Page 47 of Reign of the Beast

Striding into the kitchen, I growled low in my throat, as the sounds came through loud and clear, sounds that had been going on non-stop every night, filling the house.

Fucking.

Damn, I knew Lucian had some major stamina. He was an Ancient vampandI’d seen it firsthand and up real close because I’d battled him before. But Ry's was surprising me. It seemed he was the instigator too. He couldn’t get enough.

It couldn’t be normal. Not for a magic-wielder. I figured there was something going on with him.

I strained to block it out, something I was having a hell of a hard time doing lately.

I was too fucking riled up and that shit messed with my control over my sensitive wolf senses.

My room was over on the other side of the house near Mia’s and I could still hear them like I was right in the room with them and watching the show.

As if it wasn’t enough that I was going stir-crazy stuckhere, not able to take action, just waiting and hiding from the enemy.

I’d been in wolf form way more than human for most of it.

I’d hardly seen the others either.

Since that day I’d had Ryker comfort Mia, they’d been sparring, practicing, or whatever the hell it was, pretty much non-stop. Lucian had been released and he’d just kept to himself.

I pulled out some leftovers from the well-stocked fridge, thanks to living with two magic-wielders who could conjure anything, and I slumped down on a stool at the kitchen island, picking at the plate full of pork chops. My appetite was even messed up.

I just couldn’t shut my mind off.

I’d heard too much that day.

At first I’d felt a bit of peace when Ry had managed to make Mia feel better. But then I’d overheard some shit I wasn’t happy about.

It had been clear they had no clue just how far I could hear, especially in wolf form.

In any normal situation, I would’ve pissed at the notion of people holding information back from me and discussing it behind my back.

Butthis situation was the farthest thing from the normal I was used to dealing with.

I was used to being the top dog, the one who knew everything, decided everything.

With the three of them, I was the outsider, the one who knew the least, who understood hardly any of it. I wasn’t one of them, a Guardian.

I’d always been wolf-centric. Other species never concerned me. Running Silverwood Wolf Pack, they never had to. We’d kept to ourselves and outsiders knewto leave us to it, to stay the fuck away. Nobody ever came for our territory because of me, my rep as an unstoppable, ruthless son of a bitch when I was protecting the pack.

Then all this Draco shit had changed everything.

I’d lost my pack because of him and I’d lost my place, my goddamn footing too. I didn’t know which way was up now, didn’t know what my purpose was. I wasn’t an Alpha running a pack of wolves anymore, so what the fuck was I?

According to Ryker and Mia, a fucking monster.

I was related to that…thingand they were scared that the evil in him was hereditary. They thought I was going to turn into him. And even worse than that was Mia being scared that if we mated, I’d take her down with me.

Being in this house with her had me on edge non-stop, the need to claim her stronger than ever now we weren’t forced apart anymore. Every time I got up close to her, I could hardly keep my shit together. The wolf was egging me on, pushing me to rip her clothes off and bury my cock deep inside her, then claim her as mine.

But I couldn’t do any of that until we were more connected. I hadn’t had one real talk with her in months. I mean, I’d had to rely on somebody else to comfort her, because we didn’t know each other well enough.

None of it was supposed to be this way.

A wolf finding his true mate was supposed to be the greatest experience of his life. It was all supposed to fall into place, to just be right, to happen easy and naturally.

With her, it was the opposite with so many complications.

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