Chapter 7

Luna

Iwas hoping that if I kept my thighs clenched tightly enough, it would hide the scent of my arousal. But every once in a while I'd see his nostrils flare and knew that was just wishful thinking.

For the last several minutes, after I got dressed, we just sat there, neither one of us speaking. I didn't know if it was because he didn't know what to say or he didn't trust his voice and actions. I knew that was both my reasonings for keeping my jaw locked tight and staying away from him.

Although there was a good five feet between us, I felt like I was practically sitting on his lap. He was just so large, his body making the boulder he sat on seem like a pebble. His thighs were braced apart, his forearms resting on his knees as he kept his upper body leaning forward and stared at me.

He'd gotten his inner wolf under control… marginally. And even though his eyes no longer glowed blue, I still felt this prickling awareness coming from him that he was barely hanging on to his sanity, as if it were taking all of his restraint not to shift into his wolf.

That should have terrified me, the prospect of seeing a Lycan fully shifted, but gods, it made me all hot and bothered.

I cleared my throat, his gaze more than a little unnerving because it was so focused on me. "How about we start with who you are?" I was pretty proud of myself for trying to have a civilized conversation.

He straightened his intimidating frame, pulled his shoulders back, and I visibly saw his chest puff out. Oh boy. I could already tell he took great pride in what he was about to say. Typical arrogant alpha in the Otherworld.

"I am Banner McGregor. King of the Scottish Lycans."

Oh. Ohhh.

Looks like I snagged myself some royalty.

Although it wouldn't have made a difference if he was a peasant living in a village out in the middle of nowhere. I still would've felt the same intense connection no matter what.

"Okay, Banner." He barely contained the slow rumble of noise that left his chest. I could tell he was pleased I'd said his name. That shouldn't have had my inner muscles clenching unbearably.

"I'm Luna Darris." I touched the center of my chest as if I were trying to talk through his primitive side. I felt foolish but kept going. "I'm American, obviously from the accent, and here on a holiday." I was rambling, but then again I'd never felt more nervous in my life.

I cleared my throat and crossed my legs, which I probably shouldn't have done because all I did was draw his attention to that part of my body, which then had another rush of silky arousal spilling between my thighs.

"Lass," he growled in a voice that was so husky. "I'm trying my hardest tae be a civilized male when my kind is anything but." He paused, maybe letting that reality sink in. "But I'll be honest," he said and leaned forward again, his elbows braced on his thighs, his eyes flashing blue momentarily. "Ye smell so fooking good it's scrambling my brain, having my inner beast demand I mark ye." He lowered his gaze to the side of my throat, which was bared because I'd gathered the long fall of my hair and haphazardly braided it.

"How about we focus on… not that stuff?" my voice squeaked at the end.

He snapped his focus back to my face and nodded once, but I didn't miss how his jaw clenched under his scruff-covered cheeks, or how his hands curled around his knees as he tightened his fingers, as if trying to stop himself from pouncing toward me.

"Aye," he grumbled in a voice not entirely human.

"Why are you here? How did you find me?" This all seemed so unbelievable. What were the chances, the odds that I took a trip across the world and spent a week on a boat just to find myself in some tiny little Eastern European village facing off with my fated mate?

I knew there were some who never found their mates. I knew of vampire males spending their entire lives searching for their Coveted Ones only to die alone from an unfulfilled life and with a broken heart.

"I'm here for ye. Only ye."

Okay, so I doubted I'd get very far when currently he was too immersed in the Linked Mate mentality. Not that I felt the need to run, if I were being wholly honest. I wondered if this was why females of the Otherworld didn't get the intense drive and obsession when we found our mates like the males did.

Someone had to think rationally and be sane, right?

We were the logical thinkers, the ones who steered the coupling in the right direction. And the males, with their intense and brooding natures were the protectors, ensuring we got to the final destination safely.

"But how did you find me? I'm literally out in the middle of nowhere."

He didn't answer for several long seconds, just continued to stare at me. It was as exciting as it was nerve-wracking. But I started to squirm on the boulder, crossing and uncrossing my legs, which probably only made the situation worse and let him scent my arousal even more.

He scrubbed his hand over the back of his neck and glanced away for only a millisecond before returning his focus on me, as if he couldn't bear to look away. In a sense, I understood. I was just as mesmerized with him as he seemed to be with me. My mind and body, the very essence that made me… me knew who this male was to me and didn"t want to be parted in any sense.

"I had business tae attend tae, alliances tae form. It took me across many countries and many lands. I was heading back to the Highlands with two of my soldiers when I felt this pull, instinct telling me which way tae go. It was fate leading me tae you, I know now."

I just nodded slowly because I didn't know what else to do or say.

"It was ye watchingme last night, wasn't it?"

I felt my heart rate pick up at his words. I knew exactly which moment in time he was speaking about.

"I felt ye, lass. Gods, I felt ye watching me, and I got so hard because of it."

Ohhh.

"Yes," I whispered. I tried to regulate my breathing and clutched my hands in my skirting as if it would stabilize me. "I just felt… I don't know. Something pulled my attention and then kept it there when I saw you."

