Page 27 of Chaos At Second Sight

LUCIEN

A gray dove buzzed too close. I whacked it with a flick of my tail and watched it drop into the grass.

Down the green hill, delicious sheep grazed peacefully, their juicy bellies swaying, unaware of how close they were to their deaths. Or my stomach. Same thing. But my beautiful mate had made me promise not to eat them. Not even one little nibble.

How was I supposed to survive? I could barely understand how she ate so little. Two tiny bowls of strange human food with liquid things over them? Bleh.

Yesterday, she made me eat some worms with ketchup. Spaghetti with tomato sauce, she had called it. I only finished it because she smiled every time I swallowed but afterward I had to chug cow milk to send the worms away.

Mate had lectured me on my bad behavior, wagging those little fingers at me. Chewing on some farm animals here and there had earned me one last day in my lycan form, otherwise they said they’d put me in chains. I scoffed. They can try.

I scraped a bit of dried blood from beneath my claws with an old bone. Human cared about his hygiene, so I copied him, even though he hated me.

I peeked at my tender mate next to me, an enormous book balanced on her knees, tongue peeking out. Sighing, I covered my mouth to be quieter and not disturb her. I could watch her for hours if her neck didn’t call to my fangs like a tempting piece of meat begging to be chewed.

Around us, pack members gave us a wide berth.

Good. I didn’t trust werewolves. Not many, anyway. Big Feet was acceptable; Granny, too. My mate and Trix, obviously. I could tolerate my human’s friends, but I found all those girls flocking around him a bore.

Human was trapped inside. Served him right. He should be grateful that I even let him glimpse our mate from inside and see how much she was loving our company, thanks to me. Me! Not him, who made her cross a whole ocean to flee.

“Damn you, Lucifer,” Logan growled inside my head.

I snorted. There he is.

Last week, I almost let him out, but I changed my mind because he was mean to me. Always rude, like our mate had told him several times in the past. I wasn’t rude. Mate told me I was sweet and gentle. Take that, Human.

“If you touch one hair on her head…”

“If Mate asks, Lucien touch.”

“And don’t even think about marking her!”

“If Mate wants.”

“She’ll never! Have you seen your fangs? You’d skewer her.”

My ears dropped. A wave of sadness washed over me; it happened every time he treated me badly.

“You heard her family. You have until tonight,” he said in a sing-song voice. “Your freedom is running out. I’ll throw you back into your dear lethargy den. You won’t even smell her in your dreams.”

“No!” I panicked. “Mate said she has way for us to make peace.”

A humorless laugh escaped him. “I’ll lock you away. You’re the worst thing that’s happened to me.” Another day, another reminder.

“Well, Mate said she won’t let you!” I growled, but then bolted up, hearing a tiny gasp.

“You scared her!” Logan drew in a breath, gazing at our mate. He was taking his fill, his heartbeat mad.

Her tiny fingers touched my arm. I wanted to lick them all. “Are you all right, Lucy?”

I nodded. Human and I quieted down, just sitting there, staring. Her eyes were so blue, a blue that soothed my soul like an ocean of gentle waves. Her angelic beauty made me forget many things.

“At least we agree on one thing, Lucifer,” Logan grumbled. “You’re lucky. All these days, you got to spend some quality time with her. She’ll probably spend the same amount of time hitting me with umbrellas.”

Our mate resumed reading.

“When do we mate her?” I asked, watching her tuck strands of hazel hair behind her ear.