The Lycan King and His Dark Temptation by Luna Nova

---- He's pretty surly with strangers, and now he was on his feet, trying to scent that warrior, clearly interested. "Tell me... who are you?" I took a few steps, swallowing some of that disgusting mist, and asked. But before we got anywhere, that mage rushed me. "Wait, I just want to talk!" I roared, legs bending into a defensive stance. In seconds, he was almost on top of me. My eyes shifted to my wolf's red and locked with his. Up close, I caught the pale gray in them, striking, with a dark ring circling the iris, set off by long, pretty lashes that were way too... feminine?

A subtle scent of wild violets slammed into me like a gale, knocking me sideways. I'm a seasoned hunter and a lethal fighter. A lycan descended from the royal line and, for the first time in my life, my wolf and I froze. "Get down, damn it!" the muffled roar from behind that cover snapped me out of it, but too late. ---- The hiss behind me was way too close. I spun fast, but still took the hit. Some kind of liquid splashed onto my combat gear, melting the fabric on contact and eating into my chest. Pain scorched across my skin, and the stink of rot and hot iron turned almost unbreathable.

blending perfectly with the swamp. I'd never seen a creature this huge, several meters long, and it was still coiled. White eyes stared my way, though they looked blind, maybe because it lived underground and sunlight barely reached here. Its hissing grew meaner by the second. The rings of scales rippled, coiling to strike, fangs dripping that black fluid that had hit me and

shift to battle, a smaller hand in a leather glove grabbed mine. She shoved me aside, and I didn't resist. We dove clear of the whip-crack strike of that reptilian head and ---- kept running Through fog and obstacles. Something told me this was the nastiest part of the swamp, but my new ally seemed to know where