Page 27 of The Wolf’s Appetite (The Lycans #8)

AISLING

T he manor felt still in a way that didn’t sit right with me. There was loneliness, yes, but in the pit of my stomach, there was this dread I couldn’t shake, one that had nothing to do with the war ahead.

All the females were gathered in the drawing room—the fear and anxiety thick with all of us. No one wanted to be alone right now.

I was surrounded by the hum of low conversation. The scent of the fire burning in the hearth and the delicate clink of teacups on saucers filled my other senses.

From the outside, it might have looked like a peaceful evening. But this moment was fragile. Any of us could snap.

Ainslee, Lennox’s sister and Luca’s mate, ruler of the Eastern European Lycans, was telling a story about a yearly festival in Luca’s stronghold. I knew she was doing it to fill in the time and keep everyone’s minds off of the current situation.

I was smiling, trying to listen, but there was a weight pressing at the edges of my mind. Something was… off .

I got up to grab another cup of tea when I felt the hair on my arms stand on end, and electricity crackled through the room. The other women shifted with unease. They all felt it, too.

This intense humming sounded, and as it grew, my ears rang, and I was forced to set my mug down and cover them to ease the discomfort it was causing.

“What the hell is going on?” Kayla asked.

Before anyone could answer her, the hum turned to a vibration, the lights in the room flared, and then we were plunged into darkness as the electricity went out. The firelight was the only illumination, casting eerie shadows across the room.

“Give the generators a second to kick on,” Luna said, and as if her words conjured them, the lights flickered back on.

Evelyn’s voice cut through the air. “Did you feel?—”

The rest was drowned out by the vibration that now turned into a shriek that had all of us crying out and clutching the sides of our heads.

The noise was everywhere —inside my skull, in the walls, buried in the floor beneath our feet. It was reminiscent of an animal’s growl wrapped in something infinitely more sinister.

The air thickened and pulled inward, sucking the breath from my lungs.

The lights went out again, and the shadows in the corners of the room elongated, peeling away from the walls and reaching out to us.

We panicked and congregated closer to the mantel, the light from the fire offering a strange protection.

I knitted my brow when I heard a splintering, cracking sound. I scanned the room for the source of the noise, focusing on the darkest point. The edges curled in on themselves, like an endless black hole spreading outward like a disease.

And then I saw it.

The creature unfolded from the darkness—long limbs, clawed fingers that dug furrows into the floorboards, and skin the color of a stormy night. Its hair was long and matted, a shade deeper than its body, and covered in some dark gunk.

Its eyes… there was nothing in them but a void so deep I felt it pulling at me. I knew what this creature was, had heard legends of the Keyholders, but had never seen one in my life.

The Leandrean.

It should have been trapped, imprisoned in its world, but here it was, standing tall, lanky, its sinewy body like something out of a nightmare.

No creature should have been able to break through the protection spells and wards the witches had put in place. But this thing hadn’t broken through the magic. An impossibility.

“That is one ugly motherfucker,” Kayla said under her breath.

I could see why she was Adryan’s mate.

“This asshole,” Ada said, and I heard rustling behind me.

I glanced at Sebastian’s fae mate to see her grabbing a crossbow off the wall.

Larkin, Odhran’s mate, drew the silver dagger from her thigh sheath. Luna had two daggers in her hands. What the fuck, I thought, then looked at my empty hands. Someone put two knives in my palms, and I glanced up to see Luna stared at me. Her expression was serious.

“I always keep extra,” she breathed. “Don’t let that fucker get close. You go for the eyes if nothing else.”

I nodded because I didn’t know what else to do.

I’d never been in a fight in my life, and the thought of going against that big fucker who looked like he crawled out of hell itself almost immobilized me.

But I felt my wolf rise, stronger than she ever had before, and I faced the Leandrean and bared my teeth .

This fire burned within me at the thought of Lennox and the other males out there fighting to protect us.

I thought about the women who were here because we were all scared.

I opened myself up and let my inner animal rise.

Everything in me intensified. My senses were ultra-sensitive, and the need to shift rippled through me.

I moved without thinking, stepping in front of the females, knowing if it came down to it, I’d shift and use my big she-wolf to protect the others.

The creature laughed, its serrated teeth dripping dark fluid. “I’m hungry,” it rasped, the words scraping the air like the tip of a sharpened blade.

“Fuck you,” Kayla said.

“There’s nothing for ye here,” I said, voice steady despite the thundering of my pulse. “And unless ye want a horde of Lycans and vampires tearing ye apart, ye need tae leave.”

It tilted its head, studying me like a predator before it pounced and took down its prey. It didn’t have to wonder about what it wanted for long. It lunged, and because I’d positioned myself in front of everyone, it barreled into me.

