Page 13 of His Fierce Lycan Luna

My throat is now on fire, and I press my face under the stream, banging my head on the shower head because I am taller than it in this form. Liam rushes back in with a bottle of tequila. Not my go-to, but it will do. He breaks the cap, thrusting the bottle at me, and I grab it, retching again as my surroundings spin. Suddenly, I’m seeing double. My legs give out under me when I am forced to shift back, my ass hitting the hard tiled floor in the process.

“Shit, take her,” Dustin says, passing Azalea off to Liam. Liam grabs her, wrapping a towel around her before disappearing out the door as Dustin crouches over my gasping figure. My lungs feel like they have been engulfed in flames, my blood boiling in my veins. He pries my mouth open just as Liam comes in. Dustin pries my eyelids open, his hair and clothes both drenched as he looks down at me. He looks over his shoulder at Liam.

“Azalea?” I mumble.

“Damian just got here. He is with her. He sent for a Doctor.”

I nod or try to. Dustin grips my jaw, yet my arms feel numb as I try to lift the bottle to my lips. Liam snatches the bottle from my hand.

“Come on, big fella, down the hatch it goes,” he says, tipping the tequila down my throat. I gasp, breathing it in, and choke and sputter as it goes down the wrong pipe.

“Now, now, none of that. Dustin can give you some pointers on how to swallow if needed,” Liam mocks, earning a menacing growl from Dustin. Liam pours more in my mouth this time, not waterboarding me with it. I gulp it down, feeling it warm my stomach and entire body. Ghastly stuff, yet I can feel it diluting the poison I had ingested. I feel it working through my system, not that it makes me feel any better.

My head lolls forward as the poison burns out, leaving me shitfaced and on the verge of passing out drunk. Liam slaps my face with his hand, tilting my head back. My eyes try to close, and he smirks, chugging the rest of the bottle before passing the now empty bottle to Dustin.

“Never thought I would see the day when I had to carry you over the threshold bridal style,” he chuckles, grabbing me and tossing me over his shoulder, jostling me in such a way that the tequila threatens to come back up. “Hmm, caveman style, what can I say? I am a barbarian,” Liam chuckles.

“Pretty fucking ugly bride, though,” he laughs, slapping my ass. If I could, I would hit him for that. Damn, this man is a handful sometimes. It’s like he doesn’t have an off switch. I know he swings both ways, but he really toes the line, that’s for sure. He walks out of the room, dropping me on the bed. Meanwhile, Damian comes into view on top of me, chucking a towel over my waist and prying my eyelids open.

“Council,” I mutter.

“Gone, those that showed from the pack are dead. Cassandra is in dungeons,” Damian says. I sigh.

“Rest. I have everything handled.”

“She knows now,” I try to tell him, and his eyes dart past me. I try to turn my head to see her, but it feels ridiculously heavy.

“She does, but you have the bond. She loves you, Kyson,” Damian says. Yet, that isn’t my worry. Once she figures out her Alpha voice, she outranks me. Yet even that doesn’t worry me. I could still control her with the calling, the one thing she could never resist. What worries me is her realizing I kept it from her. I’m not even sure why I did that. Probably because I figured she had the power to leave me if she really wanted to.

Empress of Alphas could not be tied by a bond; she could walk away, and I would be destroyed and powerless to stop her. I couldn’t lose her. Yet now it would be out, everyone would know, and they would come for her. It was only a matter of time. Her blood was more precious than gold, and if she shares the same gifts as her mother, I know she had one trait of her father’s. But if she obtained both, they would come for her. Come for her and our baby. Her blood was the key to putting the werewolf and Lycan species into extinction, or it could be their salvage. If the hunters get wind of her, they will never stop, and without a doubt, I will spend the rest of my life fighting to keep her safe.

Chapter

Ten

ABBIE

Gannon tells me Azalea has been hurt because of me. Well, he doesn’t say directly that it’s my fault, but that’s how it feels. She wouldn’t be in this situation if not for me. The weight of guilt settles heavily on my shoulders as I realize she might have been spared if I had just listened to everybody and never followed Kade. It frustrates me that even in death, Kade’s influence lingers, casting shadows over my present, and preventing me from moving on. Gannon’s phone rings suddenly, and my gaze darts to where it rests.

Damian’s face illuminates the screen, prompting Gannon to pull the car over to take his call. A sense of nervousness grows within me; Damian rarely calls instead of using the mindlink unless it’s urgent.

I recall how Gannon reacted when informed about the council through the mindlink, nearly causing an accident. Perhaps that explains why Damian is opting for a conventional call this time. Gannon steps out of the car and perches on the hood while speaking on the phone. He steals a glance back at me through the window with a hint of nervousness before turningaway. His voice escalates in tone as he paces away from me, his words muffled by distance.

We are pulled over on a rough stretch of highway, the relentless stream of passing cars causing our vehicle to shudder. Gannon, his frustration palpable, runs a hand through his disheveled hair before turning his gaze back to the car. Sensing the drop in temperature and the gusts of wind outside, I reach over the back seat to retrieve his jacket, my fingers brushing against the cool leather. With a swift motion, I pull it on and step out of the car, yearning to stretch my legs after hours of confinement. The prolonged sitting has left my senses dulled, my rear numb from the seat.

Raising my arms above my head to stretch, I pace around the front of the car while Gannon distances himself, engaging in a heated conversation with Damian. Leaning against the sleek hood, I observe him closely, catching only fragments of his heated argument.

“You should have eliminated her. By doing so, you could undo all that I have painstakingly accomplished,” Gannon snaps into his phone, his voice laced with frustration. He abruptly ends the call and growls under his breath before locking eyes with me.

I rummage in his jacket pocket, finding some red sugar clouds. He always had candy on him. Yet, I never see him eat it. I shrug.More for myself.I giggle, opening the little bag and pulling one out while he lights up a smoke.

“Everything alright?” I ask him, and he nods.

“It will be,” he says, wandering over to me.

“You found my stash?” he laughs, pointing to the red sugary clouds in my hand. I smile, popping another in my mouth.

“You always have them, yet you never eat them?” I chuckle—the tips of my fingers tinged red from digging them out of the bag. Sugar coats my lips, and I quickly lick them, savoring the sweet taste.

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