Chapter 6

Liam

The mud under my paws felt amazing as I whipped past the trees. The forest smelled fresh and wet with slight hints of honeysuckle. I splashed into a stream playfully and bounded against the gentle current, spooking the tiny fish back under their rocks. I lapped up some water as I trotted through the stream. It was icy cold and refreshing as it zinged around my tongue.

A gentle breeze swirled past, making some leaves fall into the stream from the canopy encroaching it.

“Wait,” Lucian said softly.

“What is it?”

“I smell something.”

Suddenly, Lucian fought me for control. His ears started to twitch, and he sniffed at the air. He growled low. I gave up on fighting Lucian for control and let him follow his instincts. He started cantering north with impressive speed. He must have gone at least five kilometres before slowing down and lowering his underbelly to the forest floor. He began to shuffle and creep forward in an army-like crawl, hiding under a bush that faced the street.

The honeysuckle smell was more potent here. I sniffed, enjoying the perfume and noticed the delicate tones of pear, canine and human.

Wait, what’s she doing all the way out here? “Fuck, Lucian! You are such a stalker,” I growled at my wolf.

He shook his head and indicated that I should be watching.

I took control back and stuck my nose toward the road. Everything was hidden, but my black, wet snout was sticking out of the shrubs. I sniffed the air again, secretly enjoying her scent.

I peered through the leaves of the low bush and watched as the scene unfolded in front of me. Clementine was just as flustered as she was this morning, and she appeared to be nervous. Or maybe that was just her regular persona?

I scented Tammy and Nola Lawson before I saw them. Their overly sweet scents collided with each other and irritated my nostrils. Lucian snorted and scratched his nose with his paw in response. The smell was so invasive that I could taste its sour aroma in the back of my throat, and it took everything in me not to gag and give myself away.

“That was a huge mistake,” Lucian muttered, shaking his head, indicating a time when I used to have ‘fun’ with the twins.

“Yeah, well, now they’re Lincoln’s problem,” I grumbled. “Speaking of Lincoln, if the twins are here, then so is–”

I looked around. Yeah, there he was. Lincoln James. God, I hated him. To be honest, hate was too soft of a word, really. I absolutely loathed Lincoln with every fibre of my being.

He was next in line to be beta before Dad overthrew Alpha Jed, and when that happened, he became the world’s biggest asshole. Even now, ten years later, he was still trying to best me. He started pursuing the twins shortly after I had, and those two loved it. I, on the other hand, was disgusted. I don’t mind sharing she-wolves and doing the whole casual thing, but when the twins tried to play Lincoln and me off each other, I shut that down real quick. I wasn’t sharing with him. Lincoln, of course, thought he won. I let him believe that. The truth was, I couldn’t stand the twins. Sure, they were phenomenal in bed, but no amount of good sex could make up for their personalities.

I glared as Lincoln crept up behind Clementine. Lucian started to fight me for control again. He had a sudden primal need to protect her.

“Let’s just see how she handles herself,” I said to Lucian as his ears flattened and he growled at me.

Clementine turned and smashed right into Lincoln’s chest. Her hand went to her nose, which was now even redder than it had been this morning. I listened intently as the conversation unfolded. The Lawson twins were being vicious behind their hands, knowing that Clem was human and wouldn’t be able to hear them.

“Fucking bitches!” Lucian growled.

I ignored him and felt him start to pace around my mind, anxiously watching Clem.

My heart stopped, then started hammering loudly.

Wait, what did Lincoln just say?

Without realising what I was doing, I jumped out of my hiding spot and stood between Lincoln and Clementine. The honeysuckle scent was being masked with unclothed fear. The smell of her terror made Lucian’s hackles stand on end.

I opened the mind-link to all three of them and growled. “All of you, back the fuck off!”

Lincoln looked at me and smirked. “Nah, I think I will take her for a trophy. See how far I can make a half-breed scream before her weak heart gives out,” his voice carried through my mind. Lucian snarled menacingly.

“All of you are going to leave her alone!” I said, looking at the twins who were instantly submitting to me. I could smell the arousal forming between Nola’s legs and the fear coming from Tammy. If I could smell it, so could Lincoln. Sure enough, his nostrils flared, and his eyes narrowed on me with pure hatred. “Take your skanky twins and get the fuck out of here before I rip you apart.”

He smirked, regaining what little of the composure he had lost. “Didn’t peg you for a half-breed lover.” He peered over in her direction and sneered. “She’s a little chubby, don’t you think? And blind too.”

“Back off, Lincoln,” I growled. “I’m not going to warn you again.”

