Chapter 3

3.

It’s Ethan alright. He's dressed in a t- shirt, jeans and boots, his hair tousled. I hate the part of me which whispers that he looks good, even if his eyes are a little bloodshot.

But the relief in his voice, the way he seems to light up, confuses the hell out of me. “Why are you here?”

“What do you mean?”

I look at him, really look at him. He’s doing the same, probably trying to find out what I know first. I purse my lips. ‘You need to go to your new girl.’

There's a long moment of silence as I glare at him. ‘New girl?’ he asks slowly.

My forehead crinkles in displeasure. "Elsa. Yes, fuck you, I know you're screwing her."

Again that damn silence, gauging me. "Did someone tell you that?"

My body flashes hot. What. The. fuck? Is he being serious right now? Is he really trying to dig himself out of this hole by denying it exists? Fuck this. If this asshole takes a step closer to me, I will fucking spit in his eye. "Leave me the fuck alone, Ethan!"

"Lena-"

"Leave me alone!" I yell. I get in his face and push against his chest with all my might, heaving. He doesn't expect that so he stumbles back. It seems that finally tells him that I'm not fucking joking because panic enters his eyes.

“Wait please, Selena. Ok, you're right. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” The words begin to pour out of him. "I don’t know what came over me, I really don't. But while I was waiting for you I realized that I did a stupid thing, a very stupid thing. And I waited, Lena. I waited. I didn't sleep all night. I. . . Please. I’ve never done it before and I don’t want to again.”

I need to be alone. I don’t want to hear this. My traitorous heart is eating it up, even as I want to knee him in the fucking ball sack.

I start walking but Ethan follows me. ‘No! I don’t want to see you.’

He doesn't fucking listen. "Please Lena, give me one more chance. I’m sorry. I realize how important you are to me. I see her as a toy, a fuck doll but you, Lena, you. You're smart, beautiful, kind and. . . and I don’t want to do life without you. I want you. I need you. I fucking love you, Selena."

I freeze and he takes that opportunity to hold me. I deflate. How can he still feel right, feel so familiar?

"I've been here since. They wouldn't let me see you," he says, his voice wavering. "Please forgive me. Please Selena, I'll do anything. Anything at all."

I'm so close to saying the word. We could still leave, still go. We could be happy.

But again, I just can't. I can't. He fucked Elsa! Elsa! When we were supposed to start our lives together. And that was just yesterday. I put some space between us. "Just go. Leave. Please."

Ethan moves closer. I step back when I see his eyes harden. They turn determined, and a little manic. "You don’t believe me, that's why. You think I’m joking when I say I'll do anything."

He grabs my arms and pulls me to him. "Stop it, Ethan."

He's not listening. I yank my hands against his hold but he doesn't budge. “I’ll make it up to you. I’ll make you feel good, so good. You like when I make you feel good. You’ll forgive me.”

He kisses me, forcefully, hard, pushing his tongue into my mouth. What’s going on? Ethan has never behaved this way before. I struggle as his hands begin frantically to roam my dress.

Cold dread makes me shake. He's looking for a zip.

I bite down in his lips and he rears back, hissing, his vice-like grip still around me. “Fucking stop it, Ethan!”

He abandons trying to find the zip and begins to shove up my dress. I twist and turn out of his hold but he forces me back against a tree. No, no, no, no, no. I scream as I claw at him in earnest, but he gathers my wrists in his palm and the other desperately tries to hold the shifting fabric. “Ethan, please. Stop. I don’t want-“

He slips his hand into my underwear and loud sobs shake my body. I can’t fucking believe this.

I try to squirm away. It hurts, it fucking hurts and the tears pour out of my eyes. I want to crawl out of my body away from this monster. “Stop, please! You’re hurting me.”

Through blurry eyes, I see what looks like a person over Ethan’s shoulder. For a moment, I think I’m hallucinating but a second later Ethan is tossed off me and I'm tugged hold into someone's arms.

My heart rate speeds up and I feel my wolf’s essence come to the surface. I melt into him as pleasurable little shivers run faintly on my skin.

Whoever it is, smells divine. Like sitting outside a bakery in spring, where the air is tinted with newly baked goods as the cool breeze gently strokes your face, bringing hints of sweet flowers along with it.

I look up, and for the tiniest moment I think it's the Lycan Prince Asher. But it's not, I spent so much time studying their pictures yesterday I can tell them apart, at night with one eye.

They're identical but not quite. This man’s eyes are darker than Asher's with small, swirling bits of white like a raging ocean. He keeps his jet-black hair longer than his brother and it falls into my field of vision. His nose is slightly crooked because it has definitely been broken before and he's built like the trunk of a tree; sturdy and tall. His lips are plump, perhaps the only soft thing about him, even as they're set in a straight, hard line.

This is Asher's twin, Axel, the Lycan King.

And that’s a problem because every cell in my body is saying that the most dangerous Lycan on the continent, my brother-in-law to be, is actually my fated mate.