Chapter 5
Roland
Roland strode down the hall to the family room that they used to meet with guests or even to hold meetings there sometimes with the other heads of the Lycan clans that they’d developed a rapport and friendship with.
He was usually in control of his emotions, but today he found his emotions were heightened even more, and a strong feeling of annoyance was at the forefront this time.
He glanced back to see his annoyance trailing far behind him, her feet practically dragging on the floor.
Roland sniffed himself to see if he smelled unclean even though he’d bathed this morning before he started his day.
If he wasn’t in a disgruntled mood with everything going on, he would find this a bit funny, because she was acting like he was bringing her to his home to kill her or ravage her to death.
Her heart was constantly racing, she was breathing in and out like a workhorse, and she trembled every time he looked her way.
He got the hint that she didn’t like him and feared him, and to be honest, he couldn’t blame her because after the incident.
He’d tried to make her life a living hell, and if it wasn’t for his father stepping in, she would have been left to survive outside on her own.
But like his dad said, her father’s actions should not fall on the child, and she was innocent in all this.
He had held onto his disbelief and had her watched, but the reports came back with nothing.
Roland finally conceded his father was right and let the matter go.
It took him a while to get past the blind rage and pain he felt every time he saw her, but with time, it had begun to fade. And he began to take over more and more of the reins as his father began to step down.
Roland remembered when he began to be aware of her.
Shea had caught his eye this year at the Spring Fest. She looked so relaxed and happy and carefree, her curly hair in disarray around her, and she’d thrown her head back to laugh at something her friend Emiyah had said to her.
His gaze had travelled over her, taking in her changes; now having the body of a woman, she had filled out more this year, and the curves she sported suited her.
He loved a woman with a curvy plump ass that he could grip hard as he fucked her from behind or take her other hole.
Shea’s was slightly flat, but she had an ample bust that made him think about running his teeth along the globes and then licking and biting his way all the way down to the curve of her belly, where he would lick and suckle the flesh into his mouth.
She was becoming a distraction to him. His thoughts were now constantly filled with her. He had never been driven or enamored by another woman like this before, and he didn’t like the loss of self-control; she was the first, and he needed to end this.
He was considering approaching her after the heat cycle had passed and only if he hadn’t found himself a mate. He knew she couldn’t go into heat and wanted her to spend a night with him—no commitment, but just a night of pleasure between them that no one had to know about.
But the way she was acting now, he knew that there was no chance of that happening, and he was fucking aroused right now.
He was fighting to keep his arousal that developed, unexpectedly, when he’d accidentally touched Shea on her parcel of land and felt a spark pass between them.
The spark had triggered his canines, and they had begun to drop. He used his training to control what was happening to him. The heat cycle can mess with a Lycan’s control, and he was not immune to it, but just now, this had been something different.
Shea was a rarity and could not go into heat, and never would. But he’d wanted to mount her and claim her as his own in that very moment. That could not happen, could it? Could someone feel this way about another female Lycan without them being his fated mate?
Her father, murdering his mother, had set their course, and he would not bring more hurt and chaos into his father’s life.
Logically, Roland knew she wasn’t responsible, but he was still not at a point emotionally where he could separate the two.
But if it were possible, would he not do anything to have her?
His heart raced with the idea, but then he shook his head ruefully; he needed to squash these thoughts; that way lay in trouble for him and her.
He reached the doors of the family room and opened it, standing in the frame waiting for her to catch up. He watched as Shea stopped and hesitated a couple of feet away.
Roland growled, signalling his irritation, and she raised her head and stood her ground.
He frowned but at the same time tried not to smile; she looked so cute standing there defying him, her dark eyes snapping with her annoyance, and her mouth dropped open for a second as she realized she was defying him.
Shea’s face donned a serene expression, and then she stepped a bit further toward him.
“Aren’t we heading to your father’s bedroom?” She glanced down the hall toward the stairs leading to the landing.
He wanted to throw his hands in the air in exasperation but took a breath and smiled, hoping he looked friendly. “Shea, please enter. I promise I don’t bite. We need to talk before I have to leave. I won’t bite, not yet anyway," he muttered the last part under his breath.
“Oh, yes?” And proceeded to take another cautious step. “What about?”
What is wrong with her?
He let out a low, frustrated growl, and her eyebrows rose.
His patience was running thin as she paused again, standing almost in front of him now. “You can go in; I am right behind you.” She stared at him expectantly.
He glared and thought. This is ridiculous.
But to make her feel more at ease, he moved into the room and walked close to the wall. She came through and paused, searching for him. He used the opportunity to close the door behind them and watched as she jumped and moved further into the room, creating distance.
His patience had now ended. “Shea, what is going on with you?”
“Huh, what do you mean?” Shea gave him an innocent look that made him suspicious.
“You’re acting like I am the big bad wolf about to eat you.” An image of him eating and licking her pussy of all its cream had his cock beginning to rise and a low rumble coming from his chest.
Shea’s eyes widened, and the tip of her tongue poked out and touched the top of her bottom lip, drawing his eyes to the plumpness of her parted lips, and another image appeared of his stiff length and head pressing against the slit of her closed mouth—her opening as he slid himself into her moistness. He groaned.
