The Lycan's King Obsession

Caden's POV**

"Never involve yourself in any form of combat with weaker children, remember the son of who you are..." I chanted my father's words slowly in my mind as I held my hands in tight fists beside me.

A single tear formed and dropped from my eye as I desperately tried restraining myself from hitting at one of the three boys who were quickly backing me into a dark corner.

My dad had warned me never to fight, never to get in any form of physical combat with any of these orphanage children or else I would blow my cover.

I didn't understand why I had to stay in an orphanage though, I mean my dad had a mansion, a very big mansion, and had lots of servants working under him.

So why the fuck did they abandon me here to rot? And to tolerate these children's shenanigans!

"Cat got his tongue!" One of them yelled in my face. I quickly took a step backwards because his bad breath was enough to numb my senses.

"Yeah... cat got his tongue." The biggest one of the trio, Jake said with a grin on his face.

He pulled me close to him by the collar of my shirt and landed a fatal blow to my midriff. I squirmed, bending over as the pain shot up my stomach.

"Next time, you'll learn to obey whatever we say." He growled in my face, infuriating me even further.

I shut my eyes tightly closed, reigning in the sizzling rage that was about to burst out of my body and was about to strike back at him when the sharp screams of someone pierce my eardrums.

The sound was so sharp, and so loud I had no other option but to insert my index fingers into my ears to block it out.

Suddenly the noise stopped. I instinctively brought out my fingers and was shocked to notice that they had been stained with blood, my blood.

I looked up and saw that the other boys were sprawled on the floor, writhing in pain, with droplets of blood seeping out of their ears and eyes.

A kind of fear ran up the length of my body when I looked towards the doorway to find a little girl by the door, holding onto the door frame for support.

Her eyes were round with fear but they had this unnatural glow to them. She was the screamer, and I was indeed shocked to realize that she was Brynlee, the child in room 303.

The one who was always separated from the crowd, the one most of the other children called 'the beast' because according to them, she had the abilities to wreak havoc.

And she had just wreaked havoc...

"Are you okay?" I heard her whisper softly to me. I nodded my head and took a few steps backwards when she staggered slowly towards me.

My initial fear dissipated when she held her small hands towards me with a sad look clouding her eyes. She looked fragile... and unsure. It clawed at my heart.

I gingerly held her hands in mine and was shocked when a jolt of electricity ran up my spine.

I guess she felt it too, for almost immediately, she beamed a smile at me; her smile seemed to warm my heart, lighting up my bleak world momentarily.

"What is your name?" She asked softly, looking up at me with a weird expression on her face that I actually found cute.

She was so small, I would've almost thought she was fragile if she hadn't nearly burst my eardrums only a few minutes ago.

"My name is Caden, Caden Pierce." I replied, ruffling her wild ginger red hair.

"Kwaden Parse." She said with a grin. I didn't bother with correcting her though. Her pronunciation of my name made me chuckle. It sounded weird in a funny way.

"My name is Brynlee Levine." She said with a giggle, and I nodded. I didn't bother trying to tell her that I already knew her name and that she was the most popular kid in this orphanage. I simply let it go.

I felt an uncomfortable warmth run up the arm that she held, but I didn't say a word about it. I simply let her drag me around the environs of the orphanage, while I tagged along like a lost sheep.

We became friends after that day.

She was my only friend, while I was her only friend as well. We literally went everywhere together, ate, and played around together, making most of the other orphanage children avoid me because they feared her.

We were literally inseparable, and were only separated when the doctors came to take her into the labs for testing, or when it was bedtime.

The other children slept together in a very big hall while Brynlee was made to sleep alone in a separate room. Thus earning herself the name, 'the girl in room 303'.

I always wondered what they did to her whenever she was taken into that scary white lab, keeping her in for hours non stop. She never talked about it though, sometimes she even tried to pretend like it never happened.

Our friendship blossomed within my six months of staying at the orphanage. She filled my world with so much peace, so much fun that I almost forgot that I wasn't going to be there for a long time.

One evening, I sat alone at a corner of the large dining hall, picking at my plate of pasta when one of the nuns came for me, to inform me that I had a visitor who wanted to see me immediately.

