Epilogue

Lennox

"This isn't a waste of time, Lennox," Dr. Bronwyn Mikonovich said in that soft, placating voice of hers.

I didn't respond.

"This is good for you. It's been going well, don't you think?"

I snorted. "If you think being forced by my father to come here weekly while you tell me all the shit that I can do to ‘better my life,' then you and I have very different ideas on what's been going well."

She leaned back in her chair and nodded in that way that annoyed the fuck out of me. Because it genuinely seemed like she got where I was coming from.

It was also the way she stared at me that told me she could see through my bullshit and wanted to call me out. But she'd also said we weren't "there" yet in this professional relationship for her to really open up the way she wanted us both to.

I looked at my watch. "Time's up, Doc," I said and rose, the couch behind me looking like a fucking piece of dollhouse furniture compared to my size.

She exhaled but didn't say anything in response, and stood as well, setting her tablet on the little table beside her chair and looking at me to once again give me that placating smile.

I dwarfed her so much she had to tip her head back to look at my face.

Being a Lycan meant I was a big male in general, but ever since my accident and losing the one integral part of me—my Lycan, my inner animal—all I'd been focusing on was working out.

It helped to keep my head clear and focused. It helped me not obsess over the things I couldn't change.

At the very thought of no longer sensing my inner beast within me, I felt those dark tendrils of nothingness start to creep through me.

They'd been my friend—or enemy, more accurately—for a very long time after my accident, after my face had been scarred when we'd attacked our enemies.

It wasn't even the fucking scarring that bothered me. It was the fact that after I'd woken up from my accident, I hadn't been able to feel my wolf.

It was as if he'd deserted me in the time I needed him the most.

I knew she could sense how on edge I constantly was, and smell that frantic energy in me, seeing as she, too, was a Lycan.

But she didn't seem intimidated. Not one fucking bit. Then again I was sure she saw a lot of Otherworld that had a lot more darker issues than I did.

"I'll see you next week, Lennox."

I grunted my affirmation, because she and I both knew I didn't have a choice.

Father or not, when the Scottish king of the Lycans told you to do something, you fucking did it, thanked him, and asked for seconds.

I left her office and was in my SUV before I realized that I'd even made the small trek. I sat in the driver's seat for a minute with my hands on the steering wheel, the leather creaking as I slowly tightened my fingers around it.

Truth was, I was fucking exhausted. My father had gotten sick of seeing me either moping around my room, cursing out the staff in angry fits from my frustration, or picking fights with my brothers or the Guard.

The testosterone and aggression in my body was so high it was starting to choke me.

I hadn't been able to shift into my animal for far too long, which I could have handled if I'd known I could at some point. But I didn't know. I had no fucking clue why my inner beast was gone or if he'd ever come back.

And seeing as there was no recorded history of this happening to our kind, no one knew how to help.

It was an itch under my skin, a burn in my veins. It was that feeling when you are so thirsty that it physically hurts.

I made quick work heading back to the estate, although I should've taken my fucking time. I didn't want to see the sympathetic looks cast my way from everyone I passed.

Fuck their sympathy.

They could never know the destruction you felt when you no longer had that other part of yourself. I wondered if this was what it felt like to have a mate and have her taken away.

It was a hollowness.

It fucking sucked.

I didn't bother going through the front doors when I got to the estate, just parked and headed around back to one of the less used entrances.

I could hear voices across the property and glanced up to see my father with a few of the Guard, his personal Lycan army, working on fighting.

Although we had an entire lower level in the estate dedicated to training, having natural terrain to get your body used to different stances was better.

I ducked my head and went inside, passing a few of the staff as they went about their day cleaning or cooking.

These males and females had seen me grow into the male I was today. And they watched me slowly spiral to the bottom of the barrel.

I wondered what they truly thought of me.

I wondered if they would still feel sympathetic or give me their sad smiles if I wasn't one of the princes of the Scottish Lycans.

Once upstairs I headed down the hallway to my room, thankful I hadn't run into my brother, Tavish, or my mother.

With Caelan mated and living with his female, I only saw him when he came over for a visit or we worked out together.

But Tavish was unmated—like me—and was still at the estate. And because I'd become an unbearable, surly bastard, I found myself picking fights with him almost every time our paths crossed.

It's because you want to feel again.

I felt like a fucking prick most of the time. Snapping at my father, ignoring my mother's gentle urges to open up and talk to her, then getting into physical altercations with my brothers. And fuck, we wouldn't even talk about being an asshole to the staff and Guard.

Especially her.

I scrubbed a hand over my face. I was tired, but it wasn't the physical kind. No, I had fucking energy for days where that was concerned.

This exhaustion was of the mental and soul kind.

I slowed and finally came to a stop in front of my bedroom door, seeing it ajar and instantly bristling when I inhaled deeply and caught the scent of her.

