“You act like you have any say over her, but we both know that’s not true, don’t we?” Caedmon smiled, but it was a struggle to control the rage thatthickened his blood. He’d spent centuries locked in the worst hell imaginable. He’d thought any hint of feelings and emotions had been bled from him a long time ago.
Then a little goddess burst into his life, destroying every ounce of control he’d obtained through decades of training. She looked down at him in his prison, where he’d spent months stuck in a pit, dirty and tainted. Anyone else would’ve turned up their nose at him, put him out of his misery.
Even her mates had told her to let him rot.
They weren’t wrong.
But she didn’t listen.
Morgan had taken one look at him, compassion softening her violet blue eyes, and offered him hope for the first time in his life.
Her actions were foolish.
Beyond stupid.
If she were smart, she would’ve put him down like a feral animal. He’d long ago forgotten what it was like to be normal.
He was a monster.
A scourge upon the earth.
And she’d saved him.
He wasn’t sure when he’d fallen in love with her, but he suspected it was the first time he laid eyes on her—when he glanced up from his place in hell. He’d waited centuries for his mate, long since given up hope of ever meeting her, especially after he’d been cursed and turned into a creature of the damned.
Then she’d twisted his world on end by giving him a second chance.
He never thought he’d be whole again, his past too full of sins to be forgiven…until her. She’d given him a second chance, and he was determined to do everything within his power to make sure nothing ever threatened her again, not while he had breath in his body.
He was well aware that she had other mates.
That she didn’t want more.
He very much feared if she learned the truth, she would reject him.
It was why he kept quiet.
Now that he’d found his mate after so long, well after he’d given up hope, there was no way he was going to let her go. If he had to lie, cheat, and steal his way into her life, he would do it in a heartbeat.
His soul was hers.
No fucking way would he allow these fucking alpha-holes to manipulate her, not while he still drew breath. It was all he could do not to rip them to shreds for trying to manipulate her…and he had the power to do it.
The only thing that held him back was knowing if he decimated the alphas, the rest of the pack would seek revenge. To protect her, he swallowed the need to slaughter them.
But that didn’t mean he couldn’t scare the ever-loving crap out of them for daring to threaten his mate and treating her less than a queen.
He dropped the chains holding back the creature that lived under his skin. There was a moment of absolute stillness, then magic set fire to his insides and the beast burst free with a roar, the human side of him burning away.
He straightened, his nine-foot form nearly brushing the ceiling, hisloup garouform natural to him after spending over half his life trapped at the mercy of the beast.
All his beast had felt for decades was a barely controlled rage and insatiable hunger.
It only took a simple whiff from his mate for the wolf to come to heel like a docile little pup, all that hunger directed toward her, yearning for just a touch. She took away the evil taint that had cursed his soul.
She was their everything.
And these fuckers thought to take her from them.
