Chapter 398: Lurker
From the shadows of the trees surrounding the Hallowell pack house, an unseen male lurked, watching all that was unfolding before his golden eyes.
This was proving to be a most advantageous day to infiltrate the pack where his female was kept, because he was learning so much. There was a vampire that existed somewhere? That was even more shocking than the lycans he had come to discover.
He also learned that a female here—the Luna even—had golden eyes just like him. What did that mean? That there were more students from Eliade who had wandered away and taken up residence in a community of creatures that were previously thought to be the subjects of myth and fantasy and folklore? That was intriguing, indeed.
There was much about this world that he was learning, but the most important detail he had learned this morning was his female’s name: Violet.
Violet. It fit her perfectly. She smelled like a meadow of wildflowers after a spring storm, and she was absolutely stunning to behold—even more beautiful than when he first saw her.
And then he heard this flower of his speak, and she had the most captivating of voices. He was drawn in by her in every possible way. Even though she was playing the victim, seeking to gain sympathy from others by showing them the mark he had left her, he still found her alluring.
He could help her with those small character flaws. He would teach her how to be strong. He would show her what it took to be a leader. She didn’t need others’ sympathy. She would be a queen by his side.
The mark was gruesome, though. He winced when he saw it. Had he really done that to her? When he had come upon her with those lycan males from his pack, it was such a blur... it was so unexpected how his whole being seemed to be drawn to her in a way that he was completely unfamiliar with, and he wasn’t prepared for it.
In truth, he wasn’t prepared for any of this, but he was forced to stumble along, finding his way as he went. Just like when he wandered through suicide forest, looking for Eliade but getting lost in the process.
The weeks ran together when he was forced to survive on his own, and then he was found and shoved into he middle of a lycan pack—made to go toe-to-toe with their Alpha. Thankfully he had the instinct to bite the male, surprising everyone by taking his wolf from him in a most spectacular way. And after that, the Alpha was just a mere human, which made him easy to eliminate.
He would eliminate this Alpha the same way—especially if Violet’s accusations were true and he had dared mate with her last night. It took everything he had to choke back the threatening snarl that instinctively sought to rip from his throat, especially when he saw the way Violet was looking longing at the Alpha when she spoke of him.
She wanted that male, he was no fool not to see it. It was clear. And if it was clear to him, it was likely clear to everyone here. The Alpha had to be the male he saw in her room the night prior.
If this Alpha had dared to mate with Violet, he was going to have to throw another body onto the growing pile of dead males that lay in his wake. Those lycans from his pack had violated his mate before he arrived to find her there with them—injured and bleeding and terrified.
Once he realized what they had done and after he recovered from the stupor of the mate bond and the pull of that female—of Violet—he took his time ripping each one of them apart limb from limb. He would have destroyed the whole pack in his fury to avenge his mate if one of the wise women had not urged him to hunt Violet down... to find the female who he was apparently destined to be with.
He had screwed it up with Violet right from the beginning, he could attest to that. But honestly, he didn’t know what he was doing. No one had told him about mates or that he might have one. No one had explained the way a female might captivate him with such intensity that his teeth would ache with the urge to pierce her, permanently branding her as his—the object of his desire. The one who belonged to him and him alone.
He realized too late that telling her he was going to take her wolf when he bit her was a mistake—especially after all she had already been through. But in his mind, it was a blessing—she was being saved from this beastly existence she had been cursed with. He was cleansing her, making her pure again—freeing her to become human like him. Maybe that was his purpose, after all—to cleanse the lycans of their wolves. He could save them from shifting into something so heinous and ungodly. His teeth could purify them.
His eyes tracked the male who grabbed Violet and made her whimper, and he once again had to suppress the snarls that would reveal his location. There were too many lycans here. One of them was bound to hear him and scent him out. He was was surprised that the pups who were bounding about, uncaring about the drama of the adults, hadn’t stumbled upon him yet. Perhaps their senses did not fully develop until they were older.
It appeared as though Violet was being taken underground, which he assumed led to a dungeon. That would be beneficial. He could get her easier if she was secluded with few people around. All he would need to do is wait until nightfall and take out a few guards. Then he would be in and out, free to run off into the night with the female that somehow thrummed within him even from afar. Perhaps then his soul could finally feel at ease. He would have her at last.
