You Are Mine (The Lycans 2)

I groaned and closed my eyes. I was grown, but I knew my brothers and father would always see me as someone who was fragile and needed protection. I knew I was weak compared to any creature in the Otherworld, barely stronger than even a human. Damn being interspecies.

But I was strong in my own right, even if they did shelter me.

“Besides,” he snapped, “that fooker is over four hundred years old.”

“Banner,” my mother warned, “shall we talk about how much older you are than me?”

When my father growled again and stalked toward my mother, this heated look in his eyes that grossed me out because I knew he was about to kiss the words right out of her, I excused myself. I didn’t want to think about this anymore, didn’t want to talk about it—or be a third party in my own life.

Yet as I ascended the staircase that led to the second and third floors of the massive Scottish estate I’d always called home, I couldn’t help but feel this longing. It felt as if I was missing something elemental in my life.

The image of Luca slammed into my head. I’d only seen him once, and for such a short amount of time. That one moment when our eyes locked at Ren and Mikalina’s mating ceremony just a week ago had been the single most intense experience of my life.

I couldn’t deny, or even lie to myself, that I hadn’t experienced a life-altering spark as I stared into Luca’s tormented eyes.

My mind was heavy with thoughts of Luca and the last words he’d spoken. The last time I’d seen him.

“Female. You are mine.”

I closed my eyes and swayed, reaching out to grip the banister as his words played in my mind over and over again.

A shiver wracked my body, and I forced myself to ascend the stairs to the second level. All thoughts of Luca were momentarily stopped when one of the doors opened and slammed against the wall with enough force a few hanging pictures shook.

Caelan, one of my three triplet brothers, and the eldest out of the siblings, had the shortest fuse out of my family. Our father included.

“Let me see my fucking mate!” Luca roared loud enough to shake the stone walls, loud enough to be heard so clear through the storm and distance, even for my barely above-average-human hearing.

I glanced at Caelan and saw him glower.

Another roar pierced the stormy night sky, and I looked over my shoulder at the large window at the end of the hall. The stained glass around the edging depicted the great forest that the Lycans loved and reveled in.

I found myself walking toward it before I could stop myself. It was too dark, the rain too angry for me to see clearly outside. But I felt him. So close. He’s so close.

My hands were on the glass, palms flat against the chilled coldness. I felt the vibrations from him snarling, his growling. My toes curled against the hardwood as I sensed him pacing, the ground shaking from it.

Go to him.

For the last week, I’d been sequestered in the manor, my father and brothers never letting me out of their sight. And when I couldn’t see them, I knew they were close. I knew Lycans patrolled the property day in and day out.

And even if I had the undeniable urge to go to Luca, I was also afraid. I was young. Inexperienced. I really hadn’t lived a life outside the Highlands. Not really. Any exploring I did alone was always on the property, the hundreds of acres we owned. And the times I had experienced the world had always been with my family. European trips, foreign excursions, or just countryside jaunts had always been with people who saw me as breakable and weak, who wanted to be there to protect me.

I’m not as weak as everyone thinks.

I remembered walking the property alone as a child, the only secure and safe place the males in my family would let me be unchaperoned.

And as much as I loved my family—with my whole heart—my father and brothers could be... overbearing.

“Suffocating,” I murmured.

Lennox and Tavish emerged from their rooms then, and I looked over my shoulder. They wore the same pissed-off expression as our eldest brother.

“He’s bloody fooking insane,” Caelan gritted out.

“He will no’ give up. That’s for damn sure,” Tavish said with a bite in his voice. “I have tae give him credit where it's due, but I’m getting rightfully annoyed.”

I heard Lennox grinding his teeth, before he snapped, “Fook him and his mating need.”

I felt my eyes widening at my brothers. How could they be so callous in this? Did they not think about their mates constantly? I’d heard them talking about it almost wistfully, as if that’s all they dreamed about.