LeanderThree weeks had gone by.For the most part, Hycinth and I ignored the elephant in the room, the upcoming ceremony, preferring instead to stick to less emotionally-charged subjects. But if anything, three weeks of lighthearted banter and fun just further cemented the truth of what I was going to lose.Because no matter how much closer we became, I could still feel Hycinth's resistance. She wouldn't let go of the wall between us. Over the course of her time here, I'd shown her everything I was and everything we could be together.It just wasn't enough.Ever lifted his beer, eyeing me speculatively over the bottle. "What's going on?"I stiffened. Hycinth, Gwen, and Willow were having a girl's night, so Ever and I had made our way to a local bar. I needed the release. I needed to take the edge off and planned to get completely wasted. Ever's too-intuitive gaze remained locked on me, but talking about my problems was not on the agenda for this evening. Maybe if I acted like I had n
HycinthI stared down at Leander's large frame on the bed, out cold, snoring softly, his clothes from the night before wrinkled and disheveled.The competition was beginning today and I couldn't believe he'd decided last night was the opportune moment to get drunk off his ass. What was he thinking?I let out a little cough, struggling to breathe with the suffocating scent of alcohol in the air. How the hell much did he drink?Moving to the window, I pulled open the curtains. Sunlight flooded the room. Leander let out an irritated growl in his sleep and burrowed his face in the pillow. I shook my head.Unlocking the window, I slid it open. I took a moment to poke my nose outside and inhale deeply, refilling my lungs with fresh air.Turning to face him again, I placed my hands on my hips.And just how the hell was I going to get him out of the bed?As a matter of fact, given his alcohol drenched body, how did he even make it to bed on his own? Ever had to have helped. And probably Asher
LeanderHot water rained down on me in the shower as I pressed my forehead against the cold tile wall. I let out a low groan. Why the hell had I thought drinking until I was arse over tit had been such a good idea? It, sure as fuck, didn't feel that way now.Just breath, I coached myself, letting the air fill my lungs and release slowly. Deep breaths.I could do this...I could stand long enough to take care of a rudimentary task such as cleaning myself.Finally, I pulled myself together enough to stop nuzzling the wall.Squeezing some shampoo into my hands, I began the mundane task of washing my hair and let my thoughts drift. The competition began today. I hadn't looked at the time before stumbling into the shower, but more than likely, I'd already missed the morning session. That was okay. Sydney and Luca had managed to work together without killing each other, just barely. Both were still alive and kicking, and I was confident they had everything under control.I look forward to s
HycinthAll of the surrounding matches halted. Every Wolf's attention riveted to Sydney and Luca. I couldn't believe my brother. I didn't like Sydney, but Sydney had submitted to the mated pair's punishment without question, and she'd acted with the utmost respect around both Leander and I since, eyes lowered, obedient.Pack law wasn't about holding grudges. We were supposed to be better than that. Correction and punishment were for purpose of bringing a Wolf back into accord with the pack. Which was why, I couldn't understand Luca's continued insistence on goading her and publicly rubbing her nose in Leander's rejection. Every confrontation I'd witnessed -and there had been many over the last 3 1/2 weeks- had been unprovoked by Sydney so what point was he trying to make?I'd also been surprised to see the extended stare between Sydney and Leander. That suspended look spoke volumes regarding their history. Leander may have broken it off three years ago, but it was clear, they'd been m
LeanderDamn. I thought Hycinth and I had a complicated relationship, but I wasn't sure what to call the exchange between Luca and Sydney I'd just witnessed.Pulling out of my embrace, Hycinth strode to Luca. Her voice was low but still clear for me to hear. "What the hell was that, Lucky?"Jaw clenched, he replied, "Nothing.""Bullshit!" Hycinth hissed. "That wasn't 'nothing." You deserved a beat-down for those below the belt comments. Is this about me? Because if it is, I'm not a little girl anymore. I don't need you to fight my battles.""No," Lucky snapped, a vein in his neck pulling taut. "She just...gets under my skin."Hycinth's hands found her hips. "And so you harass her? You do realize that's pubescent werewolf behavior, right?—I like her, so I'm going to annoy her to death.""I don't like her," he growled."Really?" Hycinth's brows shot up. "So, shoving your tongue down her throat, was what? Punishment? The literal enactment of a 'tongue-lashing'?"Luca raked a hand through
His WorthinessHycinthI still couldn't wrap my head around it-tomorrow I would be in heat.The concept was impossible. Unfathomable, even.Before Leander captured me several weeks ago, I never thought I'd consider the remotest possibility of mating with him.I hated him.How foolish I'd been...I'd had no idea just how confounding the mate bond was, turning my thoughts from utter loathing to a feeling dangerously close to love. It scared the hell out of me.And now...here we were.As the day drew near, Leander gave up all of his administrative Alpha tasks, his Wolf not allowing me out of their sight even for a moment. Hell, getting him to agree to bathroom privacy had been a full-blown argument.But I'd put my foot down. I did not need Leander hovering over me while taking a shit. Just the thought made me cringe with embarrassment. And it wasn't like I was going to magically 'poof and disappear' once the bathroom door closed.Even now, Leander's darkened gaze shifted frequently betwe