To my greatest surprise, I walked into the head nun's office to find my father, in all his glory, sitting majestically in front of the head nun in his Armani suit.

I gasped, and ran into his waiting embrace but I didn't find it exciting when he said he was here to take me back home. Why all of a sudden when I have a reason to be happy here?

For the period he left me here, all the days, I had craved to be home with my father but that changed when I met Brynlee. I no longer cry to be home or taken away from here, I found myself always craving and happy to be around her.

I wanted to tell him that I can't leave with him anymore but I don't have the courage to speak to my father that way yet.

Nobody speak when he has already made his decision. We were about to go out of the office when I abruptly pulled my hand off his grip.

I can't leave Brynlee. I can't go anymore, she is already part of me. If I need to leave here, then she has to leave with me.

"What is it son?" Father had asked, looking down at me like I had suddenly done something alien like.

"My friend isn't here." I replied immediately, shrugging out of his hold, and then turning back to talk to the head nun, I asked softly; "can I take Brynlee with me, dad I can't leave her alone here?"

"And who is Brynlee?" My father had interjected quickly, staring at me like I suddenly owned two heads.

"My friend-"

"An orphan here." We both answered simultaneously.

Father glanced pointedly between us, seemingly a bit confused as he asked; "and where is she now?"

"She's in the orphanage's clinic, receiving treatment." The nun answered quickly, and without being asked, she continued; "you can't take her along with you though, it's against the system here."

"But she can be adopted right?" Father asked, cocking his eyebrows in askance.

"That particular child isn't up for adoption." She answered immediately.

I heard my father sigh loudly, and I glanced between the both of them confusedly, unsure of what the fuss was about.

"Caden..." he called softly, making me glance up at him in confusion. "We can't take her along with us."

"Why? Dad we have to take her with us please. Nobody likes her here!" I cried, suddenly feeling a wave of sadness wash over me.

"She's ill, we can't take her. They will take go care of her here." He said slowly, crouching in front of me as he cupped my face in his large hands. I shrugged out of his grasp, walking towards the door.

"No they can't! Brynlee needs us! She needs me!" I cried. My eyelids burned with unshed tears, and it took everything within me to restrain myself from crying.

" You can't take her with you, and you won't be able to see her now as well. She is undergoing chemotherapy." The nun answered, I knew she had lied though but I ignored her.

Brynlee didn't have cancer!

I felt my father tug at my shirt's collar impatiently, as if he was already growing tired of my tantrums, and then he literally dragged me out of the orphanage and into his waiting car.

I bellowed out Brynlee's name desperately, but no reply came forth. She had been locked up in that white room again!

In frustration, I burst into tears as the car drove out of the driveway and into the street beyond, while my father and the driver ignored my tears.

I tried severally after that day to get my father to take me to the orphanage, and when he finally agreed to take me there, we were told she had died a few months back upon our arrival.

I was hurt. I cried bitterly when I got home that day, but at the same time, I knew that she wasn't dead. I knew that they had lied again.

I wasn't sure what it was that made me so sure, but I knew deep down in my heart that Brynlee wasn't dead...

**Caden's POV**

16 years later

I woke up in an exceptionally good mood, unsure of what it was that made me feel so good about myself this morning.

I sighed, rolling off my bed as thoughts of my childhood love, Brynlee, crossed my mind for the one millionth time this week. It immediately dimmed most of the happiness I felt because I missed her.

Terribly.

I had always missed her ever since sixteen years ago, when I had left the orphanage without saying goodbye; and for the thousandth time in the last twenty four hours, I couldn't help but think about what she could be up to at the moment.

As soon as I got out of bed, my fiancée, Harley, got up too, with a small smile gracing her porcelain face.

She was beautiful, but at the same time, I'd hate to admit that her beauty still wasn't enough to rid me of thoughts of Brynlee, even after these past few months of our relationship.

"Good morning." She drawled sleepily, and I smiled, placing a soft kiss to her lush surgically enhanced lips. In return, she regarded me with a grin.

"Good morning, my princess." I greeted back, ruffling her already tangled hair and strutted off to my bathroom for a very warm shower, warm enough that it slightly burnt my skin.

Today was going to be a long day, I could already feel it...

