I Left The Wolf King Who Loved Me For The Dragon King Chapter 08

I Left The Wolf King Who Loved Me For The Dragon King Chapter 08

Ulvarr clamped his hands over his thighs, squeezing until his knuckles turned white.

He couldn’t comprehend it. Why were his legs failing him like this? It felt as though someone were methodically crushing the bone into splinters, a freezing, agonizing pain that left his collar drenched in cold sweat.

Yet, true to his brutal nature, the Alpha King didn’t utter a single sound, forcing himself to endure the white-hot waves of agony.

Before he had seized the crown of the Greyfang pack, he had survived dozens of assassination attempts. He was a beast who refused to break, a creature who had dragged himself out of the jaws of death time and time again.

He had sworn a blood oath that whatever he desired, he would take—and anyone who dared to cross him would rot in regret.

Winters ago, back when he was nothing but a low-ranking vanguard soldier, he had fallen for Bryony. But she had looked down on his lack of status, casting him aside after less than a month.

From that night on, he vowed he would make her crawl back to him, forcing the proud princess to fall desperately in love with the exact “common warrior” she had rejected.

Now, just as his grand illusion was on the verge of completion, his body had betrayed him.

What the hell was happening?

The image of a quiet, compliant face flashed in his mind.

Aylin.

It had to be her doing.

But how? Aylin was supposed to be in her quarters preparing for their fated mate rites—why had she willingly boarded the dragon’s carriage? When had the wolf-less hybrid managed to orchestrate a betrayal of this magnitude?

Seeing his sovereign collapse, the commander frantically rushed to his side, trying to haul him up. “My King! What is wrong? Shall I summon the pack healers to your study immediately?”

“It is nothing,” Ulvarr ground out, using the warrior’s shoulder to anchor his weight as he forced himself upright. “There is a more critical matter. Dispatched our shadows to the dragon’s territory. I want to know exactly how far their wedding ritual has progressed.”

He tightened his grip on his sword hilt. “And bring Grimm Selwyn to me. I have questions for him.”

But as Ulvarr tried to take a step forward, his legs refused to obey the command. The agonizing pins and needles grew sharper, spreading up his hips.

Wrenching his trousers aside, he dug his claws viciously into his own thigh.

His face instantly drained of color.

He couldn’t feel a damn thing.

The numbness was absolute, striking him with a sudden, suffocating premonition of ruin. Ignoring the cold sweat trickling down his spine, he lunged forward, grabbing the commander by the throat of his armor.

“Bring the healers!” Ulvarr roared, his voice cracking with a manic panic. “Bring them now!”

…

The Obsidian Isle. The Caldera.

The air here was thick with the suffocating stench of sulfur and ash, and the jagged volcanic rock beneath my leather boots was scarred with deep, primitive claw marks—gashes wider and longer than a fully grown man.

Pulling the edges of my velvet travel cloak tighter against the blistering wind, I shouted over the rumbling earth to the red-haired woman beside me, “Shouldn’t your king reside in a palace, Aurora?”

“He did,” Aurora replied, her golden eyes scanning the desolate peaks. “Until Draekon experienced a fit of madness and burned the entire estate to the ground.”

“Tell me the truth about this Lunar curse,” I said, stepping carefully toward the edge of the sheer precipice, searching the sea of smoke for a glimpse of the legendary creature.

“My brother was struck by a relic curse wielded by his rivals,” Aurora explained, her posture stiffening.

“Every twilight, the moment the moon hits his scales, his blood burns like molten lead. The agony is too immense for a dragon’s core to contain… his only relief is to release the flame. He scorches everything in sight. No living creature has ever survived the heat of his unfettered breath.”

She let out a heavy breath, her expression shifting into deep worry.
“He can reduce empires to ash, but the fire is hollowout his own frame. His core is fracturing… he grows weaker with every passing moon.”

“But it has also made his senses lethal. The slightest vibration throws him into a feral rage. That is why he enforced the alliance so violently—he needed a anchor before he lost his mind completely.” Aurora turned to me, her hand gripping my shoulder.

“Aylin, this is your final boundary. Let me smuggle you out before the sun dips. My palace is gone, but my private vault remains untouched. There is enough coin and gemstone there to ensure you live in comfort in the neutral lands.”

“No.”

I shook my head, my jaw setting with absolute certainty. It was precisely because Aurora possessed such a fierce, protective heart that I had resolved to stand by her house.

“Trust me, Aurora. Let me try.”

Aurora stared at me, her grip tightening until her fingers left marks through my cloak. “Very well. Draekon resides near the throat of the volcano. The heat there is too volatile even for my wings.”

“But if the flames rise and you need extraction, scream my name. I swear on my blood, I will fly through the smoke to reach you.”

“Thank you, Aurora,” I murmured, stepping forward to catch her in a tight, sincere embrace. “You are the first real friend I have ever had.”

“What?” Aurora blinked, her rigid posture fracturing as her golden eyes widened in astonishment. “A… friend?”

I offered her a soft, puzzled smile. “Are we not? You snatched me from the enforcers’ whips, and I am here to mend your brother’s core.”

“You absolute fool…” Aurora’s lashes grew wet, a sudden flush rising to her cheeks as she returned the embrace, holding me tightly against her leather armor. We held onto each other, cementing a silent vow between us.

But before the moment could linger, a colossal eruption shattered the peace of the peaks. A geyser of brilliant, apocalyptic fire tore from the throat of the volcano, the sheer, crushing force of the heatwave nearly knocking us off our feet.

The World-Scorch. The monster whose breath could incinerate the very fabric of life.

“The curse has broken through,” Aurora cried, her fingers digging frantically into my sleeve as the smoke billowed down the ridges.

Wrenching my arm free from her grasp, I didn’t look back. I turned my face toward the heat and sprinted straight into the mouth of the burning caldera.

Then, out of the shifting wall of ash and flame, the colossus materialized before me.

And within those massive, terrifying golden eyes, I saw a sea of ancient, fracturing stars.