Chapter 6 The Confrontation

Kael Noctravan:

I heard the sound of tires on the gravel-and-wet-dirt road when the car was still kilometers away.

Thorian's woman's residence was far from civilization and very close to the forest. Which was a benefit for lupines, not for humans.

However, if Thorian had been here at any point, it had been a long time ago. There was no trace of his scent, neither in the house nor on the woman, Elenya. It was impossible to interrogate her without hurting her. The human, mother of Thorian's cub, was in a state of shock and only seemed to wake up when we called her daughter.

Last night, I went after the girl in the city. My wolf sniffed her out, practically recognized her scent. Until now, the aroma was tormenting my mind: some kind of spice, honey, and lavender.

Lyssara Velmora, Thorian's daughter, lit up like a beacon with my arrival. I recognized her, even without having seen photos. From her father, the daughter had only the eyes—yellow, common among Alaric's descendants.

Everything else was a faithful copy of the mother. Her brownish complexion. Her very dark hair cascaded in waves, full and heavy, down to her waist. And even with the layers of clothing, it was easy to imagine the curvaceous, athletic body underneath, common for lupines.

Damnably beautiful!

She definitely wasn't human, as she heard the alpha commands that my wolf hurled at her like daggers very well. However, she hadn't gone through the Fury of the first transformation and the first Heat. Because she didn't obey me.

But she was past the age. Past it by a few years, at least. It was hard to pinpoint an age, but from what little I knew of human society, for her to be in college, she was at least in her early twenties. At least ten years younger than me. Maybe fifteen...

It was a miracle she hadn't transformed.

What the fuck was Thorian thinking?!

A daughter of his would be a lupine. There was no way she wouldn't be! Our blood was strong, it didn't dilute from one generation to the next, as happened with the ancients.

Keeping her away from the pack was a recipe for disaster. If she had transformed, entered the Fury, and couldn't resist our Bloody Veil—which only werewolves were haunted by—we would have a bloodbath in this shitty little town and bring the Vaelkar into our territory.

"Thorian's woman won't eat. If I try to force her, she'll have a heart attack, and we don't want that, right?" Zarek laughed, mockingly, closing the bedroom door where Elenya was.

He tucked a strand of hair that had escaped his bun behind his ear. Then he fished a piece of bacon from the plate he had taken to the woman and shoved the crispy meat into his mouth. The whole time emanating the tranquility of someone who didn't give a fuck about anything or anyone.

Zarek could be my friend since forever, but he irritated me most of the time. Mainly because it was easy to be him, while for me, it was fucking hard to be me.

I turned back to look outside, arms crossed over my chest, waiting for Lyssara to arrive. There was this kind of agony, an acidity in the pit of my stomach. My wolf was particularly restless, which was never a good sign.

Brugor came to join me at the window, watching the rudimentary road, anticipating Thorian's daughter's arrival. Brugor's wolf was also very close to the surface. Today was the first night of the full moon. We shouldn't have stayed so many days away from the Caern.

If he transformed, he'd break the fucking house apart. His wolf was immense, but, luckily for us, it was obedient.

I held his shoulder, calling his attention to me. His gray irises were beginning to yellow around the pupils.

Shit!

We wouldn't be able to return to the Caern today. He and Zarek would need to fulfill their full moon burdens in a few hours. It would be a shitty night for me, unable to transform, babysitting two women.

"Calm down, control your wolf. We still have eight hours before nightfall; we'll make it."

"We won't make it back to the Caern in time. You'll have to run with just me and Kael, Brugor, like in the old days," Zarek taunted, saying Brugor's nickname disrespectfully.

Brugor, swampy.

Brugor's wolf hated the nickname. On a day like today, hours before the full moon, Zarek should leave my beta alone. But the fucker couldn't. He didn't respect rank. He barely respected me. We had to come to blows a few times while growing up for him to leave me alone.

After I became the Alpha-heir, he would stop provoking me before we came to actual blows. Because now, if he challenged me, it would be an alpha challenge: a fight to the death or exile. Not simply pack brothers fighting for dominance.

The problem: it seemed Zarek took pleasure in antagonizing everyone. The fucking whole time. And only the goddess knew how much of my scant patience was directed at this asshole. It's just that the son of a bitch was the best tracker, the leader of the Noctravan clan's hunters.

He left the plate with eggs, bacon, and two slices of bread on the coffee table. He let his long hair down and redid the ridiculous bun he wore at the back of his head, all the while with a sly smile on his lips. Then he shook his shirt, blowing air inside the collar, to cool himself down.

His wolf was also close to the surface. Soon the shirt would come off.

Brugor shuddered entirely at the provocation, unable to even speak. His wolf growled deep, resounding in his broad chest, certainly demanding that he surrender his skin, which was already smoking. All my beta could do to calm himself was pull his short-sleeved shirt over his head, until he removed it. He threw it on the floor next to me and rubbed his palms over his shaved head. A symptom of his loss of control.

Fuck!

I rubbed my beard, trying to control myself so I wouldn't start roaring orders like a troglodyte, as my wolf wanted me to do.

I grabbed the giant's neck and made him look at me, forcing him to bend down, since I was shorter and lighter than him in human form. I felt my eyes transform, as well as my claws emerging from my fingers, piercing the back of his neck. I imbued my voice with an alpha command:

"Calm your wolf. You are not going to transform until nightfall, Brugor, do you hear me?"

The alpha command, even though it was directed at Brugor, hit Zarek, who sat comfortably on the house's sofa as if he owned the place. It was disrespectful for him to be spreading himself out like that on another male's territory, the alpha's, especially.

Although it didn't seem like Thorian lived here. There was nothing of his in the place. I looked around the small house's living room. It wasn't much different from the dwellings of low-ranking pack members.

This woman was Thorian's partner!