Bite Marks (The Lycans 5)

“Sorry, wolf. But you were out of fucking control. At the rate you were going, you’d have attacked anyone who came close to you. I had to defuse that shit quick, yeah?”

Odhran glanced at Cian, and the two started speaking in Gaelic, their voices low. Odhran grunted. “I… I canna think straight these days.”

He scrubbed his hands over his face, suddenly allowing his mask to slip, and the Lycan looked so beaten down that if I had a heart, I might have felt bad for him.

“Yeah, I canna think straight. I’m slowly losing my fooking mind.”

Under-fucking-statement of the century.

“No shit, man.”

Odhran snarled. “Ye are such a fooking bitch, Adryan.”

I tipped my head back and barked out a hard laugh. “Yeah, man, I really can be, can’t I?” I let my amusement dry up and looked between the two males standing before me. “Buuut,” I let that lone word drag out, “maybe you should thank me.” I took a step toward Cian, Odhran bristling beside the other wolf.

“The fook you spouting on about, Adryan?” Cian snarled the words.

We stared at each other for long moments, this alpha showdown creating a pretty tense atmosphere. But I derived power from that, from those who refused to back down. My soldiers knew their place, stayed where they were until I gave a signal, which I wouldn’t. I knew how this would play out, saw things steps ahead before they became reality.

“Things could have gone down far differently, Cian. But I kept my shit together. Do the same.” It wasn’t a request, and he knew that.

Cian huffed out, and I could tell this was hard as shit for him to do… to back down.

He exhaled, nodded once, and said, “Many thanks from my kind for no’ being an even more psychotic fooker than ye already are.”

I laughed and reached out to clap Cian on the shoulder. He bristled at the contact, and I smiled wider. “Let’s get this started so you can go back to that mate of yours, and I can do my own shit, yeah?”

Kane and Sebastian stepped forward with a tablet in hand and brought up the aerial view of the farmland in Vermont, the property we highly suspected the Assembly was using as a front to perform their fucked-up shit for species of the Otherworld.

For the next half hour, we went over every logistic possible to infiltrate, or at least see if things could be infiltrated.

“And ye’ve had soldiers canvassing the area? Had them there this whole time?”

I nodded and glanced at Cian. “Since we found out about it. We haven’t done anything more than sit on it though. I kept my soldiers back for obvious, practical reasons. Not about losing bodies without knowing everything and being totally prepared. Although this really isn’t my fight, concerning your boy’s mate.” I glanced at Odhran and winked before looking back at Cian. “But me and mine are really fucking involved now. I want to take down these assholes as much as the next bastard.”

Cian and Odhran grunted in acknowledgment.

“So far there’s been no movement, not even civilians coming to and from the property.”

Cian stared down at the tablet. “Underground.”

“Yeah, which is what we figured at the beginning. These pricks aren’t stupid, not for as long as they’ve been in operation.”

“We go now,” Cian said, and I cocked an eyebrow.

“The fuck you say?” I asked slowly, making sure I heard the wolf’s order correctly.

Cian took a step back and crossed his arms over his chest. “We have a good lead that that’s where the Assembly is, or at least where one of the headquarters is. There’s no point in waiting tae infiltrate it.”

I chuckled and took the identical stance he sported. “There is a point in waiting. Let’s not mention this is my fucking territory, and what I say goes.” I paused for effect, to really let that sink in. “The main reason we aren’t going to just attack is because I’m not going to go in guns a’blazing and put my soldiers in danger. I get it; you and your boy want to go half-assed and balls to the wall because you have some vendetta, and he wants his mate back, thinking those douchebags have her. But fuck no, man. We do this the right way, the smart way. We do this my way.” Cian growled but didn’t say anything else. “Give me a couple of days, and I’ll gather more soldiers, tactical gear, the whole nine yards, yeah? Then after that, we go in there with an army.”

Cian shook his head, but I took a step toward him, feeling my impatience grow. I wanted to leave, to go to Kayla, to solidify everything that was between us. But this wolf asshole was trying to take the lead on all this. That, I wouldn’t have.