try my best to push him away. My wolf whimpers because the kiss ends abruptly. But my conscience would just not let me continue this act.

At first, he keeps me in his embrace, still wanting to claim my lips. With my growing restraint, however, he finally lets me go, though not completely. Looking down at me, his brows are furrowed in confusion.

Thank the Goddess he doesn't try to force me. In fact, he looks... worried.

"Did I do something wrong?"

I blink.

Never in a million years would I expect a lycan king to ask me that.

"Y–yeaah," I find my voice, "You... you're fifteen!"

He looks at me with a blank face, before a second later, bursting into a fit of laughter. He laughs so much that he needs to hold his stomach. The sound of his laughter echoes in the room.

I am surprised that the lycan king I have heard to be cold and brutal can laugh so freely like this. He doesn't look like a ruthless ruler. He just looks like... a boy. Well, a very manly boy...

"I'm not fifteen," he says, "I'm around your age."

Crossing my arms as I realize he was teasing me with his age, I cocked my eyebrow. "Really?"

"Really."

"How old are you, then?"

He assumes the same position as me, crossing his arms and cocking his eyebrow up. "How old do you think I am?"

I stare at him, unamused. Is this a trick? Is this a test? Why do I feel like this lycan king is poking fun at me?

Before I can try to guess, however, someone approaches us from the direction where I was running from. "Your Majesty!" a man cries out while running, "The girl! She's escapeeee......" The man stops when he sees me. At the same time, Lyall clears his throat and composes himself. His face becomes cold in just a blink of an eye, an impenetrable wall. There is no trace of that laughter on his face. What a transformation!

"Oh, there she is! You caught her!" the man claps like a child. This man looks older, with greying hair and hunched back. There are aging spots on his temples. "And was I being delusional or did I hear you laughing, Your Majesty?" The man looks up at the lycan king with so much hope, which is weird.

"There's no way I'm letting her go, Albus," Lyall says in a deep tone. The promise he has in his words makes my spine shiver yet again. Perhaps it's the mate bond, or perhaps it's just him. But if this goes on... I think I would be paralyzed.

"And you were being delusional," unlike how he spoke to me, this king speaks to his subject with an icy tone. "You know I don't laugh."

I scoff at his words, making the two men look at me. "Everyone laughs," I say. But the two of them look at me like I am the one who is wrong.

"I don't," Lyall says again.

I look at Albus, thinking he would back me up on this topic. No one can live without laughing. Humor is a natural instinct! Yet Albus trusts the king almost immediately. "Oh, that's a shame," Albus murmurs, "It would be nice to hear you laugh. It's been years, Your Majesty."