Forged in the Flames by Karima Sa'ad Usman

The heated moment I had with Aliana got to my head. Bane wanted her badly, and I did not know how

long I would deny him.

I feared she might become an addiction once I started because my wolf never craved someone so

much. Teasing her like I did calmed him down a little.

I did not want to lose sight of my mission and my revenge.

I knew refusing to seal the deal got to her. I saw the pain in her eyes even though she tried to mask it.

I wasn’t sorry, she shouldn’t have expected anything more.

I suspected she was yet to understand her predicament, and it was because I was lenient on her, but

not anymore.

Aliana always has the nerve to reply whenever I say something. I do not know where her confidence

comes from because clearly, she is afraid of me. Soon she would know that silence and obedience

would serve her better in her predicament.

She would submit to me whether she liked it or not. When her father realises the hardship and turmoil

she is going through, he will feel helplessness and pain, just like I have been feeling for nineteen years.

I heard Aliana rush out of my room, and I heard her sob. I exhaled while I worked on myself. I wouldn’t

deny that I was tempted to finish with her, but this was more rewarding. I would be betraying my mother

if I allowed myself to please Aliana.

To think she had the effrontery to make suggestions on feeding my mother. Thinking of her explaining

her plans made me laugh. Her father and kind were the reason my mother was in that situation in the

first place.

I wondered how she planned to fix it. Something that even Lycans could not do I only allowed her to

prove a point, and when she failed, I would turn up the heat on her people a little higher and let them

know why.

I would make her suffer and ensure her people blamed her for their suffering. Gabriel would not dream

of defending or rescuing her. It will be heart-wrenching, and he will feel pain. Qusack might say I had

already won and should move to get the kingship recognition, but I wasn’t satisfied yet. I wanted them

to suffer like my mother did, raising me alone. Like I did, being forced to grow up at ten and take care of

her. I want Gabriel to feel unimaginable pain, and he would feel it through Aliana.

I did not care what my wolf wanted, I would deal with the Nowaks and Werewolves for their crime

against my family.

Once I was done in the bathroom, I linked the two maids I assigned to Aliana and gave them

instructions, then, I allocated three men to the cause.

They were to report everything to me. I planned on giving Aliana a month and punishing her for failing

because I knew she would fail. She might think she could warm my cold heart by trying, but she did not

possess the fire for that. I decided to join Qusack outside We were trying to renovate the kingdom and

build a mega city, and I planned on using the werewolves as slaves to do the job. Qusack and I

planned to draft them that morning.

I planned to reserve the more complex work like stone cutting and transporting to Gabriel and his crew.

They would have little or no help, and I would give them an impossible goal. Once they failed, they

would be dealt with mercilessly.

I planned to make them realise how good they had it with my father. I want them to regret betraying him

because no one would have taken over the Forest territory if they had a king.

Qusack stood in front of the pack house, and there were two long lines, one for men and the other for

women. Gabriel stood in front of the male line while a woman, whom I did not care who she was, stood

in front of the female line. I cleared my throat, and they all bowed with respect. I had men standing

scantily on each side of the line with silver thorns on whips. They would use it on the werewolves if they

acted defiantly like Aliana.

I was carrying Aliana’s scent because of our encounter this morning, and I hoped Gabriel would

recognise the scent.

It wasn’t a plan I devised, but since it had happened, I might as well use it to my advantage.

I had touched her because I wanted her, I wanted to know what she would feel like, and she felt good.

So damn good that I marked her with my scent.

I wasn’t going to share what is mine, that much I had made clear, but now I had her scent, too It would

fade away after a while, but it was okay because Gabriel would know. He would know that I had kept

my promise and ruined her.

I stood and cleared my throat, and I saw Gabriel look at me with haunted eyes. His little girl wasn’t a

little girl anymore, she was now one of my playthings, and I wanted him to know. He bowed his head

immediately, and I walked to him.

“I meant what I said, Gabriel, your daughter will be a w*ho*re. Soon once I am done, I will pass her

around for general use, just as she should be,” I said, and he didn’t utter a word. I wanted a reaction

from him, but nothing happened. “At least she is making herself useful, it is time you make yourself

useful,” I said and waited. I could feel him vibrate with rage, but he controlled himself.

The man behind him held him to calm him down, and he relaxed, but I did not miss the tears that

escaped his eyes. It was satisfying to watch because I remembered how my mother cried every day,

especially at night when she thought I was sleeping.

At least his daughter has a bed. We had to sleep on straws in caves.

“Today, we will be drafting you to work. You will have to earn your keep. Some of you will farm our food

and raise our cattle. Some of you will keep the territory clean, while others will work on the building

projects. As payment, you get to keep your current homes and are entitled to two meals a day, nothing

more,” Qusack said, and they were silent. I could see the dread in their eyes.

