Page 75 of Lycan’s Hunt

Chapter 33

• Aubrey •

In a flurry of movement, I’m off. I bolt through the underbrush, my body moving with an effortless grace I could never replicate in my wolf form. The wind whips past, chilling my fur and further heightening my senses.

I come to an abrupt halt, every muscle in my body screaming at the tantalizing savoury scent hanging heavily in the air.

There, crouched low and quivering in fear is the small rabbit that thought it could escape me. It tries to blend into the undergrowth but its thumping heart gives it away. This creature is nothing more than prey, yet Soren’s words echo in my head.

Every instinct begs me to strike, to seize this creature between my teeth and shake until it’s still and its blood floods my mouth. That urge tinges everything red. Something warm splats my face, making me realize I am not picturing that urge I had enacted, the crunch sound is the rabbit’s lifeless form as my teeth savagely ripped into it.

I take a step back, dropping the lifeless body from my jaws in shock. My heart pounds against my ribcage, the coppery scent of blood sending waves of guilt crashing down onto me. What have I done? Noise sounding behind me has me twisting to find the intruder.

I turn to see Soren standing at the periphery, his eyes locked onto mine with an unreadable expression drawn on his face. As if on cue, a great horned owl screeches somewhere off in the distance, its echoing cry piercing through the silence.

“I… I didn’t mean to,” I whimper, a shiver creeping up my spine from the intensity of Soren’s gaze. His eyes soften, understanding seeping into his gaze as he takes a step forward.

“Instincts,” he murmurs, his voice carrying through the cool night air with ease.

“Maybe it’ll be alright?” I tell him, moving toward the rabbit. I try to make it sit upright but it falls on its side, its dead eyes peering up at me.

“Aubrey, it’s dead.”

Everything feels too much. The smell of blood and decaying leaves, every tiny sound amplified — twigs cracking under Soren’s boots as he walks closer, the flutter of wings of an owl taking flight. It is a sensory overload.

“I wanna go home,” I murmur in horror over what I did. What if he had a bunny family?

“Aubrey…” Soren says softly, he picks up the dead rabbit. “You did good,”

I shake my head. “I killed it.”

“You did, but how many times did you kill rabbits when you were a werewolf?”

“That was different, that was the full moon, I also don’t remember doing it.”

He sighs. “It’s no different. You’re just more aware but not in control. You’ll learn control, but until then you’re all instinct right now.”

“I don’t want to kill anything, I don’t care if it’s not my fault I…I…” His calling slips out and my thoughts jumble momentarily when he starts removing his clothes.

“You need to run, you need to hunt.” He tosses his shirt aside, revealing his muscled abs. He undoes the button on his pants and the zipper, his pants falling to the ground before he steps out of them. I quickly avert my gaze knowing the poor forest creatures don’t need to witness a bizarre forest porno. Yet him moving closer is making the urge to pin him down and fuck him overwhelming.

“Put your clothes back on, you’re distracting me,” I growl at him but he but he ignores me

“You don’t want to kill anything, fine, you can hunt something more durable.”

“You?” I ask him, horrified. “What if I hurt you?” He snorts a laugh at my words. Is this man insane?

“You can try all you like,” he chuckles softly before cracking his neck and shifting into his huge black Lycan. His form contorts and shifts until a large, imposing Lycan stands in his place. Even shifted myself, he towers over me and his aura is so much stronger in this form.

Soren is no longer a man but a beast. He flares his nostrils, the grizzled fur on his muzzle bristling slightly as he looks down at me. His normal blue eyes now a bright golden, though they remain calm and alert, predatory but not frightening. It’s him, but it’s also not him.

“You need to feed your instincts,” he growls in a voice that rumbles like thunder echoing around us and right through me simultaneously. “The more you do, the better you will control them.”

“I’m not hunting you, you’re being absurd.” My blood sings in my veins at the idea, tempting but I don’t fancy a dart in my ass compliments of one of his guards thinking I’m attacking their king.

He growls, his eyes flashing. “Then run.” He moves closer and I watch him for a second wondering what he means. “You don’t want to hunt, fine, but you will run.”

His aura slips out slightly and I fight against the urge to flee.