Chapter 7

Adryan

Iwas pissed. Fucking enraged. But I sat calmly in the chair in my office, overlooking the crowd below, my hand idly stroking Bear’s big, boxy head. He rested his muzzle on my thigh, every once in a while giving a huff of understanding, a deep exhale as if he felt my anger as well.

It had taken every ounce of self-control not to take Kayla right then and there as I watched her leave her class. I didn”t even care that her friend was right there, would’ve watched me throw my mate over my shoulder, bare my fangs, and let her see the flash of red in my eyes.

I didn’t fucking care, wanted to do that so damn badly my mouth was salivating at the very thought of it, but I couldn’t. I hadn’t. Not just yet. I needed to get things in order with the plans being made for the Assembly first. I needed to sort things out with Cian and the Lycans coming into the States to deal with this bullshit.

But that would be handled tonight. And then, after that, I’d go to her. I’d make her stay with me until she realized I wasn’t letting her go, that she had no choice but to surrender to me, to submit not only her body, but her mind too.

My mood became even darker as I played back the conversation she’d had with her friend. She’d agreed to go on a fucking date with the male I assumed was from the other night.

Bear whined low at my foul, dangerous mood, but I kept stroking his head softly, my focus on the club, although I wasn’t paying attention to anything down below.

I allowed myself the pleasure of picturing myself tearing her date’s head from his neck and gorging myself in the arterial blood that would spray from the wound.

And I wanted Kayla to watch me the entire time, to see the lengths I’d go to for her… how dangerous I truly was to keep her as mine.

I’d used my time away from her to find out any and all information that had to do with my mate.

Kayla Monroe.

Twenty-three years old.

Attending Ryeka University for her master’s in psychology.

Strangely enough, I got hard thinking of her trying to analyze me, trying to understand who and what I was. The only thing she’d realize after picking at my brain was that I was a killer. A psychopath. The least deserving of a mate. But despite all those things against me, she was still mine, and I wouldn’t let her go.

She lived in her uncle”s house, inherited it from him after he’d passed, along with a sizable estate. My little human female was quite well off—or at least in the human sense, she was.

Without taking my gaze from the dance floor, I reached into the inner pocket of my jacket and pulled out my cell phone, pulling up the picture I got off the Internet of her. My heart jackknifed in my chest, my carotid throbbing as I grew excited because of her. For her.

My cock was hard, so fucking hard. The fucker had been in this predicament since I’d first seen her, and no amount of beating off to the image of claiming my mate, of piercing her neck, her wrists—fuck, her inner thighs—as I drank from her deeply could ease the ache in my dick.

They were empty orgasms, and they probably made me suffer even more than if I’d just waited for the first time to take her. But I was a sadist, and apparently when it concerned my mate, a masochist too, because I still jerked off, even though it didn’t help my situation.

I kept staring at her picture, at the way her brown-and-golden hair blew behind her because the wind had picked up, tossing those strands in a caress.

Kayla. Kayla. KaylaKaylaKayla.

Mine.

I felt a surge of pleasure move through me at just saying her name, of just thinking about her. Gods, I wanted her more than I’d ever wanted anything in my miserable, bastard life. And the longer I stayed away, the more that need ate at me like acid.

The sound of someone knocking on my office door pulled a low, threatening snarl from my lips, and I slowly turned my head to look at the thick double slabs of wood that kept all the other assholes in my life out.

“Yo, boss,” Kane called out. “You gonna let us in?”

I growled, which had Bear doing that as well. I slowly turned around in the leather chair and stared at the door, not speaking. I heard a slight cracking and looked down at my hand at the cell I held that was dying a slow death in my palm.

I loosened my hold on it, letting myself stare at my female once more before slipping my cell back into my jacket’s inner pocket and drawing a palm over my face, the scratch from the scruff covering my cheeks and jaw loud in my ears.

“Well, come the fuck in then. Let’s get this over with.”

The doors opened, and Kane walked in first, Sebastian following. He shut the door behind them and leaned against it, crossing his arms over his chest and staying silent… like always.

Kane started talking before I could urge him to get on with it.

“The Lycan Guard is already here and meeting with Cian. The wolf reached out and wants a meeting set up tonight to get this shit sorted and the next move set in motion.” Kane ran a hand over the back of his head. “They’ve been asking about Odhran.”

Yeah, I’m sure they were. No doubt, the crazed wolf was keeping in contact with them on some level, and now with him going AWOL, it was making them antsy as fuck. The only reason Odhran would go radio silent was because of one of two reasons. He really went off the deep end and went after his mate without backup. Or because something was done to him by me and mine.

“They want to scope out the farmhouse themselves, even though we told them we’ve done that and couldn’t find anything deeper than what’s at face value.”

“Yeah.” I looked down at Bear, still running my hand over his head. He was a big bastard, frightening just from his size alone, his bark a rough tenor that had my human employees steering clear. But he was a gentle giant to those he deemed worthy… or who posed no threat to me.

“Adryan, are you even listening?”

I drew my attention away from Bear and pinned Kane with a hard glare. “I believe by responding verbally, it let you know I heard what you said, yeah?” Sebastian stayed ever silent, but Kane crossed his arms over his chest and snorted, giving his brother a look before his gaze landed back on me.

“What’s up with you lately?” Kane took a step toward me, which had the hair on Bear’s back rising and a low growl of warning leaving him. “The past couple of days, you’ve been acting differently. More on edge, if that is even a thing,” he mumbled the last part. Kane started chuckling, but it was humorless. “Like, yeah, the wolf finished off Matteo, but you were all for letting that traitor live?—”

I was up and out of my seat and across the room in a matter of seconds, my hand curling tightly around Kane’s throat, his big body lifting off the ground as I slammed him against the wall. We were nose to nose, my teeth bared, my fangs elongated in threat.

“Do you want me to remind you of the sociopath I am?” I leaned in another fraction as everything else faded around me. “Do I need to remind you how merciless I am? How I don’t have a conscience?” I grinned—well, a visage display of what a grin was. “How about I remind you how I kill without a second thought? Family or not, Kane.” There was a knock on the door that broke up the tense moment, but no one moved. “Do you want me to show you why they call me a ruthless killer?”

I didn”t expect an answer, not when Kane couldn”t speak, couldn”t move. His face was becoming red from the lack of oxygen, but he didn’t try to stop me or pull my hand from his throat. He stared at me right in the eye and took what I gave.

“I don’t need a demonstration,” Kane wheezed out. “I got it. I’ll keep my mouth shut from now on.”

I tightened my hand on his throat another fraction, because I could, a superficial flex that I probably didn’t need to do, but it made me feel good because I was a sadistic fuck.

I let go of him, and he stumbled to his feet, righting himself before he lifted his hand and rubbed it over his neck. There was another knock at my office door, and I gestured for Sebastian to let whoever it was in.

The door was opened, and James stepped inside, his nostrils flaring, because he no doubt smelled the testosterone and aggression filling the room. But he knew better than to say shit and kept his mouth shut, clasping his hands behind his back and looking down at the ground in an act of submission as he addressed me.

“The wolves are on their way. They refused to wait for a specific time, telling you to meet them at the warehouse in an hour.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle and shake my head at the audacity of the Lycans. “Cocky motherfuckers.” But this was good. I did want to get this done and over with. “Tell them we’ll be there.” James nodded once and then left, shutting the door behind him and sealing me in with my cousins once more.

The sooner this part was over with, the sooner I could do what I really wanted to.

And that was take Kayla away until she was mine irrevocably and didn’t fight me.

Then again… thinking of her fighting me had a slow grin forming on my face and anticipation thrumming through my veins.