Free Lycan Warrior by Anastasia Maltezos Page B

made a terrible one with her when she’d overheard him telling the king last week he didn’t trust her, that she could have been a spy sent by Balkathan to infiltrate the castle.
    Damn… him! How dare he—
    “Excuse me?” Malek said dryly.
    Startled, she gave him a quick, sideways glance and saw him regarding her with a raised brow. Scowling, she returned her focus on the road.
    “I didn’t say anything.”
    “Yes, you did,” he replied. “You have been swearing under your breath since we left the castle.”
    She stiffened. “Perhaps I have reason to swear. I don’t appreciate people spreading malicious rumours about me.”
    “By people, you mean me.”
    She shot him an angry look. “Yes.” He didn’t look in the least bit perturbed and that angered her more. “I overheard what you told the king last week in the Great Hall. You told him you don’t trust me.”
    She watched his jaw harden as he swung a dark and dangerous look on her.
    “I did not spread rumours. I mentioned the obvious. You accomplished what no other has ever done.”
    Her shackles rose. “I escaped from that demon’s prison and I’m automatically labelled a spy?”
    “That demon happens to be your grandfather.”
    “A fact I only discovered last week! My mother kept that information from me.”
    “Nevertheless, we do not know what Balkathan has done to your mind. He is a powerful vampire who can manipulate thoughts, control minds. Your own mother possesses those powers, so you know what he is capable of.”
    She choked back on a rising sob. “You don’t know anything about me.”
    “I know you were his prisoner for two years and escaped without so much as a scratch.”
    Without a scratch? Her anger dimmed and she fell silent, thinking about those terrifying nights when Balkathan’s wolves had picked her from the harem and had brutally raped her. She thought how she had fought back until Balkathan had deemed her an unsuitable mate for his wolves and had sent her to isolation. For months, she was kept in a dark, filthy cell with very little water and food, and ants everywhere, crawling on her face, her skin, her head.
    Katya couldn’t remember isolation too clearly because that was when she had gone mad.
    “I escaped with scratches invisible to the eye. Scratches that will never heal,” she said numbly. Damn him for making her remember.
    “I have my reasons for being sceptical,” Malek said grimly.
    She recalled what her mother had told her. “It has something to do with your brother,” Katya said. She noticed him visibly stiffen.
    “Aye,” he responded.
    Katya wanted to ask him more, but he flicked his reins and his horse galloped to the front of the caravan. She gazed at his broad back as he talked to Nolan and Falk, his men nodding in response.
    Unbidden, a strong sense of curiosity welled in her breast for the fierce Lycan warrior.
     

 
     
     
    Chapter Two
     
     
    It was nearing nightfall when the caravan drew to a stop and Katya gave Malek a questioning look.
    “We camp here for the night,” he said brusquely, dismounting from his horse.
    The terrain was a dry, flat land with mountains in the far distance and a wooded area to the left. Katya slid off her horse and stretched. They’d been riding for hours and she was happy to walk. She saw the mountains on the left and narrowed her eyes, her Lycan blood stirring with rage. Balkathan’s lair was just behind those hills, and she growled softly under her breath.
    “Milady, are you all right?”
    Gasping, she spun around and saw Ortega watching her with a careful glint in his dark eyes. “I’m…I’m fine. Bad memories,” she replied.
    Grim-faced, he nodded. “I understand, milady.” And he strode away.
    Katya glanced around the camp and saw the rest of the guards unpacking crates and setting up tents. Nolan caught her eye and she saw him fashioning a corral of sorts for the horses.
    Her stomach gave an involuntary jolt as she rested her gaze on Malek. He