I finished nearly the whole glass—feeling the effects of the alcohol move through me pleasurably—when I felt this shift in the massive hall. The air seemed to get colder, and as if in unison, everyone turned and faced the wide entrance of the great hall.
They were looking at someone.
I was small, not just for a female, but also for a supernatural creature, so there was no way I could see over the towering males or the svelte, tall females.
I inhaled deeply, sifting through all the scents in the room and trying to focus on whatever was at that entrance. It took work; the scents were many and thick, perfumes and foods, but then I locked on it.
I felt this jolt move through me at the scent. And once it filled my nose and head, I could smell nothing else.
A Lycan male was who everyone was looking at, yet I still couldn’t see him. I shivered, not understanding why I suddenly felt so hot and cold.
“Is that Luca Lupineov?” my mother whispered to my father, sidling closer to him. He wrapped one arm around my mother’s waist, and as if he wanted to keep the females close, he did the same to me, bringing me protectively to his side.
I noticed my brothers pushed their way toward us, their looks dark, dangerous. They scanned their eyes over my mother and me, protective of us just as our father was. Then again, this was how all supernatural males were when it concerned females they cared about.
I glanced around the room, taking note males did the same with their mates and daughters, brothers seeming to instinctively want to protect their sisters and mothers.
“Aye,” my father answered, and I felt his hand tighten on my shoulder. “A Lycan gone mad is one of the most dangerous creatures alive.”
And then bodies started to part as the male was clearly moving into the great hall. I still couldn’t see him and tried to rise on my toes to get a better look. I saw a flash of dark, short hair, a set of wide, powerful shoulders. The male straightened, and I gasped at how big and tall he was, towering over even my father, who by all accounts was one of the biggest males in this room.
Lord, that male had to be easily six-foot eight. And the power in his body, the stacks of muscles, was staggering. But there was something else, something about him that had my skin tightening and this strange feeling moving within me. I felt my father stiffen and glanced up at him. He was looking at me with his brows drawn.
“Lass, are ye okay?”
I cleared my throat and tried to calm my heart—which of course only made things worse. “I’m fine.” I hoped my smile was convincing. But my father still watched me for long seconds until movement up ahead drew his attention.
I exhaled and heard low murmurs.
It was his… the Lycan male’s, Luca’s voice.
I actually closed my eyes and would have swayed from the sound if not for the fact that my father held onto me.
Luca was congratulating his brother Ren on his mating, and his deep, husky, and accented voice did warm things to me.
But why?
I’d heard about Luca Lupineov, the Lycan shifter who’d slowly lost his mind because he hadn’t found his mate. I knew it happened on occasion, centuries passing for our kind in the paranormal world making life tedious and hope fading.
More beast than male, I heard him being called. Hell, the rumors of Luca had reached all the way to the Highlands.
The murmurs in the room were low but great, and I sensed he was leaving. The bodies parted once again, and there I finally saw him, his back to me, twenty feet separating us and growing more as he exited.
And yeah, he was even more massive and imposing than any other male in this room.
He really is more animal than male.
“Luca,” I said his name so low I knew only I’d have heard. I didn't even know why I said his name, to be honest. It just slipped from my lips as if it were a plea.
But then he stilled. His huge body freezing, his hands curling into themselves as he snapped his head up. I swore I heard him inhale, felt my eyes widen as the room seemed to grow even colder. Everyone was at a standstill at whatever was happening. Would he lose control and kill someone? Was his mind so deteriorated that we were all in danger?
My father was in the process of pulling my mother and me behind him, my brothers coming forward to make a wall, blocking us from Luca. But the big Lycan spun around, his glowing animal-like blue eyes swinging back and forth as he scanned the hall. And then our eyes locked, gazes clashing.