The Lycan’s King Breeder

Felicity POV.

"We need to find a place to spend the night," Maximus said, scanning the dark woods.

"Yeah, I don't want to be out here after dark," Kyle added.

Adrian nodded in agreement. "But where do we go?"

I spotted an abandoned cabin in the distance. "What about over there?"

Maximus squinted. "Good eye. Let's check it out."

As we approached the cabin, Kyle exclaimed, "We can make a fire inside to keep us warm!"

Adrian raised an eyebrow. "You want to risk burning the place down?"

"No, no, no," Kyle defended himself. "We'll make it outside."

Once we settled in, the boys, Kyle, Adrian and Maximus bickered over who had the best technique for making a fire.

At first, it was amusing to watch them go back and forth, but after a while, their behavior began to irritate me.

"I'm telling you, the teepee style is the best," Maximus insisted.

"Nah, the log cabin method is way better," Kyle argued.

"I don't think we're going to be able to start a fire in this weather," Adrian, frustration in his voice.

"Don't give up just yet," Kyle said, "We can't afford to freeze out here."

I couldn't stand the childish antics, so I mustered the courage to approach them and ask them to be quiet. "Guys, can you please just be quiet?" I interrupted. "We need to focus on getting warm and having a hot meal." Maximus sighed. "Sorry, you're right."

To my surprise, they actually listened and went silent for a moment. A few moments later, they managed to make the fire, and everyone let out a cheer of joy. We were going to be able to warm up and eat a hot meal in these woods.

"This is amazing," one of the girls exclaimed, holding her hands out to the fire.

"We wouldn't have been able to do it without you," Maximus thanked me with a smile.

As we sat down around the fire, all twenty of us huddled together for warmth, Agent Brown said, "I'll go with a few others to get more wood to keep the fire going."

I leaned my head on Maximus's uninjured shoulder, relieved that he was going well now. "We made it through another day," I whispered.

Maximus squeezed my hand. "And we'll make it through tomorrow too."

"I didn't think we'd make it through the night, "I whispered to him

"I know," he replied, "but we're stronger together."

After Agent Brown and the others returned, we braised marshmallows and ate before settling down for the night on clothes we laid on the floor. Despite the difficult circumstances, I felt safe with this group, and my thoughts drifted off to the hope that we might all make it out of this alive and arrive at the castle of Maximus.

In the middle of the night, I heard the noises, and thought it was just my imagination playing tricks on me. I tried to go back to sleep, the noises became louder.

"I heard some noises," I said to Maximus who was sleeping next to me. I was shaking Maximus awake. "I think there's someone here."

Maximus groaned and rolled over. "Just your imagination, go back to sleep."

"Are you sure it wasn't just your imagination?" he mumbled.

"No, I'm positive. Can you listen?" I asked.

Maximus listened for a moment before saying, "I don't hear anything. Just go back to sleep."

But the noises continued and they became louder. I woke up Maximus again, "There's someone here! I heard a shadow passing by."

Maximus rubbed his eyes and sat up, his gaze sharp and attentive. "What's going on, Felicity?" he asked, his voice low and urgent.

"I heard noises," I said, my voice trembling slightly. "It sounded like someone a is here. I saw a shadow, too."I insisted, shaking him harder.

This time, Maximus also heard the noises and sat up. As we watched, a shadow approached me and I screamed, waking up most of our companions.

"Get up, everyone!" he yelled, grabbing his torch.

They quickly lit their torches and we saw people running away.

Maximus stood up and grabbed his sword from where it was leaning against the wall. "All right," he said, his voice firm. "We need to make sure everyone's safe. Felicity, stay here with the others. The boys and I will check things out."

I nodded, grateful for the direction. "Be careful," I said softly, watching as Maximus and the others went after them.

For a moment, there was silence as we waited, tense and anxious, for any news. Finally, the boys returned, looking grim.

"They were bandits," one of them said. We tried to catch up to them, but they were too fast."

"Maybe it's just travelers passing by," Ava suggested.

