22. Alban
Alban
“Son of mine, you must cease this behavior!” a voice growled at me.
As I strained against the eight males holding me down, I dimly recognized it as my father, instructing me under his breath in Gaelic. “If you do not cease acting the same as a mad wolf, you will lose her as you did the she-wolf who was promised to you.”
He was right. The wee part of my brain that remained able to see reason kent that.
It was happening again. My temper had gotten away from me, and I had to be restrained. The same as with Gail.
But not the same. I’d been angry when I caught the whiff of another male on Gail when she hugged me hello. I’d demanded to know his name and had to be restrained by several other wolves when she insisted she’d been with no one else—restrained and sedated.
But I’d calmed by the time I woke up hours later in one of the dungeon cells below the castle.
I hadn’t raced off after her to Glasgow as soon as Magnus let me out.
Nae, I’d walked back to the house to find the letter she left behind for me.
And after I’d finished reading it, the need for revenge faded along with any affection I’d ever felt for the she-wolf who’d lied to my face about going to bed with another male.
Not this time, though.
My wolf roared inside of me. Demanding that I end Evan. I could sense the male who’d tried to take Leora by force just a few meters away. Still breathing.
Why was he still breathing?
Nae, I couldn’t have it. I surged up again, my rage giving my wolf extra strength.
Two of the males trying to hold down my left arm tumbled backward. But they managed to grab onto it again before I could use it to punch out the males holding down my right.
“Son of mine, you must calm down,” Da told me—this time in English.
But I couldn’t … I couldn’t calm down. Not while the male who’d dared to touch Leora still lived.
“Your she-wolf’s out of danger,” Da assured me as if that was remotely enough to sate my thirst for Evan’s blood.
“My sister does not belong to that psycho,” Tara called out somewhere in the distance.
Then she lowered her voice to say to her sister, “I know they hurt you. Unfortunately, the fact remains that you are most certainly in heat. You’ll need someone to, ah … complete the cycle.”
“Not Alban!” Leora said, her answer immediate and resolute.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. Of course, not me. Still, the words Not Alban stabbed into my chest like daggers thrown.
“Oh, I know not Alban,” Tara assured her as if I were the devil himself. “But you do have to choose one. I can help you decide. Just tell me what you’re looking for in an ideal mate.”
Nae, Leora wasn’t mine. She was all set to choose another wolf, an ideal male who would be everything she wanted.
Those cold facts alone should have pacified me. Made me stop fighting against the eight beyond-heat-aged males Queen Tara had brought in to restrain me after I knocked out nearly every other male in the search party before charging into the library.
But before her rejection could fully sink in, another wave of heat emitted off of Leora, rippling through the room like a pulse wave bomb.
And I lost my mind again. Nae! Nae! She was mine. No other wolf could have her!
The eight older males went from holding me back to practically sitting on me.
“Ah feckin hell!” one of them said, his voice straining with the effort it took to keep me down. “We’re never going to see him calm with the she-wolf going off like that.”
“We’ll have to sedate him and put him down in the dungeon, then.” Da’s tone was equally strained. Also, disappointed. “It’s too bad, isn’t it? I was hoping he could present himself to the lass as a fit candidate for—”
Da cut off when I surged up again, throwing him and the other three wolves off my arms.
Mine. She was mine. No other wolf could have her!
I twisted to one side and kicked my legs in a martial move to rid myself of the four older males restraining my bottom half. And when I saw out the side of my eye that Da had a needle full of sedative in his hand, ready to stab into me, I curled both fists.
I was fully prepared to hammer punch my own father if he tried to get between me and my she-wolf.
“Alban, stop! Just stop! Please!”
Leora …
Leora, of all people, appeared right in front of me, blocking out everyone else. I blinked and lowered my fists.
And to my shock, Leora crawled into my lap! Then she curled her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist. Like that picture of a koala clinging to a tree that my Australian Wolf Force counterpart once showed me on his mobile.
“I’m in heat, Alban,” she whispered in my ear as if it was a secret. As if there was any chance in the whole wide world, I wasn’t already hyper-aware of that fact. “And I need your help. Please … please, will you help me?”
“Oh my God, Leora, you have to be out of your mind,” Tara said behind her. “You do realize he literally knocked out all the competition to get in here? What do you think he’ll do to you?”
“He won’t …” Leora pulled back to look me in the eye. “You won’t hurt me, will you, Alban?”
“Nae, I won’t hurt you.” The words fell from my mouth as if drawn out by a hypnotic trance. “I won’t ever hurt you, mo ghràidh. Remember what I said in the chicken coop?”
She clamped her lips, and despite the violence, she’d seen me inflict, she nodded … with such trust in her eyes.
My heart near gave out, and my wolf reared inside of me, demanding that I take her, claim her, cover her with my scent, right there, with everyone watching. It did not care.
But I did care, and my feelings for Leora kept my human at the wheel.
Somehow, I restrained myself from throwing her to the stone floor.
Somehow, I cupped her face and stroked my callused thumb over her soft cheek instead.
Somehow, I kept my rough voice quiet as I promised her, “I will do anything—anything to protect you. That promise I made you in the chicken coop will always stand. I will never, ever hurt you.”
“Well, if that’s the case …” She peeped up at me, and the smile she gave me lit up my heart even before she said, “I choose you, Alban. I choose you to complete my heat cycle if that’s okay.”
My heart exploded, and unfortunately, so did Tara.
“What?! You can’t be serious!” The Queen lunged forward to tear her sister out of my arms.
But my father stepped in front of her before she could get to Leora. “You heard your sister, mo banrigh. And check the Faoiltiarn rule book, royals cannae supersede the choice of a heat mate unless the two wolves are related by blood—not marriage.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not the case here,” another one of the older guards joked.
“But—” Tara protested.
“C’mon, then, let’s give ‘em some privacy,” Da insisted. “Sorry about this, Queen Tara.”
Screeches and protests followed from the queen. I could only presume they were dragging her out.
But I couldn’t say for certain. And I didn’t care.
My eyes were glued to those of the she-wolf who’d chosen me.
Mine …
She was finally mine.
The scent of her need wafted between us. And despite the clothing separating our bodies, I could feel the throb of her core against the steel beam my cock had become underneath my kilt.
Then she asked. “What now?”