There were shouts surrounding us, but I heard nothing clear. And my vision was still red-tinged and muddy.
I snarled and slammed a fist into Luca’s side. When he gripped my shoulders and twisted, pushing me away, I didn’t delay in charging at him once more. And he tossed me again, hard enough that it was now my turn to slam into a tree. The pain was instant, bursts of white-hot discomfort coursing up my spine. I was on my hands and knees and gritted my teeth as I pushed past the discomfort, my head fuzzy from when my head cracked against the trunk.
“You dare try to take my mate from me?” I heard Luca roar, but I didn't know who he was speaking to. I kept trying to clear my head, letting the pain wash through me before ebbing away.
“Well, come then, and let me show you how a male protects his female.”
The fierce fight happened instantly all around me, and I tried to stand several times, but the fire moving through my spine reminded me that my body wasn’t at 100 percent. Maybe if I hadn’t let Odhran beat the shit out of me, I wouldn't be having such a hard time regaining my composure and strength.
I had to get up. I had to fight again.
The minutes ticked by, and I finally stood, shaking my head, feeling it clear, feeling the pain flow away. I faced off with Luca again, seeing him fighting the Guard and Da. He was pushing them off as if they were gnats, and I roared as I charged forward and slammed into him from the side.
Luca’s big body hurtled into a tree again before falling to the leaf-laden ground. A slow grin spread across my face when I saw the odd angle of his leg. He turned his head in my direction, and I snapped my teeth at him.
When Luca stood and went to push me away, I swiped out from instinct, my claws dragging along his side.
“Oh gods, Caelan. No!” Ainslee screamed, and my focus went to my sister.
Before I knew what was happening or could scold myself for my amateur mistake, Luca picked me up, a mighty roar coming from him, and threw me aside with so much force I knew this impact would really hurt.
The landing knocked the breath out of me, and I was pretty sure I blacked out. I groaned and tried to rise, failing miserably as I crashed back to the ground. I knew my ass was staying down for a moment. And as I lay there, trying to rise every so often, I knew this was game over for me.
There was no way I could be strong enough right now to go back up against Luca. My body was too battered, and he was too strong, far too old and experienced for me to take down single-handedly. But as I closed my eyes and breathed in and out, I felt a prickling at the back of my neck. I felt this tightness in my body.
I opened my eyes and tried to figure out what that was. I braced my hands on the dirt and pushed up, feeling this strength move through me, unsure where it came from, but feeling it fill every inch of me. It got rid of the pain of broken and fractured bones. It had my heart pumping and blood racing through my veins. It pulled me up and gave me this power that had relief striking me so fast and hard I staggered.
There was this powerful, undeniable shift in the air, a reckoning… my awakening.
I found myself crouching low and searching the woods. What caused this change in me was in the woods. So close. So fucking close I could taste her.
Her. My female. Gods, my Linked Mate was here.
My pheromones poured out of me, saturated the air. Nothing else mattered. No one else mattered but her.
I kept searching the woods and then froze. There she was, her eyes wide, her mouth parted, tears sliding down her cheeks. I wanted to lick that wetness off, take a piece of her into me so we’d be eternal.
I couldn’t stop myself as I roared out, “Mine!” She started shaking her head, and a slow grin spread across my face.
That's right. She was mine and mine alone.
Run, little female. Run, because I’m coming for you, and I fucking love the chase.
10
Caelan
I was working on pure instinct, the Linking Connection pushing everything else away so that nothing else mattered but getting to my female.
And this was how it would always be.
She’d come first. Always.
She’ll be mine. Irrevocably.
My female ran fast and hard, but she’d never outrun me. I’d always find her now that I had her scent ingrained in my nose, now that I knew I’d found my Linked Mate.