“Are you well? Did you catch your father’s illness?” She moved closer to him, searching his face, and reached to touch his forehead. But he stepped out of her reach, knowing that if he felt her touch, he would take her right there and then and be damned the mating heat cycle.
“No,” he spoke sharply, and she took several steps back and then squared her shoulders.
“I think it is time I go and see your father.” Her demeanor was now cold and closed off to him.
He knew that she wasn’t going to like what he had to say next even further. “Shea, there is nothing wrong with my father. Yes, he still has a little cough, but he is doing fine.”
She took another step back. A look of dawning fury graced her delicate features.
“Why am I here, Roland?”
He almost let out another moan because this was the first time she had ever spoken his given name, and he liked hearing it.
“It is not safe for you to be by yourself right now, and Father and I thought it was best for you to come and stay within our home until it is safe. After we speak to the pack shifters and see what it is that they want and everything is okay, you can go back to your home.”
“So, you lied to me?” Her gaze narrowed on him.
He stiffened at her accusation, not liking her tone. “No, I did not; I just let you leap to your own conclusions.” He shrugged, and she scowled.
“Well, I am a grown woman who has taken care of herself for this long without the aid or support of the village or the protection of your home.” She mimicked his shrug.
He groaned internally, feeling a spark of guilt because she was right.
He and the clan had left her to fend for herself.
Roland was the acting king until his father made it official next month.
But he felt a slow-burning anger that she was being defiant and objecting to his order for her to stay in his home; he found it insulting, especially since he was bestowing his home and protection on her when he had others to protect as well.
“Well, be that as it may, you are now staying here under my protection. I will call on a maid to take you to your room. You can choose anyone you like. That is an order, Shea.”
He watched as she opened her mouth to argue but then snapped it shut.
“Fine, but I don’t need a maid to show me around; I know this place like the back of my hand. Remember, I used to come here to play while my mom tended to your mom or your dad or even you.”
He nodded and remembered hearing her laughter as a child when his mother played, and spoke to her while he had training and lessons in the study with the teacher. Making him nostalgic for a moment, wishing his mom was still alive and here.
“Let me go home and get my things; I will be back shortly.” Her eyes shifted away from him when she said that.
Suspicion rose, and once again he had a sense that something was wrong.
“I will have someone go and get whatever it is that you need.” Her glance returned to his, and she looked dismayed.
“I can go and—”
He moved to stand in front of her. “Don’t test me.”
They stared each other down, and then the air between them began to crackle with something else. He saw Shea’s eyes widen and knew she felt it too.
“I will—”
He turned because he heard someone coming down the hallway; he recognized the person's tread immediately and moved toward the door, standing on the other side as he spotted Mack.
“Mack, what do you have for me?”
“Roland, they have been spotted close to the village again, and this time, I have learned that there are two leaders of the pack, both brothers, one a white pup named Linken and the other a dark brown one named Steel.”
He nodded. “How?”
“Let’s just say one of their spies got too close, and now he is a visitor in our holding. He is waiting to be questioned by you and your father.”
“Finally, some answers. Thank you, Mack; great work. I will be there shortly.”
He moved back into the room to deal with Shea, and what he saw stopped him in his tracks.
Suddenly a rage he hadn’t felt since the loss of his mother came over him, and he moved in front of her, smacking the vial out of her hand and away from her mouth.
From one breath to her next, he had her up against the wall, her feet dangling as he had his hand wrapped tight around her neck, trying not to snap it yet, but squeezing the air from her traitorous bitch heart.
He’d been right all along, and the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
She was beating at his hand, trying to pry it from her neck, and her dark brown eyes were looking down into his, begging him.
“I told Father you couldn’t be trusted, you deceitful bitch.
You came here to finish the job that your father started.
” He glanced down at the familiar green liquid, the same one he and his men had searched her home for and destroyed everything that was found in her father’s office and lab.
There had not been a lot of the vials in his office and lab, and his men had burned all her father’s data on it, but he must have taught her how to do it so that she could help him finish off the family.
What did she want revenge for? Now he had two problems to deal with.
He squeezed hard in anger; he had brought this danger into his home, but thank God she had played her hand early.
“Mack.”
He knew his first in command would hear him and return if he hadn’t gotten too far. If not, he would continue to handle this.
She was hitting him harder, tears now pouring down her face. She looked so innocent for a traitor, and he let out a bark of cold laughter because he’d wanted her and was going to offer to bed her.
He froze when he felt the air stir, and his rage increased; he had left himself open and had missed that two people had entered, both female, and he recognized their scents.
Roland felt the small pounding on his back before he heard, “Put her down; you are killing her!” Emiyah yelled.
“Shit, is that one of the serums on the floor?” He heard Fantasy grumble under her breath.
He suddenly released Shea in shock but grabbed her arm as she made to run past him and turned around to see an angry Emiyah searching the room to hit him with something, and Fantasy right beside her, gawking at the liquid spilling onto the floor.
“One of the serums?” He growled low.
Everyone in the room froze, all eyes on him.
They all moved at once, but he reached the satchel on the floor before the others and released Shea to shake everything out of the pack; once emptied, he turned it inside out to find the secure pocket that bulged and opened to see three more vials.
He took them out and broke all of them beneath his feet.
“No!”
“Shit!”
“We needed those!”
He grabbed up Shea again.
And then heard the angry roar of his father, “What in the hell is going on here?”