Chapter 31
Noelle
I close my eyes, expecting to be torn apart by the lycan behind me. My body is exhausted from the fighting and my first–time shape–shifting. There is no strength left within me, so there’s no chance for me to overpower whoever didn’t accept me as their new Alpha.
Yet, despite my weakness, the blow never comes. Instead, I hear a gurgle, like someone choking, and when I lift my chin, I see a massive hand wrapped around the lycan.
As my eyes travel up the arm, I am not prepared for what I see when I reach the owner’s face. Lucian is lying on his side before me in his fairy form, with his long white hair, red eyes, and greyish skin that’s covered in spiderweb–like blood vessels. But those features do not scare me, not anymore–it is his towering size that makes my heart skip a beat.
In my strange nightmare, he had been huge, and right now, he is doing that dream justice. He is lying in the grass with his fingers curled around the lycan who tried to attack me, and I hold my breath. The size of his teeth when he laughs, the breadth of his shoulders, the thickness of his biceps….he is a freaking giant. How he could shape–shift into this size in a matter of seconds is mind–blowing.
I mean, I didn’t even pay attention to the sound of snapping trees. But it must have happened, though, since plenty of them are crushed to pieces underneath my mate.
“Ah, what do we have here? A traitor?” Lucian asks the lycan darkly, his sharp teeth forming a smirk. The poor thing doesn’t even dare to whimper when Lucian pokes its belly with a massive finger. “You know, I’m almost glad you tried to kill my mate because now I get a free meal.”
Panic blows up in my chest, and even though I doubt Lucian will listen to me in his current state, I shout at him. “Stop! You can’t eat them!”
My new pack members turn their heads to stare at me like I’m crazy for ordering the massive fairy around, but to my relief, Lucian closes his mouth. A second ago, he was dangling the poor lycan above it, but right now, he is glowering down at me with irritated red eyes.
“Can’t I, now?” He asks in a deep voice that makes me realize I’m actually challenging a monster.
There isn’t a single sign of the gentle mate I’m used to, but even though Lucian could easily kill me with a flick of his wrist in his current form, I refuse to back down. “No, you can’t.”
He arches an eyebrow. “And who’s going to stop me?”
“I am, I manage to say through clenched teeth, trying to ignore the magic oozing from his very pores.
It shouldn’t be possible, but his fairy form has grown stronger since the last time I saw it, yet I’m confident Lucian will listen to me and not eat the lycan if I show him no fear. But, just to be safe, I should get my new pack members away from here.
I turn around to face one of the males. “Take Cecilia away from here and bury her wherever you bury your enemies, and then tell the other lycans who aren’t here that you have a new Alpha. Spread the word.”
He nods, a look of fear and confusion in his eyes as I send him away with the body of their former Alpha. The others follow him, and once I’m alone with Lucian, I crane my neck to meet his glowing, red eyes.
“As for you-…” I place my hands on my sides. “If you don’t put down that lycan right now, you will have to deal with me.”
He chuckles at that, apparently amused by my audacity, yet the lycan in his hand has stopped squirming. I take it as a victory since it means she is no longer struggling to breathe.
“If I don’t let her go, I will have to deal with you, huh? And what exactly are you planning to do? Beat my ass?” his voice drips with mockery.
“Make you regret your decision,” I snap, but Lucian doesn’t take me seriously.
Laugher erupts from his mouth. “You both look and sound like an angry little squirrel–I’m not exactly frightened of whatever you have planned for me.”
His laughter makes my heart pump faster, but I can’t let it get to me. I also can’t be afraid of my own mate and speak up, “I’m serious, Lucian! You have to listen to me!”
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Chapter 31
His piercing red eyes narrow into slits at my tone. It’s obvious that he hates being told what he can’t and can do, and I shiver when he studies me with a hawk–like intensity.
Eventually, he sighs. “All right, then, squirrel–girl,” he says with his eyes never leave mine. “Show me.”
Drawing on every ounce of courage I have in my being, I walk up until I am standing right in front of his chest. His face towers over me, yet I dare to lift my eyes and raise my voice.
“Put. Her. Down.”
Lucian stares down at me, then, after a long pause, he sighs heavily. “She is just going to attack you again. You know that, right?” His eyes move to the lycan. “This one is a traitor and doesn’t have a single loyal bone in her body.”
“That doesn’t matter!”
“What? Why not?!” he demands.
“Because I believe in second chances,” I reply, not breaking our eye contact for even a second.
Lucian seems taken aback by my bravery, his crimson eyes momentarily flickering with surprise. But then he shrugs nonchalantly and releases the lycan. She lands with a thud on the ground and immediately shape–shifts back into a human. It’s then I realize how young she is.
She can’t be older than me, yet she dares to look at me with eyes that speak of a hatred a girl her age shouldn’t know.
Still, I don’t waver and straighten my back. “Tell me who you are and why you attacked me. If your answer is good enough, I will give you a second chance at accepting me as your Alpha.”
The girl stumbles to her feet. While she has a baby face, her height is incredibly high. She must be around 6’3 feet tall, and her muscles have some serious tone. This girl is a fighter, and it doesn’t go unnoticed that she has purple eyes, just like Cecilia Thorn.
