The Lycan King's Second Chance Mate: Rise of the Traitor's Daughter Chapter 182: I Am the Storm

Natalie~

I had lost my mind.

I an that quite literally.

There was sothing about watching Alex—my Alex—crumpled in my arms, blood soaking through his tiny shirt, that cracked sothing in . Not just a crack. A break. A fracture that went so deep, it splintered across every version of that had ever lived and died and loved before.

I wasn’t Natalie Cross in that mont.

I was wrath. I was mory. I was divinity reborn.

And I rembered everything.

My fingers trembled as I brushed Alex’s hair away from his pale forehead, my knees digging into the dirt where I’d dropped, clutching him close to my chest. His breath was shallow, and my heart stilled with every second that ticked by. I whispered his na over and over like a prayer, like a promise.

"Alex... baby, I’m here, I’ve got you..."

He blinked up at with those sa bright eyes that made Zane lt. Eyes that called Mom even before the word ever left his lips.

Soone had dared to hurt him.

I felt sothing inside tear loose.

The pain. The rage. The betrayal.

It all surged forward—years of being hated, rejected, used, marked like cattle, thrown away like garbage. The loss of my parents when I was only thirteen. The nights I starved in the cells, the mornings I woke up to fists or frostbite. The sha of being a werewolf without a wolf. A mate’s rejection like shattered glass in my soul.

I lived in shadows. I begged for crumbs. I slept in shelters where even hope was afraid to visit.

And then... Alex. Zane. A ho. Love.

They gave sothing I hadn’t dared believe in anymore.

Family.

And soone thought they could take that from ?

They picked the wrong girl.

No.

They picked the wrong goddess.

I would not let anyone treat like trash again. No more hiding. It was high ti they knew who they had ssed with.

Flas licked at my fingertips before I even realized my body was moving. Jasmine—my wolf, my true self, my soul—scread inside , not in pain but in fury. Our voices blended, echoed, shook the trees.

The guards hadn’t even seen coming.

Their weapons dropped first, like tal knew better than to defy . The air tightened, thick with heat and the scent of ozone. One step. That’s all it took.

I raised my hand—and the first guard scread as he burst into flas. I didn’t blink.

A flick of my wrist, and the second’s bones snapped like twigs. A whisper, and the third collapsed to the ground, clutching his skull, sobbing sothing about shadows.

They weren’t n to . They were threats. Obstacles. They had touched my son.

I don’t even rember all of it. Just flashes. Steel fangs. Screams. Blood like spilled ink across the dirt. And Alex’s weight pressed to my chest, grounding , reminding of why I was burning the world down.

Tiger had appeared first. Of course he had.

"Natalie," he said, voice low like thunder under soil. "This is not the way."

I turned on him, eyes glowing white-hot.

"The way," I snarled, "is mine to choose."

He tried to step forward. Brave, even for an Earth Spirit. But I was shaking too hard, vibrating with raw energy.

I rembered.

I rembered everything.

Lifetis. Lovers. Kingdoms that burned because they touched what was mine. The first ti I’d lost Alex—centuries ago, in another form—and how I brought an empire to its knees just to hold his hand again.

Tiger raised a hand to stop —but he couldn’t.

Because by then, I had cracked the sky.

Lightning spider-webbed above as I scread, "I am the damn storm!"

And the wind obeyed.

One mont the sky was clear—eerily still. The next, it shimred with heat and pressure like it was holding its breath. Then he ca. Eagle.

Of course he did.

Word must’ve reached him—soone always blabs in this family. He ripped through the skies above, silver eyes flaring like twin moons. His wings caught the dying light, radiant and terrifying. He dropped from the heavens like a blade, his voice carried by the wind.

"Natalie—what have you done?"

Silver gusts wrapped around , chains of air tightening around my arms and waist like living serpents. I laughed—a deep, wicked, goddess-born laugh—and looked up.

"You really think wind can hold , Eagle?"

With a snap of my glare, the wind shrieked and unraveled, vanishing like frightened birds into the clouds.

Eagle hovered midair, stunned. "Natalie... you’re glowing."

"I should’ve killed him the day he looked at wrongly," I hissed. "Zane’s father. The so-called King."

Eagle’s wings faltered. "Don’t do this. You don’t know the full story—"

"I DO!" My voice cracked across the sky like thunder. "I ripped the truth from that guard’s skull. I saw everything. The King gave the order. He wanted gone. And they used my son—my baby—as bait!"

