Page 123 of Red's Beast

As they step closer, I let out a low warning growl.Stay back. You will not harm them.

“Good, Lucian. Then do as I ask and no one will get hurt.”

Lillian

I jump as I wake. The first image in my mind is Emmeline’s face as she looked at me, along with the words she uttered. I’m not sure what she did to throw me like that, but it’s almost as if she threw my very soul back into my body.

Was I really there?

As I close my eyes, I know the answer to my own question. That experience was very much real, and I finally found him.

I found Lucian.

Corbin saunters out of the spare room with a book in his hand as he casually flips through the pages. His loose gray lounge pants are slung low on his waist and he hasn’t even bothered with a shirt. All his muscles are out on display, causing the breath in my lungs to leave rather forcefully.

He notices and looks up from the book.

His eyes glow as his wolf edges closer to the surface. Mine is doing the same, though I want to resist. The pull is becoming too strong.

She needs a mate to help rule the pack and I know if I don’t get to the realm where Lucian is soon, I’m going to lose the battle. How much longer can I hold out?

Weeks? Months?

No, at this rate, I might have days if I’m lucky. I have a feeling it will be more like hours.

My teeth elongate as our gazes meet again. I see his are already out. Suddenly, he slams the book in his hand shut.

With a smirk on his face, he strides across the room and lays the book down on the dining room table before coming to stand at the back of the couch.

“Do you like what you see, little alpha?” He asks as he leans onto the couch. “I’m starting to think you don’t want to find your lover boy, after all.”

“I-” words fail me. I don’t know what to say to him.

Typically, I’d say he annoys me, more so than anyone else ever has, but the way his voice sounds in this moment is scratching an itch I didn’t know I had.

“Does a cat have your tongue or are you debating something else?” He asks with a laugh. “You might as well give into your urges and claim me already. It won’t be as painful.”

"I won't give up on Lucian.”

His brow furrows as he studies me. "Oh, so now you know his name. Well, how are you going to help him? Do you know what realm he is in?”

“It’s tied to the curse. That is all I know. When I saw him, he was standing in front of a house that looked just like this.”

Grandmother comes out of her room and glances in our direction. I barely see her over the back, but she is frowning. “For the love of wolves, put on a shirt. I don’t want to see your abs, though they are nice. It’s too early for all of this.”

Corbin leans away , flexing his stomach muscles, but his eyes never leave mine as he runs his hands across them. “Maybemy wolf wants Lillian to enjoy the view. She seems to be quite pleased with what she sees.”

I reach up, covering my eyes. “Just go put a shirt on. You know how I feel about you.”

“Yes, I do. I’m a delight and you love being in my presence. That is why you haven’t told the pack that I’m alive and here.”

I sit up on the couch and turn so my back is facing him. “More like delightfully annoying. Now go put a shirt on.”

“One day, little alpha, you’re going to beg for me and I’ll be waiting,” he says seductively.

Grandmother hits the cabinet with something, causing a loud bang to fill the air. “That is enough, Corbin. Fulfill your end of the bargain and then she will do her duty. Until then, stop flirting and trying to get her to claim you sooner.”

I look over my shoulder, only to see Corbin turn. My eyes rake over his back, noticing how sculpted this side of him is, too.Then I notice a wolf tattoo on his left shoulder blade. I'm not sure when he had it done, but it looks healed. It's bigger than my hand and covers about ten inches of flesh. Something about it makes me feel weird.

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