Chapter 5

Adryan

The last thing I wanted to do was meet with Odhran and my men, but here I was, having to get shit done, when all I wanted to do was be with my female. I couldn’t stop thinking of all the barbaric things I wanted to do to her. All the filthy, depraved things I would do to her.

I wanted to throw her over my shoulder, palm her ass like some kind of beastly creature before giving those perfect mounds a smack. I wanted to do this over and over again until my handprints were splashed across her pale flesh.

I growled low when my cock started hurting again. The fucker had just barely gone down, and the last thing I wanted was to walk into a roomful of my soldiers and them seeing my damn slacks tented. That would be firm confirmation that I’d found my female, seeing as an Otherworld male felt no arousal until they found their fated mates.

And although I wanted every damn bastard to know she was mine and to stay away from her, the very possessive side of me rose up at the thought of sharing any information about her.

I didn’t want anyone near her, didn’t want them fucking breathing in her direction. I wanted to keep her away, lock her in my room where no one could touch her, where I could keep her safe, where she couldn’t run from me.

And I knew she would. Or she’d try at least.

The underground tunnel beneath one of the abandoned warehouses I owned was quiet aside from the steady thump-thump-thump of my boots hitting the concrete, and the swoosh-swoosh of my slacks brushing together as I strode forward.

My hands were in my pockets as I kept a steady pace, and although normally what was about to happen would excite me and cause that deranged bloodlust side of me to rise up violently, all I could focus on was her.

All the things I’d do to her.

All the places I’d pierce her skin and lap at the ruby beads that would form on her pearlescent skin.

All the ways I’d make her moan and cry and beg for more.

I groaned as my aching cock got even harder. I pulled a hand out of my pocket and adjusted the heavy length of my cock so it was no longer tenting my slacks, and I rounded the corner as I moved closer to the room where everyone was waiting.

Even though it felt like the most unnatural thing to do, I pushed all thoughts of my mate out of my mind.

Once I finished handling business here, all I wanted to do was go back to her, to watch her sleep until the sun rose and forced me away from her. And then I’d do it all again the following night until I finally—irrevocably and permanently—made her mine.

I needed to find out any and all information I could about her, which was easy enough with the resources I had at hand.

Just thinking about that had demented excitement moving through me. Fuck, I was a bastard, getting all hard—or impossibly harder—at the thought of finding out her name and age, her favorite food, what her life was like growing up… any past boyfriends. That last part was for me to stake my claim, to ease the possessive beast in me. My anger rose and my eyes flashed red as my thoughts envisioned someone touching her curvy body, breathing in her scent… knowing how soft her skin was.

I’d find out the names of any male who’d ever touched her. I’d go to where they lived and break each of their fingers slowly, meticulously, as I stared into their eyes and whispered against their ears that they fucked up by even breathing in my female’s direction.

It took a moment to gather my composure and steel my rage as I stopped in front of the twin heavy metal doors. I could hear the low, deep murmur of voices on the other side, and the scent of blood was so strong even the metal couldn”t mask it.

I pushed a door open and stepped inside the large gymnasium-sized room. It was nothing but an empty space with dark tiled flooring and smooth stone walls. There was a long table pushed up against the side, tools used for “extracting” information—or fuck, just for the sheer fun of hearing a fucker scream in pain—spread out on top.

This room had been built specifically for this purpose. When I needed to make an example of a bastard, he took a visit down here.

I could’ve lied and said I strictly brought my enemies down here and those who went against me, betrayed me, not because I enjoyed it but because I had a role to play, a status that needed to save face. But that would be a lie.

I liked causing pain.I liked hearing my enemy plead for forgiveness, beg me to stop the pain. Of course, I never fucking did. That would be too easy, and besides, I was a selfish asshole who did what I did because it benefited me in some way.

If the infraction wasn’t too severe, I let them live, but the reminder of who and what I was—of what I was willing to do and how far I would go to make my fucking point—would forever be on their minds.

And for those who could not be pardoned… well, I drained them dry. I quenched my thirst and made sure everyone knew what happened when you crossed me.

The scent of blood was overbearingly powerful as I inhaled deeply, causing my hunger and thirst to rise up even stronger. My stomach cramped painfully, my fangs growing sharper, longer. My mouth watered, my throat dry and aching.