The impact had me flying across the room and crashing into the wall hard enough that I heard something crack—wood or bone; I didn’t know as the pain was instant.

The women were screaming and shouting things, but my vision was blurry.

I struggled to take a full breath in. The air left my lungs in a rush, pain bursting across my ribs.

I forced myself to push up even as my vision swam and my belly cramped.

I shook my head and saw my daggers on the ground beside me.

I picked them up and tightened my hold around the hilts until my knuckles ached.

I stared in horror as the Leandrean tossed away the females that charged forward, swatting them away like annoying gnats. Luna bared her fangs and hissed, and when the Leandrean turned its focus on her, I attacked.

I stayed quiet as I held the knives up, and at the last minute, I plunged the blades into the soft space between its shoulder blades.

It shrieked, and I didn’t waste a second.

I let my wolf break free. She tore through, breaking bone, flaying flesh, and then I was on all fours facing off with the fucker.

Ainslee had shifted into her white wolf and mixed amongst the fierce females. Even the human women held weapons as they were prepared to attack.

The creature roared out and spun, snarling at me.

It was so damn fast that I didn’t have time to block the attack before it was raking its claws across my side.

Fire tore through me—white-hot pain chased by something colder than death, as if its claws were tipped with venom and pushing its poison into my veins .

My wolf howled and growled, and I snapped, pushing the pain away as I launched my body at it again. The other women did the same thing, all of us attacking it. But it was no use. The bastard was strong. Too strong.

I scented copper coat the air, knew I was bleeding, but didn’t know who else had been hurt.

They needed to get out of here. I didn’t know why I wanted to be heroic because I was scared as hell.

But something in me screamed to protect these women.

Their children were safe hundreds of feet below the ground, but they needed their mothers.

I was thrown against the wall again, and I looked at Ainslee. I communicated with her in a way our wolves could. I demanded, screamed, and roared that she take the women out of here. She fought me, argued, but we didn’t have time. We couldn’t all die here.

I wasn’t strong enough to kill it, but I could give them time. “Go!” I shouted in my head to Ainslee. I could feel the anguish, but we both knew this was what had to be done. I knew the males were on their way and would be here any second. That’s what I told her. That’s what I hoped she believed.

So, I staggered between the women and the creature, ready to do whatever it took. And then I heard it. The roars. It split and vibrated the air, and the low and primal sound resonated in my chest and down my spine.

I felt him even though I didn’t see him. My mate. Lennox. The doors splintered open, and we all spun around to see the males. They came through the doorway as if they’d been shot from a gun. I searched for my mate through the thick crush of Lycans and vampires swamping in.

Males grabbed their mates and got them out of there, and then I saw him. But for a heartbeat, I thought my mind had broken from the pain. Because he wasn’t just Lennox anymore.

Something was different. He was bigger, fiercer-looking, and as he stared at my she-wolf, his eyes scanning my body and stopping on my side where I knew my grave wounds were, his eyes flashed with light.

He roared so loud the walls shook, and he shifted right before my eyes. His wolf was back.

It wasn’t like watching a shift. I’d seen those countless times in my life. No, this was like a man and his beast being reunited after millennia apart.

His glowing wolf's eyes locked on me, and for a moment, everything else faded.

His Lycan was big and strong, covered in dark brown fur with streaks of black.

I felt the fierceness pouring from him. The light blueness of his eyes was a startling contrast to his darker fur.

I had never seen a more beautiful wolf then when I stared at my mate.

The way he looked, under the anguish and pain and pure rage, there was something deeper, older, and had always been there…

waiting to be unleashed. Th e tether between us burned so hot it felt like it could tear the world apart.

I didn’t feel pain or exhaustion or terror.

I just heard one word repeated in my head.

Mine.

And it came from my mate. I heard it as clearly as if he’d whispered it in my ear.

Everything happened in a blur as the males attacked, using their brute strength and rage that their mates were put in danger to consume the Leandrean. But the creature fought unlike anything I had ever seen.

The Leandrean’s mouth curled, but for the first time, I felt its hesitation. Witches swarmed in next, chanting, their white, pure magic filling the room. Someone was pushing me out of the room, and I realized it was Lennox using his big, boxy wolf's head to get me out of there.

I stumbled. The pain in my side became harder to ignore, the acid-like feeling that was in my veins stole my breath.

I was out of the room and looking at my mate, the sensations and emotions I felt coming from him were paramount. The rage in his eyes was for the Leandrean, but there was also a promise—a vow. And it was only for me.

No matter what happened, no matter how this ended, he would protect me.