Lycan's Prey by Jessica Hall

Chapter 13

The air in the room grows thick, heavy with the weight of her suggestion. I swallow hard, feeling the walls close in. To disguise myself as my own sister–it feels disrespectful, a betrayal to her memory. Yet, desperation claws at my insides, urging me to latch onto any lifeline thrown my way.

“But Granny, they’ll find out,” I manage to say, my voice barely above a whisper. My stomach churns, revolting against the idea. “What if they want to know why I don’t already have an ID?”

The lines etched deeply into Granny’s face seem to deepen, carved by a lifetime of hardship and loss, but her gaze never wavers from mine. She understands the risks better than anyone–the dangers of deceit, the price of protection. But her next words are a balm to my frayed nerves, a reassurance that steadies the trembling of my hands.

Granny’s head moves in a firm shake as she catches my gaze, her eyes alight with something fierce and unwavering. “No, they won’t,” she insists, the words cutting through the haze of my terror. “You’re a rogue; it’s not uncommon for rogues to not have ID. Most are sovereign, avoiding getting caught up in pack politics.”

She’s right; Rogues often skirt the fringes of society, unseen and undocumented. It’s how they’ve managed to survive- how I will have to survive. But as I stand here, with the weight of my sister’s birth certificate in my hand, survival takes on a

new form.

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Chapter 13

17:23 Wouchers.

The risks flash before my eyes like lightning in a stormy sky. The Lycan King’s rule over our kind is absolute, his laws shaping the world we live in and the risk to Granny would mean death for helping me.

I glance around Granny’s quaint living room, the walls adorned with faded wallpaper and memories that seem to mock my predicament.

the dread coiling in my

caught lying to protect me,” I

Granny interjects, a steel edge to her tone that brooks no argument.

right to be. The plan is risky, dangerously so, but it offers a sliver of hope. The Lycan King rules over werewolves, creates our laws, and governs us. Knowing one is close while Rhett is hunting me is not a good thing because if there is a bounty on me, that means he’ll notify authorities soon then. And just Granny lying about me being here could get her executed. If the King’s guard finds me, I am dead meat. But for now, I just need to lie low and pray to the goddess that I can somehow

out, but what will I do without suppressants, and if that barn is that old, how old are these chains Granny

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Chapter 13

shield me from Rhett and his dealings with King Soren–at least for a while. It could work. The name I gave the King was Bree, which would fit for Aubrey or Brielle if

him while grocery shopping, he’s a King, he’d have people doing that sort of thing for him so chances

days

had of me was one my parents gave him from when I was teenager and going through the awkward emo stage, though it also bothered me that he had no photos of

distorted to make out

now I looked like I could fart rainbows with the mix of colors in my hair. Granny proved to still have skills, she

keep this

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Chapter 13

208 Vouchera

| can do is lie awake and endure it. I can feel his infidelity in every atom of my body. Some nights I hated him, others I mourned the mate bond. A bond I know I’ll never get back. Werewolves had only one

our bond, tormenting me from afar with the crippling agony of