Matteo hung twenty feet from me, strung up like a gutted pig, blood covering his body and pooling on the ground. Because of the black tile floor beneath his feet looked like spilled ink.

As I stared at Matteo, I thought about how he’d gotten himself into this position, how James, one of my soldiers, had found him conspiring with the Assembly, the nasty-as-fuck organization of humans who captured Otherworld creatures and used them as exhibits for torture, rape, murder, and whatever else those sick bastards deemed entertaining.

But Matteo’s face had been beaten to shit courtesy of James catching him conspiring with our enemy and had taken matters in his own hands, giving out a little justice in the form of physical pain before he’d brought the traitor to me.

Not how I normally did things, and certainly not the kind of shit I approved of. James would have to be dealt with for going against my code, my rules. But I understood the heat of the moment when lines got blurred and passions ran too high.

Much like the case right now with Matteo looking like he was hanging on by a thread thanks to Odhran.

Matteo may’ve been a vampire, his abilities impressive when compared to humans. If I untied him and let him heal, he’d be good as new in a couple of days. His tongue, which had been cut off, and his eyes, which had been gouged out, would have grown back, his face not looking like a mallet had been introduced to it.

I took my time as I made my way toward Matteo, my soldiers and Odhran standing around him in a loose circle and stepping back as I got closer. Although they’d waited for me before they really laid in to the poor son of a bitch—meaning they hadn’t killed him—I knew the majority of Matteo’s wounds were from Odhran going at him. Not to mention the wounds Matteo had sustained from James earlier.

And as I looked at Odhran, the wolf focused solely on Matteo, I couldn’t blame the Lycan for going batshit crazy.

“He’s mine,” Odhran growled and took a step toward Matteo. “I waited long enough. To end this shit.” Odhran swung his head in my direction, his eyes flashing with his inner animal. “He hasn’t said shite about the Assembly?—”

“The bastard can’t even talk,” Kane said and snorted, clearly pointing out if Odhran wanted information from Matteo, he wouldn’t get it, given the no-tongue situation the other vampire was sporting.

I slowly turned my head in his direction. “Kane, it’s rude to fucking interrupt.”

Kane crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back against the far wall, where his brother, Sebastian, already was.

My two cousins were my right-hand soldiers, and not because they were family, but because they were ruthless fuckers, and also because they were the least afraid of me. Although they were smart enough to know their place in the hierarchy, I could count on them to know their place but call out any shit.

“He’s mine,” Odhran said again and moved forward.

“No,” I said and shook my head as I eyed Matteo and the pitiful display of him strung up. “He won’t die today.”

The low, rhythmic growl coming from Odhran was a threat in itself, and one I would have handled on any other occasion. But I knew he was unhinged because of his mate, knew that he saw Matteo as part of the reason he didn’t know where she was.

He saw Matteo as the male who could have told him where his fated mate was, the one he’d been searching out for decades. The one who’d been taken from him.

Before, I would have put Odhran in his place, but now… now that I’d found my female, experienced what it meant to have what was rightfully mine deemed by fucking fate itself? Hell, maybe I was becoming a softie, because today I wouldn’t rip Odhran’s balls off and shove them down his throat.

The male was clearly having a hard time dealing with his sanity.

I allowed myself to play with the idea of me and Odhran switching places, of some son of a bitch taking my Coveted One away. A deadly growl left me, and the temperature in the room dropped.

I’d have hunted down and dismembered the fucker who crossed me and mine.

I glanced over at the Lycan and cocked an eyebrow as I could see his chest pumping up and down, his anger tangible. I knew he wanted Matteo’s throat ripped out. I could, and I wholly empathized… or as much as a sociopath like me could.

But there was a tightening in the back of my neck that said something was off. This all seemed a little too… easy. A traitor all but being given to us without any real proof except James and his word?

I looked over at the vampire in question, and he was eyeballing Matteo, the sound of him grinding his molars loud. I’d known James for a hell of a long time. He was a loyal, good soldier. Then again, I could probably say the same about Matteo. But I had no reason to believe James would lie, and then again, shit had gone down with the Assembly when we went after them, after they’d taken Cian’s mate and Odhran.

