Chapter 175 Chapter 174
Three days passed, but the king had yet to revert to his male form. Ladrian's words began to ring true to Morvan, and he loathed it. The king might not be able to get out of this one. Horror settled in his gut at the notion, and no matter how much he tried to talk himself into being positive, he couldn't help his thoughts from spiraling.
The few times he'd walked into the room to see if he could get to him, the king tried attacking him. There wasn't even any trace of recognition in those amber eyes of his. It hurt Morvan more than he would admit to anyone.
Perhaps he should get Rayena? After all, she's the reason he's in this state. But then, he remembered the king's instruction. Xenon would kill him if he found out he brought a woman to him while he was battling with his demons.
"He'll have to revert back to find out first," Morvan muttered to himself on the evening of the third day. Patience, once stretched thin, finally snapped like a bowstring and now he was marching to the harem to drag Rayena to the king. Everything they had tried to get him to revert back hadn't worked—from engaging him in fights to exhaust him, and even lethal poisons that would weaken the average wolf shifter.
Consequences be damned, he had to bring Rayena to him to satisfy his rut at least. He was crossing through the forest path when he caught the scent of something.
No, someone.
"Who's there?" he growled, his senses on high alert. His gaze darted around till he came across a cloaked figure hiding behind the trunk of a tree. "Reveal yourself!" he muttered with a snarl.
The person slowly stepped out from behind the trunk, pulling off the hood on their head. Speak of the devil—it was Rayena, looking at him like a puppy forgotten in the rain. He was immediately upon her, his irritation radiating off him in waves.
"What are you doing here?" He gritted through clenched teeth.
Her cheeks colored, but her eyes sparked with determination. "I apologize for trespassing, but I wanted to see the king," she mumbled sheepishly.
"By sneaking into the castle?"
"I-I couldn't stay away any longer. I needed to know if he was alright," she mumbled, lowering her gaze to the ground.
A muscle ticked in Morvan's jaw. Looking around to confirm if no one was following after her, he growled quietly. "Well, you're in luck. I was coming to meet you anyway. Follow me," he ordered, walking ahead.
Stunned, Rayena stared at his back before her senses returned, and she immediately ran after him, falling into step with him.
"How's the king?" she tried to ask, her voice shaking..
"You'll see for yourself," was all he said. They returned to the castle as twilight began to appear, and Rayena noticed how deathly silent everywhere was. She glanced at General Morvan again and caught the fading claw marks on his chin and neck.
"Did the king do that?" she asked, pointing at them. Her throat tightened, and the sound that left her was barely a whisper. Morvan clenched his jaw, his body growing rigid, eyes dark. "I'm sorry..." Rayena whispered when she saw his reaction.
"Apologizing won't solve anything..." Morvan started as they walked down the large hallway. "We need to find a way to solve the king's problem."
"What's wrong with him?"
Morvan stopped, slowly turning to look at her. His eyes held something so dark and dangerous, Rayena found herself taking several steps back, goosebumps breaking out on her skin. "Do you promise not to tell anyone what you see?"
Instantly, she nodded. "I swear on my parents' lives."
Morvan swallowed, pulled back, and continued on his path while Rayena followed quietly. He led her through winding corridors until they arrived at the entrance of the underground chambers. Rayena could hear the howls coming from a wolf, and an unknown shiver coursed through her, every nerve ending in her body coming to life.
Morvan let out a deep sigh, taking a step in. "The king is stuck in a rut," he began as they walked. "...And for the past three days, we've been trying to get him out of it to no avail."
Rayena grew horrified. "Is it supposed to be that way?"
"No, not at all. Usually, such cases wear off after a day, but this one... I don't know why it's taking this long. If this should persist, he might become a Feral One."
Rayena froze in her tracks. A Feral One!?
"How... how do we help him?" she asked, feeling every hair on her neck stand on end. "What does he need?"
"The king needs sex," Morvan muttered, and Rayena stiffened at the crude word, her cheeks burning. "He needs a woman to ground him, achieve some release, any way he can. If some of the tension bleeds from him, he might be able to revert back. But until that happens, I don't know what we can do to help him."
Suddenly, Morvan paused just meters away from the steel doors, shadows swirling in his eyes. "Unfortunately, with the state he's in, this might be bad news for any woman that would be brought near him. He'll be guided completely by instincts, and that is never good."
Rayena was terrified. Her heart rattled in her chest while her body shook as the wolf howls assaulted her ears. The king needed to be intimate with a woman to go back to normal, but even if she were to offer herself, she'd never done something like that before, and thanks to the books she'd been reading, she knew a shifter's stamina in that area was unparalleled — much less a king who was now in a rut and stuck in his wolf form.
She felt Morvan's gaze on her and slowly turned to look at him. "What is it?"
"I was going to call on you to satisfy the king's rut. As of now, you're the only woman he isn't repulsed by. Will you do this?"
Her mouth hung open, but no words slipped past her lips.
The dark corridor spun around her, and she almost lost her footing. "You... you want me to lay with the king? In that state!?"
Morvan grimaced like he'd been struck in the face. "I'm not happy to be making such a suggestion, too. I'm clearly defying orders bringing you here," he growled, and the anger on his face deflated to weariness. "But we've run out of options here. And should anything happen to the king, the shifter realm will crumble."