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
Hycinth inhaled sharply. Eyes still glued down to the floor, her chin went up, her neck extending to the fullest. It was the ultimate gesture of submission, a promise her life was in his paws, he could do with it whatever he chose.My heart raced in my chest because now I suspected his next move. He was going to take what belonged to him. He was going to mark her!I tried to slow him down, make him see reason. We still had no idea if Hycinth even planned to stay after the next three days.But he wasn't listening.He'd fought......and now he would have his prize.I tried to contain my panic. My Wolf marking her was not previously agreed-upon. Hycinth had never explicitly said she was okay with it. But her posture radiated consent. She was too smart not to realize the potential. Did this me she'd changed her mind?!Fuck, my nerves were shot.My anxiety wasn't restricted to only her response. If Hycinth allowed him to mark her, our bond would grow...his attachment to her would substanti
Could she do it any slower??It was like a fucking striptease.And why was it so damn hot in here anyway?Oh yeah...the steam from the shower. Sure. That's the story I told myself.Topless now, Hycinth unbuttoned her pants and lowered the zip. Hooking her thumbs into the waistband, she gave a little hip wiggle as she pushed the garment down over her hips.He gave her an approving nod and growl.I wanted to chew one of his paws off.The last thing to go where her pretty lace panties.Even he couldn't stop the full body shudder that coursed through him as he drank in the shewolf in front of him.Hycinth stared shyly, unsure what to do next.With another dip of his head toward the shower, he made his instructions known.Biting her lip, Hycinth opened the door and stepped inside. She moved to the left so he could join her.Fuck!So, we were really doing this?? It appeared so. I really needed to get a grip on my hard-on. Shit, maybe that wasn't the best way to phrase it. Now, all I could p
Sweet LunaHycinthMy heart beat out of control. Skin-to-skin. Tingles cascaded up and down my spine. I tried to pull away.Immovable arms tightened around me. "Shh... I'm not going to try to take it farther," Leander's whispered words, breath hot on my neck. "Just be with me...let me hold you."Just hold me? Was that even possible for him? Our bodies were pressed together, no space in between, just hours away from my heat-a potent cocktail just waiting to explode. But as I stood in Leander's arms, my tension bled away. I trusted him. He'd never lied to me."Good girl," he praised, feeling my body relax against him.After a long moment, he finally relaxed his hold and pulled back. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I just couldn't stop myself, my eyes drifted down, unexpectedly finding soft curls of dark hair. He'd let his pubic hair grow out since our date at the shifter club. And shockingly, by some incredible feat of self-control, he'd kept himself from having an erection.My surprise mus
The beast pulled his front paw and hind leg off of me, giving me a brief reprieve from the overwhelming heat, but in no way, was he allowing me to get up. I knew because his canines scraped against the soft flesh of my neck.Searing heat shot through my belly.In my head, my Wolf pawed at the ground and shook her ass at him. She wanted his attention.Oh, we had it...Leander's Wolf focused on the skin of my shoulder, his warm tongue flickering out to taste my flesh.I inhaled sharply.With purpose, he shifted position slightly and began to lick down my spine.My breathing shallowed, coming in short pants when he reached the crest of my bottom...and continued lower.A knock at the door interrupted us.Reluctantly, he pulled away. There was a displacement of air behind me, and suddenly, Leander's hands held my hips. He pressed his forehead into the curve between my shoulder blades and groaned, "This is going to be a long day."I couldn't say I disagreed with him. I worked to control my
A shiver ran down my spine and suddenly the hunger left my stomach. "What do you mean?" I clicked my eyes to Leander. "Have you seen her?""No." He shook his head."Then?""I'm assuming she's the one that might have poisoned the man and that man belonged to the pack, which means that Sydney is somewhere here." Не continued, speaking slowly and cautiously.I wanted to hunt Sydney down, find her, question her and force her guilty for all the terrible things she had done. I wanted her to be punished, not just for today but for everything she had done. Over the year, I had grown to resent her, hate her more than I could possibly hate anyone.I pursued my lips and gripped the knife on the side of the table while taking in heavy breaths.What did she want now?"Why do you think she is here? D-do you think you can find her?" I asked him while stammering on my words as the thought of my mother made me quite nervous."I think she's going to find you. Her appearance here after poisoning me only
Tears after tears spilled from my eyes uncontrollably. I placed my hand over my mouth to hold in my sobs but the sounds still made it through. The pain was terrible and the fear was greater than every. I had barely ever been afraid of anything but tonight I was.The clock was striking to midnight and an hour had passed by since the horrific events yet I couldn't get any sleep.I wasn't going to.Whatever had attacked me tonight and killed people- Leander was that. He was the same monster as that man was and that monster was most terrific thing I had ever seen in all my twenty years of living.I wanted to blame someone for this, I wanted to be furious over Leander and pin my finger over him for everything but I couldn't. This wasn't his fault, it wasn't anyone's except for Sydney. My hatred for her was so much. After another hour of sobbing and bruising my eyes, I stood up from the bed and walked over to the washroom. Warm water flooded down from the tap and I used to wash away the dr