Things had gone upside down. Shit had been up in the air, so mistakes had been made.

“It’s my fooking right tae take his life,” Odhran snarled and moved a menacing step toward me. “Ye think ye can actually keep that from me?” He bared his teeth, his canines hella long and sharp.

I grinned and showed off my own, the ones that were bigger, longer… fucking sharper. “Watch it, Lycan.”

Odhran’s chest rose and fell even harder, faster, and I could see he was trying to keep all his fucking self-control.

“If it was yer mate, ye think ye’d let the fooker who could have led ye tae her go free?” He took a step closer, and I saw the flickering power of his wolf push forward. He was going to shift. He wanted to. The wolf wanted to tear Matteo’s throat out.

But at the sound of my female in danger, of someone daring to even think of taking her from me in the hypothetical, had all amusement fading in me. I straightened to my full six-foot-seven height. My soldiers took a step back—smart fuckers—as I advanced on Odhran.

But I chuckled low, not wanting any of these males to know I’d found my mate. Until I claimed her, had her, and could protect her, I didn’t want anyone to know about her. She was a weakness. She was my weakness.

“I’m the killer. The psycho,” I ground out slowly. “I’m the kind of male who shouldn’t ever have a mate, wolf.” I held my hands out, palms up. “Can you imagine a female being my Coveted One?” I chuckled, which had the other vampires in the room laughing a little uneasily. “Nah, I’d likely drain her dry within a week of finding her.” Saying those words was all wrong, churning like acid in my veins. I’d never hurt her. And even if I wanted to gorge myself on the blood that filled her body, be drunk off it, I’d never put her in danger, even if I was that danger.

I took another step closer, my grin still in place.

“I’ll never have a mate, not when I have my insanity to keep me company.”

I had to give the Lycan and his creed credit—the wolves didn’t fear easily. And when I stopped right in front of him and let him see who and what kind of male I was, how the rumors about how psychotic I was were as real as they came, I was doing my best not to tear his head from his neck just for speaking about my mate.

“This is my house, Odhran,” I said low and deep. “You play by my rules. Yeah?” I phrased it like a question, but we both knew it wasn’t one. “Matteo lives until I can figure out what the fuck is going on. The fucker can’t even speak to tell me what went down, and although I trust James”—as much as I fucking trusted anyone, which wasn’t much—“I want Matteo to heal enough that I hear all of it. You feel me, wolf?”

Odhran was still, silent, his wolf right there at the surface. He didn’t answer, but I’d give him a pass on that disrespect. He was too wound up, and I could only imagine how fucking unstable he was after decades of not having his mate by his side.

Hell, I’d just found my female, and not having her by my side right now felt like a fucking eternity had already passed.

So yeah, Odhran got a little bit of grace, but not much, ’cause I wasn’t a benevolent ruler. I was a sociopath that thought about the end game that benefited me.

I grinned and turned, wanting to clean up and go to my female. Kayla. Fuck, even thinking her name had my cock jerking, reminding me the bastard wanted buried deep in her tight little body. And she would be so tight, because I had one big fucking cock… and she’d take all of me. I’d make sure of it.

But right when I was about to leave, I felt the rippling in the air, the thick, pressing heat filling the room.

Motherfucker, I thought just as I turned around and watched as Odhran looked at me and all but said fuck you before he shifted into his big damn Lycan and lunged at Matteo.

My soldiers were about to attack, but I held my hand up, stopping them.

He was a vicious animal as he tore the limbs from Matteo’s body, tossing them away and going for his torso next. It was a grisly display of strength and power, of aggression and bloodlust from a feral creature. The vampiric side of me appreciated the sight, but being the ruler of my kind made me grow fucking irritated that the bastard hadn’t listened.

And when Odhran had finished decimating Matteo, blood and gore, body parts strewn around the room, I turned fully around and crossed my arms over my chest. The wolf faced off with me, blood covering his fur, the fucker as big as a damn Clydesdale horse. I knew if he’d been in his human form, the bastard would have been smiling at me.

I shook my head and said low, keeping my voice even, “You stupid fucking wolf.” I tipped my chin to Kane and watched as my cousin lifted his arm, pointed the barrel of the gun at Odhran, and shot the Lycan.