Lorcan

“Shower’s over there,” I point to the back of my bedroom. “Wash the dirt off your body. There’ll be clothes on the bed by the time you’re done. Towels are on the rack in the bathroom, and everything else you need you’ll find in there.”

The girl, Gianna, my mate, watches me with sad eyes. I’ve torn her away from her home and family, and I give not one shit about it.

This girl won’t find a fairytale with me as a mate. I am a monster, precisely what people say I am, and nothing will ever change that.

Having said that, Gianna is now mine, and I won’t let her go. Not that I want her anywhere near me, but the stupid mate-bond has other ideas.

It irks the shit out of me that I’ll be stuck with this woman. I never wanted a mate, and I think Selene is a fucking sick bitch for forcing this upon me.

After everything I did to help the Moon Goddess, now she sucker punches me with a mate!

“When you’re done, Emily will escort you to my office. Don’t act up, and do not be long.”

Gianna gulps as I take a step closer.

The fear in her eyes is my power. Not that I want my mate to be afraid of me, but everyone is. I haven’t met a single person yet, apart from family, who doesn’t fear me.

Then again, even my family fear the monster within me sometimes. My parents are afraid of what I’ll do and what I’m capable of, as they should.

The paranormal world over knows my name.

It’s intoxicating!

“Don’t make me have to come looking for you, Gianna.” With that, I walk away and leave the girl to shower.

Fuck knows how this is going to work. I don’t want the girl; I don’t want her invading my life as though she has the right!

I haven’t lived my physical life long enough to share it with someone else. That and I don’t want to end up like my siblings, not that I think for a second, I will.

The mate bond took Lilly first, then Leander, then Luther. Each time I wasn’t there in the physical to witness it, I was locked in Luther’s mind, where I’d been for twenty-five years.

Luther and I went through a lot together; I’m closer to him than the others. Yet, my siblings and my mother are the only people I give a damn about.

My father and I do not get along, and I know that’s due to all the things I did when I took over Luther’s body all those times.

Trouble follows me around like a bad smell, and I revel in it. So much so that my father gave me Silver Paw Pack to get me out of his home.

Packs aren’t usually given until we find our mates. When Lilly found Bastian, he was the Alpha of Greenrock. As Lilly will be the Queen of Zidiah when our parents step down or die, Bastian left Greenrock to join her. The pack was handed to Leander when he found his mate, Sara.

Sara just so happened to be Stella, the lost sister of Bastian. Sara was kidnapped from the forest when she was two years old. A witch and her mate, Beta of Greenrock, stole Sara.

The witch cast a spell to have the pack forget the witch and Beta existed, then posed as humans to raise Sara.

Long story short, Leander found his mate before she even knew who he was.

For months, Leander kept an eye on Sara. She had no idea she was a shifter until her first transformation. Leander saved Sara from a rogue; Bastian realised that she was his sister, they all lived happily ever after.

Luther was handed Blue Water Pack after he found Jenna in Dalgaard Mansion. She was a servant there and abused by her caregivers.

Now, I’ll be honest, having my subconscious mind stuck inside Luther’s, I was jealous. Mum had promised for years that she’d find a way to free me, but it seemed to me that no one was doing anything.

One afternoon, I took entirely over Luther’s body and mind. I found Jenna in the garden picking herbs. I abducted Jenna and took her to a shack in the woods, where I drained her almost entirely of blood. If it weren’t for my grandfather, I would have killed Jenna out of anger and frustration.

Of course, the girl was fine after a few days.

Then the crazy bitch went and resurrected Lilly’s son, Luther locked Jenna in silver, and I loved every minute of their misery.

Once Luther came to his senses and let Jenna go, Mum glamoured the entire city with Leander’s help. No one ever remembers Harry dying, nor what Jenna did to bring him back.

If that all wasn’t bad enough, Jenna was then attacked violently and almost died. By this point, I wanted Luther to claim Jenna so we could get on with freeing me. So, I convinced him to give the comatose Jenna his blood, which healed her instantly, much to Luther’s amazement.

I was freed two weeks later by Jenna herself. It came to light that Jenna’s mother was a direct descendant of the Moon Goddess, giving Jenna deity powers. The girl gave me a body of my own, the body that should have been mine from birth. Still, no one is sure how she did that.

Jenna could have died doing what she did. She knew that, yet she still used her power to help both Luther and me. For as long as I live, Jenna is as much a sister to me as Lilly.

Now that I’ve found my mate, I don’t know what to do about it. I don’t want a mate because they make you weak. I can’t afford to be weak. I run my pack with an iron fist, and I don’t accept weakness from anyone.

“You all right?”

I look up from my paperwork at Josh, my Beta. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

He leans forward in his seat in front of my desk. “Because finding one’s mate is a massive thing, Lorcan.”

I snort and shake my head.

“You’re not immune to the mate bond, Lorcan. You can fight it as much as you want, even pretend that it doesn’t affect you. But you know as well as anyone else that unless you reject the girl, you won’t be able to fight the urge to fuck her stupid and make her yours in every way that makes sense. She’s our Luna . . .”

I shake my head, cutting him off. “Josh, Gianna is not your Luna unless I say she is. I’ll reject her just as soon as I’ve had some fun.”

I smirk at the look on Josh’s face.

He knows I’m a ruthless bastard, so what I said shouldn’t have come as a shock.

“I know it’s always been number one with you, Lorcan,”

I raise my eyebrow.

“But Gianna is your mate; at least treat her with respect. She’s not an object here for your pleasure.”

“She’s here for whatever the fuck I say she’s here for. Your job isn’t to tell me what to do, Josh.”

He bows his head slightly.

Josh is probably the only person who would get away with speaking to me like this, aside from my siblings. Anyone else would have died before they got the second word out of their mouths.

“Of course, my Alpha.”

That’s more like it.

“Go and make sure the boundaries are fully secure. How the hell a rogue breached them is beyond me, let alone a slip of wolf. Somebody wasn’t doing their job correctly, and I will have their head!” I slam my fist down on the table for emphasis.

Josh bows again before hurrying out of the room.

I chuckle because it amuses me to rattle him, even if he is my best friend.

It’s been an hour since I left Gianna in my room to shower and change. I know women like to take their time getting dressed, but I thought she’d be here by now.

‘You really are crazy if you thought that, Lorcan.’ Valsurus, my wolf, chides.

Mum had feared that I wouldn’t have a wolf, not after how I came to be. However, an hour after I arrived in the physical, my wolf woke up, thanks to Jenna.

Valsurus is just as big as my brother’s wolves, just as powerful. He’s a complete bastard like me, and we get on like a house on fire.

But the prick loves to point out the obvious.

‘I think we established that already, Valsurus. The only thing I know about women is in the biological sense.’

‘This woman is our mate, and you need to treat her with respect.’

I laugh loudly; I can’t help myself.

‘It’s not a joke, Lorcan! Do you not know how special it is to be gifted a mate?’

‘I don’t want a mate!’ I fire back. ‘I like women, and I like fucking them. I’m not giving that up for one woman I’m supposed to spend the rest of my life with. I’m rejecting her as soon as possible, and don’t forget it!’

‘You’re hopeless.’

So I’ve been told.