Claimed by the Mad Lycan King

She tried to close the mindlink, but she didn’t have the strength to do it.

So close. A little bit more. A little bit faster.

This part of the border was not heavily guarded; therefore, Seara chose to use this path for her escape.

A little bit more...

Her lungs were burning, but Seara forced her way through. She could see the border of the Blackthorne Pack.

Beyond this area was the human territory, and as shifters, whose existence was supposed to be secret from human knowledge, they had to be extra careful not to show up in their beast forms.

After all, wolves were not usually roaming around this area.

And there, Seara managed to cross the border of the Blackthorne Pack. She was out of the pack territory, and now she could see a small town where human inhabitants were.

The only thing that she needed to do was to reach them and shift back into her human skin. She only needed to mix with them to shake off her pursuer.

It would be difficult for them to smell her scent among those humans.

[Get back here, Seara!] Silas roared angrily through the mindlink when he saw that Seara was getting closer to the human inhabitants.

Seara wanted to curse at him, but she didn’t have the strength for that. She needed to keep moving. Silas would always be Daven’s loyal dog. He would do everything to please his alpha, and after Daven chose him as his gamma, his loyalty was unmatched.

She was so close...

Seara could hear the sound of people talking; it seemed there was a festivity in the town. Oh, right... There was a fireworks festivity for the first of July.

A little bit more...

But suddenly, Seara was being tackled to the ground. Her heart leapt to her throat when she saw Daven’s brown wolf pin her down.

With his alpha voice and pressure, he forced Seara to shift back into her human form.

No... no...

Her wolf whimpered, but she couldn’t resist the direct order. And the moment Seara had shifted into her human form, Daven did the same. He was still holding her down against the wet ground a few meters away from the border of their pack.

”Do you think you can run away from me, Seara?” Daven asked menacingly. He used his body weight to render Seara unable to move. ”You are not going anywhere.”

”I don’t want you anymore!” Seara breathed heavily, but his knee pressed on her chest, which made her have a hard time breathing. It was very painful.

”Stop causing trouble, Seara.” Daven was livid.

From across the field, Seara saw her father and brother shift back into their human forms.

”Let’s go back. We will talk about this once we return,” Daven said. He grabbed Seara’s long, auburn hair as he stood up, making her yelp in pain. Her scalp was burning. ”Don’t fight me, Seara, or you will get even more hurt than this. Don’t blame me for that.”

She was done for.

***

A harsh slap landed on Seara’s face. She curled herself on the cold floor of the dungeon. She didn’t make a noise; she stayed there and received the beating, just like she always did.

”You cause trouble for this pack! You humiliate the family!”

Javen was enraged. He had convinced Daven to allow him to take Seara and attempt to ’talk’ some sense into her before the two of them had their conversation later that morning.

However, Seara knew this beating would be the ’talk’ that Javen meant.

’She has become a little bit spoiled lately. I know she has caused trouble for you, but as a father, let me handle her first.’

That was what Javen said before he dragged Seara to the dungeon. Daven agreed to that. Seara wondered if he knew what Javen had done to her all this time. Did he pay attention to her at all?

Seara had never said a word about how her family treated her because she would be labeled as ungrateful. It should be regarded as a blessing for a child who had been adopted into a family like the Gamma’s; many people had emphasized this point.

”How many times do you want to humiliate this family!? I have been very lenient with you when I told you to reflect on your mistakes! But here you are, trying to run away from the pack and causing a ruckus?!”

Javen raised his foot; he was ready to kick his daughter when he noticed Seara didn’t move. With a frown, he squatted down and brushed away the hair from her face.

Seara was still alive, breathing, but her eyes were dead. She stared into the far distance, as if she didn’t feel the pain anymore. This sight made the frown on Javen’s face deepen.

”Do you hear me?!” Javen yelled at her, but she didn’t even flinch. ”Seara!”

Someone entered the dungeon.

”Daven wanted to talk to you, Dad,” Silas said. He glanced at Seara, who was lying motionlessly on the floor.

Javen sighed deeply and then stood up, leaving the damp dungeon and his adoptive daughter behind, while Silas stayed.

Once they were alone, Silas squatted down. He gripped Seara’s chin and looked deep into her eyes. ”What is the point of running away, Seara? You have no one out there.”

Seara’s dull eyes shifted when she saw Silas; her parched lips moved as she spoke in a harsh voice. ”I don’t care; I don’t want to be here anymore.”

She didn’t know what had changed with Silas. He used to be a loving brother to her, defending her when Brigid, his biological sister, bullied her along with Eudora and Enid, but something changed when he turned seventeen.

Seara was twelve when Silas pushed her away and felt disgusted whenever she was close to him, as if she were a disease. And ever since then, Silas had neglected her.

Even when Brigid bullied her right before his eyes, he would pretend that he saw nothing.