LYCAN KING REBORN

Chapter 5: Training

The first royal guard who stepped forward was the biggest.

He was seven and a half feet tall, his black armor covered in old battle scars, his face marked with a long scar from his left eye to his jaw. His name, Lyra whispered to me through a mind link, was Rook. He was the captain of the fifty guards before the curse.

"My king," Rook said, his voice like rocks grinding. "If you want to lead us, you must prove you can fight. A Lycan King who cannot fight is just a boy on a throne."

He was right. I had new power, new bloodline at forty percent, a bone sword, a roar skill, but I had never fought a real Lycan before. My ten years as an omega servant taught me only how to take beatings, not how to give them.

I stood up from the bone throne. The shadow clothes Lyra made for me shifted with my movement, light but strong.

"How do we train?" I asked.

"No weapons," Rook said. "Just claws and strength. If you can make me kneel in this circle, you pass."

The other forty nine guards formed a circle around the black stone arena, their red gold eyes watching.

Lyra stepped back, but her mind link stayed open to me. I can heal you if you get hurt, little king. But I will not stop the fight.

I nodded.

Rook did not wait. He moved so fast that for a second I could not see him. One moment he was ten meters away, the next his huge fist was in front of my face.

I barely raised my arms to block. His punch hit my forearms and sent me sliding back five meters across the black stone. Pain shot through my bones.

Forty percent bloodline and he can still push me that far? I thought.

Rook is at seventy percent bloodline even after a thousand years of stone sleep, Lyra said in my mind. He was the strongest guard. You are still young, my king.

Young or not, I was angry. I had been beaten by Jax yesterday, kicked like a dog. I would not be beaten again today by my own guard.

I roared, not the King's Roar skill, just raw anger, and charged.

My speed was new to me. The world blurred. I was in front of Rook in less than a second and threw a right claw. My black claws extended, sharp as knives.

Rook blocked with his forearm, his own claws clashing with mine. Sparks flew, red silver sparks from our Lycan power colliding.

We traded blows for a minute. His punches were heavy, each one like a hammer. My body could take them now. My new Lycan healing closed small cuts in seconds. But he was stronger, more experienced.

He grabbed my arm and threw me over his shoulder. I hit the black stone hard, the air leaving my lungs.

"Too slow, my king," Rook said, not unkindly. "You think like an omega, always defending, always waiting to be hit. A king does not defend. A king attacks and makes others defend."

Think like a king.

I stood up, spitting blood that turned to silver mist before it hit the ground.

I thought of Alpha Magnus, of Jax, of Selene. I did not want to defend against them anymore.

Fenrir, help me, I said inside.

Stop thinking like prey, Fenrir answered. Think like a predator.

I closed my eyes for one second and let Fenrir take over more of my movements. My stance changed. Lower, more forward, claws open.

Rook charged again.

This time I did not block. I stepped to the side at the last second and raked my claws across his back. Black armor sparked, and four deep cuts appeared, silver blood dripping.

Rook roared in pain and surprise, then laughed.

"Better! Much better, my king!"

He turned and we fought again, faster now. I was learning. Every time he hit me, my body remembered and healed stronger. The forty percent bloodline was adapting.

After ten minutes, we were both breathing hard, both covered in small cuts that healed as fast as they appeared.

Then I remembered my skill.

King's Roar.

I jumped back, took a deep breath, and used it.

"KNEEL!"

The wave of red silver power hit Rook directly. He was only five meters away. His eyes went wide as his wolf spirit was suppressed by fifty percent. His knees buckled.

He fought it. Seventy percent bloodline against my forty percent, but my skill was king skill, higher rank.

For three seconds, Rook was on one knee, his head bowed, unable to move.

I walked forward, my claws at his throat.

"I win," I said, breathing hard.

Rook looked up at me, silver blood on his face, and then he smiled, a huge scary smile.

"You win, my king," he said loudly so all fifty guards could hear. "You made the captain kneel. You are a true Lycan King."

He hit his chest with his fist. The other forty nine guards did the same, roaring together.

"King! King! King!"

The sound shook the Forbidden Forest.

I helped Rook stand up. He was much taller than me, but he bowed his head to me now with real respect, not just duty from a thousand year old curse.

"You will be stronger than the first Lycan King," Rook said quietly so only I could hear. "I can feel it. Your bloodline is different. It grows faster. In ten days, you will be at sixty percent. I have never seen my bloodline grow that fast."

"Because of the rejection," Lyra said, walking into the circle. She placed her hand on my back, healing the deeper cuts instantly with cool silver light. "The pain of fated mate rejection burned away his omega seal completely. Now his bloodline has no limit."

Rook nodded. "Then we have ten days to make him ready to kill twelve packs."

For the rest of the day, I trained with each guard. One by one, they taught me different fighting styles. One taught me claw fighting, one taught me how to use the bone sword properly, one taught me how to use my new speed to disappear and reappear.

By nightfall, my bloodline had already increased to forty five percent just from fighting and healing.

I sat on the bone throne, exhausted, covered in sweat and silver blood, but feeling stronger than ever before in my twenty years of life.

Lyra brought me water from a spring deeper in the forest, water that glowed faintly silver and tasted like moonlight. It healed my tired muscles instantly.

"You did well today, little king," she said, sitting on the arm of the throne. Her white hair brushed my shoulder.

"Kael," I said. "Call me Kael when we are alone. My king sounds too distant."

She smiled. "Kael. You did well, Kael."

Above us, the dead trees of the Forbidden Forest seemed less dead now. Small silver flowers were starting to grow on the black stone circle, reacting to my king power returning.

In three days, the Silver Moon pack would hold the Luna crowning ceremony for Selene and Jax. They would make her official Luna.

They thought I was dead in the forest.

They had no idea that in seven more days, a Lycan King would walk out of this forest with fifty royal guards behind him, coming to take back everything they stole.

I gripped the arm of the throne, and t

he bone sword appeared in my hand, glowing.

Let them celebrate for seven more days, I thought. Then I will make them kneel.