Page 44 of The Wolf's Appetite
It wasn’t like watching a shift. I’d seen those countless times in my life. No, this was like a man and his beast being reunited after millennia apart.
His glowing wolf's eyes locked on me, and for a moment, everything else faded. His Lycan was big and strong, covered in dark brown fur with streaks of black. I felt the fierceness pouring from him. The light blueness of his eyes was a startling contrast to his darker fur. I had never seen a more beautiful wolf then when I stared at my mate.
The way he looked, under the anguish and pain and pure rage, there was something deeper, older, and had always been there…waiting to be unleashed. The tether between us burned so hot it felt like it could tear the world apart. I didn’t feel pain or exhaustion or terror. I just heard one word repeated in my head.
Mine.
And it came from my mate. I heard it as clearly as if he’d whispered it in my ear.
Everything happened in a blur as the males attacked, using their brute strength and rage that their mates were put in danger to consume the Leandrean. But the creature fought unlike anything I had ever seen.
The Leandrean’s mouth curled, but for the first time, Ifeltits hesitation. Witches swarmed in next, chanting, their white, pure magic filling the room. Someone was pushing me out of the room, and I realized it was Lennox using his big, boxy wolf's head to get me out of there.
I stumbled. The pain in my side became harder to ignore, the acid-like feeling that was in my veins stole my breath.
I was out of the room and looking at my mate, the sensations and emotions I felt coming from him were paramount. The rage in his eyes was for the Leandrean, but there was also a promise—a vow. And it was only for me.
No matter what happened, no matter how this ended, he would protect me.
27
LENNOX
I’d smelled Aisling’s blood before I saw her. That copper-salt tang cut through the chaos like a blade and made everything in me roar with rage and…fear.
I tasted her fear and pain, had that metallic scent coat my lungs and every nerve in my body until my vision turned red.
I could still remember the sight of her facing off with that fucker. She’d been in her wolf form, her beautiful blonde fur like spun gold. Her blue eyes were primal as she snarled as she protected the other females. She’d been bleeding, her wounds deep and coated in a black substance that had the stench of dark magic.
And seeing her barely hanging on shredded the thin threads of control I’d been holding on to for myentire life. I’d thought my wolf was gone forever even though I’d found my mate.
But thinking that I might lose her? Seeingmy matewounded by that monster? It woke my inner animal. He’d come back in a rush that was violent and filled me with amazement all at once, slamming into me like an anvil crashing into my skull.
It had been so long since I’d felt my beast come alive. I thrived on the sensation of my fur bristling across my arms and spine, of my bones breaking and reeling, of my claws sliding free, and my teeth lengthening until my jaw ached.
I was going to fucking kill this bastard and feast on its heart.
After all the females had been removed from the room and taken to safety and after I made sure Aisling was out of harm’s way, I faced off with the fucker. All the otherOtherworldmales circled the Leandrean. The asshole stood in the middle of the wrecked drawing room, blackness dripping from its claws and serrated teeth. I smelled my mate’s blood on the creature, and it enraged me all over again.
The air around the Leandrean rippled with a type of magic I’d never felt before. It shouldn’t have been able to get close to the estate let aloneinside. Wards layered by the witches were supposed to hold againstanything. But this wasn’t a breach. This was ajump.
The Leandrean had jumped through space and time, reappearing miles away from where it had been–with us–in seconds. This wasn’t a Leandrean ability. And whatever this creature conjured, it was old, corrupted magic that had done something it shouldn’t have been able to accomplish.
The Leandrean swayed back and forth, grinning from ear-to-ear as it faced off with all of us motherfuckers.
“This one is mine,” I said in my head, knowing the other Lycans could hear me, knowing that I shouldn’t have been selfish with wanting this bastard for myself. All our mates and children had been compromised. It was a fucking miracle no one had died.But Aisling had been hurt.
I didn’t know what this creature’s goal had been–getting to our females, testing to see if it could break through the magic and wards… or something more sinister. We may never know.
I should have been smarter and not reacted emotionally. But I was too far gone. I lunged. The Leandrean swung for me, claws slicing the air, but I was faster—my wolf back in my muscles, in my marrow, guiding every savage movement.
I slammed into him hard enough to hear ribs crack, my teeth sinking deep into the juncture of his neck andshoulder. The taste was foul—acid and rot—but I bit harder until cartilage gave way and I tore a massive chunk of him out.
He shrieked, grabbing at my scruff, and we went down together in a crash. I heard shouts and roars, growls and warnings from my brethren, but I was too in the moment to focus on anything else. The smell of metal being drawn and the sounds of guns being cocked told me the fighting was still happening even though I’d taken charge.
His claws raked across my ribs, but I barely felt the pain over the roar in my head.
A vampire snarled and dug its claws into the Leandrean’s eye sockets. Adryan. I looked into my crazy uncle’s eyes, saw him grin, and then he was laughing hysterically as black blood sprayed across me from where the asshole’s eyes used to be.