LeanderRight in the middle of my conversation with Ever, I knew something was drastically wrong when he glanced over my shoulder and sucked in a sharp breath, his eyes widening larger than I'd ever seen them.Spinning around, it only took me a second to identify the problem.Hycinth wasn't where I left her.Nope. Not only was she gone from Gwen's side, but my little mouse had taken it upon herself to sidle up to two unmated males and stare them down as though they were beef selections on a platter for her choosing."Oh, fuck, no," I snarled.Ever wisely remained silent as he followed me across the training center.Reaching Hycinth, I wrapped a hand around her elbow. "The fuck are you doing?"If I wasn't already shocked enough by Hycinth's behavior before I reached her, I was outright stunned when she jerked out of my grip, Wolf in her eyes, and bared her teeth at me!She gave no answer. Just stared....expectantly.The fuck??My Wolf was a little bit quicker on the uptake, snarling, "
Keeping my hard gaze trained on him, I took a calculated step to the side. "Planning on getting your dick wet inside of my female?"Hycinth sucked in a sharp breath.I didn't even try to contain my toothy smirk. Guess my little mouse didn't plan on my lewdness. Well, I didn't plan on proving my physical prowess today, but here we were.Oliver grinned, "It seems like your Wolf is in need of some male...attention."His dig was perfectly clear.But he had another thing coming if he presumed I was lacking...in any way. "And you think you can give her what she needs, Buttercup?"Wolves snickered around us."I'm certain-."I had no idea how he planned to finish that sentence because I abruptly cut him off...with the heel of my foot to his throat, crushing his larynx.And that was all it took to get the party started...Oliver lurched back and landed on his ass with a heavy thud, coughing and sputtering. He struggled to his feet, spitting blood, but I could no longer focus on him because all
Time passed by slowly. The bleeding stopped momentarily but returned soon. Instead of blood spilling from my nose, it began choking out of my throat and I ran to the bathroom everytime I felt it build up. The sink was flooded with my blood, clots of it. I felt it all drain out of me.My skin changed colors, it turned into pale and I couldn't recognize myself anymore. Without blood, I felt colder and began shivering soon."You cannot cancel the dinner," I spoke with Leander and he tried his best to change my mind and to tune my thoughts elsewhere. "You have to go.""I'm not going to go without you. I'll reschedule for another day. And I'm not going to leave you alone." He whispered, pressing his hands against mine. My fingers trembled under his touch and I blew out a sharp, cold breath. "You'll be fine.""I feel like I'm dying." I buried myself in layers of blankets that were in the house. The cold was unbearable. But surprisingly, after all the blood I had lost, I still didn't feel in
Something had changed."I don't care. It's not that fucking late to get it out. What the fuck do you have a degree for? Don't you do this all the time?" A voice roared in my head, Leander's voice. It was full of tension and worry.I peeled my eyes open and stared at the window in front of me. It showed the backyard of the house. From there, I understood I was in Leander's bedroom. Everything came to me in a rush and sweat collected around my forehead before my pulse quickened and I rose up from the bed."It's already too late..-" The man in the white suit, the doctor, stopped speaking when his eyes fell upon me.Leander spun around and saw me, "Hycinth." He called out my name and rushed me in such a hurry I had never seen before. "Are you okay?" He asked, curling his hands around mine."No," I shook my head as I became furthermore aware of what had happened. "She poisoned. Oh," I breathed out. "Leander, she -she poisoned me." My eyes teared and I lost control of myself entirely."It's
I waved at Leander as he got inside the car to go handle a few pack matters. There was a group of rogues seen nearby the border and he went to question them along with a few other wolves under him. I stayed at home during the next day, pondering and having some chai latte whilst Gwen was making dinner. The night had passed by with ease. I slept in his embrace, forgetting all of my worries. When the morning sun shone, I turned over a new leaf and decided to not listen anything from Sydney anymore. Whatever she spat out, it was bullshit and I truly needed to stop listening to her."Don't you feel bored here? I mean, Gwen, you cook all day and light." I said, hands underneath my chin while my shoes were knocking against the table's leg. I had found boredom finding its way to me after leander had left. There was nothing more to fight with him about.We had invited Grayson, the Alpha of the Goldridge Pack and his mate, Claudia over for dinner and Gwen was preparing exactly that. They had c