“Are purple eyes normal for lycans?” I ask.
“No,” the girl replies, and I notice tears running down her face as she speaks to me.” I inherited them from my mother. I’m the daughter of Cecilia Thorn.”
Her confession kicks the air out of my lungs. Even Lucian releases a breath of surprise but remains silent as if wanting me to decide the young girl’s fate.
“Vivian,” I begin, my voice steady even though my mind’s a mess since I just murdered this girl’s mother. “Did you attack me because of what I did to your mother?”
Vivian’s eyes are a storm of emotions, flickering from terror to anger before she speaks to me. “Yes,” she hisses. “You killed my mom. How can I just accept you as my Alpha and move on?”
Guilt pierces my heart. I don’t know what to say because how could I possibly fix this fucked up situation? Vivian is glaring at me, and she is angry–for a good reason!
Gosh, I can’t imagine being in her shoes. If someone hurt Lucian, then I’d be just as rage–filled, just as inconsolable. To take over as Alpha, I had to defeat Cecilia, but I didn’t expect her to have a child!
‘Cute that you care that much about me,‘ Lucian tells me through telepathy before glancing down at Vivian.
“I understand that you’re angry, but the werewolf world is cruel and unforgiving,” Lucian says. “Your mother knew the risks when she attacked my mate, and now, she is dead because of it, and that isn’t Noelle’s fault. If you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. Your mother would be alive if she hadn’t come here today.”
Vivian flinches at Lucian’s words. He sure doesn’t go easy, even on the young ones, and then, before anyone can say anything else, Vivian runs off with a sharp cry, disappearing into the surrounding forest.
“I still think you two are monsters!” she shouts, causing my heart to sink further into the pit of regret and guilt.
I look up at Lucian. “Being an Alpha is harder than I thought.”
He snorts at that and shrinks to a more “manageable” size. His height is still incredibly high, though, and I have a suspicion he likes to keep himself taller than normal people because it makes him feel powerful.
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“Being an Alpha is easy, but being a good Alpha is the hardest job in the world,” he mutters, pausing when he catches me checking out his plump ass.
My eyes immediately fly up to meet his, and he cocks his head to the side with mild amusement in his eyes. “Enjoying the view, squirrel–girl?”
Flushing, I avert my eyes from his. “I won’t lie. You being naked is very distracting…”
Lucian doesn’t laugh or even smile. Instead he turns around to stare at the trees he crushed when he was bigger. “You’re entering heat and shouldn’t be around me…”
“Why not?”
“Because I could seriously hurt you.”
I snort at that. “I’m not as delicate as you think. I mean, have you seen my strength lately? I’m like Superman but in female form. Better–looking, too,”
I expect my mate to recognize my power and realize I’m not made of glass and that he can play rough with me, but he doesn’t. Lucian just turns around and looks at me with an incredibly bored expression. “Your power boost doesn’t matter when it
comes to me,”
My eyebrows lift at his comment, and a smirk tugs at my lips. “Is that so?”
With a nod, he crosses his arms over his chest. “It is.”
“Are you challenging me?” I ask in a teasing tone and lift my arms up to imitate a boxer. “Because I bet I could take you. Just come at me, bro!”
Lucian snorts at that, disbelief flashing in his red eyes. “I think you’re mistaken if you believe you can take me on.”
“I’m not just all talk, Lucian. I can back it up, too!”
His eyes narrow slightly at my words. “You sure about that?”
“Absolutely.”
He regards me for a moment longer before shaking his head, an amused smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “This is going to be interesting.”
Without a word, he lunges at me suddenly. He is so fast that even my heightened senses can’t register him before I’m pushed up against a tree. I wince a little at the pain but try not to let it show when I find Lucian staring down into my eyes with a smirk on his lips.
“It doesn’t matter how strong you become, Noelle. There’s always going to be someone stronger, someone more aggressive.”
Lucian pushes me further up the tree until my legs are dangling in the air. He is still taller than me, though, and leers down into my face with his hard erection pressing into my stomach. It’s then I realize he likes dominating me as much as I want him to play rough with me.
With my heart pounding loudly in my ears, I wet my lips before looking deeply into his eyes. “I want you.”
His eyes smolder, his smirk turning darker as he lifts me higher so his cock is teasing my swollen sex. “I’m not sure you’re ready for that.”
My cheeks flush, but I don’t back down. “Try me.”
He considers me for a moment before his hand slides up my thigh. “Alright,” he murmurs. “Let’s see if you can handle me.”
With that, he swoops down to plunder my mouth with his, his tongue insisting on its dominance over mine just as he does in every other aspect of our relationship. The taste of him is so intoxicating that I almost forget about the world around us, lost in the sensation of his hard body pressing me against the tree.
His hands roam my body with an ownership that sends shivers of anticipation through me. He pulls away from our kiss only to trail hot kisses down my neck and collarbone, taking time to nip and suck at the sensitive skin there.
I moan, and Lucian chuckles before leaning in to whisper into my ear, “I don’t want to break you, but you’re irresistible, and I’m tired of holding back.”
