Chapter 5: Mate

-Anastasia-

I had a few too many drinks as I stood with my cousin and his friends. They laughed and joked around, while I stayed quiet in between them. I knew I had a job tonight, but I didn’t want to alarm my family. I knew they would tell me it was time to let the obsession go. Since my family there had been no violent deaths like theirs. No one who had been brutally murdered like they had been. But why my family then? Why not someone else? Did my family have enemies I had not known about? Most likely. As I had said, my family was not a small pack. They were influential and powerful. My father sat on the council for werewolves. The lycans truly ruled it all, but it was still important for the alphas to work together and have a connection. Besides, the wolves were already outnumbering the lycans. It wouldn’t be long before they ruled everything and made the decisions. But this only gave me motive. Where were the culprits, though? I looked around the room, looking at all the people tonight, and feeling like I was surrounded by enemies all around me. Who to trust? Who to not trust?

“Ana?”

My cousin called out to me, and I turned my head.

“Yeah?”

He chuckled and shook his head.

“You aren’t even listening,” he said.

“Not really.”

He and his friends laughed again, and I sipped my drink.

“Tomorrow, go with us to the lake.”

“No.”

“Come on!”

“You know I don’t go swimming,” I reminded him.

“You don’t have to. But you came out tonight. So, why not join us by the lake tomorrow?”

“You think tonight changes me?” I asked him, and he seemed a little surprised by the anger in my tone. But just because I had come here tonight, didn’t mean I suddenly wanted to go out a lot and swim and drink by some lake or go to partiers. I knew my cousin… No, I knew my family hoped this changed me, but I had not changed. I was still the same person. I was still in search of revenge. It was all that mattered to me. “It doesn’t. I came, and that’s it. It’s an important night. That’s why I am here.”

Jackson sighed, and I pushed away from the bar.

“Excuse me…”

“Come on! Ana!”

I wasn’t listening and just went into the crowd, wanting to find those people who had hurt my family. I focused on the scents in the rooms, subtly sniffing the air.

They have got to be here! my wolf said.

I hoped they were. I truly hoped they were. Maybe tonight was the night I finally got some answers. I continued to move through the room, and then…

What’s that?

I was picking up something. My nose tingled, and it triggered old memories which jumped to the front of my mind, almost knocking me over. Memories I had forgotten… I groaned and pressed a hand to my head. My mind had blocked out a lot of the horrors that night. I remembered enough, but tonight that scent! It triggered something in me.

It has got to be them! Or one of them!

My wolf was right, but when I tried following it, another painful memory jumped forward, and I saw my mother’s dead eyes looking at me. I felt dizzy and sick suddenly, and the alcohol in my stomach threatened to come right up.

“I… I need a moment.”

Wait! Don’t stop following it now!

“I’m going to be sick…”

I hurried out of the room, pushing through the massive crowd, but as soon as I was out of the ballroom, I started to feel better. I went for to find a bathroom anyway, down a long hallway and locked myself inside. I sighed as I leaned against the door, feeling already so much better.

What the hell was that?

My wolf growled loudly in my head.

“Easy!” I said and pressed a finger to my temple, rubbing it. “I needed a moment, okay?”

You let them get away!

“No, but I was probably going to puke on someone any moment now.”

Fine, get it out and let us get it over with!

I sighed and rolled my eyes. My wolf was getting so impatient. I could barely hold her back now. She wanted revenge and finally put all that pain and anger to rest. I wanted the same, but it wasn’t that easy. I wasn’t going to be able to defeat the lycans who had hurt my family by puking on them. I walked over to the sink and turned on the water, drinking a little before I just stood and looked into the mirror.

Feeling better?

“I am sure you know how I feel right now. We are one and the same after all,” I said.

You feel like crap.

“I feel that way.”

And you look like it too.

I looked at myself in the mirror, seeing how pale I was, though a little color was coming back in my cheeks. I shook my head, feeling disappointed at how easily I had been defeated just by old memories. What was I going to do when I actually stood in front of the people who had hurt the ones I loved? Would I even be able to do anything? Was I just a small coward? Where had my courage and anger gone?

Let’s just go out there again, and let’s try once more.

“Well, now that I am here, I might as well pee,” I said.

No, let’s go!

“My bladder is going to burst.”

You are just dragging things out!

“At least I will feel a little better afterwards. Goddess, you’re getting so impatient.”

Oh, sorry, am I the only one who wants revenge now?

I rolled my eyes and finally went to the toilet, doing my business before I washed my hands. I placed them on the sink again and looked at myself. Color had definitely come back now, and I felt better. I straightened my back and took a deep breath.

“Okay, let’s try again,” I told my wolf.

Sierra felt happy that I was once again sticking to our plan, and she nodded excitedly as I finally pushed away from the sink and went to the door. I unlocked it and pulled it open, only to be met by an enormous body that blocked the exit like a fucking wall. I slowly let my eyes run up the incredible body, only to meet two green heated eyes that were watching me like I was the perfect little meal. I just stared at the big lycan in front of me. His scent hit my nose suddenly, and I inhaled deeply, getting knocked over by the sweetness mixed with the darkness of it. Like the perfect drink or something. It would have knocked me over if my body wasn’t so frozen, and when I stared into those green orbs, I felt my wolf go wild inside of me, like she was fighting something. Something she didn’t want us to feel. I wanted to ask what was going on, but then she suddenly whimpered and one word escaped her.

Mate!

What… the… fuck…

Did she just? I couldn’t react. I was too shocked and too trapped by the dark look in those hungry eyes. Why was the king here? I didn’t get to ask, then his hand grabbed me by the neck, and before I knew what was happening, he pushed me into the bathroom again. He closed the door behind us, and freaking locked it! The sound of the lock falling into place was so loud because it was so intense inside the room. Shit… I wasn’t sure if I should be scared or turned on, because the look in his eyes was triggering something in me. Something I had never felt before. Actual desire. I had ever only cared about revenge, but the lycan in front of me was making me burn in new ways. New exciting ways… No! Not exciting!

Snap out of it! He is a lycan!

He was… we hated lycans… we hated them! Why was his hand so warm? Even though he was gripping my neck tightly, it felt good on my skin. I almost wanted to close my eyes and… no! Bad! Bad! I had to focus. The lycan in front of me smile and continued to push me back until my back met a wall.

“Well, well,” he said darkly. “What do we have here?”

He leaned closer to me and inhaled, sniffing the air.

“So you’re the one who is making this place smell so good and makes my cock harder than ever before.”

I was doing… WHAT?