***

I scrunched up my nose in disgust at the smell of booze wafting through the air as I pushed my way through the crowd of excited men shouting amongst themselves in groups.

"King Caden!" Winifred, my business associate, called excitedly as soon as he laid his eyes on me. He quickly walked up to me, and to my surprise, engulfed me in a warm hug.

"What the hell is this place?" I asked Winifred in anger as I slowly sat down on one of the chairs behind me. I was glad at least that he had chosen a space for us at the extreme end of the wide room.

"It's an auction house." He answered slowly, looking around.

I was about to make a sarcastic comment about the place when he quickly interjected me, "I chose here because it's one of the most discreet places I could find in such a short notice." He said, and I nodded in understanding.

"What do they sell here?" I asked slowly, watching closely at the crowd of excited men who yelled at the top of their voices.

"Well..." Winifred drawled, "they sell girls, or girl slaves, depending on what the buyers decides to use them for." He replied.

I immediately felt disgusted at the thought of buying a person for my personal pleasure. The idea infuriated me so much that I had to clench my hands into tight fists to prevent myself from pouncing at someone.

Winifred easily shifted my attention from them though, and a few minutes into the meeting, I was seemingly unaware of my surroundings and was so engrossed in what Winifred had to propose that I at first didn't notice the sweet smell that wafted through the air, and into my nostrils.

"What is that?" Jax, my beast yelled in my mind. I felt him begin to prance around in my head uncontrollably but I ignored him, refocusing my attention to what I was doing earlier before the interruption.

The mouthwatering smell attacked my nostrils again, and this time I had no other option but to look around frantically, in search of what it was that was causing my discomfort.

"Are you okay, king Caden?" I heard Winifred ask in worry beside me, and again I ignored him, looking around the wide room.

A figure at the podium caught my attention. She was so beautiful, she looked like an Angel fallen from the sky, she had this strange thing about her that attracted me, drew me in until all of my attention zeroed on her beautiful face.

From the discomfort I felt, I instantly knew that she was my mate, but that wasn't the main challenge I had right now.

Something about her felt familiar. I wasn't sure if it was her wild ginger red hair, or her glassy green eyes, or the kind of aura that surrounded her that felt familiar, but I instantly knew that I knew her, and that I wanted her to myself.

"Twenty one year old Miss Brynlee Levine is next for auction...!" The auction host screamed excitedly, making the crowd erupt in a wild frenzy.

Immediately the name left his lips, I felt my body freeze up in shock. He had to be kidding me!

I blinked my eyes severally, but each time I looked at her, I saw the uncanny resemblance she shared with the Brynlee I knew and loved.

How did I not notice at first glance?

I heard the host scream out something, but I paid no attention to it until he screamed out something else that caught my attention.

"...bidding price starts at five thousand US dollars...!" He yelled, making me glance up suddenly to stare at the crowd of leering men who were openly ogling at her beauty.

"Seven thousand dollars!" One of the old folks yelled from the frontline, making me grind my teeth in anger. They really wanted to buy her!

"Ten thousand!" Another yelled, and I growled lowly in my chest as I felt a pang of anger rise up my chest.

"Twenty five thousand dollars!" Came another voice.

I felt my anger skyrocket as the bidding continued, with each person calling a price higher than the last.

"Are you okay king Caden?, you seem carried away." Winifred asked, but I brushed off his question by a wave of my hands.

"Fifty thousand dollars!" Someone yelled in the crowd, making my heart race momentarily. I wanted them all to name their prices before I named mine.

Wanted them all to be carried away momentarily before I struck.

I gnashed my teeth together as the prices continued skyrocketing, and a lot of bidders had suddenly lost interest. They probably felt she was a little too expensive.

The last two girls were bought for prices way below a hundred thousand dollars, and so they probably felt she would be the same.

"One million dollars!" The guy who said three hundred and fifty dollars earlier yelled, and this time, I stared pointedly at him in annoyance.

Almost immediately, our eyes met, and then he flashed me a grin, a proud grin, it made me want to snap his head into two.

The crowd had long gone silent. The prices were fast becoming outrageous, but I didn't care. I desperately wanted to see the end of this, moreover I couldn't allow one of these scumbags to buy my mate.

