Page 38 of Blood and Trouble

I smelled it too, the underlying hint of feralness that suggested dog or wolf rather than toad. She wasn’t a fox like her sisters, but we also didn’t have any dogs in the pack, either.

“My money’s on wolf,” I said.

“See?” Lycan’s eyes shimmered as he grinned. “I was just telling Trouble about going to the RBMC chapter here in Copenhagen for the full moon next week. It’ll just be the three of us this time, but we should be home by next month to run with the pack.”

I gulped against my suddenly dry throat, trying not to linger on how awkward it was going to be. Just the three of us, alone in the woods, completely turned over to our animal selves.

“Trouble?” I assumed it was his nickname for Ava, but I didn’t know where it came from.

“You know me,” Lycan said, wrapping an arm over Ava’s shoulders to pull her in close. “I don’t go looking for trouble, but it always finds me.”

A sharp pang bombarded my chest as I zeroed in on the way his skin draped so eloquently over hers. His leather aroma, combined with her coconut perfume, formed an intoxicating blend that fueled the inferno deep in my gut.

Mine, my wolf howled.

No, I bit back. Stop that.

But as Lycan laughed and ran his hand over her shoulders, my gaze caught on a white gold band on his left ring finger. It matched a shimmering diamond-studded counterpart on Ava’s. My heart sank. My stomach hollowed out. My legs turned to jelly, and my blood boiled, flushing my cheeks, curling my hands into fists.

“Speaking of trouble.” I tried to keep my voice level, even though it came out more like a growl, and I gestured to the offensive jewelry. “Kodiak know about that?”

Lycan opened his mouth and froze.

Ava locked her features into a neutral expression, but the unmistakable putrid scent of anxiety wafted off her, clouding her perfect tropical essence.

“I…planned to talk to him about it,” Lycan said.

So it was real? I relaxed my features to pull off my best poker face, giving nothing away. Not the twist of the knife in my gut as he confirmed he’d married a woman he’d known for a few weeks instead of me, a man he’d dated for over two years. Were they mates?

I didn’t sense a mating bond between them, nor did I smell the telltale aroma of Lycan’s bonding scent on her.

“Poe, it’s—” Lycan started.

“None of my business,” I cut in. “None of this is any of my business.”

Two quick knocks at the door cut off anything else Lycan planned to say. It opened, and Locust appeared on the other side, smiling as he held out his arms to me.

“There he is!” He pulled me into a hug. “You made it! Welcome to the Euro-trip!”

I laughed and blinked back the sting in my eyes. I was thankful for the interruption, especially when Locust said he needed to pull Lycan away for a few minutes to talk logistics for the rest of the week.

“Excuse me,” Lycan said. “I’ll be right back.”

I kept my gaze on the floor to avoid direct eye contact. I didn’t want him to know how badly it hurt that he’d moved on so quickly. I didn’t want him to see the pain in my soul, my crushed heart, my broken spirit. Hell, I was still whacking off in the shower to memories of us. And he was married? To her?

What was so special about her? What did she have that I didn’t? Was it the money? The fame? The power? Maybe it was her cunt. Lycan had sworn he was bisexual, but maybe he preferred women to broody, whiny men?

How could I have been so ridiculous?

My wolf growled in my head, its hackles raised as it snarled and whimpered.

“We were drunk,” Ava said, bringing my attention back to her. “It was a stupid, drunken mistake.”

“Like I said.” I forced the words out of my mouth, even though they tasted like ash. “None of my business.”

“Isn’t it?” Her glacial eyes pierced holes straight through whatever armor I thought I was wearing. Even if I didn’t want Lycan to see my addled soul, Ava clearly did.

“I’m gonna go unpack.” I took a few steps away and headed toward the guest room, but just as I did, a sickening wave of a heady masculine scent pummeled my nose. I winced like I’d been smacked in the face, the territorial notes nearly making me stumble back.