The Alpha (The Lycans 4)

I felt my chest rising and falling, my breathing picking up as my animal rushed to the surface. My head was lowered, my gaze trained on him, my eyes now glowing. The very thought of him in her bedroom, where she slept, got undressed, had me baring my teeth, my canines elongating in warning.

He held his hands up and stepped back, and I made a low grumble as I stalked toward him. Having a mate certainly changed everything, made me even more territorial, more aggressive. To even think of somebody looking at Evelyn, let alone touching her, made me want to kill them, rip their hands from their bodies, gouge their eyes out, and offer their mutilated carcasses to my mate as a gift.

And I knew this was just the start, the beginning. I knew once I finally had her, claimed Evelyn, and put my mark on her neck, I’d be even worse, so fucking protective it would no doubt be unbearable for her. I just prayed to whoever would listen that she’d understand that when a Lycan found his fated mate—his other half, the missing part of his soul—she’d see me as a gift as well. The way I saw her.

All I wanted was to make her happy, to make her life feel complete, even if I pissed her off with my possessiveness in the process.

10

Evelyn

I’d been on the road for hours, half a day, because I had taken back roads and stayed off the highways. I liked the scenery, so even if going off the beaten path had added hours, I told myself this was all part of the adventure. But this was the longest trip I’d ever taken by myself, and more than once I’d thought this was a bad idea.

My ass was numb, my neck kinked to the side, and my hands were stiff from holding onto the steering wheel for so long. And I was currently in Ohio… in the middle of Amish country specifically. And it seemed like a good enough place to stay for the night. A place to lay low, a little voice said to me.

The reception out here was awful, out in the middle of nowhere, cornfields and soybeans all over the place. But there was a certain kind of solidarity and calmness, a peacefulness that settled into me without the skyscrapers and the cars, the congestion of people and the fumes of pollution.

Another half hour into my trip and I pulled in the small parking lot of an Amish country store. I cut the engine of my rental and climbed out, my hands on my lower back as I stretched, working the kinks out. There were only a few cars in the lot, this stillness and quietness surrounding me. After living in the city for my entire life, it was almost a culture shock being out here. But one I gratefully accepted.

Aside from stopping to get gas and a couple of bathroom breaks, I’d kept on the road, putting as much distance between me and the city as possible. I hadn’t even told Darragh where I was going. Not that I knew where the hell I was heading, but I didn’t tell her any of my plans. I knew she’d take my secrets to the grave, but I felt like she told me the basics of the whole fated mate's things. I didn’t know how “bound” she was to Caelan, if she’d be powerless to keep things to herself, especially if it came to other mates and Lycans. Did they use mind control? It sounded so stupid when I thought about it, but I certainly contemplated that as a solution to how and why Darragh seemed to accept things so easily.

The sound of tires kicking up gravel had me looking over my shoulder and seeing an older white minivan with rust stains around the bottom of the frame come to a stop a few parking spots down from me. On the back of the window were those family decals; a mom and dad stick figure with three little stick figures beside them. They even added a dog and cat sitting beside the last child.

The passenger-side door opened, and a woman stepped out, her mom jeans pulled up to her waist, her flower blouse picking up at the bottom when a gust of wind moved through. She started stretching the kinks out of her neck and turned her head toward me, our gazes locking. She gave me a small smile and a little wave but didn’t wait for me to reciprocate as a large man made his way around the front of the van, and they clasped hands.

I stood there staring at the couple, something tight in my chest making itself known. I’d never had anything like that. Not even close. No desire to even be close to anyone. No touching, no kissing, and certainly no sex. And my traitorous body lit up at the thought of Cian, this heady desire moving through me that made zero sense.