Page 72 of The Delta’s Rogue (Crescent Lake #4)

Peter’s large, extravagant home looms in front of me as I trudge up the front path to the door.

I ran for as long as I could. I would have run more, but my legs refused to keep the grueling pace I set for myself any longer. My stomach begged me to give it sustenance, and my lycan refused to lend me his energy to fuel my marathon, so I had to return.

The entire time, I was keenly aware of the anchor keeping me tethered to this area of the mountains, keeping me from going too far away from her. Her anguish faded, only to be replaced by worry and regret, all sent to me with the force of a hurricane.

Maybe that means her lycan’s strength is returning.

Her lycan . How did I never realize before?

Because she never told me. She never shifted in front of me.

She was careful not to, sending her pack mates with Levi, in their wolf forms, while she stayed with me so we could act as the intermediaries while we all hunted down Lennox.

Her lycan and her aura stayed buried deep within her, hidden away by sheer will and a level of training I can’t begin to imagine.

Not that her aura would have worked on anyone anyway. She doesn’t hold a title yet. But an aura can still be felt. Perceived.

I should have noticed. I should have realized.

“He’s been gone for hours. I’m going after him.”

Wesley’s voice booms into my ears as I enter the house. Nolan and Reid stand in the foyer with him, and he whirls around to stare at me when he hears the door open .

“When did you get back?” I ask Nolan, bypassing eye contact with Wesley and ignoring the combination of irritation and worry etched into his face.

I was so caught up in myself before running out of the house that I can’t remember if Nolan and Cassandra were here to witness all of my outburst or not.

“We were here earlier.” He doesn’t say anything about my blowup—my hysterics—but based on the careful avoidance of mentioning it, I assume he saw it.

“Rune, Landon, and Steele used the transport stone to get to our rental last night, and Rune disguised them as you, Dominic, and Sarina on our drive back.”

I nod and shut the door behind me, taking slow breaths to get more oxygen to my shaky leg muscles. They spasm and tremble from my lycan’s withholding of his energy and strength. His tantrum renders me all but human.

“She’s on the back patio with her dad,” Wes says as I head towards the living area.

Not that I need him to tell me that. I saw her there while I ran. I saw her standing with her arms crossed, resting on the railing and staring out towards the trees to watch for me.

I don’t mention what I saw. I just nod again and continue across the entryway, heading through the living room and into the kitchen for a snack and a glass of water.

Or maybe a shot of whiskey.

An exasperated, groaning sigh accompanies my departure, followed by Wesley’s heavy footsteps that practically chase me before they halt abruptly.

“I’ll talk to him,” Reid mutters.

Wes growls but doesn’t argue with him.

I pause in the archway between the living room and the kitchen, glancing behind me. The scent of pizza wafts to me from the coffee table, and my mouth waters. While delicious, the breakfast I ate with Sarina was light, and now my hunger and thirst fight with each other to be relieved.

As I linger, deciding which to assuage first, Wesley adjusts his trajectory to the couch, where Haven, Taryn, Imogen, and Cassandra all sit.

He plops onto the floor in front of Haven, his shoulders holding all his tension.

Haven rests her hand on one shoulder without looking at him or stopping her whispered conversation with her friends, and he covers it with his as a layer of his tension dissipates at her touch.

Nolan heads to the other end of the couch, nudging Cassandra aside so he can sit in her spot, and then he yanks her into his lap, his arms circling her waist .

Taryn smiles at Reid as he blows her a kiss and tosses her a wink. Then he frowns at her, concern and confusion filling his eyes. “Where is—”

She covers her lips with her finger and tips her chin towards the floor on the other side of the coffee table.

Both Reid and I follow her line of sight to where Dominic sleeps on his back in front of the empty fireplace, one hand behind his head, a sleeping Savannah on his stomach, and his other hand resting on her back.

Cav lies on the floor next to them, his head on his paws but his attention glued onto Savvy.

Reid rolls his eyes, but the gesture doesn’t hide the smile that tugs at his lips. As much as Reid pretends to be annoyed by Dominic’s temporary permanence, we all know the truth—he wants Dominic to be part of Savvy’s life.

Reid strolls over to me, and I cross the threshold into the kitchen, my thirst finally winning out against my hunger. I grab a glass from the cabinet by the fridge and fill it with water from the dispenser in the door.

“Are you feeling better?” Reid asks as I chug it down.