He hummed low in pleasure, and I heard his claws scraping against the leather of his trews. Despite the modern times, this male had to be ancient in age; his whole demeanor, the aura that surrounded him, even his clothing screamed of another place in the world. Another time in history.

"How old are you?" I found myself asking.

"Over two centuries old, darlin'."

Oh boy. I lifted a hand to my racing heart. Even though species in the Otherworld could live up to a millennium, and in some cases there were those rumored to be older than that, immortal even, Banner was old, like old-old in comparison to me.

His gaze roamed up and down my body despite the fact that I was sitting and he probably couldn't see much else. I shivered, feeling naked despite being fully dressed. "Ye look young, but even so, ye have this innocence about ye."

Yeah, I'll say so."I'm only 18."

Surprise covered his face, and his eyes widened before he pulled back, sitting up straighter. "Shite. So damn young."

I felt my face heat. When he said it like that, in that tone, it made me feel like this whole situation was indecent as hell. I guess it was in a way, but still it bothered me. "I'm an adult." Gods, did that make me sound like a petulant child?

It wasn't as if being eighteen in the Otherworld was the same as being that age as a human. Being supernatural meant we aged differently, maturing faster. It was a survival mechanism.

"Then I picked up yer scent. And sweet Jesus, lass, it smelled so fooking good." The way he said those words, not with a growl lacing his voice, but instead his tone holding a very feline purr despite him being a Lycan, had a soft moan leaving me.

I was frozen in place as I watched him rise, uncoiling that huge body off that little boulder. I tipped my head back so I could keep looking in his face.

"I may be young," I whispered as I leaned back, my hands braced behind me on the rock, and stared into his face. "But I know what it means to find your other half. I know what it means to your kind to find your Linked Mate." I licked my suddenly dry lips and heard him groan deeply. "I'm not trying to run, but I am trying to understand all of this."

He moved closer and closer until he was in front of me. He was so big, towering over me, the scent of him so wild and exotic and like nothing I'd ever smelled before.

I watched as he swallowed, the thick cords of his muscles moving from the act. And when he lifted his hand and moved it toward me, I swore my heart literally stopped.

"Ah, hell," he groaned, and quicker than I anticipated, his fingers were brushing against my forehead as he pushed away an errant strand that had fallen out of my braid. "So soft."

I was embarrassed by the sound I made from that gentle touch, just the pad of his finger skating across my skin yet feeling like I was buried alive. His eyes seemed to glow even brighter, even bluer. My body felt like it wasn't my own, as if I were living in this alternate reality where all I could do was go through the motions.

And then he groaned and reached out again, running a big, callused finger along my temple, then lower along my cheek. When I felt his thumb brush along my bottom lip and saw his mouth part, I felt mine do the same in response.

For long seconds, all he did was press the pad of his thumb to my mouth, the pressure so light it was like he was almost afraid of me.

"Yer smell," he said, but it sounded as if he spoke to himself, and his eyes closed briefly before opening again. "So fooking good. So sweet. So… mine."

I held my breath, feeling my pulse race faster as he lowered that big, powerful body down until we were eye to eye. He blocked out everything behind him with his broad shoulders and wide chest. All I could see, feel, hear, and smell was him.

And then he was moving closer, the scent of him making my head so fuzzy I couldn't think straight. My body was so overheated right now, but I still felt chills moving along my arms and legs. I held my breath the closer his face came to mine, his thumb moving away from my mouth as his gaze took the spot.

I was so wet, my thighs slick from my need, my nipples hard points that stabbed through the thin material of my outfit.

He was so close, his lips an inch from mine, so close I could taste his breath along my mouth, a masculine, dark and spicy flavor that had a soft moan spilling from me.

"Sweet Luna," he whispered. "I need tae kiss ye, lass. I need tae taste ye."

I felt my eyes close on their own accord, felt myself lean in closer.

"I've never needed anything as much as I need ye." I felt his forehead rest against mine, and a soft gust of air left me at that small contact. It seemed so sweet and timid for such a big, almost brutish male.

For a suspended moment, we stayed like that, my eyes closed. The only thing I was focused on was the feeling of his body surrounding me, his scent filling my nose, my want so powerful that my fingers shook. I was panting like I'd run, so out of breath that I felt dizzy from hyperventilating.

Kiss me. Kiss me!

And as if I'd spoken those words out loud, as if he'd probed into my mind and plucked them out, Banner gave a harsh groan and then pressed his mouth to mine. It was only a gentle brush of his lips against mine, but I felt the heat spearing all the way from the top of my head down to my toes. My scalp tingled, my nipples hard, my inner muscles clenching so painfully the sound that left me was almost guttural in intensity.

I'd never kissed a man before, never had one touch me. I was innocent in all ways; my body's reaction, the arousal I felt were strictly for my mate alone. And goodness, how he awoke that desire with a fierce passion, so strong it was like I had my own wild animal inside of me.

