The Lycan King and His Dark Temptation Novel

---- VALERIA I started patting down my clothesthis couldnt be happening.

I couldnt have lost it during the fight, or worse, when I recklessly chased after those vampires.

Ilooked around the ground in desperation, and then I sawit, a few feet away from where I stood.

The heart no longer had the shape of a ruby; it had melted into a dark pool, the same color as the lagoonconcentrated, powerful blood.

Ipushed myself up with trembling legs, battered and on the brink of collapse, holding on purely through adrenaline and the will to survive.

I knelt before that blood and beggedsomething I had never done before watching my mate fight like a beast against our enemy, trying to keep him from reaching us.

"Please, my ancestors, I beg you, Juno, mother, please.

Gabrielle, I summon you, powerful Selenia, help me in this moment of need, help me!" The words poured from my heart as tears and drops of my blood fell onto the small pool forming before me.

The calm surface began to bubble, as if simmering over low heat.

"I summon you here, Selenia Gabrielle, I call you, in this hour of need.

Mother, your daughter Valeria needs you...

I need you now, Gabrielle, now!" At some point, I switched languages, speaking in the ancient tongue of the altars, the words flowing into my mind like a trance.

---- Iclosed my eyes and recited the ancestral chantmy prayers, over and overtears cascading down my cheeks.

Kneeling there, it was all Ihad left, and I clung to hope with tooth and claw.

Topened my tear-filled eyes when I felt warmth above my head.

I looked up in awe to see what had formed from the heart of the Selenias.

It was the shape of a woman, sculpted from the blood, as if that vital liquid was solidifying into a human form.

She gazed at me intensely, gently caressing my head.

I felt strange, her features unrecognizable.

M-Mom? I dared to ask, anda smile appeared on those crimson lips.

She then walked toward the fight, leaving me there, stunned.

Ilooked down at the ground before menothing remained.

No puddle, no blood, not even the heart of the Selenias.

Everything had compacted into that figure, now walking barefoot, leaving crimson footprints behind.

sek ALDRIC I was ready to fight to the death for my family.

I wouldnt let them be taken from me againnot right in front of my eyes.

So Iunleashed all the rage and hatred I had for this bastard who had abused and humiliated my mate.

Azarot was in full war mode, enhancing every ounce of my lycan beast's power.

My muscles strained to their limits, my claws sharper and deadlier than