Lycan King's Regret: Punished The Wrong Daughter

Arabella Toussaint:

After asking for directions twice, I finally found Angela’s Salon. It was smaller than I had imagined. I took a deep breath and stepped inside. It smelled good.

Soft music was playing in the background, and a few women were getting their hair done.

A young receptionist looked up from her desk and smiled politely, "Welcome to Angela’s. How can I help you?"

I looked around before walking toward her, "Um... do you have anyone named Maya working here?"

The receptionist’s smile widened, "Maya? Yes, we have Maya. But she doesn’t work here. She’s the owner."

Owner?

"Oh..." A slow smile spread across my face. My friend was a salon owner?

She actually did it.

The receptionist called one of the workers, "Could you please ask Ms. Maya to come to the reception? Someone is here to see her."

The young woman nodded and disappeared through the hallway.

"Please have a seat," The receptionist pointed toward a small waiting area.

"No thanks."

I was too excited to sit still and tapped my hand against my thigh while waiting for her impatiently. I kept staring at the hallway like a kid, waiting for my friend to show up..

See! I made it.

That was what I would tell her when she would hug me. I looked up when I heard the footsteps.

A huge smile spread across my face as I walked ahead, ready to throw myself at her. But after two steps, I had to stop, and the smile on my face disappeared. The woman walking toward me wasn’t Maya. She was older and taller.

"Yes? What can I do for you?" She asked me with a polite smile, and I started shaking my head.

"I’m sorry. There must be a misunderstanding. You’re not the Maya I know."

They were looking at me in confusion, and my heart slowly sank when a horrible thought crossed my mind.

I have nowhere to go. Tonight, I have to sleep on a bench under the open sky.

***

Three nights.

I had spent three whole nights sleeping on the footpath because even the public benches were almost always occupied.

And I swear to Moon Goddess. Every single night, I not only missed that soft royal bed but also King Lucien’s arms around me. The thought made me sigh.

What did he do after I disappeared?

Was he still looking for me?

Had he gone back to Jasmine?

I started shaking my head in frustration. I shouldn’t be thinking about him anymore. That Chapter of my life was over.

There was no space for King Lucien in my new life.

"Aria! Are you daydreaming again? Make it quick!"

The bakery owner’s sharp scream made me flinch as it pulled me back to reality.

"Yes, Mr. Kane." I hurried to the front counter and picked up a clean cloth.

"What were you even thinking? Imagining yourself a queen? These shelves won’t wipe themselves," The old baker grumbled while arranging fresh loaves of bread.

"Yes, Sir."

Yeah. Sometimes I did imagine myself a queen, walking beside the king.

I started cleaning the glass counter, watching my own reflection disappear beneath the cloth.

Aria.

That was my name now. My new identity.

If the king’s men ever reached the human city, they wouldn’t find an Arabella working in a bakery. Besides, I doubted they’d search the human territory first.

They’d be turning every werewolf pack upside down before even considering I’d crossed into the human world.

I still couldn’t believe I’d been foolish enough to come here without learning where Maya actually lived.

I let out a frustrated sigh, "I’m such an idiot!" I muttered to myself and continued cleaning the already-cleaned glass.

"Hey," A familiar voice came from beside me. I looked up. Toby was carrying a tray of freshly baked buns. He gently bumped my shoulder with his own, "Don’t be so hard on yourself, Aria."

This guy knew what I was thinking. I gave him a tired smile.

He placed the tray on the shelf and turned to face me, "You know nothing about the outside world. Anyone in your place would have made the same mistake."

I made a pout and shrugged, "Maybe."

"Uh. No maybe. You..." He pointed a finger at me, "... survived on your own, found a job, and somehow managed to not burn the bakery down," I could hear amusement in his voice when he finished that sentence.

I rolled my eyes and placed a hand on my hip, "And that’s supposed to make me feel better?"

"Umm..." he scratched his head, "... it was a compliment."

"It was an insult!"

He grinned and turned away, "Congratulations. You’ve officially been promoted from homeless stranger to annoying coworker."

I shook my head and started collecting the empty baking trays.

Toby found me on my fourth day in the city. He noticed me sleeping on a sidewalk with nothing beneath me. I was exhausted, hungry, and trying to hide the fact that I was a werewolf. Somehow, he figured it out anyway.

Instead of asking questions, he simply smiled and admitted that he and his younger sister, Tessa, were Omegas who had also run away from their pack years ago. They lived in a tiny, cramped apartment and understood exactly what it meant to start over with nothing.

When Mr. Kane mentioned he needed an extra pair of hands at his bakery, Toby recommended me without hesitation.

The pay wasn’t great, but it was honest work.

For the first time in my life, I slowly felt like I was finding a place to stand on my own two feet. Here I was paid for every hour I worked.

In the Blackthorn pack and in the Royal palace, the only things I earned while being a slave were disrespect, another punishment, and another reminder that I was worthless than everyone else.

In my free time, I was still searching for Maya, and I knew it wasn’t the life I’d dreamed of. But it was a life I had chosen.

And somehow that made all the difference.

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