My body was on fire and it burned through me when Leander pushed me over the bed. I curled my legs around his torso, sealing him, as if I needed to do that. I raced my hands over his back, feeling every inch of him while he deepened the kiss.It wasn't just about sex- it was more than that. It was ensuring that Leander was going to be with me forever and the only way possible was for me to let him in, to let him take me whenever he wanted to, to let him fuck him. I was his mate, he had marked me and l didn't want to loose him.I squirmed underneath him, rubbing my legs and arms all over him as warmth filled me up till the core. The feelings came by itself, it didn't need to be forced. It was always there, buried deep inside.He drew my lower lip into his mouth and bit down hard till I moaned loudly. Chuckling, he pulled away from me and that's when I saw his face. His eyes, brimming with lust and desire not for the first time.I ran my tongue over my lip and rose my arms as he reached
"I was once fucked by Leander, just like he does to you. We all the same. We want power , dont you?" She grinned at my response and the proudness appeared in her eyes for a longer time."I don't , I'm nothing like you." I stared down at her with disgust in my tone. From the corner of my eyes, I looked at the food and said, "Eat it if you want to live. I don't mind burying you at all.""You wouldn't be here if you wanted to bury me, Hycinth." She huffed and sat back, pressing her back against the cold wall. "What are you going to do? Keep me here for the rest of my life? Kill me? You and I both know you can't do any of that. You have to eventually let me go. You still weak.""So you can kill more people? Take more innocent lives?" I asked her in all honesty.What did she want more? She had nearly ruined everything for me and now she was killing people left and right with the poison she had created."And who helped you create the posion? Where is he?", I asked."Don't worry about my
It had been a tedious task to call Grayson and his mate, Claudia, over to the house. At first, we tried to come up with everything that wouldn't seem odd as we didn't want to attract any negative thoughts from them. We didn't want to let them know that we were ambushing them in any way.After another long hour of deciding, Leander finally placed a call over to Alpha Grayson's Beta who then handed the phone to the Alpha of the pack, the man we needed to bring in and question.Upon hearing his voice, I was more than sure that he was in possession of the poison and that it could be only him Sydney would have made a deal with.The Goldridge Pack was a known, favored pack around the area. It wasn't far from the town but not closeby as well. The drive could gather around for three long hours but by plane it would be merely a few thirty minutes, even less.Leander invited Grayson and Claudia over for brunch and to discuss future pack matters that couldn't be discussed at the charity event ea
Magnus and Allison arrived at the house soon after we had called for them. We had told them the details they needed to know and put them on work. There were at least twenty packs surrounding ours, some couple hours drive away while some a small plane ride away. The packs that were small, covering little towns were ruled out as they were wealthy enough to buy the poison Sydney and whoever had helped her create it.Leander knew Sydney and she wasn't going to give anyone with a cheap price. It was her work and she must've received a great sum of money by selling it.We short-listed five packs and then looked at the timeline of Sydney's visit to these packs. The ones she hadn't visited at all were ruled out as well.At the end, we were only left with three packs.The Goldridge PackThe Iron ClawsThe Silverpaw PackWe had our suspicion on all three but couldn't find enough evidence to blame one.Night fell and the sky became as dark as it could. Heavy clouds formed, promising a rainy nigh
There was a little pause before he asked, "I can?" He spoke slowly as he still seemed to be unsure even after I told him to have it."No, I can't." He shook his head and looked away, changing his thoughts and killing the hunger within himself."Why not?""I can't hurt you.""You're not hurting me," I shook my head. "I want you to have it." I whispered, leaning closer to him and resting my free hand over his shoulder.He had resisted it yet again which meant he had the control but I couldn't leave him without fulfilling the need his eyes that continued to grow as every second passed by.With his gaze on mine, he pulled my hand closer to his mouth and then ran his tongue, tasting my blood at last. Watching him do it was enticing and terrifying at the same time. Suddenly, a heat grew between us. He pressed my palm harder against his lips and continued drinking my blood for a long minute.His eyes were wide open and on me. The hunger disappeared. My lips parted and I almost gasped at the
I stared at the fireplace inside Leander's office and warmed my hands while he scurried through papers behind me. "Did you keep track on her?" I asked him while looking over my shoulders.He seemed confused, "I don't know. I'm not sure but I did have one of my men follow her. Though, I didn't keep track of the updates as I was dealing with problems of my own." He looked behind and met with my gaze while holding a bundle of papers. "The last time I had seen Sydney was at the same time and she had poisoned me then."Problems.I understood what he had meant by that. After Sydney had given him the poison, he began changing and with that came awfully terrible things. He was not the monster that we had encountered in the forest as he had learned to control himself. I didn't know how he did it but I knew it was difficult and it took plenty of his time.I lowered my eyes to the papers in his hold before lifting myself off the ground and walking over to him. "What's this?" I placed a hand ove