Page 67 of Cursed Beasts

“Fuck you,” she whispered.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Remembering what she explained to Lucien about that word. I rubbed my nose along her cheek, smelling gravy, fear, and arousal. It was an intoxicating combination that made me feel almost drunk with it.

I turned her head so I could lick up her neck when she shivered against me, making me growl. She gasped from the bite I left on her neck before I pulled away to look into her violet gaze.

She struggled some more before I put enough pressure on her throat to limit her air. Her eyes grew wide when she went completely still.

“I’m going to remove my hand and you’re going to listen,” I sneered, waiting for her to nod her head and she finally did.

Stubborn woman, but I enjoyed it… too much.

Slowly removing my hand, ensuring she was going to stay still. I left my hand on her chest just in case I needed to subdue her quickly.

Looking into her beautiful violet eyes, I waited for her to struggle again, but she stayed completely still.

“You need to—”

Pain exploded in my face when she head butted me. I reared back from the pain until I felt another pain in my thigh. She pushed me away, but not before I grew claws and tried to grab her. I felt my claws make contact, and I hoped she was going to be left with a mark.

The sound of her running away had me wanting to destroy something or chase after her to show her who was in charge, but it seemed I was living a lie. This Belladonna was not weak at all, and I severely underestimated her. The pain in my face and knife in my thigh was enough to leave me lying here until I had to complete the change.

* * *

My head throbbed,my body ached, and I felt more exhausted than I had in a while. I needed to eat something, while I made sure my injuries from yesterday were ok.

As much as I wanted to be mad at the Belladonna, I was impressed. We had never had someone who was skilled with her body. It made me even more curious about her magic and why she hadn’t used it yet.

I didn’t even do what I had set out to do yesterday; she had once again messed with my plans. Getting up from the ground, I walked back home stretching out my neck and back, wishing my wolf would just sleep in a damn bed so my back didn’t hurt so much.

When the view of the house came closer, I smelled chicken and potatoes. My mouth watered, my stomach grumbled, and I walked a little faster.

I heard him a split second before I felt my head snap to the side. Another punch hit me square in the face before my wolf had enough. A rush of adrenaline hit me, making me start swinging. It was sloppy, but I felt my fist come into contact with his face.

“Stop!” Aeon came in between us quickly, looking at us like we were both baffling.

“Stay the fuck away from her,” Lucien snarled, his body was shaking with the need to shift.

I knew I needed to be careful about how we dealt with this. Lucien was a strong alpha and if he or if his family truly wanted him to lead, they could have trained him to hone that power to take the pack from me, but they didn’t.

He was happy staying by my side to protect me and offer me counsel when I needed it. His mother always called him a gentle giant because he hated to deal with anything physically, he was a man who could set things right with just his smarts and words.

“Lu, listen—”

“No,” his alpha power pushed against my own, making me want to submit.

“Lu, listen to me for one minute.” I pushed my own power against him, but he didn’t even flinch.

“Listen?!” he roared. “I saw her last night. She was bloody and bruised from you.”

“Lucien, please just listen.” Aeon stepped closer to Lucien, and I saw Lucien soften slightly, wondering if this was my chance to pounce or walk away.

“No, you distracted me while he chased her to what? Scare her? Bully her?” His voice grew guttural. “Isn’t this getting old? You’re our alpha, you should be leading us, not holding us back.”

“I was trying to get answers,” I yelled, tired of his stubbornness. “You can’t see what she is doing to you. You're siding with a Belladonna. You kissed her.”

“She has a name,” he snapped. “And if you took one hour to see what we are doing then you would understand. You’re so clouded by your hatred that you can’t see that we've been doing the same damn thing, and nothing has changed.”

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