Claimed By The King(s) Of Kings

Molly

A heavy, guttural grunt tore from Molly’s throat as the excruciating agony of unshifting ripped through her body.

Her wolf form collapsed onto the damp earth, bones cracking, snapping, and forcefully reconfiguring themselves in a sickening, frantic rhythm. Her jaw reshaped itself, her spine elongated, and her fur receded back beneath her skin in a surge of blinding heat. She hit the dirt on her hands and knees, gasping for air, her flushed face finally coming into view as her human senses rushed back all at once.

Heaving a deep breath, Molly stood up on shaky legs, wiping a stray lock of hair from her sweat-sheened forehead. She tossed her head back, looking around the dense, silent treeline with wide, bewildered eyes.

”Where is everybody else?” she muttered aloud, her voice echoing softly against the quiet forest.

She frowned, genuinely wondering where the rest of her team was, where her friends had gone. They were supposed to be hunting as a unit, yet the surrounding clearing was completely deserted. All that greeted her was the lonely sight of her neatly folded pile of clothes resting near the muddy riverbank that connected directly to the shimmering waters Lake Tosh.

Sighing dramatically, Molly scrambled over to the riverbank and quickly threw on her outfit, a pair of form-fitting dark leather pants and a matching leather top. She brushed off the dirt, admiring her handiwork lying a few feet away. During her hunt, she had managed to bring down a fat, heavy deer and two wild boars, leaving them neatly stacked for the retrieval crew to count toward her team’s points.

”Great. So I do all the heavy lifting and they just vanish,” Molly grumbled to herself, shaking her head.

She zipped up her leather top and turned to walk away from the lake to go search for her missing teammates. But the second her boot crunched against a dry twig, a low, painful grunt echoed through the trees.

Molly froze instantly.

Her ears twitched, her eyes darting toward the thick brush further down the slope. ”Augh” It sounded like someone was in absolute agony. A tiny, logical voice inside her head immediately screamed, Come on, Molly, you know better! Turn around! Walk the other way!

”I really should turn around,” Molly whispered to herself. But she loved news, gossip, and minding other people’s business far too much to ever actually walk away. She physically could not help herself.

Driven by curiosity, Molly crept down the slope, following the ragged grunting deeper into the shadows. Slowly, carefully, she peeked around the massive trunk of an ancient oak tree, and her breath caught in her throat.

Hunched over against the base of a tree was a man.

He clearly didn’t look like he belonged to Moonside or any of the ten participating academies. He was drenched in dark, slick blood, bleeding profusely from multiple wounds across his torso. But what made Molly’s heart drop straight into her stomach was the thick, wicked steel dagger buried deep right in the center of his chest.

”Oh dear God... oh Goddess!” Molly gasped, her brain completely short-circuiting.

Abandoning all logic, safety, and self-preservation, Molly sprinted out from behind the tree and rushed straight over to him without thinking twice about who this dangerous, mystery man could possibly be. She dropped to her knees in front of him, her hands hovering frantically over his bloodied chest.

”Are you okay?!” she squeaked out, her head spinning. Did someone hunt him by mistake? she wondered frantically. He’s wearing all black... someone could have easily mistaken him for a wild animal or something in the dark brush!

The man’s head snapped up. Through the thick grime and sweat, his eyes flashed a dangerous, predatory gold. He let out a deep, chest-rattling growl. ”Get away from me!”

Molly blinked, scoffing in sheer disbelief despite the blood everywhere. ”Oh my gosh, I’m trying to help you and you’re being rude! But I guess that’s just the pain talking.” She leaned in closer, inspecting the weapon protruding from his chest. ”We need to get this dagger out right now.”

His hand shot out, his knuckles white as he rasped, ”Don’t you dare!”

”Relax!” Molly snapped back, waving her hands defensively. ”My boyfriend is into herbs! He does herbalism, and I know what to do!”

In her head, Molly instantly winced. Okay... I think I know what to do, she admitted silently. Travis literally just talks a lot about herbs in his free time. Honestly, I think he’s entirely capable of making poison instead of medicine, but close enough!

1

She quickly scrambled back up to her feet, her eyes frantically scanning the forest floor and surrounding trunks for a very specific plant. It was a rare, common-looking medicinal leaf that Travis always insisted on using whenever he got hurt, a strange plant that uniquely only grew on dead, fallen branches. It was easy to miss if you didn’t know what you were looking for, but Molly had heard Travis ramble about it a thousand times, cause the man got hurt a thousand times.

Behind her, the man let out another wet, agonized grunt.

”Don’t worry!” Molly yelled over her shoulder, stepping over a thick root. ”Two seconds! I’m going to find that plant!”

The man spat a mouthful of dark blood onto the leaves, staring at her with pure suspicion. ”Why are you even helping me?”