“Who do you think you are? You’re not my alpha.”

“No, the alpha is a lot kinder and more lenient than I will ever be. If you touch her, he may just banish you. But if you touch her, I will fucking kill you. Do not cross me, Lincoln. This is your only warning.”

Tammy’s eyes widened as she felt the alpha strength come off of me.

She grabbed Lincoln’s arm. “Let it go, Lincoln. Come on. She’s not worth it.” Her voice shook as it came across the mind-link.

“This isn’t over, Clementine,” Lincoln said aloud.

I almost lost complete control of Lucian, who was triangulating on his jugular; what would be a kill shot if I allowed it. Instead, I let out the largest warning snarl I could muster and pushed Lucian back with all my might.

I waited for them to move ten feet before I turned around to look at Clementine. Her blue-green eyes were wide with panic behind her thick lenses, and her full pink mouth was open in fear. I cocked my head at her and saw her take a little step to the side.

“She’s afraid of us,” Lucian whimpered.

I gave a half-amused huff and decided to leave her to it.

My fur itched with rage, and I knew I needed to run so as not to track down Lincoln and finish what he had started. Lucian was all for taking him out, once and for all. But as he looked at Clementine, his anger was replaced with a protective instinct.

From under the canopy of the bushes, we watched her. Clementine stood for a few moments, trying to pull herself together before she put one foot in front of the other and started to run. I followed through the treeline to ensure Lincoln didn’t come back, and winced as I watched her almost fall a couple of times as she ran, but I didn’t assist her. I didn’t want to scare her again.

“We could shift, and then you could go help her?”

“Sure, Lucian, let’s just walk out there buck-naked and ask the shy girl if we can walk her home,” I scoffed. “We should stash shorts over the forest so that if we need to talk to her, we can just shift. It sucks she doesn’t know about us, and it’s not like we can mind-link with her.”

“That only would work if she had a wolf and was a member of this pack,” Lucian grumbled as he watched her perfect apple bottom bounce down the street.

“If she had a wolf, we wouldn’t feel the intense need to protect her,” I replied honestly.

Clementine wheezed after the first two kilometres and rested her head against a tree to catch her breath. Her plump pink lips panted hard as she licked them. She took her glasses off and used the hem of her t-shirt to wipe her face. The soft creamy skin of her torso got my attention before she covered it again.

I didn’t notice I had crept forward from my hiding spot. Or rather, Lucian had crept forward. She looked directly at me, and I froze under her gaze. The biggest, most stunning eyes were staring right at me. Turquoise. I felt she was staring right through me, and my heart started to pound in my throat. I was mesmerized by her aquamarine eyes and struggled to stop myself from creeping even closer. She scrunched her eyes before perching her glasses back onto her nose. I scurried back under the bushes as she squinted in my direction. She shrugged and turned to walk down the street. She hadn’t seen me. I felt relief and disappointment. Had I wanted her to see me?

Lucian grunted and pushed us forward. I was still in a daze, thinking about her beautiful eyes and the flash of creamy skin, so I let him take the lead. I shook my head and tried to concentrate as he followed her toward the centre of town. She stopped at a crossroads and appeared to be trying to get her bearings. After a few moments, she picked the road that led her west.

Thank God she didn’t go east.

Lucian would have needed to duck out of the forest and follow her like a lost puppy through suburbia if she had turned that way.

After another kilometre, I saw her smile. It was a small one, but that subtle expression radiated on her cherub face. She walked straight up to a small bungalow and bounced up the front steps, crashing through the front door.

Lucian waited for a few more moments. Then a few more.

“Okay, she’s safe now,” I commented. Lucian didn’t move. I tried to take back the reins, and Lucian snarled. “Don’t snarl at me!”

Lucian and I were not in sync. We still had issues to work through, which was the only reason we weren’t alpha yet. I needed to be one with my wolf before Dad would hand down the pack. When our souls finally merged, it would be visible in my eyes. There would be a permanent ring around my iris that indicated that the two halves of our one soul had combined. And currently, Lucian and I were far from making that happen. In fact, I don’t think it will ever happen. No matter what I did, he’d still remain a hothead.

“I am not a hothead.”

“No, maybe not. But you are a Peeping Tom right now. Clem is safe. She’s home. Let’s go home and study,” I said.

Lucian grumbled and reluctantly allowed me to retake the lead.

“There is something different about her. I just can’t put my paw on it,” he mumbled before retreating to the back of my mind.

“Yeah, buddy, she’s a half-breed,” I said, rolling my eyes.