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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bottle to my lips, and I sip it, swallowing the pills down. Tears brim in her eyes as she looks.

be one under my kitchen sink,” Valarie tells Zoe, and she darts out of

do this, I can’t keep living like this,” I cry

I could take it from you, sweetie, I do. I know how hard it is, but you will get through this, you have got through so much by yourself already,

I am

won’t turn her back on you too,” Valarie says. I find her words strange but can’t make sense of much and figure I misheard her as another

me.

bottle and

off again, and I pray it stays away. Please be finished, please be

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Zoe sitting on the floor on the rug with Valarian

nods, looking up at

makes so

feeling pain at the very memory. I tried going back to tell him a couple

her mate did to her?

said the longer she went without her mate, the harder it became to shift before she no longer could. Being rogue

has endured this

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I saw his BMW pull up and watched him sneak into the office with 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 again, and for three days afterward, she could barely get out of bed. She was

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, I noticed she grew weaker. Each time he left; her

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

the day off today if you don’t

work to keep my mind off him,” I tell her. She

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hate seeing the sadness in her eyes when she looks at me. I know she is worried, but it makes me feel even

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 for life, created my

changed her number. I am the forgotten child, one who longer existed 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

they can’t see how amazing you are,” Valarie says.

don’t need them; they aren’t wasting tears on you, so don’t waste

before reaching down and taking Valarian from Zoe. She looks at me smiling sadly,

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know Valarie knows, but she won’t spill no matter how many times we ask, we won’t judge, I swear,” Macey says, and I knew

It kind of felt like a relief and made the following words leave my lips easier, and it felt freeing.

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

want me.