You'd think for as fucking miserable as I was to everyone, she'd take the hint and leave me the fuck alone, or at least keep a wide berth.

I pushed the door open harder than needed, but reached out and stopped it before it cracked against the wall. The light in the bathroom was on, and I found myself stalking toward the open doorway and glaring inside.

Aisling was currently bent at the waist as she put a fresh stack of towels underneath the sink. Her standard issued white-and-black servant attire was snug around her curvy form.

I couldn't help but appreciate the sight of her, couldn't stop myself from staring at the rounded mounds of her ass. The material tightened as she shifted position, and I clenched my jaw as her generous hips, thick thighs, and full ass came even more into view.

The fact that she hadn't even noticed I was there annoyed me. Did she not take care of herself or was mindful of her surroundings? Did she not know when a threat was right behind her?

Although I would never hurt her, never even dream of it, she was a Lycan and should've been able to pick up on my presence before I even stepped into the bedroom.

I scowled, annoyed that I gave a shit so much.

"I thought I asked you to stop coming in here?" My voice was a husky growl that startled her so much she jumped up and cried out, spinning around as she clutched a single towel against her chest.

But even the plush material couldn't hide the generous swells of her breasts as she heaved. She only gave me that startled expression for a second before her eyes narrowed.

She straightened her shoulders and glared at me. And I felt… something. I felt it tightening in my bones, constricting my muscles.

Was it arousal? I didn't feel the need to pounce and devour her, yet it was a sensation that pulled me headlong into uncharted territory.

We stared at each other, and her little nose flared in indignation when she inhaled sharply. I was sure she was probably thinking about the last time we'd run into each other.

She'd been bringing towels to me again, ironically enough, and I'd all but growled in her direction until she ran out of the room. If memory served me correctly, I also threw the towels out of the room, barking at her to leave me the hell alone.

She'd kept her distance from me until now. Then again, she probably hadn't been expecting me back yet.

Aside from my family, Aisling seemed to be the only one to grit her teeth and not put up with my bullshit.

She put the towel under the sink and closed the cabinet doors. When she straightened and smoothed her hand down the white apron that covered her black pressed dress, I couldn't help but let my gaze linger on her female curves.

She was pretty. Really fucking pretty. And her body… so curvy and thick that I actually curled my hands into fists at my sides, my nails digging into my palms.

The offended noise she made and the way she crossed her arms over her chest had me smirking.

"I know what you said.But I don't work for you."

I lifted an eyebrow at the snappy tone in her voice.

"And when the king or queen asks me to handle household affairs, that includes coming in here and doing my job whether you like it or not."

She kicked up her chin as if snubbing her nose at me, and I felt the corner of my mouth twitching in amusement.

She may be lush with a woman's body, but she was tiny compared to me.

I took a step into the bathroom, having to turn slightly so my shoulders could get through the width of the doorway.

I crowded her, filled the space so she had to tip her head back and look at me. And as I inhaled deeply, I was surprised to scent only mild annoyance coming from her.

My heart started pounding a little bit harder, the blood moving faster through my veins. I didn't know what the hell was going on with me right now.

But as annoying as that was, a part of me liked the mystery of why this tiny female caused this strong reaction in me when nobody else ever had.

One word kept filtering through my mind, but I pushed it back. I didn't have my wolf anymore, or the instinct to tell me she was my mate.

Realistically, I assumed she was making me feel like this because I wasn't used to this from people. I was used to their apprehension, the way they kept a wide berth from me. I wasn't used to them standing their ground.

"You're not like the others," I said absently.

Her eyes flared slightly. "If you have a specific issue with the way I do my work or complete my tasks, you're free to speak with the king and queen about it."

It was hard as hell not taking a step closer to her. Because the truth was, I wanted to really get close to her. She talked to me like I was… no one to her. She didn't placate me, didn't see me as royalty. I was just some fucking dude annoying the shit out of her.

And I… fucking loved that.

I scowled at my own thoughts, which probably looked like I was making the expression to her. And when she pursed her lips and made a little humph sound, once again I felt my amusement grow.

Gods, it had been so long since I felt any kind of humor that it was almost foreign to me.

"Good day," she said, a little too prim and proper, as if she were offended by my surly attitude.

Aislingwent to move past me, but I didn't get out of the way, which forced her to stop when she was just a foot from where I stood.

She craned her head back and glared at me, and after this long standoff where we just stared at one another, I shifted slightly to the side, only giving her a small amount of space to move past me.

I sensed her irritation and impatience, and finally I stepped back a foot. She moved past, and when her shoulder brushed against my abdomen on the way out, I felt a jolt of electricity move through me so strongly every muscle in my body contracted.

I stepped out of the bathroom and watched her leave. It was only when I was alone that I kept thinking one thing.

Could she be my mate? Without my wolf to tell me for sure, I couldn't say for certain.

What I did know was I wanted to find out.

Lennox's story coming soon!