I wanted to throw caution away and just do what was making me feel good. I wanted more of it. I needed it. And so hesitantly, tentatively, I stroked my tongue along the seam of his mouth. I could feel his body tense even further and felt the vibrations from the low rumble that came from his chest.

Only a second passed before a feral growl left him, and he was kissing me with all the passion I felt inside.

Because of my inexperience, all I could do was sit there and take it, let him control the situation, let him dominate the passion. And even though I knew he, too, was as inexperienced as I was, that his dormant desire was strictly for me, as was the way of the species in the Otherworld, Banner instinctively took control and gave me everything I'd hoped for in my first kiss.

Our kiss was wet and loud, our breathing harsh, and the sucking sounds of our lips meeting, of our teeth clashing, made me high as the clouds. It was an auditory orgasm, a sensory overload. I clenched my thighs harder together, feeling the vibrations of the continuous rumbles that came from him. The noise seemed to grow louder the longer we kissed.

I found my hands on his shoulders, my nails digging into his linen tunic. My fangs ached and grew longer, sharper. My bloodlust roared in my ears, a reminder that I hadn't satiated that part of my biology yet.

Gods, he would taste so good, would be so thick and potent on my tongue, down my throat.

He plunged his tongue into my mouth, in and out, in and out, mimicking the very primal act between two people, the most intimate thing you could share with someone else.

Sex.

The sound I made seemed to spur him on. He leaned in, and I slid my hands along his shoulders, down the rippling muscles of his biceps and curled my fingers around the crooks where his elbows were.

And then he was standing, pulling me up, dragging me closer so my chest was pressed against his. His upper body was curled forward so our lips could stay connected. Gods, he was huge, my head barely coming to the center of his chest, the scent of him drowning out everything else and making me feel as if I'd drunk too much.

I felt the hard length of the very male part of him digging against my lower belly, the size of him enough to send a shockwave of apprehension through me. How will something that big ever fit inside of me?

I moaned, not caring how I sounded, not caring that I didn't know this male aside from the few basic pieces of information he'd given me. This felt too good and right to stop.

But before I could give in to this chaotic feeling of need and want that coursed through me, a familiar scent filtered through my muddled, arousal-filled mind. And just when I realized where I'd smelled that wild—crazed—scent before, Banner's massive body was away from me so suddenly I stumbled backward until I tripped over the boulder I'd been sitting on and landed on my bottom.

The sounds, sights, and scents of primal male aggression filled my head and the small interior of the cavern. And I stared at what had to be a mirage, a hallucination.

My brother—who should be across the ocean in America—was in a brutal brawl with my newly found Lycan mate.

"Adryan?" I whispered my brother's name, knowing he couldn't hear because both males were growling and cursing so loudly my ears rang.

For long moments all I could do was sit there and watch as they attacked each other. They were equal in height and bulky builds, both carrying themselves like the animals—predators—they'd been born to be.

Despite Adryan only being in his twenties, he was one of the most powerful males I knew, the strongest I'd ever seen. He excelled at training and had an aggressive and ruthless streak that terrified others, and rightfully so. And if I were being honest, there was something just not right with him in the head.

Crazy to describe my brother was an understatement. But he was holding his own against Banner, the ancient Lycan who was snarling and growling.

I'd never seen an actual Lycan transform into their wolf form, but I'd heard it was a terrifying sight, all aggression and power and feral thought process.

And although I should be worried about Adryan going up against a creature so strong and so much older than him, I couldn't deny that a part of me was turned on at seeing Banner's brute strength.

But that faded when Banner lifted Adryan up and tossed him across the cavern, my brother's back slamming against a rocky outcropping, pebbles falling around his body from the impact.

Adryan slowly stood up and cracked his neck, straightening his shoulders and grinning at Banner. His eyes were bleeding red and drowning out the blue from his aggression, his body seeming larger, more powerful from the adrenaline and rage moving through him.

I knew I needed to stop this, but getting in between two Otherworld males fighting was a death wish, even if one was my mate and the other my brother. They were too lost in their element right now, each determined to be the alpha and the victor of the fight.

And they were both so strong, so powerful, I didn't know who would come out of this alive.

They crashed into each other again, fists flying, canines and fangs bared as they snarled. I saw scratches marring flesh, the scent of blood filling the air. It was too much, too violent and barbaric.

"Stop!" I screamed and scrambled off the ground, taking a step forward. But my voice and plea fell on deaf ears as they kept going at each other.

Over and over again, Adryan bellowed.

"Stay the fuck away from my sister, you Lycan bastard."

Banner snarled. "I'm going tae kill ye for getting between me and my mate."

It was a mess.

"Stop!" I screamed again as loud as I could, my eyes squeezed shut, my lungs burning from the force of pushing that one word out.

And then all fell silent, and the only sound penetrating the cavern was from the droplets falling from the waterfall and landing in the pool. Once I filtered out the noise, I could hear both males panting, their breaths sawing in and out of their lungs. I could smell even more blood coating the air, and I slowly opened my eyes, my stomach twisted in dread as I stared at them.

How could something start out so perfectly and end so disastrously?