Page 15 of The Wolf's Appetite
I entered, the heavy door slamming shut behind me and locking automatically.
Inside, my father, the King of the Scottish Lycans, stood front and center along with numerous maleLycans, alert and ready to stop whatever threat had come knocking.
This was just the beginning of something big, dangerous, and what would threaten everything.
9
LENNOX
Istayed back, quiet, and listened. But even as my father outlined what little we knew, even as strategies were discussed, I felt it pulsing beneath my skin.
“They’ve already reinforced the north and east perimeters,” Cian said, voice low, clipped. “But we’ve got a problem.” He pointed to a section of the map—a stretch of dense forest that bordered the estate’s land and ran dangerously close to human villages. “The tracks stop here. Like they vanished into the ground.”
“Or into a tunnel,” Caelan muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “Gods, don’t tell me they’re burrowing into our lands.”
“It fits with Therabus and Katara tactics, the slimyfookers,” Cian said grimly. “The bastards donna fight like warriors. They sneak. They trap. They prey.”
My father leaned over the map, his fists braced on the table. The flickering firelight caught the silver in his hair, casting his face in stark shadow. “The last time they came close tae our home, we lost good males. I won’t let that happen again.”
I felt the weight of his words like a stone in my chest. Ishouldhave said something—offered a plan, a strategy—but my mind was a storm. And I kept hearing that small voice in my head whispering one word over and over.
Aisling.
What if they got through our perimeters? What if they reached the estate? What if she?—
No. I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t.
And gods help me, I didn’t know if I was more afraid of the coming battle… or of what she was starting to mean to me.
Because I was coming to the hard truth that, fated mate or not, I wanted Aisling asmine.
“We need tae sweep that area,” I finally spoke up, voice low, the growl in it rising. “Every inch. If there’s a tunnel, we collapse it. If there’s a den, we burn it out.”
My father’s gaze met mine, searching, weighing… maybe even judging my ability to fight. But then I saw the nod of approval there, the silent acknowledgment that whatever I thought were my failings, I was still his son. Still a prince of this clan. A warrior.
“Good,” he said. “Lennox, ye lead the sweep. Take Tavish and Cian. I want no less than thirty of the Guard with ye. Fully stocked and loaded. If those motherfookers are hiding, we take them out. Donna give them a chance tae retreat.” Banner ran a hand over his face and exhaled. “I want Magdalena tae be summoned. Have her reinforce the wards around the land.”
Magdalena was anOtherworldfemale my father trusted impeccably. She was half Lycan, half witch, who appeared elderly although no one knew how old she actually was. Not only did she use magic for the good of the clan, she was also a healer and had been called an oracle for her sight into the future for some.
She’d created protective wards around the estate and also gave my brother Caelan a gold medallion talisman. I knew she’d been called to help heal me when I’d been brought back to the estate. Although my memory was foggy of most everything that night, I’d felt her magic move through me.
“And if it’s no’ the Therabus?” Tavish asked because we were all thinking it, though his tone suggested he already believed it was our enemy. “What if it’s something worse, something we’ve never dealt with before?”
“Then we end it just the same,” Banner said, his voice hard and steely like iron.
“We move now,” I said, taking the lead, feeling myself grow stronger just from this moment.
For a heartbeat, the room was silent. Then Caelan smirked, that feral grin I knew so well. “Bossy fooker, aye?”
There were a few chuckles, but otherwise, the room was filled with aggressive Lycan males ready to kill to protect what was theirs.
My father’s eyes gleamed with something fierce and dangerous.Pride. For too long, he’s been watching me mope in the gloomy darkness I’d let consume me.
Not anymore. Not when I had a female worth more to me than anything at risk.
The estate camealive with motion—warriors roused from sleep, armor donned, and weapons gathered. The scent of steel and leather filled my nose as we stepped out into the chilly night air. I closed my eyes for a second and let the deep, steady thrum of determination vibrate through me.
But even as I’d prepared—strapping on my weapons, and checking my blades—I couldn’t shake the memory of the last time I went into battle and how I came out of it worse for wear.
