Page 12 of Lycan

His sounds of feeding tapered off. Dry shrubbery crunched and his stature blocked the moonlight. I slowly looked over my shoulder. If not for his glowing eyes and the matching tufts of fur, he would have blended with the darkness.

“You have not fed.” His words were muffled, then something thumped next to my leg. An intact leg ripped out from thehip. The meaty flesh glinted orange from his glow. My stomach lurched and I clamped my hand over my mouth.

I gawked up at him, horrified. He seemed so serious. I struggled to swallow and cleared my throat.

“Oh, how nice . . .” I swallowed down the nausea. “But no thanks.”

His head tilted.

“Feed,” he repeated, a low, frightening rumble in his order.

“No,” I said with more force. He bared his teeth and dropped to all fours, his large muzzle nearing my face. I huddled into myself. As much as he would order, I refused to eat the raw flesh. I pressed my lips into a thin line.

A disgruntled noise rumbled in his throat.

“Suit yourself.” He easily broke the limb apart. I looked away before I got the gory sight of him devouring it.

As soon as the crunching ceased, I peeked up at him licking his chops.

“You have, um, lion blood all over you.” A ridiculous sentence I never thought I’d say.

He grunted, gaze fastened on me with intimidating focus. To the point that I averted my eyes.

“And you do not like this?”

“N-not really.” I tripped over my words.

He studied me with his eerie eyes some more. Long enough that I began to get antsy. He suddenly turned toward the water, striding forward and across the shallow end, his stomping sending water splashing at me. I flinched from the freezing liquid splattering across my bared skin. A low hiss accompanied steam with each inch the water touched his body. He waded in until he submerged himself fully.

I climbed to my feet. It was so cold, and this dress was doing nothing to protect me against the elements. Probably wasn’thelping myself by being near the water. I backed up, rubbing my arms.

The spot where the lions attacked him was coated with blood, and he’d literally left nothing else. Hopefully that would hold him over so he didn’t feed on my family. Water rippled as every part of him except his antlers went under.

“Are you ready to go back to the shack?” I called, shuffling from foot to foot. Would he hear me under there? He emerged, and I took some more steps back, wanting to be out of range when he shook his body.

“No.” He approached on all fours, prowling toward me. Steam came off him like crazy.

“Can I go—” He pulled me toward him with a sweep of his arm. My legs dangled as he held me up and walked under the awning of a tree. He adjusted me against him as he settled on his side. I gasped and his arm tightened around my back, pressing my face to the damp fur on his torso. Honestly, I would have expected him to be much wetter than this.

“Why are we staying out here?”

“I want to.” He grunted.

Even damp, his body felt so much like a furnace that I was sure he’d be dry soon.

“What if something attacks while we sleep?”

“Nothing can harm me.” It wasn’t a boast, it was a statement of fact. The surety made the hair lift on my arms. Fenrir was a true predator, and he held me in his claws, claiming that I belonged to him.

I struggled to stay awake, but his furnace-like body lulled me into giving in to exhaustion. I was so tired and he was a nice warm, toasty furnace. I cuddled in closer.

“If nothing can harm you, why were you so hurt when I found you?”

He stiffened, but my silence seemed to calm him. A low growl vibrated against my cheek.

“Humans took me as a youngling.” The disgust coating his tone when he said humans almost hurt my feelings, but if they’d taken him like he said, I couldn’t fault him. “They will regret capturing me.”

The ominous statement sent a chill up my spine.

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