After Leander parted from me, I placed my hand over my mouth, holding in the urge to scream and snap at him. He just had to do one thing and he couldn't do that.All he had to do was kill the monster.The warriors were still running around the camp, trying to find their way out. After a minute of walking around, I figured the way out from the forest and back into the town. There were wet tire marks from the car that had left earlier with the injured boy. The tire marks were going to lead everyone back home.I told as many people as I could and guided them out from the camps while a few of them remained on the ground, injured. Some of the injured ones were getting carried away by the other warriors while the rest were still there.It was a monster that had tore through this forest, nothing more."You should come with us," One of the warriors whispered to me. "It's not safe for you here either." He continued.I looked over my shoulders, finding the rest of the tents getting on fire. The
I lined my lips straight, "Take him to the hospital before I rip your head off."The man quickly grabbed the boy off my shoulders and turned around to command the warriors in training. A few of them got into the vehicle nearby and they began driving out of the forest while the rest of them remained surrounded around me.Whispers began to rise between them.The ones that had gotten a sight of the boy and the wound on his neck were gossiping among themselves. I could hear it all."Did you see that? It looked like a bite. I think she bit a boy." One of them whispered to another and I rolled my eyes before turning around and walking back into the same path I came from.I needed to find Leander. The silence was eating me up alive. There was no sound of him or the monster we both had encountered. The night was getting darker and I was getting uncomfortable.I parted myself away from the camp and none of the warriors followed me. They remained there even though I had warned them to leave the
The skies began turning dark just when the sun began disappearing completely. The golden hues were gone in just a couple of minutes but we did get lucky to see the sun setting from the hills. My heart thudded loud and hard in my chest, I felt enthralled and wild and so did Leander. We took lead over one and another after every minute, we fought hard and bruised each other's wolf's slightly. We raced and tracked each other's scents across the forest.Until...The air became stiff and the atmosphere changed. We stopped on our tracks in the middle of nowhere, both of us sensing something unusual. There were wolves around, tons of pack wolves running around and some training but this was different.'Do you smell it?' I asked Leander while my nose wrinkled. It was strong-the stench of death and blood. If I could sense it, so could he and if we both did, it was somewhere near us.'Yes. It's a lot worse. It's coming from somewhere around. We need to shift back. 'He quickly said before turnin
The lunch meeting lasted for another long hour. I didn't keep track of the time as I engulfed in hearing the chatters between strong, powerful Alpha's. It was the first time I had been in a place packed with Alpha's. It was different this time.The meeting was concluded soon and the Alpha's began leaving. They began dividing, and parting ways, entering their own vehicles and soon taking the highway out of the town.So many thoughts swirled around in my head. What were they doing here? I knew for certain one of them was helping Leander with the poison but the others. What were they here for?"Did you find out if any of them has the poison?" I asked, hands inside my pocket while I stood outside, under the cold, chilling air and watched the skies change colors and the Alpha's leave the town.The gates of the house were widely opened, showing the paved roads outside. The sun, nearly setting, shone it's golden light onto the road and the several trees surrounding the house.If Leander had
Leander gawked at me with his eyes wide and his nostrils flaring. He blinked slowly, waiting for my response. The word blurted itself out of my mouth. I didn't think about it correctly. The damage couldn't be reversed now but I had to try."I don't mean it like that-" I began and he got dangerously close to me. Every step he took toward me, I took one step back. "I meant, I just want to find her and she's the one who did. She must've something going on in her head and I'm the only one who can find her." I tried to come up with something quick, before he grew any more furious.I had an idea to where I could find Sydney. She probably must be laying low in someone's pack. I now wanted to search for her again.She couldn't have ran to far. She was probably around waiting to see how the posion will affect leander."You're not leaving this place and if you do so, I'll drag you back myself and the next time, I won't be so gentle." He threatened, once more. It was the first time he had said t
Sydney had reached a new low and it was way too low for her. Why would she have given the poison to anyone? Why did she give the poison to Leander?What did Leander do to her when she came back to him?! Leander didn't tell me everything that happened when she came back in his life but I think Leander didn't treat her right. At this point I wasn't even jealousy that Leander allowed Sydney in his life even after her killing our pup. I was worried about him."But I overheard you speaking to this other man- l suppose the Alpha of the Silvertail pack about the new strain of the poison and something about his healers." I quirked my brow at him, remaining confused."He's not the enemy. I asked him a favor to figure out a way to reverse the affects of the poison and in return, I would offer some of my army to him whenever he's in need of it." Leander explained to me. "Though, his healers haven't come up with anything yet.""What about the healers in your pack?""Nothing. No one knows about i
The shower was running when I woke up. I traced my hand over the bed, hoping to feel Leander but he wasn't here. He was in the shower. Inhaling a deep breath, I pulled the duvet off my body and sat up straight on the bed. The sound of the water dripping continued as I hung my legs over the bed, waiting for him to come out of the shower.I waited for a couple of minutes but nothing.What was he doing in there for so long?I groaned and rubbed my eyes before dragging myself away from the bed and toward the curtains. I parted the curtains, letting in the morning sun which forced the sleep right out of me. Once the room was brightened, I stepped toward the bathroom and wrapped my hand around the door knob.Should I go inside? Was it right?Just before I could make a decision, I ran my free hand around my body, examining myself. I thought I would be hurt somewhere but I wasn't. There were a couple wounds on my shoulders and stomach but they had healed over the night, only leaving me with a