The Lycan King's Vengeful Bride

CHAPTER 1: Red River Village

Seraphine's POV

I heard someone shouting my name like the roof was on fire.

“Seraphine! Wake up!”

The voice was loud, urgent and right in my face. I shot up in bed so fast my neck almost cracked. My heart was racing like it wanted to escape my chest.

“Dad?” My voice shook.

My father was standing over me, breathing heavily. I had never seen him look scared before and that alone made my stomach twist.

“Get up,” he said, grabbing my arm. “Get up now. The village is under attack!”

For a second my brain refused to understand.

“Attack? Why? By who...?”

“There’s no time!” he yelled with urgency.

That was the end of any questions.

I jumped out of bed still wearing my nightgown, hair sticking everywhere and my feet cold on the wooden floor. Dad pushed me toward the door and I stumbled my way into the living room where Mom and my eight-year-old brother were both trying to force their shoes on at the same time. Mom’s hands were shaking too much and my brother was crying so hard he could barely breathe.

“What’s happening?” I asked again but it came out more like a whisper. No one answered me.. maybe they couldn’t.

Dad burst into the room behind me.

“Out. Now!”

We rushed out of the house… and that was the moment everything changed.

The night sky was red and not sunrise red.. fire red.

Houses were burning, flames climbed over roofs like hungry hands and smoke choked the air so fast my eyes watered instantly and then I heard the screaming.. Human screaming.

I froze, unable to breathe. Dad shoved me forward again but I couldn’t move because... there were wolves.. huge wolves.

Not the normal kind you see in forests. These were massive and sometimes bigger than horses with glowing eyes and bodies that moved with terrifying speed. They were pouncing on people... tearing, biting and ripping.

“Oh my God…” I whispered.

But it wasn’t just wolves. Some of them… looked like humans but not quite. Too tall and too fast with eyes glowing gold or red. They were setting fire to houses, dragging people out and kicking in doors.

Lycans..!

I didn’t even have time to process any of this. One moment I was staring in horror, and the next...

Mom screamed and I whipped around just in time to see my little brother being yanked off his feet by a wolf twice his size. One second he was there, the next the wolf had him pinned on the ground with its jaws tearing into him with a sickening sound that didn’t feel real.

“NO!” Mom shrieked and ran toward him.

“Mom, don’t...!” I tried to grab her but she was already gone.

Another wolf leaped out of nowhere and tackled her. Their bodies rolled across the dirt, and blood... so much blood... splattered across the ground.

“Mom!” I screamed until my throat burned.

Dad grabbed my wrist.

“Seraphine, run! Go!”

“I can’t leave them...!”

“Run!” he roared.

He shoved me so hard I stumbled forward. When I turned around, he was already facing a wolf that looked bigger than all the others. Its eyes glowed bright, almost silver and its fur was really dark. It moved with a slow confidence that made my skin crawl.

Dad didn’t run.

He raised his makeshift spear and stood his ground like a soldier in some heroic story but this wasn’t a story.

“Dad!” I shouted. “Dad, please...!”

The big wolf lunged and everything inside me shattered.

I watched helplessly as it tore into him... ripping flesh and breaking bone with its glowing eyes cold and empty like it wasn’t even killing a person, just breaking a toy.