The Alpha (The Lycans 4)

I settled against him, our skin damp from sweat, between my legs sore, wet from the combination of my arousal, no doubt blood, and his cum. My neck ached from where he’d bitten me. In fact, my entire body felt sore, bruised from his kisses and the scrape of his teeth.

In this moment it was easy to think everything was okay. It was easy to picture my life without any threat and only Cian and me enjoying this crazy thing called being mates.

And as I let sleep claim me, I didn’t allow reality to intrude. Because once I woke up, I knew it would be right back in my face.

19

Evelyn

It was a strip of sun in my eyes that woke me up fully as soon as I was conscious. I stretched, and an instant smile spread across my face as the aches and twinges of discomfort and the memory of what I’d done last night encompassed every part of me.

I was naked under the comforter, so sore between my legs that I felt pleasure all over again, an intense high that crashed through me. I looked beside me on the bed and smoothed my hand across the sheets that were cold. Cian hadn’t been here for a while. I lay in bed for long moments, just letting my body wake, allowing myself to enjoy how I felt after what we’d done last night. I stretched out my legs, and my feet came in contact with something hard at the end of the mattress.

I pushed up to see a large white box on the bed. I reached across to grab it, keeping the blanket pressed to my chest, and pulled the box onto my lap. There was a dark-red satin ribbon tied around it, and once I pulled it free and got the top off, I felt my eyebrows lift at the stacks of clothing inside.

Leggings, a pair of jeans, and several clearly luxurious cashmere shirts lay inside. There was also a small white rectangular box tucked inside, and when I pulled it out and opened the lid, I felt this warmth boom in my chest at the tiny bracelet inside with the silver wolf charm hanging from the clasp.

Another smile—which I was sure looked goofy as hell on me—spread across my face at the thought of Cian going to the trouble of getting me clothes. But when in the hell would he have had time? We’d only been here for a day and a half, and he’d been with me the entire time. Maybe he’d dispatched Odhran, but as I spied panties, my face heated in embarrassment if that was the case.

I got out of bed and wrapped the blanket around me before heading to the bathroom with the box in hand. Once the door was shut, I looked at myself in the mirror, and a gasp left me sharply. I set the box on the counter and reached up to lift the long fall of my dark hair up and kept it pinned to my crown with one hand as I tipped my chin and to the side and stared in shock at my neck.

Teeth marks, purple and blue love bites covered both sides of my throat and even where it met my shoulders. And then there was the claiming mark—which couldn't be called anything but that—covering one side of my throat. Twin puncture wounds with a bruise blooming around it was a neon sign for exactly what Cian was and what I was to him.

I dropped the blanket and looked at my body, more bruising from his passion, more fingerprint marks from when he’d held me down. Even my inner thighs were covered in the proof of his branding.

And I got wet over the sight, felt an intense flush steal over me. I braced my hands on the bathroom counter and breathed out at how much pleasure—both physical and emotional—I felt, seeing myself like this. I wouldn’t be winning any feminism awards; these marks meant a hell of a lot to a Lycan male claiming his mate. I knew that without a doubt.

After taking a quick shower, the remnants of what we’d done last night gone from between my thighs, I put on a pair of dark leggings and one of the soft sweaters that fell below my bottom. I even found a pair of flats at the very bottom of the box. I had no idea how he’d known my sizes, but I certainly wasn’t going to complain. For the first time since all this shit had gone down, I felt put together and human. So to speak.

I left the bedroom and instantly smelled food. My stomach cramped, reminding me I’d barely eaten since all of this went down. I went around the corner and saw Cian in the kitchen by the stove, his huge body seeming so out of place as he took on this domestic stance.