Page 130 of Chaos At Second Sight

Ruby turned. Her flawless muzzle was as pale as the moonlight, fur as luminous as a precious pearl, and her limbs were smooth and strong.

All very distracting, but still. “Do you want our mate to think we’re dumb?”

That did it.

Planting both feet into the ground, Lucien wrenched himself up in one quick move. The tree we’d hit tipped over and rolled onto the forest floor, with birds crying for their lost nests.

Then he shot off like a bullet of fur.

YVAINE

I could sense my mate behind us.

He wasn’t trying to overtake us, content with Ruby choosing the path, trusting her instincts. We wound through spruce trees, up and down the eastern hills.

Stephen, I loved being a lycan!

It felt more like I’d finally become what I was always meant to be. I loved Zelda—I always would—and I missed her the way I missed my teenage years, something precious that had shaped me but couldn’t be reclaimed.

White mushrooms climbed tree trunks; scarlet poppies peeked through blades of grass that brushed my legs as I ran; and a horned owl, busy preening beneath one raised wing, paused to tilt its head, our eyes meeting for the briefest instant.

I’d always noticed details. Medical school had trained us to observe what others overlooked. But now the forest recognized one of its own, every twisting root, every trembling leaf, every living thing pulsing in time with me. With him.

And speaking of…

An annoyed snarl ripped from my throat, my teeth vibrating with it, as a black blur landed ahead of me.

“Follow Lucien…if you can,” he teased with his throaty voice, and barreled through the forest. Young pines snapped like matchsticks, branches burst into showers of needles, and shrubs vanished beneath pounding paws. Like a runaway freight train that had derailed.

Shaking my head, I threw myself after him.

Our lycans ran straight into a sounder of boars just as the blood moon crowned the mountain, staining the peaks the color of our next meal—red.

Ruby wrinkled her muzzle at the mud caking their coarse hides. I smiled as she edged closer to Lucien. “Don’t worry, Lucien will get them for us,” I told her.

Wrong thing to say.

“I will do it,” Ruby huffed, squaring her shoulders, receiving a curious glance from Lucien.

She only managed a step.

“Mate,” his deep voice rumbled. “No hunt. Mate stay here.” He bumped a fist against his broad chest. Once. Twice. “Lucien hunt.” Another tap. “Lucien feed.”

The protectiveness mixed with dominance in his voice stole every argument Ruby had prepared. She merely nodded.

Satisfied, Lucien grinned, licked her muzzle, then scooped her up and deposited her onto a thick bed of moss. He even swept the moss with his tail.

“Stay. Please?” The apex predator had vanished; Puppy Lucien had returned.

Ruby did listen, excited at his new attitude. And I had to admit…watching Lucien hunt was magnificent.

His lunge was the strike of a tiger, his claws a cage of knives, his fangs unforgiving. He was at the top of the food chain, the rightful lord.

I felt a sudden jolt of pride.

“He is ours,” Ruby snarled.

Lucien took down the largest male, the Alpha boar, even before the startled mammal fully understood its death. He flexed his muscles beneath black fur, making sure Ruby saw every action. The rest scattered.