"Five million!" The guy from earlier, the proud one yelled. From the look on his face I knew he couldn't go further, and so I decided to strike.

"Five million!" The host yelled happily, casting a proud look at Brynlee who stared into nothingness like someone who had been drugged.

"Brynlee Levine going for five million dollars!" He yelled excitedly, "going, going..."

"Twenty million dollars!" I yelled suddenly, making everyone in the room turn to look at me. I smiled inwardly as the microphone literally dropped from the host's hand and the proud guy stared at me with a look of disdain on his face.

"Brynlee Levine going for twenty million dollars! Going, going... gone!" The host yelled, making the excited crowd erupt suddenly in wild cheering.

"Miss Brynlee Levine is sold to Mr..." he stopped suddenly, throwing an apologetic look way; "oh my God I'm so sorry, to King Caden Pierce for the sum of Twenty million dollars!" He said, making everyone yell out excitedly.

Before Brynlee was ushered away from the podium, our eyes met and held.

Green eyes met Gray eyes.

For a moment I could almost swear that I saw recognition flash in her eyes, before it simply fleeted away, like it never happened.

At this point I didn't really care if she recognized me or not, all I cared about was the fact that I had finally found her after so many years of searching...

**Brynlee's POV**

I stood quietly like a zombie while one of the big guys unclasped the handcuffs around my wrists. I still felt a little dizzy though from the after effects of the drug they had injected me with earlier to prevent me from escaping.

"What're you trying to do?" I asked in frustration when I felt him try to replace the cuffs around my wrist with a dog leash, and instead of giving a reasonable answer to my question, the tall bulky guy pushed me forward, out of the room and into a dark corridor.

"I am proud of you." I heard him say to me, but I kept my mouth shut, unsure of the reason he would even be proud of me in the first place.

Mistaking my silence for curiosity, he continued, "Do you know how much that young King paid for you? He paid a whopping sum of twenty million dollars!" He said excitedly. At his statement, I turned to stare at him in shock.

Why would anyone pay that unreasonable amount of money to have me?

Ignoring the shocked expression on my face, she continued anyway, "ever since the history of this auction house, no one has ever bought any of our girls for that outrageous-"

I blocked out the rest of his sentence, thinking of what he had said about someone buying me for twenty million dollars. The price was outrageous. Crazy. I wouldn't even buy me for that sum of money!

My train of thoughts were suddenly disrupted when he pulled at the leash around my neck painfully, making me yelp.

I wanted to squash his head, and feed his remains to ventures, wanting to squeeze him until every drop of blood seeped out of his body.

I knew I had the capabilities to do so, but I wouldn't, I couldn't. I had made a promise several years ago to a woman I had accidentally killed that I wouldn't take the life of another.

The thought of the middle aged woman brought fresh tears to my eyes; and I wept quietly, with my thoughts in a mushy disarray as I allowed the bulky guy drag me away like an old rag doll.

Maybe this was my punishment. This was what I got for murdering an innocent woman all those years ago.

I was immediately snapped out of my reverie when I was pushed into a black sleek car with tinted windows.

Looking around, I immediately came face to face with the face of a handsome young man. He looked to be within his mid twenties and had this really intense look on his face that had me squirming in my seat.

"Good afternoon." I said awkwardly, looking around the car but avoiding his brooding gaze altogether.

"Brynlee..." he said softly, with that look in his eyes that was making me quite uncomfortable.

"That's my name." I replied, tilting my head at him. He suddenly looked away from me to talk to the driver, and I sighed, happy that he had finally looked away from him.

I could smell the intoxicating smell of our mate bond, I could feel it from the way my skin tingles and from the way he acted towards me, but something felt off...

Something felt different.

There was this aura about him, this familiarity that I couldn't quite explain.

I turned to look at him only to find him already staring at me. I squirmed again in my seat and looked away, suddenly feeling the weird tingles of a blush creep up my cheek and ears...

***

The drive to wherever it was that he was taking me was quiet and quite uncomfortable.

I literally sprained my back from trying to sit up during the entire course of the ride, while the young man, the source of my discomfort, sat majestically beside me with his attention drawn on his phone.

