Lycan's Prey by Jessica Hall

Chapter 14

Everly POV

It always comes out of nowhere. One minute I am sleeping; the next, I am awoken by agonizing pain. I feel my heart pumping in my chest erratically and my stomach cramping terribly. I clutch my stomach and bite down on my lip to stop from screaming. I don’t want to wake Zoe. I know I keep her up at night, and she always hovers worriedly. Usually, it wasn’t too bad, but tonight it is the worst it has been in two months.

I know he is sleeping with someone. I can tell by the pain ratio. Usually, it’s just like an upset tummy, but tonight I feel like my heart is being pulverized and my stomach twists in knots. I cry out in pain. I can’t help it. I toss and turn until the lights flick on. Zoe isn’t going to keep believing it was just period pain. Not after tonight.

“Everly, Everly,” she shrieks, shaking me, but all I can do is cry out and grit my teeth while clutching my stomach. The pain is crippling.

“Should I call an ambulance? I don’t know what to do. I will get Valarie.”

“No, I am fine,” I gasp before sweat starts beading on my forehead. I feel a draft hit me, and cold air sweeps into the room. Please don’t last long; please stop. I beg the Moon Goddess to make it go away.

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How am I expected to handle this for the rest of my life? Would it always be this bad? I start sobbing, big fat tears rolling down my cheeks. I hate that Zoe would have to see me this way, hate that he made me feel this, hate him for what he made me endure nearly every night on some level, but this is worse because I know he is actually having sex this time, not just fooling around. He is with another woman, and that woman isn’t me. Why did I have to be punished for his actions?

Warm hands rub up and down my arms before Valarie’s scent wafts to me; the pain grows worse with each second that goes past, making me scream. How did Valarie survive this shit for decades?

“I know sweetie, Just breathe, Everly,” Valarie tells me, and I try to focus on her voice to distract from the intense pain.

“I think we should call an ambulance. Her pain is worse this time. What if something is seriously wrong with her?” Zoe asks Valarie.

“She will be fine; it will be over soon.”

“What will be over soon?” Zoe stutters, and I can hear the concern in her voice as I writhe in pain.

“The mate bond, he is with someone, and it is causing her pain,” Valarie explains to her. I would usually be mad if anyone else spilled my secrets without asking, but I can’t be mad at

Chapter 14

Valarie after everything she has done to help us.

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“She met her mate?” Zoe says, her voice soft as a murmur.

“Who do you think Valarian’s father is? He is her mate.”

“But why is she a rogue whore then, and why would he do that?” Zoe says, and I see her cringe over the word we all hated so much. I blink back tears, nausea bubbling in my stomach.

“She didn’t know when she fell pregnant, and I am afraid her parents would hate her more if they knew who the father was,” Valarie explains.

Valarie and I have no secrets; she knows everything now. I trust her more than anyone. She has become like a mother to me. She supported us through everything, and she never turned me away in the two months I have been here. I am closer to her than I ever was with my own mother.

“Breathe, Everly, deep breaths, and try to sit up for me,” Valarie says. I groan, and she helps me up. She hands me my bottle of water off the nightstand, cracking the lid for me before thrusting pills in my hands.

“They will take the edge off,” she tells me, and I rock back and forth. My hands are shaking, and I spill water all over me. Zoe grabs the bottle from my hands, and I shove the pills in my mouth, not even questioning what they are. I trust Valarie

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lips, and I sip it, swallowing the pills down. Tears brim in

a hot water bottle; there should be one under my kitchen

this, I can’t keep living

this, you have got through so much by yourself already, just remember who you are, you are better than him, better than what he makes you feel,” Valarie says

where I am without you,” I tell

on you too,” Valarie says. I find her words strange but can’t make sense of much and figure I misheard her as another wave of crippling pain washes

me.

bottle

The pain eases off again, and I pray it stays away. Please be finished, please be done, I pray, sucking in a deep

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Zoe sitting on the floor on the rug with Valarian and Casey,

nods, looking up at

didn’t you tell me? It makes so

I tell her, feeling pain at the very memory. I tried going back to tell him a couple of weeks ago. Valarie

tried to take Valarian from me like her mate did to her? I have no title anymore, my wolf pathetically weak and so small compared to

it became to shift before she no longer

don’t know how she has endured this

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his own key. Then the next morning, I watched him leave again; I hated what he did to her. I saw her heartbreak as he left

become some side piece; I would rather die than live the torment Valarie does. I loved her, but I now understood why she couldn’t maintain this place. Him popping in and out of her life affected her more profoundly than she was willing to admit. Each time though,

polished, the room repainted, curtains removed, and blinds put in their place. Thanks to Macey’s brother, the rickety old pipes had been fixed, and in the last two months, we had stripped and fixed all the rooms on the top floor. We are far from done, but each passing day showed progress, and the smile

if you don’t feel up

I need to work to keep my mind off him,” I tell

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and I hate seeing the sadness in her eyes when she looks at me. I know she is

village,” Zoe says. Valarie told Zoe the same thing, we were building our village. The more work we got done, I believed she was right. We were building something, a place to call home. A purpose. We just had to remember not to give up. But with the girls and Valarie, I knew I had found friends

in their world, no longer had a place in their lives. I cried for a good hour when that realization hit. Valarie found me on the stairs after I tried for the hundredth time to contact my mother or sister; I just wanted to

are,” Valarie says. She sits beside me on the

on you, so don’t waste your tears on

before reaching down and taking Valarian from Zoe. She looks at me smiling sadly, and I realize Zoe told her, yet I feel no anger at my secret

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but she won’t spill no matter how many times we ask, we won’t judge, I swear,” Macey says, and I knew they wouldn’t, but it was me

of felt like a relief and made the

girls have so many questions, all accumulated over the last two months. I kept my secrets close to my heart. Their biggest was what pack I came from. I knew all their secrets, but I was ashamed of mine for some reason. They noticed my Alpha aura dwindling, and now it is pretty much non–existent. Now they had another secret added to the list. I refuse to tell them the father of my child was my mate. I am ashamed and thought they would think less of me because my mate didn’t

want me.