Primal

Lake

My heart feels like it’s beating a million miles a minute, if that’s even possible. But no one else in the pack seems to notice this bombshell that just went off in my face.

My grandfather, Alpha Evin Mavris of the Dark Moon Pack, stands before me. I haven’t seen him since Landon and I were small pups.

According to my dad, Evin wanted to pair me with a wolf from some other pack in the east. The discussion was theoretical until the twenty-six-year-old male in question turned up when I was five, expecting to carry me off.

After that, we left and never came back.

“Lake, you’ve definitely grown.” Evin smirks. “And a hybrid with a powerful mate to boot. Nothing I wouldn’t have expected from my bloodline.”

“~Your~ bloodline?” I growl.

Evin raises an eyebrow at my aggression. I take notice of the large warriors ready to attack if I so much as twitch a finger the wrong way.

“The Mavris name is mine, is it not?” Evin asks. “Your pathetic excuse for a father had to take it in order to receive my daughter. That stupid girl had a gift and threw it away for that—”

“I wouldn’t finish that sentence if I were you.” My nails turn to claws that dig into the palm of my hands. “Derrick, we’re leaving.”

I turn to see a wall of two massive males blocking my way to the exit.

~Great. Another bad situation. When can I just get a break?~

“I was told you died in a fire with the rest of my daughter’s family,” Evin says. “Two Alignments bred into my bloodline, gone, just like that. You have to have been brought here by the Fates and the Moon Goddess herself.”

I hear whispers praising our goddess in the crowd.

Two warriors grab both my arms, and another pair restrains Derrick. I flinch as something on their gloves digs into my bicep. My mate seems to be in the same discomfort.

“Screw the Goddess,” I spit. “She’s the reason I turned out like this. That so-called blessing was a curse in disguise.”

“The Prophecy said that—”

“Fuck your prophecy!” I growl. “That thing wasn’t fulfilled, and as a result no more Alignments will be born! Now let us leave before I slaughter everyone in here!”

My grandfather looks amused at my rage, which irritates me even more. But then he nods to his warriors, and they release their grip on me and Derrick.

Derrick grabs my hand and leads me toward the door.

“We’ll be in touch, Lake,” my grandfather calls, chuckling ominously in our wake.

***

“Of all the places we ended up in, it just had to be Dark Moon’s territory,” I groan as Derrick ushers me into our hotel room.

My mate hasn’t said anything since leaving that dreadful pack-house. This entire time, it’s like I’ve been ranting and raving to myself. Lynne has gone silent as well.

“Firefly, we should start packing,” Derrick says seriously. “After that show you put on, the entire pack will be after us by daybreak.”

“You say that as if this is somehow my fault,” I complain.

My mate says nothing; just stares at me blankly.

“It was your idea to come here!” I say. “You and all your ideas about starting a family.”

“This was our one chance of escaping the rogue life, for us to have pups, Firefly.” Derrick’s tone holds a mixture of anger and sadness.

By the way Lynne stirs in my mind, I can tell she agrees. Only I see the madness in what Derrick is saying.

“I’m sorry, but were you not there when my grandfather basically threatened to keep me here in order to keep his precious bloodline close by?” I growl.

Derrick sighs, clearly exasperated, but I continue. “As I told you earlier, I’m fine with the ways things are now. The rogue life is exciting and adventurous. It’s what we are and—”

“Oh, don’t give me that shit!” Derrick exclaims, his voice rattling the cheap photos lining the walls.

“If your father’s plan of that fake bond you had with that Alpha pup had gone through, your life would’ve been completely different! We never would have met, and you wouldn’t have become—”

Derrick cuts himself off, eyeing me with apprehension. My fists are clenched, shaking with anger.

“Go ahead and finish that sentence, Derrick,” I say through gritted teeth. “I wouldn’t have become a hybrid. And I wouldn’t have had to drink from Sylas.”

Derrick drives his fist through the wall behind me. My eyes widen as his canines extend.

“Don’t you dare bring that low-ranking creature up again.” My mate’s voice is low in my ear. “I can still smell him on you and it’s driving my wolf insane. For both of our sakes, I suggest—”

“Get away from me!” I push him across the room and into the adjacent wall. “I am your ~mate~, not some meek omega you can order around. And if you’d let me drink before we went to the party, none of that would have happened!”

Derrick growls deep inside of his chest. His black eyes are emptier than I’ve ever seen them, and his usually sleek hair is frizzy, hanging in his face.

~What is going on with him?~

“Firefly, you’re driving my patience very thin right now.” His voice is even more animalistic than when Drax takes over. “I told you that I would lose control, didn’t I?”

Everything inside of me is screaming to run. Something isn’t right with my mate, and Lynne doesn’t seem to notice. My wolf should be ready to defend me by now, even against him.

Derrick begins to stalk toward me, closing the small space between us. His eyes are locked onto me as if he were hunting prey.

I can’t sense Drax—this is purely Derrick, going off his primal instincts.

“You’re mine, female,” Derrick growls. “Now I get what I’ve been wanting all day.”