”Well, because why would I just leave you out here to die?!” Molly retorted loudly, scanning a fallen birch branch. ”It’s obvious one of the students hit you with their dagger by mistake! Which is super odd, by the way, because why are they even using daggers? We’re all supposed to be doing this round shifted in wolf or lycan form!”

She paused, spotting the small, serrated green leaves sprouting along a decaying branch near her boot. She grinned brightly. ”Found it!” She turned back toward him, plucking a handful of the bitter leaves. ”But if you don’t mind me asking... who even are you?”

The man remained entirely silent, his jaw set in a hard, stubborn line, refusing to answer. Molly rolled her eyes. Okay, fine, he doesn’t want to talk, she thought.

Without hesitation, Molly shoved the bitter leaves straight into her mouth, chewing them up aggressively until they formed a thick, pasty mash. She spat the green paste directly onto her palm, crouching back down in front of his bloodied, trembling frame. ”If you do not mind,” Molly said bossily, ”I am going to remove this dagger from your chest now.”

The man leaned his head back against the tree trunk, letting out a dark, breathless chuckle. ”Yeah... just hurry on with it. If this kills me, sweetheart, I promise I will haunt you.” Molly scoffed, grabbing the hilt of the steel blade. ”Don’t worry, I trust my boyfriend. He would never, ever get something wrong. He may be absolute garbage at maths, but herbs? I think he knows his stuff.”

The man’s dark brow lifted slightly, his golden eyes narrowing. ”You have a boyfriend?”

”Mmhmm,” Molly hummed, bracing her foot against a thick root. With one swift, ruthless pull, she yanked the dagger clean out of his chest.

The man let out a sharp, choked hiss, his muscles locking up tight. Before the blood could gush out freely, Molly immediately slapped the thick leaf paste directly over the gaping wound, pressing down firmly to stop the bleeding.

As her hands worked over his chest, Molly couldn’t help but notice how absurdly built he was. Beneath the blood and dirt, his torso was completely ripped, covered in a map of rugged, dangerous scars that screamed violence and power.

Damn, Molly thought, her eyes widening slightly as her mind took in the view. Damn...

She caught herself instantly, mentally shaking her head. Control yourself, Molly! You have a boyfriend! Even if it’s technically a fake relationship, you have a boyfriend! She bit her lip, her eyes betraying her thoughts as she glanced up at his sharp collarbones. But I mean... I can admire! This guy is insanely hot! And he seems grown... I don’t think he’s a student from any academy. Perhaps a professor?

Molly pulled her hands back, wiping the green paste off her fingers onto a dry leaf. ”All done!” she announced cheerfully. ”This will help your wolf act way faster when it comes to healing you. You’ll be cured in no time!”

She paused, looking at his dark features. ”You are a wolf shifter, right?”

The man opened his eyes, his deep voice carrying a strange, raspy gravel. ”Hybrid. Lycan and wolf.” Molly’s jaw practically dropped. ”Whoa... first time I have ever heard of that mixture before!”

”Yeah,” he rumbled coldly, a bitter edge to his tone. ”Because we usually die at childbirth.” Molly winced awkwardly. ”Oh. Right...” She cleared her throat, gesturing vaguely toward the distant trail. ”Should I... help you back to the camp, or...?”

”No,” the man cut in smoothly, resting his head back against the bark. ”It’s fine. You have helped me a lot.”

A sudden, intense flash of bright golden light flared in his dark eyes. Now that he wasn’t sweating, grunting, and actively bleeding out, Molly could actually see his face clearly, and it almost made her choke on her own breath. Yo... he’s hot, Molly screamed internally. He is really, really hot! He had striking, dark features, long raven-black hair falling messily over his sharp shoulders, and a dark, intricate mark patterned permanently across his bare skin.

Seeing her lingering gaze, the man let out a low, amused rumble, a subtle smirk playing on his lips. ”Do you like what you see?”

Molly’s face flushed bright red, her head snapping up defensively. ”Oh! No! I have a boyfriend, remember?!”

His smirk widened, his dark eyes sparkling. ”Yes, I remember. But you can admire, can you not?”

Molly scrambled back to her feet, smoothing down her leather pants at lightning speed. ”I... I should go now!” She cleared her throat, pointing a thumb back toward the woods. ”If you don’t need any more help, I’m going to go now. I’m sure we’ll meet again!”

”Yeah,” Molly muttered awkwardly, backing away. ”I’m sure we won’t.”

As she turned to leave, his deep voice called out softly behind her. ”Thank you. I will remember this. You have touched a special place in my heart.”

”Oh... okay!” Molly squeaked out, waving vaguely before taking off into a full sprint. Little did she know just how literally he meant those words.