Helen POV
Desire spread through my body with the force of wildfire, setting my nerve endings on fire until every inch of me was sensitive to every inch of Justin. I gave in to his kissing immediately; I would have been embarrassed about my lack of control except I could tell from the scent of the crowd watching us they weren’t disapproving.
Most of them were either envious or aroused themselves.
Justin broke the kiss off first.
“Do you need me to guide you to the bodies?” Justin asked, his voice calm and deep as the ocean on a summer afternoon.
He might as well have been asking if our watchers wanted a snack to go with their entertainment while I was one step away from humiliated at my own lack of self–control. What if I’d gone into heat again? Didn’t he know grabbing me up to kiss me wasn’t acceptable in public?
A part of me hated how I had liked it, too. All the attention on me for a change? People feeling envious of me? I’d dreamed many dreams about making the pack regret treating me as a low–breed because of my tricolor coat. 1
“No, my guards will find the site easily enough,” Alpha King Juden dismissed Justin’s offer with a wave of his hand, “We’ll be in touch as soon as the inquiry is completed. It shouldn’t take long to identify the wolves then compare them to the registration roster.”
Stepping away from Justin, I was surprised when someone grabbed my wrist to tug me toward the crowd. I reconized Scott in a moment and went along with his pulling even though I had no idea what he could possibly
want.
“What do you want, Scott?” I asked, my tone ripe with annoyance.
“We need to talk,” Scott said, his expression conflicted, “Can you give me a few minutes alone?”
I could count the number of times I’d been alone with Scott on one hand. He had always reverted to the custom mates weren’t meant to be alone until after their formal mating ceremony.
The desire to mark one another was overwhelming between fated mates; highborn families preferred their daughters to remain pure until after they were permanently settled.
Marriage to Scott was supposed to have been my ‘permanent‘ future, but he’d abandoned me at the altar. He’d rejected me in public in favor of my sister Diana. Why did he think I would talk to him about anything at all in private?
“Why should I?” I asked, annoyed enough with him to try to shake off his grip on my wrist only for my other wrist to be seized in a huge hand which could only belong to Justin.
“Take your hands off my mate. You have no reason to touch her,” Justin snarled.
His eyes glowed with the heat of his beast being close to the surface. I wasn’t nervous about Justin though. He had
a stronger control on his Lycan nature than the Alpha King had always said.
Shaking off Justin’s hand, I glared at him, “Scott only wants to talk to me.”
“He has nothing to say to you,” Justin said, his tone implying the conversation was over even though I felt conflicted about my former mate.
I think it was the way Justin totally dismissed my right to make the decision for myself which made me say it, but I twisted my wrist free of Justin’s grip.
#Chapter 18 Jealousy
+25 BONUS
Glaring at my Lycan mate, I told him, “I may have something to say to Scott. I’m going to talk to him. We’ll be right back.” 3
I nodded to Scott who started to walk away from the crowd to the high fence guarding the Alpha King’s estate. We weren’t going to have the same privacy as being in the woods, but it would be quiet enough for a single conversation. I couldn’t imagine Scott needing more than one conversation with me.
Scott waited until we were out of earshot before saying, “I don’t trust the Lycan. Everyone has said he’s wild and crazed for years. How do you know he won’t hurt you, Helen?”
Shock rocked me on my heels. I stared at Scott without understanding why he cared if I were hurt or not or even why he bothered to worry about Justin. There was no place for Scott in Justin’s life so what would it matter to him if he was wild or crazed?
“Helen,” Scott sighed, reaching out to touch the chain around my neck holding my rings, “The Lycan wants you because you’re his fated mate. Once he’s marked you? Once he’s gotten the urge out of his system to possess you? He’s going to realize you’re a tricolor who can’t possibly be his match.”
Familiar shame crept through my veins the longer Scott talked, cooling the heat of desire I’d felt earlier. Justin could have kissed me a dozen times right then without warming me a degree. I felt frozen from the rejection Scott. was doling out to me a second time!
Scott had rejected me as himself now he was rejecting me in the place of my second–chance mate? No! I wouldn’t stand for it!
Stepping back, I tugged my necklace free from Scott’s hand “You don’t know Justin! You have no idea how he feels about me or if my color matters to him.”
Justin had already told me how he felt about judging wolves based on their color pattern. His disdain for the idea had been obvious in his room the night we’d first met; I had no reason to believe his opinion had changed.
“Helen, Helen, Helen,” Scott clucked his tongue, “Why do you always try to see the best in people? Why do you even bother with these cheap rings? They’re so old they don’t even look like proper gold anymore.”
Scott touched the rings again. I watched the familiar circles raise as he considered them.
I didn’t know very much about the rings except they were mine and always had been. Their worth wasn’t material to me. I didn’t care if they were very valuable, real gold or fake. All I cared about was how they made me feel connected to something outside myself when I wore them around my neck.
The rings were as much a part of me as my wolf; I’d never part with them willingly.
Letting the rings fall back down to my chest, Scott offered, “You can come to me when the Lycan is done with you. I’ve noticed a change in you. Since being with him, you’ve grown more beautiful. Or maybe I just never noticed how beautiful you were? I don’t know. I do want you to know you can come to me after he’s finished with you. Don’t worry, Helen. You won’t be all alone. I promise.”
Scott raised my hand to kiss the back before giving me a short bow and walking away.
All the words in my head were gone after his insane offer. What kind of female did he take me to be? Was he offering to let me be his mistress? I could never! I would never! The idea alone made me feel shocked to my core while also making me giggle right out loud at what my sister would say if she knew her mate had offered for me.
Diana would die of jealousy!
Grinning, I made my way back to Justin only for him to reach for my necklace and tug at it. I kept the chain from breaking only by gripping it above his hand and pulling the opposite direction.
213
#Chapter 18 Jealousy
“No! What are you doing, Justin?”
+25 BONUS
Justin snapped at me, “Why are you wearing these rings still? Are they from him? Do you want to go back to him? You can’t. He will never have you. I won’t have you seeing him again. Or speaking to him again. Ever!”
He was shouting in my face; I just wanted to make him stop
“You have no right to tell me who I can and cannot speak to Justin,” I said, trying to be calm as I tugged and tugged until he released my rings, “We’re pretending to date. We are fated mates, but we haven’t bonded yet or marked each other. If you want to get to that stage with me you can’t control me. I won’t tolerate it.”
“You want him, don’t you? Was he the one you were thinking of when you kissed me? Was he the one you wished you were mating when you were with me?” Justin asked, panting as if he’d run a marathon.
I didn’t know what to say. All I could do was shake my head no‘ because I had no lust in my body for Scott or love in my heart for him either. I realized I didn’t even know him after speaking to Justin about choosing to marry Scott purely because he was my fated mate.
Justin tried to take my rings again, tried to rip the chain free of my throat and choked me until I managed to twist free.
“No! You can’t have them! No!” I shouted, not understanding why he was so fixed on taking from me the one possession I had. 1
Snarling, Justin showed me his teeth which were longer, sharper than they should be.
“You need to calm down, Justin. I’m going to see about my sister.”
It was an excuse to get away from him, but I needed some space. I went looking for my family only to hear an otherworldly howl behind me.
Turning to look, I saw the moon had begun to show behind me and the howl came from Justin! His form was shifting, changing before my eyes, and where once had stood my magnificent mate—now was an enormous Lycan!
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