But Maximus wasn't convinced. "Those people must be bandits," he said, his voice tense.

Suddenly, I felt a knot in my stomach. We had left our provisions and money outside our tents, easy targets for any thief. Without wasting any time, Ava, a few other girls, and I rushed to our groceries and found that they were almost all gone. "These people were bandits who had come to rob us," I exclaimed in shock.

We realized that we hadn't been careful enough. We should've assigned a guard while the others slept.

"We were stupid to all sleep at the same time," Ava said as we took stock of what was left. "At least we still have our money."

As Ava searched for our missing bag of money, the harsh reality dawned on us: we were left without provisions and money.

"The bandits took it too," she said, looking worried.

"What are we going to do now?" I asked, feeling panicked.

But then, to our relief, Maximus took a purse out of his pocket, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. "I have money on me," he said, handing it to Ava.

"He had money on him," I thought, "A lycan king as he should have been."

Overwhelmed with gratitude, I leaped forward to kiss him.

Maximus frowned, his hands gripping his sword tightly. "We need to be even more careful," he said. "If they're out there, then there's no telling what else we might find on the road. We need to stay vigilant, and stick together." There were nods of agreement from around the fire.

"I didn't sleep all night for fear that the bandits would come back to finish their work and we were very tired," I said to my companions.

"I know, I couldn't close my eyes for a second," Kyle added, rubbing his bleary eyes.

"Me neither," Ava chimed in. "But we can't afford to rest just yet. We need to keep moving if we want to get to Maximus before we're caught."

We trudged along the road, our stomachs grumbling with hunger. When we came across a small market, we hurried over to grab some food.

"Okay, let's put on these sweaters with hoods so we don't get recognized," I instructed as we huddled together to change disguises. "Remember, we can't draw attention to ourselves."

Kyle nodded. "Got it, low profile."

We split up to avoid being too conspicuous and made our way around the stalls. When we collected our provisions, I noticed a woman eyeing us suspiciously.

"Uh-oh," I muttered. "I think she recognizes us."

"Let's hope not," Ava whispered back, keeping her head down.

But then I saw what had caught the woman's attention - a large wanted poster featuring our faces.

"Oh no, guys. We're in trouble," I whispered urgently, gesturing to the poster.

"Why? What's going on?" Ava asked, confused.

Maximus pointed to the large panel, "Look!"

"What? Let me see!" Kyle exclaimed, trying to crane his neck to get a better look.

"That can't be good. Can it?" Ava frowned, clearly worried.

We quickly read through the details on the poster, shock and disbelief etched on our faces.

On the panel, we saw our faces with the words "Wanted", "Prize Head", and "Dead or Alive" written beneath them along with the prizes for each of us.

"For Maximus, it's 500 million moonstone coins. For me, it's 200 million. For Kyle and Ava, it's 150 million each, for our other friends it's about 200 million moonstone coins," I exclaimed, shocked.

"This is insane! All of our heads combined are worth over a billion moonstone coins," Kyle added.

I was stunned and speechless. On one hand, I was flattered that my head was worth so much, but on the other hand, it was terrifying to be wanted dead or alive.

"We have to get out of here," Kyle said firmly. "Before they catch us."

With our hearts racing, we grabbed our supplies and bolted out of the market, not daring to look back. It was clear that we weren't safe anywhere - not even in our own skins.

"That's insane! How did he even get those photos and names?" Maximus exclaimed.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," I said. "Melezo must be a god of wealth, but I don't understand how he got all this information."

As we made our way back to the others, I could feel Maximus seething with anger beside me. He had already known about the bounty on our heads, but seeing the actual figures seemed to have pushed him over the edge. Once we reached the group, Maximus relayed the information we had discovered, causing everyone to fall into a stunned silence.

"How did Melezo get all our photos?" Maximus asked, looking angry.

Everybody shut up, thinking about it.

"There's a traitor among us," he declared, and we all looked at each other nervously.

The air was thick with tension and suspicion. I couldn't believe that someone in our group would betray us like this. And the fact that we didn't know who it was made it even more unbearable.