One wolf in particular I zeroed in on, the biggest fucker out of them all. The one they’d called Cian.
He stayed back, but I knew he was the most dangerous one. His eyes glowed in the darkness, the rain pelting over the ground as if the sky opened up and wept.
The heavens cried for me. It knew I was half a male without my female.
She’s there, just behind these fucking walls, locked away in that manor. She’s being kept from me.
I tipped my head back and roared, the very air vibrating from my fury. I stalked toward the wall that surrounded this Highland estate. It was brick four feet up from the ground before turning into thick metal bars. Another seven feet of the iron before it was topped with spikes curving outward, as if the very gate was claws erupting from the ground.
I knew what would happen if I touched those bars, yet I did it regardless. I curled my fingers around the metal, my hands bigger, my claws emerging, scraping the iron in warning.
I felt the mystic power in that metal lance pain through my palms, down my arms, and clench my torso. I gritted my teeth when I heard Cian laugh.
“No’ on my watch, fooker,” he grated, his eyes flashing that otherworldly color that said his beast was rising. “You won’ get through tae her. Never.”
Cian took a step closer, his eyes staying the beast’s color, glowing, his aggression almost as strong as mine.
Almost.
“Even if you somehow got through the magic, you will no’ get close tae the female. My clan would see tae that. My king decrees it.”
I snarled again at his words.
I was forced to let go of the bars as the metal burned my hands like acid seeping into my bloodstream. I’d grabbed the bars more times than I could count, than I could remember. I’d do it again and again, the pain nothing compared to knowing my mate was so close but being kept from me.
But I had to be smart, stay rational... human. If I’d kept my hold on the metal for too long, the poison would race through my veins, swirl around my heart, and seize the organ until I was rendered unconscious, vulnerable.
I couldn’t allow myself to be helpless, not even for a moment. Not when my mate was so close. Not when I was born to protect her.
I lowered my head but kept my eyes on him. I let the bastard see my animal, my beast. I bared my teeth. I lifted my arm, my hand burning—the pain agonizing from touching the magic-infused metal—and pointed my finger at Cian.
“Kee-An,” I said low, my voice seething as I enunciated his name, and inhaled deeply, letting him know I had his scent, knew his name, and would find him no matter what. “You wish to keep me from what’s mine?” I roared and took a step forward, so close to the wall that I felt it’s magic-charged power tightening my skin. I grinned and knew it was a horrifying sight. The other Lycans were smart enough to take a hesitant step back. “I’ll make sure you,” I said and stabbed a finger at that Cian motherfucker, “will feel the full-force of my wrath the most.”
Cian showed no fear, his eyes locked with mine. Ah, so a fellow alpha who followed orders. I would have respected that on any other occasion. But in this instant, it pissed me off, made me more animalistic and feral than ever before.
He was breaking one of our kind’s most sacred laws of nature.
You didn’t keep mates from each other.
And this fucker was doing just that. I’d make his death slow and painful, and do so with a grin on my face.
No one. Nothing. Kept a Lycan from his mate.
I stayed behind the tree line, stalking, unable to stand still. The beast in me was too wired, too attuned to his surroundings.
My chest rose and fell rapidly, my fingers curled inward, my claws digging into my skin. I scented the blood welling from those wounds on my palms. But I felt no pain.
I couldn’t see the Lycans patrolling the area, but I scented them, knew they stayed within the shadows, hidden from me. Their fear was tangible, coating the air, making my animal hungry for more.
They kept me from my mate and had good reason to be afraid, but I had to give them credit—they weren’t as afraid as they should have been.
I could scent my mate all around me, her sweet aroma forever ingrained in my head. All I’d needed was one inhale at the mating ceremony for me to memorize it.
And I tracked her from Romania to the Highlands, refusing to leave until she was in my arms, until I could take her away from the ones who thought to keep her from me.