Page 6 of Ravish
Her father would not listen to reason and, behind closed doors, began to experiment despite her begging him not to.
Shea remembered the day when she was out collecting herbs to help fight a bad cough from their garden when she suddenly felt a presence behind her and turned to see a wolf with dark brown eyes and an almost dark black coat watching her intently. He was still smaller than the Lycan warriors, and as he slowly walked toward her, she realized it was her father in his wolf form, whole, his leg not shorter than his other one. He was not hopping about as he used to.
She shouted in excitement, scaring the birds from the trees.
“Father, you did it! OMG, look at you. You look so magnificent.” She bent down and wrapped her arms around her father’s neck, happiness overshadowing everything to see him this way, and she could feel a lick to her face and then the sound of a huff to release him.
The joy she felt for his accomplishments lasted only a week, and then her father, who was once an amiable man, began to become short-tempered with her, his temper peaking at the littlest of details, and then it would change to his fixation on things. He felt people were watching and laughing at him.
Every day was something new. He suddenly became obsessed with his appearance, the way the house looked, and how she looked going out. She became seriously alarmed when there were animal kills on or around their property. She tried talking to him, and he wouldn’t listen. Then the day came when she had to do something she never thought she would have to do: lock her father up and keep him bound inside the house. While she kept him locked up, she tried to look for anything she could find to help him and reverse what was happening. Shea was scared that she was about to lose another parent, but then a miracle happened, and her father began to act like his old self, and she thought that he’d finally stopped using the serum and released him from his prison, despite the warning bells going off in her head.
Tears and guilt ate at her because her foreboding came to a head when the king’s wife came to visit unannounced one day to collect some herbs she needed for the king’s ailments with his joints. Her father was in his study working on more of his experiments, but just as Queen Olaria, King Ramsey’s mate, was leaving, her father came out of his study. He moved fast, grabbing Olaria and pulling her tight against him.
His canine teeth had dropped, and that’s when Shea knew real fear; his eyes were yellow and crazed. The serum had triggered the fated mate response in her father, and he now thought the queen was his predestined mate, but it was the drug at work in his system.
She’d later discovered that her father had given himself another injection even though it had been working. She read through his notes and listened to his recordings of his findings to see what went wrong, and on the last taping, he admitted to beginning to need it like a fix; the drug had become an addiction to him that he couldn’t stop.
Both Olaria and Shea had fought to get him to release her, but her father was too strong and fast. He took off with her into the forest. She ran screaming for help, and the village people and the king ran to track down her father. They all gathered at the edge of one of the cliffs, where her dad had Queen Olaria pressed tight against him, his teeth close to her neck, his eyes insane as they jerked from one person to the next that was trying to reason with him. The king lunged, and in that moment, her father tore Olaria’s throat apart. She screamed from the amount of blood and couldn’t stop. Shea’s father had turned toward her at the sound, his eyes going normal for a second with confusion and then dawning fear and horror as he took in what he’d done. He mouthed "sorry" before he threw himself over the edge with the queen.
And just like that, she not only lost both parents but also the community that used to welcome her. She knew that she should not be using this drug. The King and Roland had searched for and destroyed his experiments, but she discovered a small vial of the stuff in a hidden compartment in her father’s desk. Just a little of the stuff had helped her during her first heat cycle, ending it before it had even started. And now she’d been able to get four tiny vials for her friends and herself to take today.
She wiped her tears and then finished her tea and got dressed; it was time to start her day with picking, drying, and crushing up the herbs she would need just in case someone in the village had an ailment or cold while the doctor was away.
She was out in the garden working when everything around her went quiet, and like a deer caught by a predator, she froze. Her heart racing, she turned to see Roland standing a couple of feet away, watching her. The man who continued to chase her in her dreams and in her thoughts.
They stood like that, eyeing each other in the stillness, and Shea had to curb her instinct not to run because even if she was not in full heat yet, running would just make him chase her, and then there would be a lot of questions later on. She tilted her chin stubbornly, determined not to be the one to break the silence between them, and caught the quick, amused quirk of his lips before he moved and was now in front of her.
She had to immediately picture all the herbs on her list to keep her heart rate steady and the hairs on her arms from rising. Lycans had the ability to shift and had excellent hearing, sight, and smell. They were also stronger than the average human. She could see Roland’s ears twitch slightly and his head tilt. She also listened, and his heart was steady and strong. She almost didn’t hear him because she was now lost in the rhythm of his heart beating.
“You need to come with me, Shea.”
She stiffened for two reasons: the command in his voice and her name passing his lips. His deep timbre when he said it made it seem like a caress, which she knew was not true. Her eyes shot to his and saw that his pupils had begun to dilate slightly, and she searched his face to see what was causing it. She got lost in tracing his handsome but strong features, his square jaw with the shadow of his beard, his tan skin from being outside in the sun, and his dark hair bringing out the silver-blue of his eyes. His lips were nicely shaped, with the bottom being plumper than the top. She had the sudden urge to nibble on them.
She heard a warning rumble, and her gaze shot back to his. He was watching her closely, his nostrils flared slightly, and then suddenly his lips firmed.
Focus Shea, if you stand here much longer, he will begin to sense that you started your heat.She needed to get home and get rid of him. The serum was ready and in their vials to give to the other ladies to drink. She was going to take hers first and then pass one to Fantasy, Emiyah, and Adanya.
“Sorry, what was that you just said?” Admitting to him out loud that she’d been distracted and not heard what he’d just said.
His lips tightened further to the point that the plump flesh disappeared. “I need you to come and stay with Father and me until it is safe.”
She scowled and raised her chin again. “No, I am fine here and have not spotted anyone in the woods near my home or any signs of the mystery pack. Besides, if there is a safety issue, I can always stay with my friends.”
He snorted, and she frowned, then stiffened. Hurt ran through her that he didn’t feel she had any friends. “What? I do have friends in this place. Now, if you will excuse me—”
He reached out his hand suddenly onto her arm, and they both took in an indrawn breath; the shock that went through her almost sent her up on her toes. He let out a surprised grunt before he quickly released her like she was on fire. He stared at her in disbelief, his pupils shrinking and expanding, making a surprisingly loud rumbling sound in his chest. He shook his head and took a deep breath, his gaze never leaving hers.
She froze, willing her body not to react.What was that?
This has never happened to her before, but also today was the first day in a long time that he’d touched her.Could it be...?
No, it must be the static in the air because the mating cycle was soon upon them, and they were both becoming affected by it early because there was no way…
She’d been surprised when she suddenly had the urge to pull up her dress and lean over in the submissive position, and the heat hadn’t fully hit her yet. It could not be; she squashed her thoughts immediately. That way led to embarrassment and pain.
Shea took a slow step back, the air now charged between them, and he watched her, his look intense. Roland’s body was positioned now, poised to chase her if she ran, and she was fighting the urge to take off. She was in a very dangerous situation and needed to put distance between them before something happened that he would regret and hate her even more for later.
“Um, thanks for showing your concern, but I need to go. I am—”
