Chapter 136: A Fallen King

Without the armor of his white fur, without the mass of his beast form, Kael was nothing more than a toy for the Black Tiger King.

Carik didn’t just want to kill him; he wanted to break him. He wanted to smear the legend of the White Tiger into the dirt until it was unrecognizable.

CRASH.

Carik’s massive black tail whipped around, catching Kael in the ribs like a steel beam. Kael was launched across the clearing, slamming into the hard-packed earth with a force that stole the breath from his lungs.

“Get up!” Carik roared, his beast voice distorted and booming. “Where is the King? I see only a cowardly tiger!”

Kael tried to push himself up, his arms trembling. His chest felt like it was on fire—ribs were definitely broken. He could heal broken bones. He could heal internal bleeding. But he couldn’t fight the crushing weight of a five-ton monster while trapped in this weak form.

Carik was on him in a second. The massive black paw, heavy as an anvil, slammed down onto Kael’s back, pinning him to the ground. Sharp claws dug into Kael’s shoulders, piercing the skin but missing the spine.

“You are weak,” Carik chuffed, pressing down until Kael gasped in agony. “You are broken.”

Kael coughed, blood splattering onto the dust. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t shift. He was completely helpless.

The pressure on his back lightened slightly, just enough for him to breathe, as Carik stepped back.

But the reprieve was short-lived.

A pair of bare feet walked into Kael’s field of vision.

Vara.

She stood over him, looking down with a smile that didn’t reach her cold, dead eyes. She looked pristine, a Queen standing over a peasant.

“Look at you,” she cooed, her voice dripping with mock pity. “The Great White Tiger. Reduced to crawling in the dirt.”

She crouched down, bringing her face close to his.

“Tell me, Kael,” she whispered, grabbing a handful of his messy white hair and yanking his head back. “Do you regret it now? Do you regret choosing that useless pet over me?”

Kael’s vision was swimming. His mouth was full of metallic tang. He looked up at her, and despite the pain, despite the humiliation, his golden eyes burned with defiance.

“I would rather die,” Kael rasped, his voice strained, “than spend one breath with you.”

Vara’s face contorted. The mask of the composed Queen slipped.

SMACK.

She slapped him across the face. Her nails, elongated and sharp, raked across his cheek. Four angry red welts appeared on Kael’s skin, stinging and bright against his tan complexion.

“You fool!” she shrieked.

She stood up, pacing around him, her chest heaving with rage.

Deep down, beneath the hatred, a poisonous jealousy rotted her soul. She blamed Ren. She blamed that mammal with every fiber of her being. Vara had been so close!

Kael was supposed to be hers. She had loved him since they were cubs tumbling in the nursery. She had spent nights fantasizing about him—about his golden eyes, his raw power, and the way he would look claiming her.

Her eyes flickered to Kael’s loincloth. Even in this state, she knew the truth. Carik was a monster, yes. He was violent and useful. But he wasn’t Kael. No Alpha could match Kael’s looks, his majesty, or his girth. She knew Carik would never satisfy her the way Kael could have. Carik was just a brute from the Wastelands, a blunt instrument she would use to smash her enemies. He would be King in title only; she would run the clan. What did a wild beast know about leading?

But she would never let neither alphas know that.

Vara smoothed her expression, forcing a cruel, serene smile back onto her face.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said, her voice turning sickly sweet. “I won’t kill your pet, Kael. That would be too merciful.”

She leaned down again, caressing his bleeding cheek condescendingly.

“I will find her,” Vara promised, her eyes gleaming. “And I will make her suffer. I will bleed her slowly. I will break her spirit and her mind until she forgets her own name. I will torture her until she begs for the feral madness just to escape me.”

Kael let out a strangled growl, thrashing against the dirt, but his body refused to obey. He was too weak.

“Don’t worry about the future of the Tiger Clan,” Vara whispered, placing a hand on her own flat stomach. “I am already pregnant with the heir. And he will be the strongest tiger king that has ever lived.”

Kael froze.

Vara stood up, brushing imaginary dust from her skirt.

“Finish him, my King,” she commanded, waving her hand dismissively. “His precious pet will join him in the afterlife soon enough.”

Carik grunted in affirmation.

“With pleasure.”

The massive Black Tiger loomed over Kael once more. The air grew heavy with the scent of impending death.

Kael tried to summon energy to move, to roll away, but his limbs were lead. His healing factor was working, knitting his cells back together, but it was too slow. Far too slow.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion.

Carik raised his large, clawed paw high into the air. The obsidian claws caught the sunlight, gleaming like scythes destined for Kael’s throat.

Kael knew this was it.

He averted his eyes from the death blow. Instead, his golden gaze drifted to where the trembling members of his clan were huddled against the ruins.

’I am sorry,’ he apologized to them in his thoughts. ’I failed you.’

He closed his eyes.

The darkness wasn’t scary. In the dark, he could see her.

He imagined Ren’s beautiful face. He saw her smiling at him over a steaming pot of soup, her green eyes crinkling at the corners. He saw the way the sunlight hit her red hair, turning it into a halo of fire. He felt the phantom warmth of her small hand in his.

’I’m sorry, Ren,’ his soul wept. ’You went through so much trouble to heal me. I’m sorry I wasted your effort.’

But a small, sad smile touched his bloody lips.

’At least… at least I got to hold you one last time.’

He waited for the darkness to become eternal.

Whistle.

A sharp, high-pitched sound cut through the heavy air.

THWACK.

Carik’s roar of triumph turned into a screech of agony.

The killing blow never landed.

The massive Black Tiger stumbled back, thrashing his head wildly. Embedded deep in his left eye—buried almost to the hilt—was a sleek, jagged obsidian dagger.

Blood sprayed across the dirt as Carik howled, swiping at the air blindly, his depth perception shattered.

Vara froze, her mouth falling open. The clan gasped.

Kael opened his eyes, confused.

Then, a voice followed the assault. It was cool, calm, and dripped with an arrogance that rivaled the gods.

“I never expected the White Tiger King to be so pathetic.”

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