After a few hours of the silent ride, the sleek car came to a halt in the driveway of an extremely beautiful mansion. It looked exactly like something that had fallen out of a Disney movie.

I immediately caught myself ogling openly at the ginormous house, and quickly recomposed myself.

I breathed in his heady smell when suddenly, he hovered over me and slowly took out the dog leash from my neck at a really slow pace, it almost seemed like he was caressing me.

And then suddenly, he moved away from me, so quickly, I almost felt like I had imagined him touching me. He flung the car's door open and stepped out quickly, slamming the door in my face.

In near shock, I gingerly stepped out of the car too, trudging after my mate on wobbly legs, but he was too fast, I couldn't possibly catch up to him.

From a distance I saw my Mate conversing with a group of people who looked like pack warriors from the way they were dressed.

They seemed like they were involved in a heated argument, but from this distance, I still didn't miss the obvious fear in their eyes as they bowed slightly at him.

"Who was he?" I asked myself, staring at the obvious show off of wealth in awe.

I waited for him until he was done talking to the warriors, and as soon as they had finished talking, I followed closely behind him until we arrived at the living room of his mansion.

I gasped in pure awe. The interior looked Royal-like with its high ceilings and golden walls. A majestic chandelier hung from the middle of the room looking like a monstrous beauty due to its size.

I gasped again, this time in shock when I noticed a very large beautiful painting occupying most of one of his living room's walls.

In the painting was a child, a beautiful young girl not more than six years old. She had glassy green eyes and wild ginger red hair that looked like a mane over her head.

She was extremely beautiful; and in a way, I was drawn to her beauty.

I slowly walked towards the painting, rubbing my hands slowly down its length.

It drew me in, mesmerized me, but something else about the painting shook me to the core. It was the fact that the child in it bore a striking resemblance to me.

If I had given birth before, I would've sworn that she was mine.

I turned to look at the young man who brought me here, only to find him already staring at me with a weird expression on his handsome face.

"Who is she?" I whispered slowly, pointing at the beautiful painting hanging on the wall.

He seemed taken aback by my question, and tilted his head slowly to the side, as if in confusion.

"You really do not know her?" He asked. His voice sounded incredulous. It made me wonder if the child was someone I really knew.

"No." I answered defiantly, looking up at his confused stare.

"How do you not know that that girl is you Brynlee?" He asked softly, staring down at me like I had suddenly grown two heads.

I took a step back in confusion. That couldn't be me!

"That isn't me." I said indignantly, staring up at the painting that seemed to draw me in the more at every glance I threw at it.

I glanced at the young man to notice a look of confusion on his features. He looked like I was telling a lie, and couldn't believe it.

"That is you, Brynlee." He whispered, but I shook my head indignantly as I took more steps backwards.

"Are you trying to say that you do not remember this?" He asked, pointing to the painting, "Do you not recognize me?" His voice sounded incredulous. It confused me.

"No." I said again. I was beginning to really think he was crazy until I noticed him staring at me as if I was crazy as well. I sighed.

"It's me Caden, Caden Pierce." He drawled, taking a few steps towards me, in fright, I stepped backwards and shook my head.

"The name doesn't ring a bell." I replied dryly, staring up at him in confusion. My response made him stop abruptly in his tracks, and he looked down at me in a way that I couldn't quite comprehend.

"You do not remember being at an orphanage, do you?" He asked suddenly, making me snap my head to look up at him.

Me? In an orphanage?

"Hell no! I've never been to an orphanage!" I snapped fiercely.

I noticed a wild look suddenly cross his features and almost immediately, he held my face in a tight grip, making an array of different wild sensations run up my face at his touch.

"You really do not recognize me?" He asked again, and in response, I shook my head.

"What about now?" He asked again, this time, bringing his face forward in a way that we breathed in the same air. I immediately shook out of his hold, seemingly uncomfortable with the way he was making me feel.

He immediately let go of me, his expression sad.

I looked on in confusion as he walked away from me suddenly as if I had a plague, and walked up a flight of beautiful stairs without looking back.

Something from his behavior made me realize that he probably knew me, but regardless of how hard I tried, I still couldn't recollect ever meeting someone like him...