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I bared my teeth and snarled into the darkness, knowing I had to get past the barrier one way or another. If I managed to clear the wall and got to the other side, I’d be faced with two issues.
The Lycans on guard would descend on me like the pack of hungry fucking wolves they were. I could fight them off easily enough. I was stronger than them in this state, having been more animal for decades, centuries. Overpowering a Lycan was as easy for me as snapping twigs, but then that brought me to my other issue.
The magic steeped into that wall, into the metal that sucked my power with just a touch. So even if I did make it over and to the other side, my power and strength would be drained completely, rendering me immobile, too weak to fight. The Lycans would capture me without a doubt, throw me in a fucking cell, keep me weak so I couldn’t escape.
I couldn’t risk that, couldn’t risk my mate not having me by her side, protected and provided for by me.
Nothing and no one could ever keep me from my female, so I was having to bring up my human side more than ever, using rationale and common sense, tactical approaches to get to her.
She was born to be mine and mine alone, and those who stood in my way would soon know the wrath and power of a mated Lycan.
I swiped my hand out, my claws digging into a thick trunk of a tree, slicing the wood in half as if it was nothing but fragile tissue paper. I felt no pain, felt no cold or rain. I was too attuned to the female locked away from me, my senses never this strong.
It was true. A mate brought out all your primal, brutal strengths.
I tipped my head back and roared, my beast wanting to take full control, to shift completely. Normally, I would have welcomed him to take power, to dominate, but I needed to keep my human side intact, needed to think rationally.
I roared, “Mine!” The ground quaked from my voice, my aggression.
I resumed my pacing. Stalking. Thinking. Thinking. I have to get to her. Ours. She’s ours, and they keep her from us. Destroy them. Destroy them all.
I could sense the hesitation from the other Lycans. Good, let them fear me. Let them see and feel and fucking know how dangerous I was.
I eyed the wall, knowing logically scaling the fucking thing wouldn’t give me the end result I was after. But I had no other options. I’d forbade Ren from coming here. He’d wanted to speak with the Scottish clan, wanted to speak with Banner and explain things. But my mate’s father would never give her to me, even if by right and fate she was mine.
This was my war to fight. I wouldn’t bring my brother into this, especially not now that he’d found his mate.
Too broken. Too crazed.
I felt blood and adrenaline pump through my veins, aggression consuming me. We’ll never hurt her. She’s ours to protect forever.
My shoulders heaved as I breathed and paced. Breathed and paced. Slashes of crimson and torn flesh crossed my chest from me clawing at myself in fits of rage.
But I tried to stay calm—human—and stepped farther into the shadows, into the protection of the forest. I’d bide my time.
I will get to her.
9
Cian
“He’s no’ right,” Odhran said, his voice nothing more than a growl.
I couldn’t deny what Odhran said. The Lycan was damn near mad, crazed, and keeping his mate from him was making him even worse.
I looked at my lifelong friend, watching him stand as still as stone, his body just as menacing and towering as the rest of us. But Odhran was “trigger happy” when it came to aggression and letting his animal rise up to take partial control.
Although he hadn’t always been this way, I’d never understood what had changed him from the fun and playful lad I’d grown up with, to the brutal warlord who reveled in bloodlust. And no matter how many times I tried to talk to him, Odhran would become enraged, muttering about what was rightfully his and stolen away, never to be found.
The ramblings of a Lycan male slowly losing his mind.
I wanted to understand him, ask him if he’d found and lost his mate—because that would be the only reason I’d see this kind of decline and primal supremacy from a male—but I wouldn’t talk more on it. He was stubborn and angry, and pressing the issue would have him declining even more.
I focused on my task. And it was an easy one. Keep Luca from Ainslee.
The rain and wind pelted against us, but we didn’t notice, didn’t pay it attention. We’d been tasked to make sure Luca didn’t breach the perimeter. The walls were mystically fortified, but Luca was a strong motherfucker, and I had no doubt that with enough strength and aggression from his Lycan, he’d scale this fucking wall and breach it.
