The King (Alpha Trilogy #3)

Chapter 23

Lorenzo

I almost growl as I recall my painful past. I've never told anyone about it.

Ivy stays quiet, just listening attentively to my tale.

"The man decided that if his son is what it takes for the woman to help him become who he wants to be, then so be it. He swore to the witch he'd let her have his son if she did what she promised.

Of course, the man had no idea how the witch would do what he wanted her too. He didn't know what she was going to do to help him achieve his goal. He was so hungry for power he didn't care about the price for it.

The witch did fulfill her promise. She somehow got to the emperor and killed him. She then had his sons give up their rights to the throne in favor of the man's son. The son that didn't want the power to begin with.

The witch betrayed the man she was supposed to help because she was enamored with his son. She decided that the man didn't deserve to rule, so she made the boy she was in love with get the throne. She then poisoned the young boy's father and everyone he managed to convince to take his side.

However, the young man had no desire to rule over anything. He had no intention of becoming the king.

The witch didn't take his refusal on taking the throne well. She had that notion in her head that if she made the young man the king then he, out of gratitude, would make her his queen. She had no idea the boy already loved another woman.

When the young boy refused to take the place that she got for him, the witch decided to punish him. She felt betrayed, she hated that her charms didn't work on him and that she couldn't make him do what she wanted. And it didn't sit well with her.

In order to make him miserable and regret rejecting her, she cursed him.

Since it was the young boy's looks that enamored the witch, she decided to curse him with a hideous beast inside of him. A beast in form of a wolf. A beast that would be the personification of the inner darkness the man would never show. A beast that would embrace the primal part of him.

Another part of the curse was... immortality. The witch decided to condemn the boy and everyone of his bloodline to immortality so the man would forever regret rejecting her. He was to lead a miserable life for the rest of eternity. Had he chosen to ever have a family, they would be condemned to the same thing as him. Immortal life shared with a beast inside them. The only way to end their life would be to have their heart removed, but she didn't tell the boy about that.

Since the boy wasn't educated in any way, he didn't take the witch's words seriously. He had no idea her magic was powerful enough to do what she promised.

And that was his mistake. He was careless. He married the woman he loved and he got a child with her. As the young boy grew into a man, he realized the curse was true. He heard the beast inside of him, he felt the primal instincts taking over him whenever he felt threatened.

During the years that followed, his little son watched him succumb to the darkness inside him. After the child's mother died, he saw the beast inside his father for the first time. The young sweet man that had once been there was no longer present. A bloodthirsty beast took his place.

The young man became a monster. He tried to fill the void inside his heart with his newfound power. When he came to know just how powerful he really was, he decided to use it. He relished it. He loved the feeling of having people fear him.

He didn't care about his son anymore. He only cared about becoming even more powerful than he'd already been.

His greed made him do many evil things. He let his beast loose and let it take what it wanted. Power.