Thayer, to my utter relief, didn’t argue or question my command, and did as I said. Tomorrow, I knew he would demand answers, but for now, I focused on the wolf.
“Lucien,” I murmured, trying to make my voice as soothing as possible, like I’d done when I first brought him into my apartment what felt like a lifetime ago. “What are you doing here?”
The beautiful wolf didn’t respond. There was nothing in his eyes but pure fixation as he stared at me, as still as a statue. I could barely see him breathe.
I was completely at a loss, but I couldn’t give up. Swallowing hard, I slowly took a step forward, trying not to make any sharp movements. “Lucien,” I whispered now, “what do I need to do?”
Because why would he be here if he wasn’t in some sort of trouble? Lack of humanity or not, Lucien should spend the night roaming the forest like the others, shouldn’t he?
The wolf stared at me for a few more moments in complete, still silence before, to my utter shock, I saw his fur being sucked into his skin, followed by the paper-folding noise of him starting to shift.
“Lucien, no!” I hissed, eyes wide with fear, images of Kate in my head. “The full moon is still out! You should stay in your wolf form—”
My words cut off, my throat dry, when the gorgeous man appeared before me—his face so inhumanly beautiful, his sun-kissed body rippling with strong, taut muscles, easily towering over me as he got in my face, his eyes glowing an impossible bright blue.
I gasped. His gaze was so sharp and piercing, it rendered me immobile. It felt as though he was a predator on the hunt and I was his prey.
Which was exactly what we were. Werewolf and human.
At the full moon.
“Lucien,” I whispered, shuddering when he raised his hand to cup my face so gently, so in contrast to the almost beastly expression on his face, I almost whimpered. “Lucien, what’s happening?”
He opened his mouth, and a guttural voice came out, saying one word.
“Drew.”
Those beautiful eyes roamed over my face as though he was studying every nook and curve of my features, until they landed on my lips. Lips that I now parted when his gaze shifted, turning absolutely feral.
And for a moment, I forgot this Lucien wasn’t completely human, and a strong emotion rose inside me. Something mindlesswith desperation. “I’m the Eteria here,” I murmured, searching his eyes, watching his gaze sharpen. “You shouldn’t be controlled by the Eteria magic, should you?”
If his muscles were rigid before, he was now as hard as the wall he suddenly pressed my back against. His knee pushed my legs apart, settling between them, making me almost sit on his lap, while his hand lowered from my cheek to my throat in a gentle yet unmovable hold. His other hand settled on my thigh.
Heat flared up deep within me, almost bringing tears to my eyes with how much I wanted him there and then. I wanted his knee to move up, to brush against me. I wanted the hand on my thigh to slide to my butt and squeeze it roughly, possessively. Those lips I’d been avoiding looking at out of fear I would long for them too much I now desperately wanted,needed, anywhere on my skin.
This abrupt, absurd, almost compulsive need for his touch broke me. “Let me go,” I said, my voice barely audible as I was too weak, too submissive under his strong touch, to put any conviction in my tone. “Let me go, Lucien.”
“It’s not your fault you’re my Eteria.”
I would’ve jumped if he hadn’t held me so strongly. His voice was like gravel. Barely human. Yet I understood him. I also saw the vehemence that entered his gaze.
But I focused on his words, because a different kind of heat flared up inside me. “Yet I’m subjected to loving you, and wanting you only, whether it’s my fault or not,” I hissed, glaring at him now. “So why areyouhere? Why now, when it’s the full moon and you should be out there? Why did you come here when you barely have any hold on your humanity? When you’re the Alpha of this pack? When you have other responsibilities? When you avoided me the whole day to take care of those responsibilities?”
The fury in his eyes should’ve scared me; it almost twisted the lines of his face into the monstrous expression I’d only seen twice before. But instead of being scared, I felt my own anger rise.
I sucked in a breath and snapped, voice louder now, “You’re toying with me, Lucien. I have no say when it comes to my emotions, but you do. You can leave me alone. You can put distance between us so my emotions would remain my own!”
“I would never subject you to such a fate.”
The gravelly words were followed by a deep, ominous growl that I could feel rising from his naked chest and reverberating through my own body. He was so close now I could see the little streaks of silver in his irises. I could see the deep wine-colored shade of his thick lashes.
With him so close, any kind of strength I’d mustered was now gone, and I deflated in his arms. “What fate?” I whispered, frustrated.
That frustration turned into desire as his knee rubbed against my clothed center. My eyes rolled as my head fell back against the wall, and I had to bite my lip not to moan.
“You will never love another,” he suddenly said, mouth at my ear. “You aremyEteria. Mine.”
His words made me grab his shoulders as my own knees grew weak and I could barely hold myself up, even though his words drove me mad. “So if you don’t want me to die alone, then there is only one other option, isn’t there?” I bit out, and almost moaned when I felt his lips brushing against my throat.