“We will divide you all now, and then you can all resume your duties following the Lycans in charge of

your teams,’ He explained, and they were silent.

Qusack and I drafted everyone.

The moment we drafted Gabriel to work with the masons and transporters, people began to plead on

his behalf, claiming he was ill.

“I will do the work, Alpha,” Gabriel said with boldness, and I knew he had a death wish.

“If you d*ie in the process, your daughter’s life is forfeit,” I warned him, and he had horror in his eyes. It

was stupid of him not to think I would figure out his reason.

Once we were done and I had had my fun, I returned to the packhouse. Qusack followed me and tried

to catch up to me. “Were you serious about passing her around, Nikolas?” he asked, a bit worried.

I sighed and looked at him. I did not want to give him a definite answer, so he led me to the Alpha’s

office.

“She is a werewolf, and they are beneath us, but leaving her as a maid will be okay. Passing her

around would be extreme. She …” Qusack said, and I shut him up.

“Why are you protecting this girl? Did you think I spent all these years planning to fight and conquer my

father’s enemies only to play with a werewolf b*itc*h? The daughter of the b*astar*d responsible for my

family’s destruction? I did it for a purpose,” I shot at him, and he sighed.

“Then apply for kingship. You have already enslaved all of them. Send her to her father and let them

work on the projects together,” He said and sighed.

He rubbed his ginger curls gently, seeming frustrated, then began to pace in the office. “I do not know,

Niko, but I feel this is wrong. That girl..” he said, and I shut him up.

“My revenge, my rules,” I said, and he nodded.

“If you planned on doing that, then why give her your scent?” he asked, and I could not respond. “I

hope you know what you are doing, Niko,” he said and sighed.

“I know you want to exert revenge for your family and please your mother. I know what Gabriel and his

people did was f*uc*ked up, and they are paying for it now. But do not lose your soul completely. We

might act cruel and hard to these people, and they might call us savages, but in the end, we are just us,

Niko. Lycans that tried to make something of the mess given to us,” he said, and I sat on my chair.

Then looked at him.

“I will give her back to her father when I am satisfied. But she won’t be mated, and she won’t have

children. The Nowaks lineage must end. My mother wanted that so badly, it is the least I can do to

thank her for everything,” I said, and he patted me on the shoulder and sighed. He did not like my

words, but he knew it was best to drop the topic.

“Alpha, the slave is force-feeding the queen, and it seems like she is k*ill*ing her. She also refuses to

stop,” One of the men I assigned to help Aliana said, and I left what I was doing and decided to head to

my mother s room.

I told them to refer to her as queen because this was her kingdom, and she was the queen until Gabriel

and his friends usurped power.

Aliana had told me she would force-feed her, but I had asked them to sedate my mother so she could

spoon-feed her. The b*itc*h might just be taking out her anger on my mother. I rushed to the first floor

and went to my mother’s room.

I opened the door and saw Aliana pouring food down a small funnel with a tube. My mother though

feral, seemed in pain, and rage rose in me. I moved quickly and pushed Aliana away from her with

force. Then pulled the funnel out.

“And you were all watching this?” I asked everyone there, not caring to see what had happened to the

b*itc*h I pushed. I knew she would take out the anger of my rejection on someone, and she dared to

take it out on my mother.

Ania and Lisa knelt and bowed their head immediately.

“Alpha, Aliana was able to get the queen to eat more than she normally does. That was why we

allowed it. She wasn’t sedated when we arrived. This was the only way we could handle the situation,”

she said, and I could feel their fear. I looked at my mother, and her eyes were red. She was crying and

snarling with w*et hair and food dripping from the corner of her mouth. She had blood on her l*ips, and

it wasn’t hers.

“Why wasn’t she sedated?” I asked Ania, but she wasn’t the one I was supposed to ask.

I wondered why the physician did not do his job, knowing she would be impossible to care for in this

state.

Ashamed of my actions, I turned to look at Aliana and noticed she was passed out on the floor. The

wall had some blood and a little crack on it. I must have used brutal force on her. I lifted her and told

the men to get the physicians to attend to my mother while I carried Aliana to her room.

I believed she deliberately hurt my mother with the tube down her throat. My mistrust of the werewolves

caused me to act irrationally, and I promised myself to look at things critically next time.

I opened the door to her room and laid her on the bed. She had a bite wound on her arm, and I figured

my mother did it.

Aliana must have been desperate to risk it. Her eyes were shut close, and I knew she was

unconscious. Werewolves healed slower than us, but I knew she would be fine.

I instructed the maids to attend to her and left the room.