I shake my head and fill the glass again. “No.”

He leans his back against the counter and braces his hands on the edge. “Where did you go?”

I down the glass again in one gulp, swallowing loudly, before I fill it for a third time. “I did laps around the perimeter of the property.” I lean against the counter opposite him, taking sips of the water now instead of gulping it.

“I thought for sure you’d gone all the way back to the pack.”

“I didn’t. I wanted to, but I didn’t.”

“Why not?”

I stare into the glass. The water ripples from the light shaking of my overtired muscles. My neck and shoulders roll as I attempt to release some of that exhaustion.

“I couldn’t. My lycan wouldn’t let me.”

Reid laughs and crosses his arms. “Right. Your lycan. I’m sure it was just your lycan.”

“It was.”

“You keep telling yourself that.”

I lift my gaze towards the archway. I stare out of it, in the direction of the large window seat in the living room that overlooks the back deck, as if I can see through every obstacle to where she is. Every instinct in me is attuned to her, to her needs and her existence .

Was it like that for her before? Has she always sensed me the way I sense her now?

“She knew the whole time,” I murmur with the glass against my lips.

Reid chuckles. “Well, yeah, I’d imagine she knew she was the future queen since King Malachi is her dad.”

“No, I mean she knew we were mates.”

The humor vanishes from his face. “Oh. That.”

“She’s always known what I am to her,” I repeat the words, mostly to myself, still utterly flabbergasted and surprised by the entire situation.

Looking back, it makes sense. The pieces all fit. The way she sought me out, both when we were kids and I was visiting the palace and when her team was here in Crescent Lake. The way she was so devastated, so heartbroken, when I left her behind in Hawaii and when she left me behind here.

It wasn’t an assumption for her, like it was for me. She knew .

“How did she know you were mates when she wasn’t twenty-one yet?” Reid asks.

I slam my glass on the counter and tighten my fist around it. “I don’t know. She didn’t explain.”

He scoffs. “You mean you didn’t give her a chance to explain.”

I whirl around, throwing my hands in the air. “I gave her plenty of—”

“When? When you were yelling at her? Or when you stormed out the front door and ran around the forest all morning?”

“She lied to me.”

“Maybe she didn’t have a choice. Or maybe she didn’t know what else to do or how to tell you. Maybe she wanted you to feel the bond too.”

His chin drops to his chest, and he rubs his temples with one hand, the other resting on his hip.

For a moment, he’s the lost, uncertain, broken male he was almost two years ago when he came to me for help the night before Haven and Wesley’s wedding.

For a moment, our roles are reversed, and I’m the one talking to him and reassuring him that everything will be fine, that his mate will forgive him for keeping such a tremendous secret from her for so long.

My throat tightens, and I lean against the counter once more. My hands grip the edge, and my shoulders slump forward. The weight of everything—of the past four years, the past week, the past twenty-four hours—bears down on me, and I let it .

Nothing about any of this is easy or simple. I should have never expected any of it would be.

Reid’s hand falls from his face and slaps against his leg.

“Look, Seb, we’ve all kept secrets from our mates.

” He gestures towards where our friends sit, chatting quietly with each other as they pretend they can’t hear every word Reid and I exchange.

“Wes didn’t tell Haven he was a lycan. I didn’t tell Taryn she was my mate, and she didn’t tell me about Sour Patch.

Cassandra didn’t tell Nolan that Pierce was her dad or that she can’t have kids, and I doubt you told Sarina that you own a sex club. ”

I scratch behind my ear and grimace slightly. “Actually, she’s gone with me to the club before. Several times. She was with me when Forrest offered me the co-ownership.”

Reid’s jaw drops. His eyes widen. If he’d been holding something, it would now be on the floor, shattered into thousands of pieces.

My lips twitch at the sight, at his stunned expression, and I wish I had a camera to snap a photo of it.

Before the amusement can spread through all of me, dread pools in my empty stomach. “Oh my Goddess.”

I grip my hair at the roots and straighten, pacing in front of the counter. My heart races, my palms sweat, and even my lycan cowers in fear.

Reid quickly switches gears, on alert and ready for action. “What’s wrong?”

My pacing grows more frantic. “I took King Malachi’s daughter to a sex club. I took the future queen to a sex club.”

Reid stares at me, then his head tips back as he laughs. “I hit on her in front of her dad,” he replies with a shrug.