Gold flared under my skin. The ground trembled, split open like a wounded beast. Trees bent backward, their roots howling.

And then Jacob arrived.

Because of course he did. My infuriating, always-serene, always-in-control, older brother.

He didn’t walk. No, he unfolded from the shadows—quiet, composed, as if the world around us wasn’t collapsing under divine rage. Fox and Bubble flanked him—Fox crackling with fire, eyes gleaming with mischief, and Bubble calm but clearly stressed, his hands glowing with blue vapor.

"Natalie," Jacob said, his deep voice like an anchor. "Breathe."

"Don’t you dare tell to calm down," I snapped. "He bled, Jacob. My son bled on . On my hands."

Jacob didn’t flinch. "He’s healed now. You healed him."

"I shouldn’t have had to!" My voice cracked. "He’s a child! He’s mine—I and Zane’s! And that coward of a king thought he could—"

"Don’t," Fox muttered to Jacob. "She’s not ready. Let her set sothing on fire first."

I turned to Fox, gold heat rising off my skin. "You volunteering?"

Fox shrugged with a smirk. "Just saying—the palace could use a bonfire."

"Stop encouraging her," Bubble groaned, rubbing his temples like a man with a migraine.

Behind them, Tiger and Eagle landed with heavy thuds, forming a circle around . A divine intervention. A celestial blockade.

I wasn’t impressed.

Jacob’s barrier shimred like a do of protective energy. But I could sll him. The King. Still alive. Still breathing. Still laughing sowhere behind these barrier.

"Move," I said, stepping forward.

Jacob squared his shoulders. "No."

"I will get to him. One way or another."

"And then what?" Jacob challenged. "Slaughter the King? Paint his throne with royal blood?"

"Yes," I said, without a blink.

Fox gave a low whistle. "Remind to never steal her fries again."

Jacob’s jaw clenched. "Zane wouldn’t be happy with that choice."

"Zane almost lost his son because of that man!"

Jacob stepped closer, grabbing my wrist. "Natalie. Little moon. You are not the girl who once cried in the shelter corner. You’re divine. You’re powerful. But you are not a monster."

I looked at my hands—glowing, shaking, bloodstained. Smoke curled off my fingertips. I was shaking... but not from fear.

From mory.

Jacob reached out and took Alex from my arms, handing him over to Fox.

"I—I don’t know how to stop it," I whispered. "It’s all coming back. I rember now. All of it. The pain. Losing Alex—in two lives, Jacob. Two. You were there. And now my son... I can’t. I won’t survive it if that happens again."

Jacob took my hand—solid, grounding.

"Then don’t let it consu you," he murmured. "Use it. But don’t beco it."

I pulled away, trembling. "They touched what was mine, Jake. I’ll never forgive that."

"You don’t have to," he said. "Just... wait for Zane."

At the sound of his na, my heart twisted.

Zane.

That infuriating, beautiful, noble pain in my ass. My love. My strength. The Lycan prince who taught how to breathe again.

He wouldn’t want this.

But I wasn’t listening.

I fought to be free. They tried to hold . My god-brothers, each terrifying in their own right. Jacob with unimaginable powers, Eagle with winds, Fox and his infernos, Bubble with water whips, and Tiger—silent, deadly, earthbound.

But I was beyond them.

They fought for hours. Gods against a goddess. Skies cracked, mountains trembled, morning ca, then afternoon and then another evening. The estate itself beca a battlefield of myth.

In the end, they made one mistake.

They left alone for a second.

That’s all I needed.

I closed my eyes and vanished, heading straight for him.

*********

When I appeared at the palace, what I saw wasn’t what I had been expecting. It should have been quiet. It should have been bracing for war. But instead—

Music.

Laughter.

A freaking ball was in full swing. Light shimred off crystal chandeliers. Nobles in golden silks spun across polished marble floors, sipping from goblets and gossiping.

And there, at the far end of the grand ballroom—

The King.

Alive. Smiling.

Laughing.

He tipped back his glass and laughed with his generals like the world wasn’t bleeding.

Sothing in snapped.

The glass walls of the ballroom exploded as I crashed through like a star reborn.

The music died. Screams echoed. Guests dove under tables. My feet hit the marble with a god’s fury, sending cracks racing through the floor.

Every head turned.

The King slowly rose, goblet still in hand.

And I smiled—wild, wrathful, radiant.

"Hello, your Majesty," I said, voice honeyed with vengeance. "Miss ?"